Free Brand Monitoring Tools

With the rise of social media your brand is being talked about more than ever before, how are you engaging and listening to those conversations? If someone is complaining about their trip do you know about it? If so are you addressing it? You should be otherwise you’ll be looking at media coverage like the recent Guardian article.

Here are some tools I love using:

Google Alerts (oldie but goodie)

BoardTracker.com (to monitor discussion boards and forums)

Twitter Search

Backtype (to monitor blog comments)

Technorati (monitor blogs)

30 Free SEO Tools – Are You Using Them?

A great list of free SEO tools from the folks at SEOptimise, if you’re not using most of these you probably should be.

Keyword Research

• § Google Insights for Search
• § Google Adwords Keyword Tool
• § Google Trends
• § Wordtracker SEO Blogger
• § Wikipedia article traffic statistics

Site Check

• § Google Webmaster Tools
• § GSite Crawler
• § Google Website Optimizer
• § Yellowpipe Lynx Viewer Tool
• § Pingdom Tools

Link Tools

• § Yahoo! Site Explorer
• § Xenu Linksleuth
• § Majestic SEO
• § Link Diagnosis
• § Link Harvester
• § Social Media for Firefox

Ranking

• § KeywordEnvy Search Engie Rankings Tool
• § Rank Checker
• § Disable personalized search plug in
• § RankTracker

Analytics

• § Google Analytics
• § Woopra
• § Compete
• § Spyfu

Various

• § googlebar (not Google Toolbar!)
• § Quirk SearchStatus
• § SeoQuake
• § SEO for Firefox
• § SEOpen
• § Quarkbase

Two Ways to Track Social Media with Google Analytics

It is becoming more and more apparent how important social media is to the travel industry. Most of you are using it in some way or other, but the big question still remains: how do you track it? I found this article from econsultancy.com that might be worth a look.

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With so many resources spent on social media marketing these days, the job of analyzing its effectiveness in the overall marketing mix is becoming more important.

If you’re using Google Analytics to track your site’s visitors and revenue, you’ll notice that by default you can analyze traffic mediums such as direct, organic etc, but what about social networks as a standalone traffic medium?

To achieve this level of reporting in Google Analytics and to basically tweak Google Analytics to create this traffic medium, you’ve got two options.

Read the full article

Why Discounting Won’t Work to Survive this Recession

Great article by Anna at Tourism Internet Marketing – what are your thoughts on discounting? Have you tried it? What were the results?

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The tourism industry has often boasted of its resilience and ability to rebound after drops in demand caused by such negative factors as 9/11, SARS or natural disasters. The adaptive response most frequently deployed is generic discounting. But does this serve the individual business or the tourism community well and will it work this time?  I believe the answer is NO and for the following reasons:

1.       We’re not looking at a temporary blip in demand. Life and business, as experienced between 2003 and Q3 2008 will not return to normal. The growth in demand for discretionary services was fuelled by cheap credit, cheap energy (until 2007), and asset inflation – all unsustainable illusions based on a denial of environmental realities. Expansion in capacity (airline seats, condominiums and ocean view apartments, whether sold in wholes or fractional units, hotels and restaurants) was all based on an over estimation of demand by suppliers and consumers alike. Now only the airlines have the option to remove excess capacity from circulation by parking their vehicles in the desert. As identified by Time Magazine in February 2009 , consumers shop very differently today. As indicated by McKinsey as far back as 2007[i], boomers won’t be spending as freely after seeing their assets (first homes, second homes, pensions and equities) plummet in value; and the kids, who were supposed to be filling a major labor shortage due to retirement of the boomer workforce, will face tough competition from people old enough to be their grandparents.

2.       We are looking at fundamental changes in the nature of demand; the way consumers make decisions and respond to brand messages and the way suppliers gain their attention. Not only do consumers regularly turn their backs on advertising, they worry more about the opinions of peers or society. Sean Gregory’s article in Time identified three kinds of consumer in terms of their willingness to spend right now. In short:

• Those that can’t (they’ve lost their job or income)
• Those that might but won’t (they fear they might lose their job or income or are simply being prudent/cautious)
• Those that could but still won’t (because they don’t want to send the wrong signal to peers)

3.       We are looking at deep and major changes in the source of travel demand and businesses must be more granular and refined in their approach. In their 2006 article, McKinsey showed how price sensitivity varied by a factor of 13 across regional markets and even by a factor of 3 across zip codes in the same cities. In other words, consumer behaviour cannot be predicted by macro demographics, psychographics and post code but by individual circumstance, perception and attitude. Individual consumers are demonstrating their individuality. Destinations that continue to rely on macro economic models to prioritize top ten performing countries will miss out big time. This is the time for more in-depth research into customer perceptions and motivations not less.

