Need more website visitors? easy trick to help.

I haven't made a post for a long while, as I have relocated from Tauranga New Zealand to San Diego California and married my Yank. So Hi Again :) if you remember I do SEO, or make websites findable in search engines.

All website names are fictitious, just for examples. and I don't know this area myself, so I'll probably say something wrong, but you should get the idea.

I have a quick easy tip to help your website rank better in search engine results without spending more than $20.

Lets say you would like to attract more international visitors, we'll say Americans, since I'm one now, I'm and expert on how they search :).

Most website names (domain names/urls) are the name of the business right... which is fair enough if it's a great big internationally known business, but often the business names, won't mean much to an American couple, looking for a place to stay near Sydney. Australia.

Say you have a lovely private bed and breakfast, in Edgecliff, which according to google maps is close to Bondi Beach in Sydney, and your website name, is www.koalaB&B.com.au or even KoalaHouse.com.au the chances of our America couple finding your lovely B&B is pretty slim right?

Did you know that a website can have more than one domain name? well your website can have several domain names...it your host allows it... now don't get rid of your original domain name, you want that for a quick easy domain name for business cards, and to tell people over the phone, but consider buying another good keywordy domain name, that is especially for search engines.

If you read the post I made back in Nov 07, you would know that Americans search for Bed and Breakfast rather thanB&B or the other options, read about in the reference at the end of this post. And the cheapest place I know to buy a .com domain name is godaddy.com.

now look at the words on your home page of your website, let’s say you have written you have a private bed and breakfast situated between bondi beach and syndey

So the red bold words are great keywords, so think about and what sort of domain name might suit, it doesn't matter if it's long or has hyphens, remember you aren't going to use this domain name for anything else, just to get people to your website nothing else.

Start searching for a secondary domain name at godaddy.com, they only cost $9.99 USD per year and when you have one you can live with buy it, and have your web designer park the name over your original domain name to your website

When thinking what words to use, think about the sort of thing, that someone that doesn’t know about your business, but would want to stay there or use your service, just might search for, like this one looks like it's available because it's so long.

www.bed-and-breakfast-near-bondi-beach-sydney.com

Now you might think this is overkill, but think about it, if this long name got you just 1 visitor that stayed for 1 night, once a year, it has paid for itself. And depending on what other words you have on your home page, a domain name like that would quite possibly get you many many visitors.

And lets face it, if it didn’t work at all, you have only lost less than $20, 2 tiny ads in the newspaper probably costs about that much.

Reference: What people from various countries search for when looking for a B&B,

http://tourismoperators.blogspot.com/2007/11/how-to-tell-if-your-seo-has-done-there.html

Cheers Lynny
lynny@canzdesign.com
SEO Services

What are your web plans for 2009

With the travel marketing been tight in 2009 it pays to think about your marketing strategy and in particular your online presence.

Some things to consider are:

a) Do you know how your customers find you?

b) Is your website working for you?

c) Can customers book on your website and receive immediate confirmation? Or are you still doing the email tag - with customers booking more last minute accommodation you will be missing out to your competitors who have instant confirmation.

d) If you sell other tours - why not sell them online when customers book your own travel product. Or include a summary of ideas and suggestions for booking with your email confirmation. 

e) Do you have an email newsletter or blog yet?

f) Can you update your website easily?

g) Are you using PPC (pay per click) advertising? Are you paying too much per click? Or paying for irrelevant clicks or missing out on clicks with the wrong key words?

There is a lot more but these are just some of the simplest things you can do to improve your online performance in 2009.

Rainbow Tourism can assist you with managing your online presence as we have a large number of partners who offer great value for money. Contact us and we can give you some ideas and quote for different services we can offer you.