Website Analytics - How they can help you build your business

It used to be a standard practice to see a website counter along the bottom of a website. While it would show you how many website visits your site had received, it wasn’t able to tell you what pages were visited, how long visitors stayed, what they clicked on, what pages they left the site on, etc.

If you are still relying on information that a website counter provides, you are missing out on much more important information that a free website analytic program will provide.

Website Analytics is the collection and analysis of website information. Information, such as the most visited pages on your website, is collected by an analytics program that is connected to your website and the information it provides can help you improve your website overtime.

If you have a content management system through a web designer, you may also have the ability to check and monitor your website statistics. If you are not sure if you have a way of tracking statistics, ask your website designer.

If you don’t have currently have an analytics program or the program you are running is not giving you as much information as you would like, Google Analytics is one of the top programs available – and it is free!

So, why should you monitor website analytics? Analytics can show you:

• What pages on your website are the most often visited – meaning these pages being found in searches the most.
  
• How visitors are finding you – did they type in your website domain, have they bookmarked the site, did they come across your website through another website (i.e. novascotia.com) or did they find you in a search on a search engine. It will even tell you the search engine country (i.e. www.google.uk).
  
• What page do your website visitors most often leave your website on – an indication that there is work needed on that page (or pages)!

For more information on how analytics can help you focus your website efforts, please contact me at (902) 496-7481 / 1-800-948-4267 or email michelle_sears@tians.org.

"User Persona" - Who is your website's target audience?

The internet plays a major role in our businesses, and most often the first impression of your company is through your website. Is your website answering your customers’ questions? Who is your customer?

The above questions can be answered by creating a “user persona”. Take a moment to think about who your customer is:

• Age
• Gender
• Education
• What is their lifestyle?
  - i.e. recently retired, very active
• Why are they travelling?
  - i.e. enjoy nature and exploring the outdoors, antique hunters
• What are their travel goals?
  - i.e. Relax, enjoy the outdoors, learn about a new area
• What are their interests?
  - i.e.Hiking, reading, good food and wine, photography

In addition to the above information think about:

• Questions that your customers have asked,
• Things that they have liked and disliked, and
• Any other comments that your customer has made

From the information above, write a mini-biography about your “potential customer”.

Example User Persona:

Mary and Bill - Retired Couple residing in Boston, MA

Lifestyle
• Recently retired: Mary was a nurse and Bill a school principal
• Family: No kids living at home
• Fitness: Staying fit and eating well are very important

Travel
• Mary and Bill enjoy traveling to new locations
• Activities – enjoy anything outdoors, hiking, camping, etc.
• Enjoy cabin stays and the use of a few amenities

Attributes
• Outdoor Enthusiasts
• Self-Directed Travel Planners
• Enjoy reading
• Enjoy good food and good wine

Goals
• Enjoy the outdoors
• Relax
• Learn about a new region

Based on this user persona, these are just a few of the types of things you should include on your website. Knowing your customers have an interest in good food and wine, be sure to list local restaurants and wineries and knowing there is an interest in learning about a new region gives you the opportunity to share information on local museums and historic places of interest.
Understanding your target audience will help you decide what information your website needs to provide. New information you receive will assist you with updating your website content for new and future clients.

Why should I create a user persona?

It will help you to better understand your customers’ interests and needs and will help you to develop information to include on your website.

For example - If you notice many of your customers travel with their dogs, make sure you let your potential customers know you are dog-friendly on your website. You could even include information on dog-friendly trails and parks in your area on your.

If you are looking for ways to start collecting this information, consider:

- Adding questions to your online reservation form (i.e. How did you find us? What are your interests (provide a list pertaining to your area), etc.)
- Adding questions to your welcome email upon receiving a reservation – let customers know you have received their reservation and ask how you can add to their stay in your area.
- A short questionnaire for clients to fill out upon check-in/check-out or sale.

Learning the Keys of Technology and their power in the Tourism Industry with Todd Lucier (and Natalie too!)

In Spring 2008, the Nova Scotia Tourism Human Resource Council, as part of their annual Nova Scotia Masterclass Series of workshops, arranged for two, 2-day hands-on technology workshops with Todd Lucier of TourismKeys.ca. As a welcomed bonus, his daughter Natalie joined him which made for an even more interactive experience for the workshop attendees in the April sessions.

For those of you that are not familiar with Todd, he is a self-taught guru in online tourism marketing through technology available to us online and offers helpful and informative tips, tools and findings on his website, http://www.tourismkeys.ca/, and blog. Todd facilitates workshops throughout Ontario and presents at Gros Morne Institute for Sustainable Tourism (GMIST) each year.

The first of the two technology workshops was held in Port Hawkesbury at the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) Strait Area Campus while the second session was held in Dartmouth at the new NSCC Waterfront Campus.

In both sessions, Todd introduced participants to ways that they can enhance their websites using free, online tools such as Wordpress and Blogger blogs, Animoto for creating audio/video slideshows of pictures and more. He explained why blogs are becoming more important and beneficial to have and walked participants through the setting up and building of a blog using Wordpress.

Participants had been asked to bring 10 digital pictures of their property and/or area to use over the two days and with these pictures, slideshows were created in the free online tool, Animoto. While everyone was working on this, Natalie was setting up a sound room in order for participants to record a short, 30 second blurb on their business. After these were recorded, Natalie, a radio and television arts graduate, edited the clips and added Celtic music to the background which allowed everyone the chance to add them to their animoto creations. Once finished, the files were then uploaded to YouTube and then embedded into the newly created blogs.

These workshops gave operators a hands-on approach to learning about social media and the ease and benefits of using it.

For tips and tricks and informed opinions, please visit Todd's blog.