4.       We are also looking at fundamental shifts in the way consumers spend their free time (internet usage now exceeds TV watching for many) and the way customers are reached and influenced. Furthermore, the relative cost and ROI of various distribution channels can vary enormously as illustrated by McKinsey’s research[ii]:

In this context, blanket reductions in marketing spend across the board combined with a reluctance to change channels would spell disaster.

At a time when customers have ceased to trust brands; when they favor the recommendations of friends and peers over the exhortations of sales personnel; and when they can research a producer’s claims or compare supplier’s prices on their mobiles as they walk to the check out stand, loyalty cannot be bought. It can only be earned through assiduous attention to detail, through rigorous honesty, through genuine respect for the customer’s intelligence and through genuine gratitude for past business. Tough but true.

To read the full article visit:

http://tourisminternetmarketing.com/featured/why-discounting-wont-work-to-survive-this-recession/

Are you Tweeting on Twitter? Your Customers Are

Twitter is rapidly becoming the next big thing in social media – for awhile people didn’t believe in it but it now is behind Facebook and MySpace in the race for daily social networking hits. I did a Twitter campaign for a client recently and tripled their traffic in a month – TRIPLED! Its free and its fun, give it a try.

Below is a great article on Twitter changing the travel industry by Christopher Elliott.

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(Tribune Media Services) — “There’s a plane in the Hudson. I’m on the ferry going to pick up the people.”

Those words, hastily typed on Janis Krums’ iPhone just after US Airways flight 1549 crashed into the Hudson River last month, marked yet another milestone in the microblogging revolution.

Krums, a Sarasota, Florida, entrepreneur, posted his observations and a compelling photo of a half-submerged aircraft to Twitter, where it was seen by hundreds of people before other media organizations knew about the accident.

Twitter and related sites such as BrightKite have been breaking news since they’ve been around. They’ve offered first-hand accounts of events such as the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the Virginia Tech shootings and California’s wildfires.

Before Krums scooped the New York media on the biggest news story of the year so far, there was Mike Wilson, aka “2drinksbehind,” who twittered his observations after his Continental Airlines flight slid off the runway and burst into flames in Denver late last year.

“We were in the middle of a normal takeoff when we suddenly veered off,” he reported. Then he posted a picture of the crash. Then he tweeted that Continental kept the survivors “locked up” in its lounge until it could sort everything out. “Won’t even serve us drinks,” he added.

So what? “The world will never be the same,” says Joel Comm, author of the book “Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time.” The airline crashes marked a turning point for this emerging technology, according to Comm and other social media experts. Once the domain of a few early adopters, microblogging is now being embraced by the masses. It could change the way we travel.

“The viral nature of interesting posts expand your reach and influence,” says Comm.

He’s right. Seven out of 10 Twitter users joined just last year, according to the latest HubSpot “State of the Twittersphere” report. Somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 Twitter accounts are opened every day. Most microbloggers have a small circle of friends — fewer than 30 — with whom they share their day-to-day thoughts. But as microblogging grows, so will the power and influence of these Twitterers, who blast dispatches not to exceed 140 characters to their network of “followers.”

Microblogging could enlighten and empower travelers, who used to be at the mercy of their airline, car-rental company or hotel. Imagine you’re Continental, and a plane-crash survivor has accused you of keeping him prisoner. What if your vast social network finds out about the bedbugs in your hotel room the moment you check in? Or your friends discover the silly surcharges on your rental vehicle before the car-rental firm’s customer service department has any inkling? Wouldn’t that change everything?

So how do you become a part of this microblogging movement? Here are eight tips from the experts.

Continue reading the full article here: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/02/10/microblogging.travel/index.html

Voluntourism Search Words Vary by Region

There are so many terms that we all use for this industry (volunteer travel, volunteer vacation, voluntourism, volunteer tourism) that it seems most operators never know what to call themselves. Using Google Insight I did a quick survey on what people are searching what terms, hopefully its useful.

