Here's another key question that I have been hearing a lot (both in emails and the comments on this blog) and give you a couple more examples of social proof (video testimonials). The question is this:
“What about traffic to my web site?”
In other words, how do you get people to your website?
This is a great question, and I am really pleased that so many of you are asking it – it shows that we have some really sharp readers. 
You see, in the beginning of the Internet, we were in the “build it and they will come” era. Now as Dan Austin commented in the recent video interview, this is “Field of Dreams Tourism Website Marketing”, that just doesn’t work.
“Webmasters” often cold-call businesses, and showing them some fancy looking site and giving them some pie-in-the-sky sales pitch about how they would build some fancy site for them (really just one of those Dead on Arrival brochure sites), and then they would tell them how many million users there were on the Internet… and if only 1% of those people visited your site, it would mean wealth beyond dreams.
OK, maybe I am exaggerating a bit… but not very much!
With all these questions I have been getting about traffic, it is obvious that we have all gotten a little more sophisticated – or at least we have been through the wringer a few too many times.
In any case, this is the deal with traffic (and remember, I am not a propeller head, but I have been studying this stuff non-stop for over 10 years now).
See the 4 key traffic points below these 2 video (social proof) examples.
Remember, getting your clients recommending, reviewing and endorsing you, is one of the best ways to communicate your credibility. Watch these two very short customer comments now. I want you to see I practice what I preach.
Alaskan Tour Operator/Lodge Owner – Sales Up 41%
20 Year plus Adventure Travel Industry Icon
KEY POINT #1: Traffic is important, but conversion is just as important… and maybe more so.
You see, if your travel website doesn’t convert visitors into inquiries, bookings and arrivals, it doesn’t matter if you are getting 10,000 visitors to your site every day. It really is that simple.
The better your site converts, the more money you make. And the way I show you how to build your websites and marketing communications in my course, when your site delivers a lead… that lead is already pre-sold to a large degree. So you are not only getting more business, you aren’t working as hard once you get that business.
Another key thing about conversion – the better your conversion, the more liberties you can take in spending money to get visitors to your site.
You see, a lot of traffic sources are free; (and I am going to show you how to get it). However, you can also pay to drive targeted traffic. Well, if your site is converting 5 visitors out of 100, versus your competitor’s site converting 1 visitor out of 1000, then you can spend more money to drive people to your site.
Plus, all the website conversion coaching you will get in the New Tourism Marketing Success Course, will also help in all your travel marketing conversions. J
KEY POINT #2: The best traffic is key word targeted.
The traffic that you want at your site is traffic from people that are specific to your travel and hospitality service, destination or activity offerings. This is the traffic that is going to turn into business.
Remember in my interview Dan Austin said that his webmaster wanted to optimize his website for “Yellowstone camping” because there was a lot of search volume? Since Austin Lehman Adventures doesn’t do camping, it would have been a very expensive mistake for Dan if he relied totally on his web master…
Since Dan had educated himself, he understood why that was bad advice and was able to better direct his web master’s online traffic building.
The good news is that it is easier to “earn” free traffic from the search engines, if that traffic is targeted properly in your website. This is a nice paradox – the correct key word traffic is not only easier to get, but it is a lot more valuable.
My course is built to help you capture your best-targeted traffic.
But most of the travel and hospitality website marketers completely miss this point. Which leads to another big point…
KEY POINT #3: The traffic game is not static.
This is the deal (and this is probably the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT thing about traffic)… I wish that the traffic question had one easy answer. Then we could get that solved and move on.
Unfortunately, it isn’t that simple.
The search engines are CONSTANTLY changing. Google goes through a major update about 6 to 10 times a year.
They call this the “Google Dance” and that is when they shake up how they list web sites. If you already have a site, you have probably seen this as your “rankings” change over time (usually for the worse). The truth is that sometimes this makes the game very easy, and sometimes we have to adjust the way we are doing things.
In other words, you can’t just sit still.
That is why it is so critically important to have a team onboard that understands this stuff, and is constantly on the lookout to figure out what’s working NOW.
As you have seen in my interviews (or maybe heard on my Travel Business Success Podcast on iTunes over the last 4 years), I am constantly researching and sharing best practices, especially in the world of Internet tourism marketing.
Plus as founding VP of Maverick Business Adventures with Internet Marketing Guru Yanik Silver, and my personal friendship with dozen’s of Internet marketing millionaires via Maverick, I have awesome knowledge and support on what’s working online.
These Maverick Internet superstars and many others I have worked with over the years are the ones, who are watching Google, and Yahoo, and MSN.
When they notice a change, something new that is working… I hear it first and jump on it and adapt it to my teaching. And when they are perfected, those changes are instantly rippled throughout my trainings and course, so EVERYONE who is a course customer of mine gets the latest “unfair” advantage.
KEY POINT #4: This isn’t just a web site.
As I mentioned up in Point #3, the traffic game is always changing.
That makes this piece critical – you aren’t just going to get a world-class website marketing course from me, but you will get ongoing training and support. When my “advisory board” and I uncover some new traffic secret, you are going to hear about it first.
You see, sometimes the traffic game is really easy. Sometimes the slightest tweak in your web site can bring in a ton of traffic.
These are things you never knew about before (that isn’t your fault, of course – you have a business to run, you can’t stay on top of all this techno-geek stuff)… but they can drive a lot of traffic to your site.
With my new course, I will make sure you get the training to take care of it in an efficient and painless matter. Or I will refer you to one of my strategic alliances I use to get my techno-geek stuff done. J
Don’t get me wrong – since things are always changing, there AREN’T always these magic bullets out there. But we are always looking for them, and when we find those magic bullets then we will get them in your hands ASAP.
BOTTOM LINE:
Traffic is critically important. You need a tourism website that CONVERTS that traffic to dollars, you need E-marketing education that helps you captures TARGETED traffic, and you need the training and SUPPORT that will adapt to a constantly changing search engine battlefield.
To your success, Tourism Tim
P.S. We have two very cool traffic techniques that will get you free website traffic and help your search engine ranking quickly too covered in the course. We will cover that in one of our early follow-up “Master Mind” sessions after the grand opening of the course next week.
PPS I am going to show you next week this cool “Tourism Marketing Return on Investment” Calculator I had built so you can see for yourself how much more money you will earn when you increase your sales conversion even just a little. It’s amazing what how a small increase in traffic and inquiries which convert to new sales and arrivals, have a HUGE difference in your bottom line.
PPPS Here’s a kind note I got last night from Linkedin Connection and subscriber Linda Sorgiovanni in Italy.
“Dear Tim;
Thank you for your message. I watched your 58 minute film a few days ago about web marketing for the travel industry. It really helped as I am in the process of redoing my website.
I live in Florence, Italy I have been a tour guide and driver for ten years.
Thanks again and I look forward to your other films.” Best Regards, Linda Sorgiovanni
If you haven’t seen this special training, Why Most Travel Websites Are Dead On Arrivals, and What you Need to Do to Make Sure Yours isn’t One of Them, I have decided to keep this posted for a while longer.
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