Glaciers in New Zealand
Maori children
Northland, New Zealand
Queen Charlotte Sound
Routeburn Track
Boating in Taupo
Tongariro, New Zealand
Wellington, New Zealand

Newsletter : June 2006

brought to you by New Zealand Tourism Online www.tourism.net.nz

NZTO Comment

by Garry Bond,General Manager, New Zealand Tourism Online

Last month's newsletter caused a bit of interest when we published an editorial comment from Cambel Ferguson regarding his thoughts on the lack of budget funding for the tourism sector from the New Zealand government. We had both positive and negative feedback about Cambel’s points, so it obviously got some people thinking!

There was a large article in the business section of The Press last weekend summing up tourism in this country and its promotion. While the article concentrated on international visitors, I think it’s time to focus more on domestic travellers.

The difficulty in the past has often been that competing Regional Tourism Organisations (RTOs) market themselves depending on what they can afford to spend. Generally, theylook at the larger city centres for targeting possible travellers e.g. Wellington marketing to Christchurch for quick breaks.

I believe that an effective marketing campaign needs to reach all New Zealanders.

For example, why not publish a book highlighting travel within New Zealand and deliver it to all households across the country free of charge? It could be a funded partly by the government (after all, I’m sure they would rather see NZ dollars spent in NZ rather than Australia) and partly by each RTO (based on size).

Each RTO could be profiled, with 20 or so must-see or must-do features within their region (non-commercial), plus a similar number of out-of-the-way places not usually visited or off the beaten track. The book could perhaps include driving routes, quality images and maps. Provided it is not too commercially-driven, I believe it would be added to each household's bookshelf, kept and used.

This is just one idea. However, the key for success in domestic tourism is co-operation and co-ordination between all parties.

How To Create the Best Directory Listing for Your Site

by Avatar Web Promotions

Yahoo, the world's largest online directory and Google, the world's most popular search engine, are household names in New Zealand. But did you know that we have localised search directories of our own such as NZS.com, NZ Pages, NZSearch and KiwiPages?

What's a search directory?
A directory holds and references listings' which contain basic details about Web sites and their content. When using a directory, users can browse the directory's categories to locate the section that best fits their query. Increasingly, directories integrate search features that work in a similar way to a search engine, i.e. searching brings up results that are based on the keyword relevancy of the site or the site's directory listing, or a combination of both.

Part of your search engine optimisation strategy should involve submitting your site to local and international directories. Good positioning in the search engines and directories can significantly increase the number of targeted visitors to your site.

Creating A Listing for Your Site
To have your site listed in a directory, typically you need to submit:

  • The title of your site (e.g. Avatar Web Promotions : New Zealand Web Site Design).
  • The site's URL (e.g. https://www.avatar.co.nz/).
  • A well-written description about your site (its products, services or key focus).
  • To achieve maximum effect, your site description should contain relevant keywords and search terms.
  • Choose the category in which you are listed with care (it's key to receiving targeted traffic).

If you haven't listed your site in a directory before, why not give it a go? It may well give your business a boost today!

Checking Your Link Popularity Rating

by Avatar Web Promotions

If you've been following advice on how to promote your Web site to search engines, you may have been diligently adding unique and interesting content to your Web site and over time, working to increase its link popularity.

Link popularity is the term given to the number of links that a search engine finds for your Web site. You can check how many links search engines find to your site, by going to each search engine and keying in link:www.yoursite.co.nz or link:http://www.yoursite.co.nz into the search box (remember, each search engine behaves differently, so you won't get the same number of links found by each search engine).

What's perhaps even more useful is finding out how your site's link popularity stands up against that of your online competition. There are a number of free tools on the Internet which do this for you. We like using Market Leap, which enables you to benchmark your site against specific industry sites.

What Makes a Good Domain Name

Extract from Wilson Web

Here's what to look for in a good domain name.

  1. A good domain name is relatively short. A short name (if you can get it) is important for several reasons. It is easy to fit into logos, makes a better brand, is more easily recognisable, and is harder to misspell. Some companies have 50-character domain names spelling out their whole company name. That's unwise. Long domain names don't fit in forms or on business cards. Keep them relatively short.
  2. A good domain name is memorable. You remember generic names, such as Art.com and Garden.com. But you also remember more unique names such as Amazon.com or Google.com. Putting together strange combinations of words is fun and can be very productive. It helps if it rhymes like FogDog, or repeats sounds such as Google, or is sing-songy like WilsonWeb. Say your prospective domain name out loud to listen to its sounds. See if your tongue gets twisted around any syllables. Whatever your domain name, it should stick in the mind.
  3. A good domain name isn't easily confused with others. In their desperation to find a domain name, some grasped at hyphenated names and put "the" in front of a word, as in TheStandard.com. The problem is confusion. Another consideration is how you'll need to say your domain name over the phone. If you always have to say "spelled ding-hyphen-doodle.com" you'll soon wish you'd left out the hyphens. Do your best to find a name that can't be confused.
  4. A good domain name is hard to misspell. If people can misspell something, they will. The longer and more complex your domain name, the harder it is for your customers to type it in correctly. Many of them can't type well to start with, so to type in a long name may lose you lots of business. At the low price of domain names, it may pay you to purchase the misspellings of a domain name, too. This way you'll get the traffic intended for your site and discourage poachers from buying up the variants.
  5. A good domain name relates to your business name or core business. It's best if your domain name can be guessed from your company name. But in your search for a domain name, don't give up if you can't find the domain for your exact business name. Find functional names, names that describe your uniqueness, names that express an emotion or attitude.
  6. A good domain name sounds solid to your target audience. If possible, get a .co.nz or .com domain. Your main domain should be the one that people expect it to be. In the US, that's probably .com. In New Zealand it would be .nz. If you want to appeal to an international audience, .com is probably best. Having said that, I think it's wise to buy up other common domain name endings (perhaps look at .net.nz, .gen.nz). They're inexpensive and again help avoid confusion if someone types in your Web address, but puts .com instead of .co.nz (especially if a competitor has it).

 

We welcome any feedback — send your comments to : news@tourism.net.nz

Regards,

The Team
Ph 0800 14 65 49
https://www.tourism.net.nz
New Zealand Tourism Online Limited
Head Office: 208 Cashel Street, Christchurch

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