Owner: Online Marketing for Tourism URL:http://onlinemarketingfortourism.blogspot.com Join Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2007 23:05:59 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Online marketing blog by Stuart Gow aimed B2B for small to medium operators looking for a cost effective and measurable way to use their marketing funds! Site statistics:Click here
New scuba blog from Fiji 2007-04-13 06:53:00 Nice new clean blog from Fiji. Some new off the beaten track stories from around the world of divingread more | digg story
Blog Tip #1: Use your main keyword in your blog domain 2007-04-13 06:07:00 The first thing to do is to ensure that your blogs URL contains the primary keyword you want to optimize for. Using the targeted keyword in sub-domain
s also helps. For example, if you want to start a blog site about diving then the primary keyword you want your URL to contain is diving. So choose a URL like www.divingblog.com. You can also use the keyword in subdomains like www.fiji-resort.com/diving
SEO tips for tourism blogs 2007-04-13 06:05:00 I am constantly asked about some simple tips and techniques to start to make a difference in the all important search engines.So I have pulled together some simple rules for search engine optimization and if you start following them then your blog will rank much higher in Search Engines. Read more:SEO
Microsoft adCenter 2007-04-13 05:42:00 Your ideal audience is among the millions. PPC helps find them for you. MSN reaches nearly two out of three Web customers, and Live Search reaches over 40 million a month.1 Reach the right customers with search ads targeted at the audience you want. How does search advertising work? Pay only when people click your ads.Set your own price per click.See when your clicks lead to sales.Target your ads to the times, places, and customers you want the most.Use built-in tools to get keyword ideas, audience information, and detailed reports on your ads. 1 Nielsen/NetRatings, Competitive Site Reports, November 2004 Read more:Microsoft
Google Pay Per Action PPA 2007-04-13 05:29:00 Google announced recently that they will be offering Pay Per Action
(PPA) advertising in addition to their well established Pay Per Click (PPC) program.Currently in beta, and only available to US based subscribers, will this new program make huge waves in the affiliate advertising community?See the Google website here...Here's what Google say themselves:"Increase your advertising reach while paying only for actions that you define. First, you'll create an ad and define the action that you want a user to perform when they visit your site, such as signing up for your newsletter or purchasing a product. Then you'll set the amount that you're willing to pay when this action is completed. Finally, you'll install conversion tracking code on your website so that we can verify when an action has been completed.Once you've completed these steps, publishers in the Google content network can choose to place your ads on their website. You'll only pay when a user clicks on your ad, visits Read more:Google
, Google Pay
Google Analytics 2007-04-07 10:01:00 Again another tool that you just cannot do without. And it's free!GoogleAnalytics
tells you everything you want to know about how your visitors found you and how they interact with your site. Focus your marketing resources on campaigns and initiatives that deliver ROI, and improve your site to convert more visitors.Google Analytics
has the enterprise level capabilities you'd expect from a high end web analytics offering and also provides timesaving integration with AdWords. Of course, Google Analytic tracks all of your non-AdWords initiatives as well.In the next few posts I will try and run through how easy it is to set this up, and how to use the info this tool gives you.
Google Webmaster Tools 2007-04-07 09:57:00 I can't recommend looking after your own web real estate enough.With 84% of all web searches on Google
, you'd better check what Google has indexed and how and where.Google WebmasterTools Read more:Google Webmaster Tools
ScubaTravelGuide.com Announces Free Listings for Scuba Resorts 2007-04-04 06:29:00 San Francisco, CA: February 2, 2007 (DNW)Dive Resorts
now have free access to the most comprehensive online scuba travel guide Scuba
Travel Guide http://www.ScubaTravelGuide.com ScubaTravelGuide.com is for ANY dive resort looking for additional exposure and high search engine placement. All listings include a picture, overview, and amenities list of your resort. In addition, a gallery of pictures can be added as well as user generated reviews. Every Monday we will accept submissions for the home page profiles of “Featured Destinations” and “Deals of the Month”. For a limited time, the first 5 resorts to send us their requests for a home page listing in one of these categories will be posted (subject to editorial oversight). Make sure not to miss out on this great opportunity! Many resorts have already been added by our team. Resort owners are requested to review their information, and “take ownership” of their listing in the system. They will then be ab
