Link Exchanges

Make it as easy for people to link to you as possible. Here are a few tips:

1. Create a page where people can get the information about linking to you. In other words, make a "Link to Us" page. Make it easy by providing with them the HTML that they can easily pasted into their web page editor.

2. Make sure your link partner's link page is on their own domain. There are free links managers (ex. Bravenet) that create links pages for users, but they are not on the users' domains. By exchanging with these people, you are actually exchanging links with Bravenet (for example), rather than your link partner. This is not the link you are looking for!

3. When you find suitable link partners, put their link up on your site before contacting them. Write a personal email requesting an exchange. Let them know why you think your exchange is a good one and provide them with the HTML code to put up your link. Don't send a mass email to everyone...it's too impersonal and your message is likely to be ignored.

Links take time to build. THERE IS NO SHORT CUT! I don;t know how many times I have had to tell people this, yet everyone seems to think there is some 'secret method' to get links.

The Importance of Keywords

The Importance of Keywords: "The Importance of Keywords

The basis of all search engine rankings is keywords. Yes, search engines employ all kinds of technology that is beyond the average person's comprehension...but it all comes down to words.

Search engine users enter keyword phrases into a search engine to find the information they need. You need to find yourself on top for those keywords. Do you know which keywords people are entering and how to choose the most appropriate ones for your website?

Whether you are optimizing your website for natural rankings or looking to start a pay-per-click campaign, these articles will help:"

News Aggregators

News Aggregators: "Web-based aggregators

These are sites that aggregate feeds for reading in a browser.

* 24bytesSimple Blog RSS/Atom aggregator
* 24x7 News24x7 Medical News Aggregator
* 24eyesWeb 2.0 RSS aggregator
* AggregatoTag-based RSS/Atom aggregator (R)
* Alesti Feed ReaderWeb 2.0 RSS reader
* AlmondRocksSimple aggregator
* Attensa Onlineis a free AJAX RSS reader that works like a dedicated RSS reader application.
* BeanRocketSocial aggregator (R)
* BlogLinesFolder style aggregator (R)
* Blox0rSimple news aggregator
* ClickBioClickBio Biological News Aggregator
* Chrysanth NETime Channel Online RSS/Atom aggregator and RSS/Atom preview (R)
* Editaste Aggregator, also enables creating feeds comprised of arbitrary items (free)
* FeedBucket RSS/Atom aggregator with River-of-News or individual feeds
* FeedFeeds RSS/Atom aggregator that also features FeedTV
* FeedLounge Commercial aggregator (N)
* FeedReader.net Your personal web XML/RSS news reader
* FeedShow.com RSS feeds reader / includes RSS monetization
* FeedZilla Dutch online RSS aggregator (N)
* FlipSkipper River-of-news style web based aggregator
* Freepress An political-news weblog aggregator with a set list of feeds, grouped by political party

"

Social Media, Social Networking, User-Generated Content, White Label Solutions from Pluck

Social Media, Social Networking, User-Generated Content, White Label Solutions from Pluck:

"Why Social Media? Social media, social networking, Web 2.0, new media"

There are a lot of terms flying around that are hard to make sense of or understand. What do they mean? Should I get involved? How can they help me, or my business?

Social media is the concept of bringing content and information sharing from a passive to an active experience for everyone from a CEO of a fortune 500 company to your next door neighbor. Social Media makes the web, and specifically web content, more interactive and accessible to both the savvy and not-so-savvy Internet users.
User-generated content

Times have changed, and increasingly, the masses are adding their expertise, opinions and interests with others through their own words, photos, video or commentary. This phenomenon can be seen in social mediums, such as blogging, and in the explosive growth of social networking platforms, such as MySpace, Flickr and YouTube as resources of information and enablers of the next generation of monetizable Web technologies.

The world of social media is empowering to users, but also to the traditional mediums of information dissemination: publishers, media sites, portals and major brands. Icons such as the Washington Post, Better Homes & Gardens, USA Today and many others are embracing social media."

Social Media, Social Networking, User-Generated Content, White Label Solutions from Pluck:

Punk Marketing: Get Off Your Ass and Join the Revolution

The marketing revolution is here, so get on the right side of the barricade and become a part of it! Let's thank Mr. and Mrs. Consumer and their little Consumerlings who have seized power from the corporations and are now firmly in control.

In Punk Marketing, Laermer and Simmons take an irreverent, penetrating look at the seismic change in the relationship between the people who sell stuff—products, services, entertainment—and those who purchase it. They demonstrate that to survive in business, a revolutionary approach is needed—one they have branded “Punk Marketing”—and it's one we all need to understand, for the traditional divisions among commerce, content, and consumers are continuing to blur ever more rapidly.

Never dull, sometimes controversial, but always a helluva lot of fun, Punk Marketing presents a manifesto for any businessperson needing to engage consumers—or any consumer seeking to understand and employ their newfound power. And here's the good news: It's based on principles that have existed forever. In an age of digital video recorders, “branded” entertainment, cell-phone TV, multiplayer online games, and never-ending social networking, a coherent approach to marketing has never been more vital. With Punk Marketing, there's a built-in plan to equip you with tools to make all this change work out just fine, thanks.