Hospitality Newfoundland & Labrador's LOOKOUT! Tourism Summit 2008

In mid-February I had the pleasure of traveling to Gander, NL for Hospitality Newfoundland & Labrador's (HNL) annual LOOKOUT! Tourism Summit. While my counterpart, Craig Foley, was busy ensuring the the technology side of the conference was working flawlessly, I was manning our TourismTechnology.com booth. I was referred to as the "Craig Foley of Nova Scotia" on a number of occassions and spoke with many conference attendees as well as suppliers taking part in the tradeshow portion of the conference. Many of the operators I spoke with asked the same questions that I get here in Nova Scotia:

- Do I need a website?
- How important/expensive is online booking on a website?
- Should I be able to update my website myself and how can I do it?
- Should I have a blog?
- How do I make my site appear higher in the search results?

I talked about what the mentoring sessions cover and showed operators the manual that they will receive and the PowerPoint Presentation that summarizes the manual. I also provided them with Craig's contact information so that they could speak to him further about the project and to set up mentoring sessions.

The technology session held during the conference featured an introduction to TourismTechnology.com by Craig, the experiences of an operator that had recently added the ability to book online to his tourism business website, and a representative from the Adventure Tourism Association who spoke highly of an online booking engine designed specifically for tour operator websites. It was a very informative session which showed how these additions to websites have been creating more business opportunities for operators in the province.

The hospitality in Gander was amazing and I look forward to returning again someday... preferably when there is not 5 feet of snow on the ground!

A Brrrrrrfect day for a Mentoring Session

January 21st was one of the coldest days we’ve had so far this winter but I received one of the warmest mentoring sessions to date. In partnership with the Centre for Women in Business, a mentoring session workshop was held at the Job Search Centre in scenic Sheet Harbour on the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia.

Two tourism operators from the nearby communities of Tangier and Beaver Harbour participated in the session. One participant has had a website for approximately 10 years while the other has had a blog for the past couple of years and is now looking to have a website created. We talked a lot about what the Eastern Shore region has to offer and how their websites can better promote this in a way that it informs tourists of the region and why tourists should travel there. Together we discussed the one business website and offered suggestions and feedback. Yet another learning experience for me as well as for the participants… and more ideas for day trips next summer!

The Eastern Shore region offers many scenic views along the drive. Sea smoke was rising from the ocean in the -20C (not including the wind chill) temperatures. One spot on the drive that morning I saw ice turned upwards around rocks in shallow water that resembled candles that had melted down the centre and the sides were curling under and turning out. Wouldn’t you know it – because of the low temperature that morning I had decided to leave my digital camera home!

For more information on the Eastern Shore region please visit the Antigonish Eastern Shore Tourism Association (AESTA) website.

Adding a little technology to the Cape Breton hospitality

What better a way to start into the New Year than to jump into mentoring sessions! I started out in St. Peter's on the Fleur-de-lis Trail on Monday morning, then moved on to Nyanza in the afternoon, followed by Baddeck that evening. Tuesday had me in Beinn Bhreagh - across the bay from Baddeck, and out to Big Bras d'Or for another evening session. Wednesday had me starting in Baddeck in the morning and then out to Indian Brook, which is just a few minutes beyond the Englishtown ferry on the Cabot Trail, in the afternoon. I was so happy that the weather was cooperative - unfortunately with the mild weather comes fog. I was looking forward to capturing some of the amazing views along my travels but they were all shrouded in the thick fog.

The sessions covered a lot of the materials that have been the focus of the project - return on investment - having that online availability and booking and/or shopping cart capability on your website; the elements of a good website; search engine marketing and search engine optimization - what you can do to help make it easier for your website to be found in online searches.

A number of operators that I met with are in the process of having a new website created or are in the process of having one started. Layout, pictures, writing on the website, linking, menu items, etc. were all big topics. I was happy to hear that all of the operators sees the importance, not only in having a great website, but in having the ability to make changes and add content to the website through the use of a content management system. I remind operators that their website is an extension of their business and to be able to make changes to their website when they want is something that they should have the ability to do.

A website is never finished. Never. It is something that you tweak, update, clean up, edit, etc throughout its life. Your business doesn't remain the same and nor should your website. Adding new pictures, updating your information, starting a blog, etc. not only keep your website current, but will also help you in online searches.

Getting out and meeting with operators one-on-one and learning about each of their businesses and helping them with their websites is both a rewarding and a learning experience for me. No two businesses are alike and neither are the websites. Going over the sites together and discussing additions and changes - what works and what doesn't - and talking about packaging ideas, links to attractions in the area that may be of interest to tourists, etc. make each session as unique as each business.

The hospitality and the cups of tea were an added bonus!

Welcome to TourismTechnology.com - Nova Scotia

This is an early New Year's resolution - to start a blog space for the Atlantic Canada initiative, TourismTechnology.com, for the province of Nova Scotia. I am hoping that in the near future that blogs for New Brunswick, Newfoundland & Labrador and Prince Edward Island will also be started. This will be a way for myself and my counterparts in each of these three Atlantic provinces to post information on the project, where we are and have been travelling to, where we are speaking (conferences, AGMs, etc.), where the project is being talked about (newspapers, workshops, etc.) and what bits of information and research we are hearing about that we think is important for tourism operators to know about.

It is an exciting time in the project with the one-on-one mentoring sessions taking place. Getting out and meeting with tourism operators around our provinces is both a fun and informative experience as it allows us to target the mentoring sessions to your needs. These meetings give insight into areas of technology that are of most interest to you the operators and helps us to be able to tailor our research so that you get the most out of our meetings.

Stay tuned!