Google Earth publicity 2007-04-04 01:55:00 Google Earth
combines the power of Google Search with satellite imagery, maps, terrain and 3D buildings to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips. Fly to your house. Just type in an address, press Search, and you’ll zoom right in. Search for schools, parks, restaurants, and hotels. Get driving directions. Tilt and rotate the view to see 3D terrain and buildings. Save and share your searches and favorites.More than this for tourism operators, it allows us to pinpoint our resorts and activity areas anywhere in the world. Prospective guests can now 'fly' in a virtual world to see where you are.Combining it with other online programs you can even post photographs of your resort and area to appear.Give it a go, download Google Earth
here... And play to see how powerful this is can be for showing customers what you offer 'live' online.More later about kmz files that can provide a full fetaured download on your website to fly around y Read more:Google
, publicity
Free Download Manager 2007-04-04 01:48:00 Okay, with all the downloads and programs that are getting bigger by the day, here is my solution to the drop-out problem. This FDM program is tiny to download by itself and manages downloads wonderfully. Works with my Firefox and my partner's IE7 flawlessly.Free Download
Manager is social software as well so you get an inkling about what you're downloading before you do anything stupid!This program is invaluable in the small islands as our telephonelines drop out ALL the time and always after you' got 95% thru a download. This way you don't have to start again!Check it out, and download it here.=======================================Free Download Manager (FDM) is a full-featured download accelerator and manager. It is absolutely free! Using this software product you can easily download a list of files and whole web sites from any remote server via HTTP, HTTPS and FTP. With FDM the downloading process will be as easy as never before! FDM is a light-weight, powerful and e
Manager Tools - Tools for Leaders and Managers 2007-03-31 01:41:00 Manager Tools
- Tools for Leaders
and Managers
Love these guys. Give us the kick in the pants we all need to pull our heads out and live up to our own expectations.Manager Tools - Tools for Leaders and Managers
Dion Hinchcliffe's Web 2.0 Blog 2007-03-31 01:40:00 For those of us who actually do read online amazing amounts of info can be found on Dion's blog.Dion Hinchcliffe's Web 2.0 Blog
The best Email Marketing Solution ! 2007-03-28 08:46:00 Okay so maybe I am overstating a bit, but I love it and so do my clients.We have tried the software to run from the office, and the big ones online (who drop out with our broadband connection!), and these guys & girls have aced it every time. I recommend them 100% Read more:Email
, Marketing
, Solution
, Email Marketing
Get ready for Social Media Marketing 2007-03-28 08:14:00 The year 2006 saw the emergence of social media. If you are engaged in operating a website, you must realign your site to exploit the popular social media sites for increased traffíc. You should also introduce social media components to your site because web users are experiencing these new forms of interactions on more and more sites and they may have an expectation of the same from your site also. If you want to attract repeat visitors and want them to stay longer, your focus this year should be on the social aspects of your site....Read more at Deepak Dutta's website Read more:Marketing
, ready
, Social
First post to get me going 2007-03-28 01:21:00 Okay here is the first post just to get started. Saying as this has become my major business of late, ther eis no reason why I shouldn't start writing about it Read more:First
Blog Tip #3: Use your secondary keywords in the body of your post 2007-04-18 06:10:00 If you want to get listed for secondary keywords (which most of everyone does), use them infrequently in the body of your post.The theory is that the more times a keyword appears within a blog's web page, the more relevant the page is likely to be for someone searching those keywords.But do not overdo this by repeating the same keywords over and over again. Google bots can find out if a keyword is too frequent on a page and might just remove your site from their index.As outlined below, checking a keyword density using software is a smart idea. See the post on WebCEO in April 2007.
Blog Tip #2: Use your primary keyphrase in the title of your posts 2007-04-18 06:09:00 If your primary key phrase is diving help make sure that the word diving and help appear in your blog headers such as H1 and H2 tags as well as the title of each of your posts
.So make sure you have a usable keyword!
