Category Archives: Tourism Marketing

It’s time to ask yourself if you’ve done everything you can to market your travel website to the right audience. If not, now is the time to try these 5 sure-fire strategies to boost your website performance:

Optimize your images

The number one selling feature of any travel-related website is photos. Some may say an image-heavy website is bad for SEO. We beg to differ. Images can be optimized with keywords using the alt tags and with proper naming conventions. These are also crawled by Google Bots and are displayed in both the Image Search results and the Universal results page. As a pro tip: submit an image sitemap in your Search Console (formerly Google Webmaster Tools) to get those beautiful pictures crawled. Another plus points for beautiful pictures – they’re not just good...

GDPR. No, it’s not just another buzzword that’s afloat on the internet. Everyone with a website needs to pay attention!

What is GDPR?

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation and it goes into effect internationally on the 25^th of May 2018. GDPR is an updated version of the Data Protection Directive that has been in effect since 1995. In the simplest terms, it boils down to protecting the rights of people who give you their personal data.

What personal data you may be collecting?

If you have Google Analytics, videos played on your site from YouTube, an e-commerce function that collects billing information and other features that load automatically on your site via “cookies” then you are collecting personal data.

GDPR does not only affect your business and your...

Winter continues, and for some its getting rather wet and cold! For those wanting to make the most of these cooler months head to the snow, enjoy a pizza by the fireplace with friends or explore new areas of New Zealand, in our case the Great Lake Taupo region.

You sit at your desk dreaming of what to do this weekend and an ad pops into your newsfeed telling you the weather is great for that ideal ski weekend! Or the weather is perfect to embrace the cooler days with a relaxing soak in the hot pools. 
This is where things start to get fun! The ads that are served differ based on weather, whether that be past, current or future weather conditions (set to your preferences) you can reach those who might be looking for indoor activities on raining days, or outdoor on sunny...

If pictures paint a thousand words, how effective do you think videos will be for marketing your tourism business? Film conveys so much more than text and pictures. Just image, you can give your intended customers a real glimpse of what you can offer. Show your audience the sweeping views from your hotel balcony or maybe the exhilarating feeling of bungy jumping off a platform. How about sharing that sense of calm the sounds and sights of your sleepy coastal town can bring?

Whether it’s an accommodation, an experience or a destination – a video can allow your potential customers to immerse in that experience and you can connect with them emotionally.

The statistics about the use of video in tourism marketing really drive the point home. For instance:

• In a 2011 survey by...

Quality Content

Every image you post should look like it belongs in a magazine Instagram is a “dreaming” channel in the purchase process, so the images should make someone want to pack their bags immediately and run/fly/swim to your destination, whatever it takes!

Use bright, sharp images with a strong focal point. If the details in the image are blurry or too small, they won’t translate well on mobile.

Decoding Hashtags

Hashtags are not to be ignored! They are a search function for your images – hashtags allow strangers to find your posts when searching for their interests.

Avoid cutesy tags such as #sorrynotsorry for your brand, and make use of strong search terms and your unique branded tag or destination tags, such as #NZMustDo and #NewZealand. These will help...

Have you jumped on the mobile bandwagon yet? If you haven’t yet, you are missing out big time! Mobile continues its ascend up the ladder of importance for internet users. Most website owners are starting to see the percentage of mobile as a channel grow month on month.

Google is at the forefront of this paradigm shift as they continue to push for the perfect mobile experience. In 2014, they added the mobile-friendly label to search results to help users “find pages where the text and content were readable without zooming in.” While plans for removal of this label are already underway, Google will continue to include the mobile-friendly criteria as a ranking signal. 

Get Started on Mobile

First things first, if you’re not yet mobile-friendly, call Tomahawk now. We can help...