Tourism INTERNET Marketing Blog 1.0

Personally, I have always believed that the web is like a Virtual Focus Group.  By understanding how people get to a company’s website, how they interact with the company’s brand online, what search terms were used either on the site or to find the site, and so on.  There are lots of metrics beyond the common visitors, hits, page views, etc. – but sometimes it is hard to compare apples to apples and make sense of all that data, and turn the metrics into intelligence.  ustomer streams, traffic, hits, visitor numbers, and search words and phrases can reveal invaluable information about what customers want through analysis and the identification of the metrics most relevant to the organization. Only then can you become truly customer‑focused.  You can read an article I wrote for CTC’s Tourism Magazine in November 2006. Behavioral analysis tools can adequately understand the drivers of such key strategic issues as abandonment, conversion, loyalty and customer satisfaction. The IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) has put together a list of online lead generation metrics for the travel industry to make sure that ROI and online sales can be measured.

Thankfully, companies like Hitwise, Omniture, Webtrends, Coremetrics, Websidestory, Google, and many many more have done great work in making it easier for marketers capture the data and to digest the information.  However, what about standards? What about taking web metrics to the next level? What about creating a community of marketers and web analysts to solve these issues?  Have a look at this insightful article by Clickz.  The answer may be here with the formation of the new Web Analytics Association.   There is also an opportunity to really step up to the plate and commit as a board member.

The Tourism Internet Marketing Blog was featured a couple of times last week by two other blogs in the online travel and tourism space.

1. France-based Claude Benard from his fantastic Les Explorers Blog interviewed me. You can view the interview by clicking here.

2. UK-based Dominic Sawyer introduced three blogs covering online destination marketing on his great Dot Tourism Blog. You can read his post by clicking here.

Thanks to both of you for the opportunity!

Internet Statistics compiled and updated on 11th January 2007 by Internet World Stats shows the top 20 countries in terms of the number of Internet users:

But what is really interesting to take a look at is the Internet Penetration by Population.  The most "wired" (or wireless) countries are Australia (70%) with the highest Internet Penetration, followed by the US (69%), Canada (68%), Japan (67%), Korea (66%), UK (62%), and Germany (61%).

GeoBeats is an interactive media company whose mission it is to inform travelers about international destinations through the use of video. The short videos on international destinations highlight history, culture, shopping, food, nightlife, lifestyle, and other aspects of interest to travelers. Other than all the user-generated travel video websites that are popping up, these videos are created by professional filmmakers and feature interesting hosts who add a unique and personal flavor. Unfortunately, at the time of my research, no Canada videos had been produced. Feel free to watch some of GeoBeat's videos below by selecting the destination and topic from the drop-down menus below. Enjoy!