Punk Marketing is the first shot—soon to be heard 'round the world—of a long-awaited and breathless uprising that businesses want, deserve, and desperately need.

Blog Marketing

It shouldn't be a secret anymore that blog marketing is more powerful than static site marketing for all products including, especially, the tourism industry.

Both models have been tested heavily in 2006 and found that the rankings come far easier with a blog as your alternate content management system as opposed to any other form of web publishing.

Here are some tips to make sure you are taking advantage of all there is to offer in the Web 2.0 world of traffic, links, and easy search engine listings for both your blog, and if you've made the jump, your dynamic tourism website too.

1. Tag/label your posts. If you are using Wordpress use a plugin called Ultimate Tag Warrior to tag posts and put together keyword dense archives. You can find this plugin at wp-plugins.net. In Blogger make sure all posts show the labels!

2. Syndicate with RSS. Not just the feed that comes with your blog (normally a wee ATOM one at the bottom), but with custom feeds that specifically isolate keyword groups you develop content for regularly; such as scuba and fishing. The best free tool for this is PheedPress, available from Content Desk.

3. Get Involved online! Trackbacks and comment links are alive and well, despite reports you may have read to the contrary. Bloggers will grant your trackbacks and comments when they are on topic and useful. These are the easiest links available on the web today. In tourism it's easy to pass comments on all the travel blogs and get back links with every post (make sure you have your blog and website auto-signatured on all posts...)

4. Social Bookmarking. Public lists of bookmarks are easy spider food and will get you more traffic the more you use social bookmarking. Your entire site and blog should be bookmarked somewhere, and preferably in all the major bookmarking engines. You know where they are, get out there and do the legwork to drive the links.

5. Get Dugg. Digg.com and other social information networks take "stories" from sites that post them. Then they are ranked by members. You are either in or you're out. Dugg or buried.

6. MySpace Networking. There are social networks popping up all over the place that are like MySpace (even though the demographic doesn't look like yours, the networking is what we are looking for...). One notable network is called Care2.com and it is specifically for tourism business owners to network and get valuable links back to their sites with a dedication to the environmental angle.

7. Article Syndication. Not the old spammy version from a few years ago. In the new Web2.0 in 2007, the best results for article syndication will be for those of us who adhere to the holy grail of content syndication: Topical, Relevant, Well-Written Content! (and beware of duplication, it just doesn't work...)

Most of the above will also work for old-style static sites, like sites written in static html. But not nearly as well as when you publish on a blog platform or a new dynamic website.

Blogging doesn't mean pouring out your feelings or ranting about your problems anymore. It is serious business and the platform itself can be used for anything where information needs to be updated regularly. Ideal for a resort or tourism businesses with lots of new customers...

Properly marketing your blog site depends first and foremost on what you have to say. If it is boring, lame, or focused too much on blatant advertising of products and services, you will get slammed with extremely poor results. Keep it to the point, a little light and relevant to the audience you hope to attract.

The big secret is the content. Very good content will dominate a niche in any market. The platform you put it on will dictate how well it dominates. And how regularly you perform the tasks above will dictate how long you dominate.

Your Webmaster: Tips for a Good Relationship

Your webmaster (or more accurately, your web designer) is an important part of your web team. So it is more than worth your time and effort to build a strong relationship with him or her.

Here are five things you can do to keep the lines of communication open between you and your webmaster.

1.Be specific in your requests. He can't read your mind. If you don't tell him exactly what to do and how you want it to work, you'll be disappointed. The first round of communication is dependent on you.

Specifics include colors you like (either by color code or an example from another site), graphic styles you prefer (based on a graphic you can point to), the way a page functions. Include URLs for the examples and don't be shy about including more than required.

2.Keep an open channel. Use an email address you check frequently. Respond to her questions quickly. She's "into" your project now. If she has to wait 3-4 days to get answers, she'll have to start working on someone else's project in the meantime. Then it takes her longer to get back to your project. The poor workflow slows everyone down.

As an alternative to an email address, consider an Instant Messenger account. Depending on the times of day that you and your web designer are working - and whether you're both awake at the same time - email may be more efficient.

My web designer and I are 12 hours apart, so he's awake when I'm asleep, and vice versa. However, when we're working on a quick turnaround project, I'll stay up later so we can exchange emails about the project more frequently. And when I'm turning in for the night, I always send a message to that effect so he won't be expecting a quick response.

3.Keep an open mind. No one is perfect. Your webmaster should feel free to ask you questions, even if it might appear that he knows less than you thought. That's not generally the case; instead, he's asking for clarification. Or information.

It's not unusual for my webmaster to email me to ask if I know of a resource that does "xyz." Or he'll tell me he's not the person to do that task; that I need to look for someone who can do "abc." That feeling of "you're okay, even if you don't know everything" is very important to open communication.

4.Say thank you. Just a short thank you in response to exceptionally fast turnaround or a great job or a surprisingly wonderful job goes a long way.

