Newsletter : October 2006
brought to you by New Zealand Tourism Online www.tourism.net.nz
In this October newsletter:
by Garry Bond, General Manager, New Zealand Tourism Online
I'm hoping its still October (as this is meant to be an October newsletter!). We've been flat out here at New Zealand Tourism Online. We have just moved offices after bulging at the seams for the last couple of years and the move created just as much stress for me as it does when you move house! Where's Bob going to sit, why doesn't my PC work and where's my favourite cup gone? Luckily it's settled down now and I can start working my way through the backlog of work.
Are you gearing up for summer? The winter ski season was excellent this year and from all accounts the season overall will be stronger this year than last. Sure the growth rate is expected to drop a bit but the last few years have been very buoyant and it often only takes a few key events to increase the world-wide exposure for New Zealand.
As I biked up the port hills of Christchurch the other day and looked out over the city right across to the mountains and sea, I thought, what a great place to live. It's easy to see why people from around the world visit New Zealand in droves!
HOT NEW NZTO PRODUCT
New Zealand Tourism Online has a fantastic new multimedia product that is geared towards helping you convert “lookers into bookers”.
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 clip 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 potential customers!
Examples
Click on the links to view the examples.
Key Features
- Low cost.
- Ideal for both small and larger tourism operators.
- High visitor impact with images and audio specifically about your business.
- 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 it to your own Web site (we supply you with button and text options).
- Include it in your own emails to potential customers for an added point of difference.
Special Offer
Special introductory price of just $295 + GST for the 1st year and $145 + GST for 2nd year. This is excellent value as we've negotiated heavily discounted professional recording studio and setup rates. Although just launched, a number of tourism operators have already had audio visual clips completed. Act now and be one of the first in NZ to have this exciting new product.
Great job !!!! We are thrilled with the result
Sharon and Kevin, Cardrona Terrace Estate, Wanaka
Contact your tourism consultant or Mike our specialist product Manager on 0800 14-65-52 for more information. These are proving popular, so get your order in now!
New Address for New Zealand Tourism Online
Pound the pavement on Cashel Street no more, 'cos we're not there! Instead you'll find us on Level One, 179 Tuam Street, Christchurch CBD (postcode 8011).
Our new neighbours are Real Groovy and the Christchurch City Council. All our phone, fax, postal details and email contact details stay the same. The bonus for our visitors is the large public car park just over the road.
Link Building Made Easy (Part Two)
by Avatar Web Promotions
This month, we take a look at how you can deal with the requests you receive for link exchanges.
When you decide to publish links to other people's Web sites in exchange for links pointing to your site, you are trading in online 'recommendations'. Before exchanging links, it's generally a good idea to see if there is any benefit for you in doing this.
What to do with link exchange requests
To assess whether exchanging links with another site is good for you, it's a good idea to first assess the quality and integrity of the site requesting a link.
When to say 'no thanks'
- Say 'no' if the quality of a site is low. Find out by viewing the Google PageRank (PR) of the page your link would be published on. If it has a low PR, (less than your site's) it is not a particularly 'strong' recommendation for your site from a search engine optimisation point of view.
- Say 'no' if the integrity of the site is questionable. Does the site publish useful content or is it simply jam-packed with paid advertising listings? Do you find the site offensive in any way? Does the site look professional?
- Say 'no' if the site is irrelevant to your industry and not of genuine interest to your site visitors.
Princes and paupers
Don't worry if you seem to be saying 'no thanks' most of the time to link exchange requests. One link exchange with one high ranking, relevant and professional Web site (a prince) is worth more than a multitude of link exchanges from Web sites at the opposite end of the scale (the paupers).
Interesting Bits
- Visitor number highlights for month of September 2006
- Australia 82,404 down 1.8%
- US 10,458 up 1.8%
- UK 11,718 up 1.6%
- Japan 7,602 down 21.6%
- China 8,106 up 33%
- Korea 8,253 up 28.9%
- Quarter of a million .nz domains registered! InternetNZ announced recently that the number of domain names registered under the top level .nz domain reached over 250,000.
- Balkanisation of the Internet predicted. The chairman of the IGF (Internet Governance Forum) set up by the UN, recently discussed why the Internet could eventually develop into separate networks as users' requirements of language, speed, bandwidth and security grow increasingly different.
- Internet Explorer 7 released. Catching up to other browsers such as Firefox, IE 7 features new tabs for Web pages instead of new windows, searching from the browser and an anti-fraud system. If you're an IE user, check IE 7 out.
- Firefox 2.0 also released! Perhaps trying to make sure that Microsoft doesn't gain too much ground, Mozilla release an upgraded version of their browser, Firefox 2.0 this month. New features include improved tab browsing, session restore, spell-checking for blogs and Web based email, Web feeds management, search suggestions and integrated search, live bookmarks and more.
- The $100 'laptop' school-bag. Non-profit organisation, One Laptop per Child will reportedly be supplying Libya with over 1.2 million laptops for use by school children. The laptops offer Internet access and are powered by hand cranks.
- YouTube makes a cool $1.65 billion. Around the world over 100 million people watch clips on the YouTube Web site every day and now its founders, Chad and Steve, have sold up to Google for $1.65 billion... that's right, billion.
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