Blog Tip #4: Use your keywords in the anchor text of links 2007-04-19 06:11:00 Use your primary and secondary keywords in the anchor
text of links
when linking to other blog posts or to other pages of your blog.Keyword in links have more importance than simple text. This is major to the search engines, ANCHOR TEXT IS VITAL!For example if you want to rank using the keyword diving then make sure all the links to the site use the word diving like this: divingDon't just put in the code http://www.diving.blogspot.com, use the link button in the posting WYSIWYG editor and highlight the keyword, like this: diving
Google PR 2007-04-18 03:49:00 Google PR: "PageRank ExplainedPageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves 'important' weigh more heavily and help to make other pages 'important.'Important, high-quality sites receive a higher PageRank, which Google remembers each time it conducts a search. Of course, important pages mean nothing to you if they don't match your query. So, Google combines PageRank with sophisticated text-matching techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant to your search. Google goes far beyond the number of times a term appears on a page and examines all aspects of the page's content (and the content of the pages linking to Read more:Google
ClusterMaps 2007-04-13 05:53:00 Here is cool wee tool that shows the international nature of our websites.Locate all site visitors on a map on your blog. See at a glance where your site's visitors are located: instantaneously, even when the numbers are enormous! Visitors don't need to click on anything: just viewing your page is sufficient.One thumbnail map on your site shows it all: They provide the HTML that gives you a thumbnail map, like the one on the right at the bottom right of my page, and the map embedded here.When it loads, it increments a counter and shows the locations of all the visitors to your page, cumulatively (even for huge numbers). Clicking on it zooms in to a big world map, and lets you zoom in to the continents.Cool widget for travel sites when the globe is what people are looking for!See ClusterMaps website to sign up, the best part of course is it's free!
Amazon.com Associates Program 2007-04-24 10:19:00 Launched in 1996, Associates
is Amazon
.com's affiliate marketing program. By linking to Amazon products and services you can add compelling content for your site visitors enjoyment and receive up to 10% in referral fees for doing so. As one of the first online affiliate marketing programs, Associates has a 10-year track record of developing solutions to help website owners, Web developers, and Amazon sellers make money. Our latest innovations include aStore, Omakase™ Links, and Product Previews. Current participants in the Amazon Associates program include large, well-known sites, niche content sites and blogs, comparison shopping engines, search engine marketers, and everything in between. Visit our Current Associates page to see how some of these members are using our solutions. How the Program
WorksAssociates drive internet traffic to Amazon.com through specially formatted links that allow us to track sales and other activity.Associates earn up to 10% in referral fees
How will PPA effect adsense publishers and will it mean reduced revenuein Tourism sites? 2007-04-24 05:33:00 The PPA adverts will be shown ONLY on the content network and not the search network so this will amplify any effect
in this area. The PPA program isnt exactly a new model and is basically the same as most affiliate programs that only pay for purchases or signups. Unlike normal adsense ads that analyse the content of a web site to determine relevent ads to show on the site adwords PPA allows the publisher to choose which ads to show on their site. For publishers that don't wish to trawl through directories of adverts there will be an option to let Google choose the highest paying relevant ads from various topic areas. Revenue earned will most likely be comparable to PPC revenues for sites though but earned through a low volume of sales as compared to a higher volume of clicks. It impossible top predict what will happen but it certainly will be interesting to see how things pan out. Google is a pretty savvy operator in this field so will probably have its plans well founded Read more:reduced
, Tourism
So Why Did Google Launch Pay-Per-Action PPA? 2007-04-23 05:32:00 So why is Google
launching a new Pay-Per-Action
PPA product if the PPC click is working so well? Will it eventually move completely away from the PPC model that redefined online advertising and offer just PPA advertising?Most likely Google will wait and see how the markets change before making any decisions. Are advertisers concerned enough about click fraud to jump ship altogether or will they see PPA as an addition rather than a replacement? Most likely both will remain side by side although most experts expect many advertisers to move away from PPC to PPA. For some tourism advertisers the PPA action model will definitely be a better option. Resort and cruise tourism operators with online booking facilities will mostly benefit as they can run a campaign that they will only pay fees whenever they make an actual online sale so they are guaranteed to make profit or not pay any advertising fees if they get no conversions. It eliminates the risk for operators and will probably Read more:Launch
What are link farms & why they are bad... 2007-04-22 03:39:00 I'm sure you've all heard the term 'link farm' and have even heard that it's a bad idea to participate in these linking schemes designed to artificially boost link popularity. So the question I get form people is, what exactly is a link farm anyway?It's hilarious, but in all this time of Internet and Online Marketing, I never truly understood the term until a friend came to message boards and talked about a link program he was involved in. It wasn't a type of program I've ever participated in...but I still didn't realize it was a link farm. It was just a group of small businesses in one industry trying to find a way to promote each other.But so what, let's get to the point: What is a Link Farm?A link farm is when group of websites get together to link to each other. One main links page is created with links to all the participant's websites and each participant places that links page on their website. Et voila! Instantly a whole load of links to your website.Now whether o
