Updated Logo & New Website

It's been a while since I posted some content on the business blog. We're busy, very busy, and I am sure its just the start of something good for us.

Our website was out of date, cluttered and we needed a fresh direction and we've created something we think is really attractive, current and informative.

Please have a look and give us your feedback (if you want!).

The new Net Visuals website - Bespoke Web Design.

Ambassador Of The Day

We're promoting Scotland and this area nationally, investing in us for the future is key to our areas sustainability and business success in the future with our distance selling and marketing.

Check out the Great Exhibition 2012 - Me and my brand - North West Tourism ( www.northwesttourism.co.uk ) are AMBASSADOR OF THE DAY promoting such items nationwide as Loch Fyne, Tarbert and even Haggis!!

Take A Look Today Only - http://www.thegreatexhibition2012.co.uk/ and check out what were promoting here all the time - http://www.thegreatexhibition2012.co.uk/users/nick-0

Regional Tourism Concerns Highlighted

We work with many businesses reliant on tourism throughout Argyll and have been involved in developing and delivering public tourism events for a number of years so we know just how important tourism is and what's needed for attration, delivery, businesses and consumers.

What we do know is that like employment and other national and international problems, tourism is not going to escape significant changes. It's at times like these that we all endeavour to try something different to capture new business or cut costs. With websites though.. you pretty much get what you pay for, so scrimping and saving is not the best way forward for web businesses, particularly tourism related, certainly as competition increases this is potentially detrimental.

It should be clear by now if you have a business that relies on tourism for its majority business you must know your customer, understand your customer and reach your customer because as visitors to Scotland decline there are significantly less to go around, you only have to look at Visit Scotland's imposed budget cut of 6% earlier this year for evidence of that. It could be argued as tourism declines further investment should be made to support the increasing number of accommodation providers and tourist businesses, with uk destinations such as the Lake District and of course the ever popular Cornwall, not to mention other reviving destinations its never been more important to brand and sell a destination along with businesses within it.

Making Tourism Work For You & What You Need

There are several key things you need to do to make tourism work for you;

• Ensure your business website is current and changes regularly
  
  We recommend you (or your web developer is asked) to make changes to your website at least every 3 months. The minimum you should do is add new photos or little snippets of interesting and related information.
  
  
• Investigate your local tourism websites
  
  Get on Google, Yahoo and Bing and fnd out where your website is for related key word terms, if it doesnt appear in the first two pages you need to look at your website to make some changes and also consider online marketing.
  
  
• Online marketing
  
  There are thousands of websites to choose from so you need to be careful in where you advertise, not only for inbound links, but also for reaching your customers. Websites with short and concise names are usually best, for instance if you are looking for Self Catering in Argyll in a search you should see www.argyllselfcatering.net appear, this is an example of effective keyword target marketing - miss out at your peril!
  
  
• Look at regional marketing groups
  
  Grant funding seems to have all but dried up and there is an implied necessity to work as a team to sustain business in rural areas but contributing to tourism initiatives, so look around to see if there is anyone or any businesses in the area actively marketing your tourist region on various levels - county, region, town or village, business type - if there isn't anyone doing this you should consider starting something - dozens of places all over Scotland currently do this.
  
  
• The days of walk in custom have gone
  
  Now people can virtually see all destinations and businesses online - if a place isnt online, it doesn't mean there is an area shrowded in mystery and intrigue, it is highly likely that its not worth visiting - so unless your locale has a magnificent web presence there is a chance potential custom can be lost, invest in your local websites... its the future!
  

That's the tip of the iceberg but highlights a few initial important steps in investigating and taking action to ensure your business and the businesses around you are able to be sustainable and continue to attract visitors, particularly in the staycation market which is a key layer in regional economic activity.

We specialise in accommodation websites and tourism portals (such as www.kintyre.org) which can help your area tremendously but remember... a handful of subscribers will only get a handful of marketing and development.. that moves us onto business ethics which will be in our next post.

If you need assistance with websites, online marketing and other related services why not contact us for a no commitment discussion or quote.

Your Website Is Your Shop Window

How often have you walked down the high street and looked in a shop window only to see the same products and layout as last month, and in some cases last year?

Does it attract you to go in?
Does it give you the opinion that business is successful and turning over stock?
Do you get the opinion that that business is passionate and involved in what they do?

The answer to all these questions is probably no, and if it isn't then it should be!

Well the same applies to your website, when was the last time you had some changes made? How old are the photos on your website? Do you have a new product or updated your accommodation and not informed your web developer?

We live, work, and participate in an incredibly technologically driven dynamic society. Everything is on demand, consumers require much more for their money, and some people check websites daily for new content, price updates and more.

Remember, your website is your shop window, if you dont keep it current, up-to-date, and relaying the latest news and information about your products and services you just may end up losing customers to someone else who does!

A Couple Of Handy Tips

Watch your competitors.
When they make changes, you should consider updating yours.

