Name of your website?Tasmania Accommodation
Your name?
Zane Cosgrove
Your Location (city, etc)
Cairns
When did you start your website and why?
Tasmaniaaccom.com was introduced approximately 3 years ago but we have undertaken a major overhaul of the website just recently.
The aim and objective was to provide attractive accommodation listings and on the side, tours and visitor information to those who are seeking a holiday in Tasmania.
Please give us a short summary of your website, business model, etc
Our main objective is to provide quality, hand-picked listings from accommodation, car rentals and tour bookings.
Each listing has to be approved by our experienced sales team and is then forwarded to the relevant management department for consideration.
What has been the most difficult part of creating and running your website?
The most difficult aspect of managing and creating this website has been the optimising of content for search engines. A website must have exposure on the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo and be found in directories such as dmoz.org.
For a very large competitive market, this is a lengthy battle and process, with an estimation of postive results expected wihtin around 12 months.
What has been the easist part of operating your website?
The easiest factor in establishing this website was the team environment, our designers would create the initial design and pass this on to our web developer.
From this point the web developer must install the application software powered by the ASP programming language.
After this process, then begins the search engine optmisation and Internet marketing campaign.
What was your biggest mistake?
The biggest mistake would be not informing our existing clientele that the website would be undertaking an overhaul and redesign.
Some of our clientele were shocked, shocked and impressed mind you but the new design was at first intimidating to someone accustomed to the older system.
Who maintains your website and why?
Our website is maintained by Wild Lime Media Pty Ltd, a web design company in Cairns, Tropical North Queensland.
Wild Lime was established in 1996 and has 8 staff and operates Australia wide.
Tell us how your business has benefitted from your website?
The website is introducing an entirely new aspect of business, opening our 'shop front' to an extended market locally, nationally and globally.
For such a small investment, the website has earnt it's intial setup costs in less than 3 months.
What are your views on ecommerce and the future of the internet?
I am a strong believer that eCommerce is an excellent resource on the Internet if you have established a trust factor with the website and website operators.
Careful research should be taken though when planning to implement an eCommerce website as it is a large and daunting task.
What are your views on Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
SEO is an excellent service that is still under-rated, probably due to many sales spiels promising results like 'Be #1 on Google' or 'Submit to 1000 search engines'. These are promises that can't be guaranteed as the industry is in control of the major players which I guess you could say are Google, MSN and Yahoo!.
What are your views on Search Engines? Have they helped or hindered your website?
I strongly believe search engines are an excellent tool for sourcing valuable information. However, the keywords entered require more thought from the general public if they are to find what they are looking for.
Search engines only hinder our site when we can't get that crucial ranking ha ha.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Internet marketing and testing procedures are a tried and trusted method of promoting our website. Testing different design layouts, enquiry forms and site content makes a major impact on converting hits to bookings.
We also utilise Google AdWords to great success.
What method has been least successful for promoting your website?
We had found that the more original forms of advertising, TV, radio and newspapers had a less desired conversion rating than our online marketing campaigns.
This may be because of the fact that the user is reading, listening or watching the promotion rather than with online marketing, the user is obviously online and can make that quick decision to access our website right then and there.
What would you like to see change with respect to the internet?
The only quarrel I have with the Internet currently is spam as email spamming has a major global impact and is a hazard for all.
Email spamming is illegal and undesirable and gives the Internet a bad name.
What is your website address?
Tasmania Accommodation
Index for