Newsletter : December 2004
brought to you by New Zealand Tourism Online www.tourism.net.nz
In this December Newsletter:
NZTO Comment
by Garry Bond, General Manager, New Zealand Tourism Online
Well it's nearly the end of yet another great year for tourism in New Zealand. With increased world-wide travel bouncing back from the troubles in 2003, 2004 has proved to be have been a solid year of growth.
New Zealand is still ranking very highly on the international stage which I attribute to our reputation as a safe destination coupled with strong New Zealand brand marketing. The number of visitors are up along with increased numbers of airlines flying to New Zealand as well as more flights to more centre's. We've also seen an increase in the number of tourism operators either expanding, or starting new tourism ventures.
This year has also highlighted some of our possible weaknesses. This includes physically dealing with increased numbers of visitors, infrastructure and staff shortages for some parts of the industry. Identification of area's to improve is always the first step and New Zealand Tourism Online will be looking at ways in which to help in some areas.
Overall however, its been an excellent year for many in the industry and for us in particular. The signs are all good for 2005 and we'll be trying hard to move towards even greater accomplishments in the coming year.
With the close of 2004 approaching I wish to thank all of the people who work with, and at, New Zealand Tourism Online. We have a professional hard working team and their efforts certainly make a difference. Finally a really big thank you to all of our clients for the support we have had and we look forward to continuing the promotion of your business in 2005.
We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous (heavily booked) New Year.
Xmas/New Years Hours
New Zealand Tourism Online will be closed over the Xmas and New Year period from 24th December to 10th January. Feel free to email any queries to your tourism consultant or the following:
For Accounts email admin@tourism.net.nz
For Web work email webdesign@tourism.net.nz
DIY Link Building
by Mark Rocket and Simon Leslie, Avatar Web Promotions
Last month we introduced you to link building, this month we elaborate on how to find sites that may be willing to exchange links with you.
Find Relevant Sites
Search for sites with relevant content. For example, if you're running a B&B in Blenheim you may like to use Google to search for phrases including the words:
- Marlborough
- Blenheim
- New Zealand
- Accommodation Directory
- Travel
- Tourism
Links Pages
Combining the above phrases with 'add link', 'add listing' or 'add URL', will find Web pages offering to add a link to your site. Some of these will be free, some will require a reciprocal link and some will require you to pay for a listing. If you are only looking for free listings, try adding 'free' to your search. E.g. 'add free link'.
Refine Your Search
If searching for a phrase such as 'new zealand accommodation', it is a good idea to put quotes around that part of the search phrase. This refines the search to finding all the quoted words together, rather than individually on the page and should eliminate any occurrence of the single words 'new', 'zealand' or 'accommodation'.
Find More Pages
Once you have found some good links pages that are relevant to your Web site, check out the sites linking to that page. You can find these sites by clicking the back links option under the information symbol on the Google Toolbar. These sites may also be interested in exchanging links with you.
The back links option is also a useful tool to find which sites your competitors are linking to.
To reiterate, it's a matter of finding a site that would be willing to link to you and then:
- Assessing if the site is appropriate for a link exchange
- Identifying whether the site has a links page
- Sending the site owner / Webmaster an email requesting a link exchange
Remember, you have more leverage if you offer them a link in return. Happy searching.
We welcome any feedback or contributions for our next newsletter - just email our team web@tourism.net.nz
Regards,
The Team
Ph. 0800 14 65 47
https://www.tourism.net.nz
New Zealand Tourism Online Limited
Head Office: 208 Cashel Street, Christchurch