Blog Tip #6: Get backlinks from other blogs 2007-04-13 06:18:00 You need as many links as possible to link back to your posts or blog because it will help you build pagerank and get your blog to rank higher in search engines. The more links you have the higher your blog is ranked in Technorati helping your blog to be found easily. So how do we get backlinks
? Basically a lot of hard graft and slogging and cutting and pasting.The 1st thing to do to get high-quality links is to submit your blog and RSS feed to blog search engines and directories. As a start submit your blog to all the directories listed on this page:http://www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55/http://www.toprankblog.com/rss-blog-directories/Link exchanging with other similarly-themed blogs will help you to form richly interlinked networks or communities. This again takes a lot of time online cruising around to find them. Start by searching for your keywords and the word blog...If you find an interesting article on another blog, link to it generously. This means 3 to 5 times from a p
Blog Tip #5: Make sure search engines can spider your blog easily 2007-04-13 06:15:00 Make sure your navigation bar is present on all pages of your blog. Your previous posts or at least the popular ones should be linked to all pages so they get spidered easily.Most of the standard blog set-ups (WordPress, TypePad, Blogger) will give you an option to have Archives and Blog Archives module to do this automatically for you.Remember, we are going to submit only the primary domain and RSS feeds to the directories and search engines
and they will only find all of your pages and posts if they are linked on the main page. Read more:search engines
So what exactly is Pay Per Action (PPA)? 2007-04-13 05:31:00 The Google AdWords (for advertisers) and AdSense (for publishers) programs currently charge/pay each time an advert is clicked on and this is open to abuse by fraud publishers clicking on their own adverts or using automated click-bots to gain revenue.Google is oh so very aware of this and some sites are quoting figures of up to 30% of all clicks could be considered fraudulent.This is a hell of a lot of profit for the fraud-gangsters and a huge cost for advertisers even if only a small percentage of this is undetected.Despite the click fraud problem the advertising model does work really well and continues to attract both advertisers and publishers. This just shows how effective online ad campaigns really are! Read more:Action
PADI Provides Members Access to High Quality Marketing and Promotional Materials 2007-04-25 04:04:00 Got to say, PADI has at last seem the light and given a real boost to online maketing dive centres around the world. Any dive centre who is affiliated with PADI who does not do this should be shot (or don't boither as they are shooting themselves in the foot anyway!)=============================================================PADI Simplifies Marketing
for Dive Centers and Resorts with materials that can be customized for each individual dive store or resort. Creating custom professional marketing pieces has never been easier because PADI Americas has expanded the PADI Marketing Center available exclusively to PADI Dive Center and Resort Members
via Merrill Corporation. Since 2006, PADI Dive Center and Resort Members have been able to personalize and order a variety of marketing materials to support their diver acquisition and retention efforts. Members can access materials - from flyers to posters to brochures or postcards - that support all PADI marketing campaigns. PADI Members can Read more:Access
, Quality
, Materials
Secrets of the SCUBA Show Success-AGGRESSIVE MARKETING 2007-04-25 04:03:00 Huge Active Market and Aggressive Promotion Make the SCUBA Show a Consistent Winner. 2007 set to be biggest year ever for popular Long Beach, CA event.The annual SCUBA Show expo will be celebrating its 20th year with expansion, new programs and an expectation of record attendance. Every year for the last 17 years the show has exceeded an annual attendance of 10,000. SCUBA Show 2007 is expected to increase these numbers dramatically with new and aggressive advertising in several dive journals, freeway billboard advertising, web advertising, and more. Aggressive advertising and promotion is just one of the reasons for the long term and consistent success of the annual expo known as THE Diving Event of the Year!™Other important reasons include:• Base population within one-hour driving radius of the show: 16 million.• California is the largest single diving market segment in the U.S.• Southern California has the largest concentration of divers in the world.• PADI & most major Read more:Secrets
, Success
Link Popularity & Link Repuation 2007-04-18 03:43:00 Link Popularity
& Link Repuation: "What is Link Popularity
& Link ReputationApril 2004By Alice SebaA couple terms you'll need to understand before you proceed to understand how to optimize your website are:link popularity & link reputationYou see...just like everywhere else, the Internet is a popularity game. :) Being popular is nice, but your reputation is actually crucial.Let's keep it simple. Here are some explanations of link popularity & link reputation:Link popularity - Very simply put...it's the number of links pointing to your website. The idea is that the more websites, that link to you the more important...and thus popular...your website is. Of course, search engines like Google, also look at the quality of these links...so don't be mistaken by thinking quantity is most important...quality is key (and we'll discuss that in the articles included in this section). Reality Check: Being popular is nice, but doesn't really contribute where each page of your website
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