Having been firmly conditioned (since shortly after 1998) that Google was "supreme deity of search engines", I took highly publicized search entries of Yahoo and MSN with more than proverbial "grain of salt".

Throughout a very recent two month period, one of my websites occupied #5 position on Google, Yahoo, and MSN for a very popular and important (at least in my line of business) three word search term. This situation provided an opportunity to measure current popularity of each of these three search providers.

If asked "before fact", I would have guessed that Google would still be overwhelming #1 search choice and that Yahoo and MSN would be distant #2 and #3 choices. Therefore, I was somewhat surprised by results that were tabulated during this recent 60 day period.

For period in question, search popularity results were as follows:

Google: 34% Yahoo: 31% MSN: 20% All others: 15%

Granted, above results are for a single search term over a particular 60 day time period, but results clearly show that Yahoo and MSN are already important players in search business.

Webmasters that stick to old ways and focus entirely on Google are missing out on a lot of search traffic these days if they are not also well ranked by Yahoo and MSN.

Build awareness of a product or destination, and reshape existing perceptions;

Generate interest;

Provide information to turn interest into desire;

Transact actual purchase or series of purchases;

Provide reassurance of a good purchase and offer preparatory information for actual tourism experience;

Continue to provide information, shape perception, and improve experience during tourist's journey;

Aid and deepen memories after tourism experience;

Build upon your relationship to your customer, to add value for both you and tourist; and

Encourage referrals and generate repeat business.

There are different goals to achieve and appropriate methods of communication for each of these circumstances. Adding further complexity is fact that different people (family members, friends, co-workers, etc.) may be involved and have varying importance at different stages of one purchase decision! In conclusion

Despite these complexities, there are some basic guidelines which will help you communicate and market effectively online. The next in this series of articles presents advice for attracting visitors to your website.

(Seattle, USA; August 2004)