Travel Site

In travel and tourism marketing, websites are typically the first way people see a potential destination. Luckily, they are interested in coming to the destination, but when they have landed on your website you have about 30 seconds to make them stay on your site long enough to get enough information. Here's how you can do that.

Keep your website design and navigation clear. All of the important information must be on the home page or at most, one click away from the home page. The top part of a web page that can be seen before you have to scroll is called "above the fold." Keep your most important information there.

Thing like a call to action ("Book now!"), text and images that illustrate your destination's benefits and make people want to visit. Create a FAQ page and populate it with the your most-asked questions, then answer them honestly and clearly. Don't forget to make it easy to book, and ask for the sale.

A mistake that people often make on their websites is to not include enough text. They think people don't read and that pictures sell more than words. Study after study proves this is not true. Well-written, professional sales copy will sell every time. Invest in good copy for your website and it will pay off in increased sales.

To make room for more copy, ditch all the fancy animated stuff that makes your website entertaining. Your website is not meant to entertain. It is meant to sell. Use it wisely.

Photographs are important too, when used properly with text. Be sure to use only top quality photographs, and include happy people in them that look real. If you're lucky enough to get celebrities at your destination, use their photographs for sure.

Testimonials are another wise investment and a great use of website space. Testimonials are how people perceive that they are being told the truth. This makes them extremely important to the travel and tourism industry, as travelers who are coming from far away have no other way to reassure themselves that they are making a good choice. Put as many testimonials as you can on your website.

To summarize, great copy, professional photographs and testimonials are key ingredients to a killer website that outsells your competition. Don't waste space on bells and whistles that you could be occupying with copy and photographs that sell.

Article by Chad E, owner of the Travel and Tourism Marketing website, information for travel marketing professionals in the travel, tourism and hospitality industries.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chad_E.

Labels: how to make your travel and tourism website sell