And if you're willing to share, refer others to your web designer. She'll appreciate the additional business and will be extra careful to give you continued great service in exchange for more referrals.

5.Pay promptly. When you first work with a web designer, they may ask for payment up front or immediately after finishing the job. Don't wait two weeks to pay them. They need their money now. They should provide you with a link for payment, so use it quickly.

When you follow these guidelines, you'll find that your work gets done faster and with greater efficiency. Because you are saving your web designer time and trouble, your work will be something she looks forward to receiving, rather than dreading.

And you'll both save time - and most importantly, you'll save money as a result!

Advertising your tourism business on Yahoo!

For tourism businesses with a limited online-advertising budget (i.e. most of us!), Yahoo!'s featured directory listings are a great way to reach out to millions of potential customers. Having your company's Web site featured in a directory listing is actually very easy.

First, you'll need to get your site listed in the appropriate Yahoo! directory. Type your company name in to the Yahoo! search box. If your site doesn't appear in the search results, you will need to submit it for consideration. Unfortunately, this process can take a long time. Currently it's taking 2 to 3 months...

Your other option is to use Yahoo!'s Express Service, which provides expedited listing. There is a US$299 annual fee for this service, and there's no guarantee that your site will actually be listed — only that it will be reviewed within seven days. However, if you don't want to wait a long time to be added to Yahoo!'s directory, this may be a great choice.

Once your site has been listed in a directory at Yahoo!, upgrading to featured status is easy. You will need to pay a monthly fee, which is determined by the directory where your site is located. This fee can vary from $5 to $300 per month. All you need to do is provide a credit card and your monthly fee will be automatically deducted along the way.

Featured listings appear before the rest of the businesses in a directory, which means that you won't have to worry about having your company buried far into the listings. This is also a benefit for business owners who are having difficulty optimising their site for Yahoo!'s search engine.

So, what does featured status actually do for your resort's site? It provides targeted advertising, and targeted advertising means the right people will see your listing: people already looking for a vacation or diving in your destination. Once your resort or op is featured in a directory, your listing will be one of the first results when customers perform a search in your area.

With more small businesses jumping on the Internet every day, it's getting harder and harder for companies to retain their current customers and attract new customers. With literally thousands of choices for online shopping, it can be almost impossible to entice customers to visit your site first.

Having a featured listing removes much of this concern, since most users will click on the first match they find. If your site is at the top of the list, there's a much better chance your listing will be clicked on, as opposed to if your listing does not appear until page 20 of a user's search.

For SME tourism businesses worried about advertising costs, Yahoo!'s fixed monthly fee is certainly a benefit. Knowing how much your advertising will cost each month makes it a lot easier to stay within your budget while still reaching out to millions of new potential customers.

Another way to guarantee appearing on Yahoo! is by buying keywords through Overture, a subsidiary of Yahoo. With Overture's pay-per-click products, you purchase keywords related to your business. Then, when Web surfers search for those keywords, your listing will appear in Yahoo!'s Sponsor Results box. Overture's distribution network also includes many of the Web's other top search engines and portal sites, including MSN, Altavista, and CNN.com.

With Yahoo! still the number 2 search engine spot behind Google (albeit a long way behind), your resort should see a dramatic increase of traffic once your site is listed in one of Yahoo!'s directories, and much more should you choose to have your site featured.

Staying on top in Internet business is never easy, but Yahoo! has made it possible for small tourism companies out here in the islands to effectively compete for potential customers, and at a controllable and budget-able cost.

Scuba Diving Top 100 Readers' Choice Awards

For all the Scuba Operators and Resorts out there, there is no excuse for not sending all your past divers to the Scuba Diving Magazine Reader's Ratings page here:

http://www.scubadiving.com/readerratings

Reader's Ratings all go towards their annual Top 100 Readers' Choice Awards.

Scuba Diving is the magazine divers trust for objective gear reviews, cutting-edge scuba training articles, underwater photography and video tips and unbiased dive travel information. In addition, Scuba Diving features Diver To Diver, our online scuba board and dive forum featuring discussions on topics from Cozumel dive resorts to the latest regulators and dive computers. Whether you are a sport diver, an old pro, or a new diver looking for lessons, Scuba Diving has something for you.

How to Succeed as a Small Business Owner ... and Still Have a Life

I'm an avid reader/researcher and now and entrepreneur so I have read LOTS of books on small business. This is the first book that I really felt "got it!" The writer clearly knows what it is like for a small business and has realistic tips and ideas for growing your business the right way and ending up where you want it to be.

The title initally appealed to me since running your own business can be so draining. This book was approachable, easy to read, and had actionable ideas from the beginning. I also like that it "got" the realities of being a small business owner and didn't take up your time with worthless "exercises" or visions of what your business plan should be like. After reading this book I was so inspired to create my own business plan and start working on business improvements laid out in the plan. The book helped me find the clarity I had really be lacking and it made me feel like it wouldn't be too difficult or onerous to do.

This book is a MUST for every small business owner who wants to see their business grow in a sustainable way!!! I can't recommend it highly enough.