Newsletter : September 2007

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

Web Site Statistics

Garry Bond is taking a well-earned break this month, so in lieu of the normal NZTO Comment we thought we would briefly cover Web site statistics.

Analysing your Web site usage data can show you, among other things, where your visitors are coming from and how they interact with your site. Checking your statistics after running a promotion can also help determine the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.

Here are the most common statistical terms and what they mean.

• Hits: A hit is registered as your Web site delivers a file to someone's browser. A Web page is usually made up of many files, such as HTML files and images. As an example your home page could consist of a single HTML page with four images on it. The actual number of recorded hits will be five, as your HTML page is one file and each image is also counted as a file. Needless to say, measuring hits is an inaccurate way of gauging how much traffic your site is getting.
• Visits: A visitor entering your site and viewing one or more page views. The end of a visit is signaled when the visitor leaves your site or a pre-defined period of inactivity.
• Unique Visitors: This is a more accurate way to measure visitors to your site, and accounts for each individual person that views your Web site within a specified time period. Each person is counted only once during that period, no matter how many times they visit.
• Visit Duration: Shows the length of time people are spending at your Web site. If the average visit length is brief, it's an indication you may need to review the content of your site.
• Page Views: The total number of pages viewed on a site. This also gives an indication of how many pages an average unique visitor viewed. For example if last month there were 2,000 unique visitors and 8,000 page views then we know that each unique visitor saw an average of four pages.
• Referrers or Referring URLS: The Web site address where a visitor was before they came to your site. Some referrals will be from search engines such as Google, others will be from Web sites that link to you. Understanding how people are arriving at your site is very important, and can help you assess your online marketing strategy.
• Search Key Phrases and Keywords: Search key phrases and keywords are the terms visitors use to find your site in a search engine. Keyword reports are also useful for what they don't show. For example, keywords that you have targeted that aren't showing up in your stats indicate your Web site may need to be better optimised.

Most Web hosting companies include statistical reports as part of their overall service - if you are not sure how to access them contact your Web host or Web designer.

Spam Filters

Some NZTO clients have mentioned that they haven't been receiving email notification of Web site enquiries submitted through the Make an Enquiry button on their listing.

Most internet service providers, such as Xtra and Ihug, have spam-filtering software installed on their servers that is designed to stop junk email from reaching your inbox. This works separately to any anti-spam software that may be set up on your computer.

Unfortunately, this can sometimes prevent legitimate email being received as well. To make sure you're not missing out on those emails, we recommend you regularly log in into the NZTO client area to check for enquiries.

NEW BOOKING FUNCTION

As a tourism operator (sorry only available to those with a gold listing or a gold listing with a Web page), don't forget to apply to add our new booking function to your listing. This booking function is fully integrated into our site and provides the ability for domestic or international travellers to book accommodation, trips and transport right now. Here's 10 points for you to consider.

1. Booking Button: You will have a "Make a Booking" button added to your listing
2. Compare and Book: You will be included as part of the "Compare Rates" function within your region and category
3. Cross Marketing: We can cross market your business, for example, someone who is interested in a rental car can also be offered accommodation options and visa versa
4. Packages: We have the ability to construct "packages", for example, you could be part of a "3 Day Escape to Nelson" package
5. Reduced Risk: Reduces the risk of losing a booking from customers ready to book now
6. Bookings: Generate confirmed sales from international and domestic travellers
7. Product: Additional exposure and details for your product offering, including availability and pricing
8. Profile: Be a profiled operator on our site with a booking capability
9. Save Time: Saves you time and effort by not having to deal with enquiries regarding availability
10. Timely Information: Provides immediate information to customers, anytime of the day or night

We have partnered with BookIt who will provide the booking system. We choose them because of the flexibility of the system and the excellent reporting functions, including the ability for you to gather travellers feedback.

Yes I'm Interested

It's free to setup but if you haven't already received information on this option, then please email us now.

If you already have the information, then simply click here to apply online.

Tourism Snippets

New Zealand on YouTube — New Zealand Tourism's new 100% Pure campaign was recently featured on the homepage of popular Internet site YouTube for a 24-hour period. YouTube had 56 million users last month.

NZONE Reigns Supreme — Congratulations to Queenstown and Rotorua tandem skydive operator NZONE for taking out the 2007 Air New Zealand Supreme Tourism Award. You can check out all of the category winners here.

Earlier Daylight Saving — An extra three weeks of daylight saving takes effect this month, starting on the last Sunday of September and finishing on the first Sunday of next April.

August Visitor Arrivals Up — International visitor arrivals increased by almost six per cent last month compared to August 2006.

World Tourism Day — Celebrated every year on September 27 by the World Tourism Organisation.