Volunteer Vacation – Top states using this term to search: New York, California

Volunteer Travel – Top states using this term to search: Colorado, Mass.

Volunteer Abroad – Top states using this term to search: Mass. and New York

Voluntourism – Top states using this term to search: California all the way

Voluntourism Operators Launch Social Networks

In the last month i-to-i and Cross Cultural Solutions both launched social network sites for past/potential volunteers. These sites are great because they not only let volunteers talk with each other, help spread the word about volunteering but also act as Google bait.

If you dont have a social platform running for your organization yet you can always start one at no charge via ning.com or any of the other social platforms.

Check out Cross Cultural Solutions platform: http://community.crossculturalsolutions.org/

“People are looking for opportunities to improve themselves and their resume, to make an impact on the world. Our new website helps to bring forth the perspectives of thousands of volunteers, and to showcase that this opportunity to effect positive change in the world is available for people from all walks of life.”

 

Check out i-to-i’s new platform ‘Campfire’: http://www.i-to-i.com/campfire/

 

“Does your passport have more blank pages than stamped pages… Do you have hundreds of travel photos that send you down memory lane every time you look at them… Are you eager to start traveling? No matter what your plans are, join i-to-i’s Campfire and make new travel-friends, check out other people’s adventures abroad and start creating your own overseas plans! “

 

Online Reputation Management – a Few Tips

 

Six Free Tools for Online Reputation Management, by Dan Schawbel 

Online reputation management consists of tracking your brand and reacting when necessary.

Though sometimes tedious, brand monitoring can save you from a potential disaster when someone cites your name in an article that misrepresents you. Aside from protection, it can help you proactively join conversations around your topic area, helping to get your brand name out there.

It’s almost 2009… and if you aren’t active online you are missing valuable opportunities to advertise your value to the world—through articles, blog entries, social-network profiles, comments, videos and more.

As both a content producer and consumer, your name is being spread throughout each of these circuits by people you might not even know. In fact, research firm IDC finds that there is more content being created about you than you create yourself.
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Part of your brand is in the hands of others, so it’s critical that you monitor it before a flame becomes a forest fire.

Do you know what people are saying about you?

If you want to know how to track your presence and monitor your brand, then you are in luck. Below are the top 6 tools for your online reputation management program. They can be used for product and corporate brands in addition to your personal brand. Use each to search, locate and respond when necessary.

Also, they can be leveraged as part of your marketing strategy, to discover your audience and market to them directly.

1. Google—Google.com/alerts

* Definition: Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results based on your choice of query or topic. You can subscribe to each alert through email and RSS.
* Application: Many people use their RSS readers to view these alerts, and PR agencies use alerts to track their campaigns. You can monitor a news story, keep current with your industry and competitors, and see who is writing about you, all at the same time.
* Marketing strategy: Set a comprehensive alert, notifying you of stories, as they happen, for your name, your topic, and even your company. As your feed reader fills up with articles that match your query, you should start a database of bloggers and journalists so that you can market to them directly and form better relationships.

2. Blog posts—Technorati.com

* Definition: If you have a blog, then you have to be on Technorati, which is the largest blog search engine in the world. When you register with it, Technorati tracks “blog reactions,” or blogs that link to yours.
* Application: Search for your name on Technorati, and subscribe to RSS alerts so that when someone blogs about you, you find out.
* Marketing strategy: Use Technorati to log every blog that is linking to your own. Keep track of these blogs, and when you write your next post link to them. Doing so will give recognition to those who have recognized yours.

3. Blog comments—backtype.com

* Definition: Recently, a new service came out to solve the problem of monitoring blog comments. Think about it, someone can comment on you on a series of blogs, but if you only track posts you’ll really miss out. BackType is a service that lets you find, follow, and share comments from across the Web. Whenever you write a comment with a link to your Web site, BackType attributes it to you.
* Application: Use backtype.com to remind yourself where you commented, discover influencers who are commenting on blogs that you should be reading, and continue conversations that you started previously.
* Marketing strategy: Establish a list of key influencers in your topic area. Then follow their comments from blog to blog and leave your own comment after theirs. This will help build your brand by association.

