Ideas & knowhow

Websites

Three quick tips = big difference to your website

3 quick tips

I've recently spent a LOT of time looking at tourism business websites. I'm one of the judges for the VIsitEngland Awards for Excellence and have been sifting through countless application forms and then double-checking the look, feel and contents of websites. 

Considering these are some of the best tourism businesses in the country, it's been frustrating to see how many websites are not as good as they need to be to impress potential visitors.

The best websites aren't necessarily the most ex…

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Stop the scroll

stop the scroll

We want people to scroll - to find our posts and information. But then we want them to stop. We need visitors to stop scrolling long enough to take in the reasons why our areas and businesses are worth visiting. We need them to stop scrolling so they can choose us.

We need visitors to absorb essential information on our websites, and visitors don't always have the patience to scroll all the way down your pages to find what they're looking for. 

The answer: use really compelling information and…

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TLDR - what it means for your business

Blog - TLDR

Have you noticed the letters TLDR or TL;DR on social media recently? If you haven't, now I've pointed it out you probably will. It's everywhere!

TLDR means Too Long - Don't Read.

It's an abbreviation used just before a quick summary of a longer post or article. The idea is that we're all so busy we like to find shortcuts. So the TLDR is for anyone in a hurry. Some people will read the full version, but only if they think it's worth it - the summary gives the rough gist, and can entice further …

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Optimise your Google Business Profile

Google Business Profile

This is something you can quickly do to raise the profile of your business.

It's easier and quicker than you think so if you're been putting it off... do it now!

It's important. It's free. It's optimising your Google Business Profile - the new name for Google My Business. Don't worry about the 'optimise bit' - I'll explain. 

92% of search engine searches are on Google so it's incredibly powerful. You want your business to show up as high in the results pages as possible. You don't need any te…

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Using and responding to reviews

Reviews
You’ve put everything you have into making your business as good as it can be. You’ve poured in blood, sweat, tears, money, your heart and soul. And then like a slap in the face, you suddenly get a bad review or negative feedback.
We'll deal with how you can make use of good reviews in a moment. Let's tackle the negative ones first

I’ve spoken to many tourism business owners who feel really demoralised when this happens. It’s so easy to focus on one bad review, even when all your oth…

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What every visitor wants to know about your location

locations

"Location, location, location" are said to be the three things that most affect property values. Location's also crucial to the success of tourism businesses.

I'm not sure we recognise and use location enough, or in the right way. 

Of course, every tourism business gives their address. They might add a map, or include a mention of their 'fantastic location' on the home page of their website. All fine, but you can use your location in many other ways to attract visitors and enhance your search …

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Surprise and delight to get more word of mouth publicity

How to surprise and delight for word of mouth pubicity

Ask any tourism business what's their most effective, lowest cost marketing method and they'll almost certainly answer 'word of mouth'. It's easy, it's free - and it 'just happens'. Or does it?

Most businesses just hope for word of mouth publicity and recommendations from satisfied customers. They do a good job, and hope word of mouth referrals will follow. Now we have 'word of mouth on steroids', in the form of social media so it's become even more important to impress.

Surprisingly few peopl…

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Simple web check and update

SImple web check and update

If you only have a few seconds to convince someone to stay on your website and decide to visit you, what do you need to do to get results?

1. Build confidence

Consistency is key. You need your potential customers to trust you. Simple things help.

Keep the same fonts, photo style and colours through-out your website.

Now might be a good time to click through all the pages of your website to check there’s nothing on there that’s out of place? Maybe you had to add some Covid-info in a hurry and…

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Are your potential customers stuck in the 'messy middle' ?

Messy middle

I'm old enough to remember the days when people decided to book a holiday simply based on either a neighbour's recommendation or an ad in the Christmas edition of the Radio Times. Nowadays decision-making is much more complicated. You may not realise it but you're probably losing income and bookings because some of your potential guests and visitors are stuck in the 'messy middle'.

This is the name Google gives to the gap between when someone is first interested in what you offer and their …

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