Newsletter : November 2006

NZTO Comment

by Garry Bond, General Manager, New Zealand Tourism Online

Well it’s been all go on the Government front lately. Firstly we had several weeks of debate about the Rugby World Cup venue and secondly, a change of guard in the National Party leadership.

The general feeling (from my point of view) about the stadium was that the people who lived in and around Auckland were the most vocal - as it was in their own back yard. Not withstanding the bed or departure tax issue surrounding the funding of a National stadium, those who lived outside Auckland tended to look on - perhaps glad it wasn’t in their own back yard! I certainly think everyone in the tourism industry is all for a bigger and better international venue, so now the decision has been made (albeit with the minor issue about where’s the upgrade money coming from), let’s get behind it and get it done on time.

And so to the change in the National Party. Overall, regardless of who governs the country, the opposition always needs to keep them honest. As for the “Key is a Millionaire” – all it proves to me is that he’s successful in business. Got to be good if you ask me. Will he do a good job? Time will tell.

AUDIO VISUAL PRODUCT UPDATE

Last month we launched a great new multimedia product geared towards helping you convert “lookers into bookers”.

These have proved very popular. So much so, that now we have a specific audio visual directory on our site which features these multimedia clips. As you can imagine, our site visitors find these clips very compelling.

Take a look at the audio visual directory and the variety of different tourism operators from around the country who already promote themselves through this media.

Also check out what some tourism operators are doing with the audio visual on their own site R&R Quality Campervans, Abel Tasman Apartments or James Cook Hotel Grand Chancellor.

>Remember, this audio visual product is designed to be cost effective and compelling, with the images and sound combination really helping liven up your site visitors experience. The audio visual attaches to your listing on our site and includes button options and links so you can use it on your own Web site or in emails to your customers!

Key Features

• Low cost
• Fast loading
• Communicate key messages and images in a focussed format
• Suitable for both small and larger tourism operators across all market sectors
• Very appealing to your potential customers with additional conversion opportunities
• Professionally recorded soundtrack of your key messages
• Excellent selection of background music
• Enhance your NZTO listing, see Air Fiordland listing example - Media Clip link
• Enhance your NZTO Web page if you have one, see Air Fiordland Web page example - Details Box
• Add to your own Web site after we supply you with button and text options
• Include it in your own emails to potential customers

Contact your tourism consultant or one of our specialist product Managers (Mike O'Sullivan on 0800 14-65-52 or Mike Kaye on 0800 14-65-54 for more information - yes both are called Mike). These are proving popular, so get your order in now! 

HOT REGIONAL SPOTS

Have you been looking for a high profile spot within your region to promote your business? Four brand new spots have been created right where your target audience is looking. Currently these are only available in Auckland, Rotorua, Christchurch and Queenstown. If you are interested in other regions, let us know and we'll do our best to make these available next.

Note: We currently have place-holders for these spots as per image below (Travel Insurance, NZ DVDs, NZ Products and NZ Holiday Deals). These will be removed once the spot has been sold. Also if you order early then you have a better chance to select your position i.e far left, far right, left centre, right centre etc.

Click the following links to check our site for Auckland regional spot coverage (you can select one or more pages).

• Auckland Region Home Page
• Auckland Region Information
• Auckland Region Activity Highlights
• Auckland Region Scenic Highlights
• Auckland Region History

If you are located, or do a good deal of business through one of these regions, don't delay too long as they will go fast. While on a first in, first served basis, we will not place competing businesses next to each other, so for example, if there is already a rental car company in one of the spots, we won't place a 2nd rental car company in the same region.

Contact your tourism consultant for more information, drop us an email or call 0800 14-65-49.

Spam Free Web Forms

by Avatar Web Promotions

Spammers use spam bots (software programs) to help them collect email addresses found on the Internet and send out unsolicited (or spam) mail. It's almost impossible to 100% spam-proof yourself, but here are a few things you can do to reduce the amount of spam in your inbox:

• Try to stay off spam mailing lists in the first place by submitting your email address to select Web sites only
• Check what a site's privacy policy is before giving away your email address
• Check whether you have marked any boxes relevant to the use of your email address
• Use a secondary, disposable email address for online forms, subscriptions, forums, chat rooms and blogs (tip: use a name made up of an initial and a surname for your throwaway email address, not popular prefixes like "info", "sales" or "enquiries")
• Do not respond to spam emails, just delete them

Despite all your best efforts, you may still be receiving spam through the forms on your Web site, which can be a real pain when you want to focus on dealing with genuine business enquiries or bookings. One way to combat form spam is to ask the user of your form to type 5 or 6 unique characters (generated by some nifty programming) into their form submission. In this way, submissions from automated spam programs can be avoided. Check with your Web designer or contact Avatar for more information.

Making Web Page Tabs Eye-Catching

The newly released browser IE 7.0 includes tabbed browsing as one of its features. Tabbed browsing enables people to open multiple Web sites in a single browser window. Tabs are the online equivalents of post-it notes or dividers, which can help users to quickly identify and sort out the Web sites they view. Tabbed browsing offers the advantage of creating a less cluttered task bar or working space and also makes it easy for people to switch between Web sites.

Favicons

If someone has a lot of tabs open in their browser window, it's a good idea to help them to find and return to the tab for your Web page by using a favicon. A favicon (favourites icon) is one of the simplest and most effective ways to support your brand on your Web page or help your Web site tab stand out from the others.

A favicon, such as those shown, is a small graphic, which users see:

• In a browser's location bar
• At the top left of each tab
• Next to the text (the title) describing your Web site in a user's stored bookmarks or favourites library

Your favicon can be a small reproduction of your company logo or another small image, which defines your company's business (e.g. for a winery, your icon could be a wine glass). The trick is in making every pixel in your favicon count, as it's only a tiny graphic, which needs to be both eye-catching and identifiable.

If you don't have your own favicon, browsers typically default to theirs. If 20 tabs in one Internet Explorer browser window all default to the IE favicon, imagine how much your Web page tab can stand out if it had a different icon attached to it.

Want one? A new favicon for your Web site will take Avatar between 1-2 hours ($120-$240+gst) to create and upload. If you're interested in having a favicon for your Web site, simply contact Avatar.

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: 179 Tuam Street, Christchurch