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4. Discussion boards—boardtracker.com

* Definition: Along with blogs and traditional news stories, discussion boards are another channel where people can gather in a community and talk about you. Most people disregard discussion boards until they see other sites commenting on information viewed on them.
* Application: Use boardtracker.com to get instant alerts from threads citing your name.
* Marketing strategy: Find all boards that are related to your subject matter and join the top 2-5, based on the amount of conversations and the volume of registered users. Join the communities by starting threads, while leaving your name and URL at the end of each post.

5. Twitter—search.twitter.com

* Definition: Twitter is a microblogging service, hosting over three million people. Twitter messages (tweets) move at the speed of light, and if you don’t catch them they will spread like a virus.
* Application: Using Twitter search, you can locate any instances of your name and tweet back (or remain silent).
* Marketing strategy: As you see tweets with your name attached to them, you should use the “@” sign and the tweeter’s account name (e.g., @danschawbel) to respond accordingly. As you respond, you start to build brand recognition and your audience feels that you care and are actively listening.

6. FriendFeed—friendfeed.com/search

* Definition: FriendFeed is a social aggregator. You have the ability to take all of your social accounts, such as YouTube, Delicious, Twitter, blog, and Flickr, and pull them together into a single (Friend) feed.
* Application: You can conduct searches on your brand throughout all social networks at once using this search engine. Aside from learning about the latest video or tweet related to your topic, you can analyze comments that people make under them.
* Marketing strategy: Grab a FriendFeed widget (friendfeed.com/embed/widget) and display it on your Web site or blog, so people get a sense of your social media activity. Also, as you search and locate people who are talking about your brand on FriendFeed, respond to them through comments.

All six of these free tools can be used to monitor and market your company’s brand name as well.

If you aren’t taking care of your online reputation, others will. It’s time to find out what people are saying—and do something about it. Marketing to your audience becomes seamless after you’ve done your homework using these tools.

25 Outdated SEO Tactics and Their Cool New Alternatives

Yet another great article from the folks at SEOptimise. It all goes back to the fact that people must want to read your webpage, learn something from it and want to come back. In the quest to attract more volunteers a couple of websites have become blatant Google-bait and lost focus on what their customer wants to hear; not suprisingly these are the folks that are down year on year…

Below are some tips so you dont fall into the same trap.

Many webmasters and website owners fail to notice the fundamental changes the web has taken in recent years. People still waste time with meta keywords tags, obsessing about PageRank and measuring keyword density for highly artificial sounding page copy.

Get real, most of the old school website optimization tactics are completely useless, sometimes even harming your website. Many SEO tactics have changed, others have been replaced. Some new methods have sprung up in places where obsolete ways of tweaking websites or building links have left a void.

Some terms are even meaningless by now so that you have to change your mindset completely.

keyword density/stuffing – killer content creation
Back in the days the more you mentioned a keyword (keyword density) the better you performed in the search results. It was long ago. For years it’s the other way around. You create highly contentious and linkable killer content to get popular with users and the links push you in the search results, even if your keyword is mentioned just a few times.

 

PageRank optimization – authority links
Some people really say “PageRank optimization”. PageRank optimization is like Pen** enlargement. Bigger does not mean better performance. Recommendations by respectable websites still count but the simple fact that you are linked there often is worth more that the PageRank that gets passed.

 

metatag optimization – tagging/folksonomy
Like in the above example this is a term that was always disproportionally focusing on one aspect. This aspect is nowadays almost meaningless. The meta keywords tag can be dropped altogether. If you want to add keywords to your page, try tags or even better folksonomy (tagging by many people collectively) to enrich your content in the visible content area.

 

SEO copywriting for spiders – SEO copywriting for users
Are you interested in “SEO Services SEO Company India Search Engine Optimization (SEO) India”? Probably not, that’s why you are reading a “SEO blog” offering “Internet Marketing News” from the “UK”.

article marketing – business blogging
Article marketing was big when it was important to get many links from different websites and IPs. Duplicate content issues, low quality and other disadvantages made it less of an viable option. At the same time business blogging has really taken shape. It works far better for generating links than article marketing. Of course it’s a lot more reputable.

To read the full article by Tad Chef check out: http://tinyurl.com/6ahfgy

How To: Google Indented Listings

Andy Beard’s blog has a great video on how to create indented listings on Google for your site. Its a great way  to immediately double your traffic and if I can figure it out so can you! =)

Scroll down his blog until you see the video, its the easiest way to follow along.

http://andybeard.eu/2008/05/google-double-indented-listing.html