Google Slavery...Old Habits Die HardWritten by Kirk Bannerman
For first few months after Yahoo decided to go their own way with natural search (and MSN decided to get serious about search business), search results provided by those two could only be described as bizarre. Enough time has now passed that dust has somewhat settled and there are three main (from a traffic standpoint) sites for quality natural searches.The term "natural search" is to distinguish true searches, as opposed to paid advertisements which appear in search results for many search engines these days. I guess you can't really fault search engine companies from wanting to make some money (actually, BIG money) selling ad space, but debate over virtues of natural search versus paid advertising search is something that could take up a very large book and still have no clear resolution...much like arguments revolving around religion or politics. Like most people that have been working as online home business entrepreneurs for a few years, I was strongly conditioned to need to "feed 800 pound gorilla" of search engine world. Basically, "if Google didn't love you", it was very difficult to get any meaningful natural search traffic to your website. Since Google was actually search engine that was serving up results for most of popular search portals, if Google didn't look kindly upon your site and rank you well, you would not be ranked well for most of high traffic search sites on Internet. However, search landscape changed dramatically early in 2004 and things have been very fluid and interesting since that time. Its not that Google has stumbled, or become ineffective as a search vehicle, its just that major players like Yahoo and Microsoft (via MSN) have decided to make a major thrust into search business.
| | Marketing Tourism Online, part one: The BasicsWritten by Bryan Wilson
This is part one of an article series which will introduce some basic strategies, considerations, elements, and techniques for marketing tourism products online. We plan to update and refine these articles as situations change and when we have new knowledge to present. You can request to be notified when a new article in series is available. Opportunities and room to improve While most tourism organizations are by now familiar with Internet, far fewer have really gained an understanding of technologies, new resources, new communication opportunities, and requirements that they represent. These tips and explanations should prove a useful introduction. While new technologies provide new opportunities, they don't change basics of marketing: people, product, price, promotion, and distribution. Know your target markets, understand their purchase decision processes, and offer them right product, at right time, for right price—and correct your course continually. Shaping purchase decision process and tourism experience Your online communication with customers can be used to shape outcomes in following circumstances and stages, in relation to a potential tourist's purchase decision and tourism experience. Good communication can:
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