New Season, New Content
If its a new season, such as the start of Spring, its a great time to make changes to reflect the new season, or to refresh content. Spring is an ideal time for tourism based businesses to make a large update.

Big Business, Big Changes
If you have a larger business, or larger number of products you should make changes much more frequently than smaller businesses. Always invest a proportion of income to keep your website current, developing, and growing!

Be Creative
It's not always easy to be creative and find new reasons to communicate with your customers but its good practice, rewarding to try and enjoyable. Take elements of what you enjoy about your business and sell it to your customers.

Web Sponsorship Works

You might think that the additional expense associated with sponsorship of regional websites is not worth it, however evidence has shown that main sponsors of websites can attract as much as 50% more web traffic and potential enquiries than smaller adverts.

For that to work, the sponsor / advertiser needs to be relevant not only to the website but also to the current target audience, at the same time present a product that will generate a more diverse demographic in future marketing.

At Net Visuals Bespoke Web Design we operate dozens of regional websites that provide targeted lead traffic for your business. Each website focuses on a particular product - such as our Loch Fyne Hotels website - or a specific geographic region - such as our Kintyre, Tarbert and Loch Fyne tourism information websites.

The reason why they work, and are important to you are quite simple;

1) The website is product or location specific

That is, each website becomes listed and used because it appears when it matches, appropriate consumer searches. Type in Kintyre and see where Kintyre.org appears.

2) The content is relative and appropriate

The content of these websites is relevant, unique and has appropriate content. This enhances the website and helps consumers know they have found a useful resource of an official capacity.

3) The website is designed to enhance advertising

Each of our websites is designed with the inclusion of branding and marketing in mind, so that when you attach your sponsorship to the site you know it is going to increase your web traffic and potential enquiries.

If you have a large tourism or hospitality based business you may benefit from the additional exposure that site sponsorship can provide, for more information or to discuss a sponsorship partnership with any of our websites please email or telephone us.

FREE Kintyre Business Advice

How do you use the web for success in Kintyre? What are the most important things you should be doing to evaluate your internet presence? How do you make sure your accommodation or business is visible? How should you evaluate consumer demand?

All these questions and more are answered in our January Tips PDF.

Loch Fyne Hotels

Besides providing a full bespoke web design and technical consultancy service, Net Visuals also develops and manages powerful tourism websites that enable not only our clients to maximise marketing, but also allow new customers and regional businesses to attract new customers.

I've found that many users of search engines type in two or three different search terms before they find a website that they will use, or that represents a level of trust. So in order to make sure your business stands the highest probability of a conversion you are required to predict the future a little bit.

An example of search engine behaviour in looking for a hotel in Loch Fyne might go something like this;

- Choose a search engine (80% of people will use Google)
- Choose a keyword you are looking for. Start with Loch Fyne.
- What if that doesn't work? Why not try Accommodation in Loch Fyne.
- Brevity is normal for regular search engine users, next would be Loch Fyne Hotels
- or reversed to Hotels Loch Fyne

Type in these keywords and see if your hotel appears amongst the top ten websites or on a website in the top 10 for each keyword term? No? Then you could be missing out on considerable business.

According to Google around 90,000 people per calendar month search for Loch Fyne, around 5,400 search for Loch Fyne Hotels, with a further 200 people searching for Loch Fyne accommodation.

Loch Fyne Hotels
We have created a website to allow hotels in the Loch Fyne area to reach those search engine customers and capitalise on this potential business.

Visit Lochfynehotels.com for more information.

We also have our primary tourism website for Loch Fyne at Lochfyne.info and our additional Lochfyneaccommodation.com website under development to complete this keyword coverage.

If you have a B&B in Loch Fyne you may wish to keep an eye out for our Lochfynebedandbreakfast.com website, and self caterers look out for Lochfyneselfcatering.com.

Become a Net Visuals Bespoke Web Design customer and receive 25% off of advertising in the Nocturnal Indulgence or North West Tourism website collections.

New! Customer Control Panel

Wouldn't it be great if there was a way of managing your website data, domain names, invoicing and online marketing all from one simple control panel? That's what we thought too, so we've been developing a control panel called Navigator which we'll be launching next month.



Navigator is a simple to use centralised control panel with some great features;

• Update your website at home or on your mobile device from anywhere


• Upload private documents and files to your business cloud to access anywhere


• Upload and share documents and files with your colleagues and the public


• Manage and renew invoices through a simple to use interface


• Manage your advertising and marketing across dozens of great websites


• Purchase domains, new web services and install website features


• Learn from exclusive tutorials and web experience articles

All this and more will be available via a password protected login, so Net Visuals Bespoke Web Design customers and advertising customers on websites such as Tarbertlochfyne.com and Kintyre.org can add and manage page listings at the click of a button and update content throughout the year.

We'll keep you updated on developments over the following weeks. There is no better place to be right now than with Net Visuals, the future is very bright!

Prosperity & Success In 2011

We would like to wish all our existing and new customers great success and prosperity in 2011. Have a great year!