1. Sustainable Tourism Certification Alliance Africa Website How to Drive Traffic FTTSA / SAP Team Jacaranda October 2012

2. 2 Driving Traffic to Website High-Level Proposal General activities  Actively moderate member forum  Marketing initiatives  Posting an article/though leadership paper  Customer video testimonials on YouTube (also used for website) Website-related Activities  Update site on regular basis to keep it relevant  Implement links to other sites  links to partners  links to businesses  links to and from alliance members  links to and from GSTC site

3. 3 Driving Traffic to Website - Details  Build a strong, solid business foundation. Design a business plan, marketing plan, ideal client profile and 30-second elevator speech  Be consistent and ‘brand’ the organization. Use the same colors, logo, motto, etc. everywhere on the web site  Make the website trustable  Create policies that build trust: ‘customer’ service, code of ethics and newsletter privacy policy  Ask your web master to name each of your pages using a keyword you have supplied them with  Offer added values on your website that make sense to your business and clients This can include affiliate programs, books, and recommended links to web sites  Add a ‘favorites or bookmark this site’ script to some of your website pages  Add a ‘Recommend This Site’ on your site. If someone visits your business Web site and knows someone else who may appreciate it, this feature will e-mail the page's link to a recipient.  If you have pages on your business web site that you update monthly (like an articles page or recommended links page) say so on the page.  Join a few Web rings. For additional information, visit WebRing and Bravenet.WebRingBravenet  Provide a subscription box, to your e-zine or business announcement list, on your most viewed business web site pages.  Ask your web designer to design a ‘Site Map’ for your visitors

4. 4 Driving Traffic to Website - Details  Search engines look for certain things - titles, headings, meta tags - so it is crucial to make sure your site is ‘search engine friendly. Visit Search Engine Optimization and Submission page for additional resources on search engines and search engine submission tipsSearch Engine Optimization and Submission  Title tags should be 60 or so characters and include some keywords.  Header tags are numbered from 1 to 7: some search engines recognize Header tags. So make sure you use these tags for each of the titles on your page.  Keyword Meta tags: Add no more than 15 to 20 keywords to keep the search engines from flagging your site for keyword spamming. Prioritize your words. The best way to submit to search engines is to submit to each search engine individually.  Use keywords in the text area of each page. They are especially important at the beginning of sentences and higher up on the page.

5. 5 Driving Traffic to Website - Details  Search engines do not find your site unless you submit your site's information to them. Below are four ways to submit your Web site to search engines:  It is recommended that you submit to search engines individually (time consuming)  Since some people prefer to use a free service to submit their sites to search engines, it is recommend that they open a free e-mail address to use when you do anything for free on the World Wide Web. Two good search engine submission services are Submit It!, and Scrub The Web. You can pay for a program that will assist you to submit and critique your site such as WebPosition GoldSubmit It!Scrub The WebWebPosition Gold  Hire a Search Engine Optimization Expert to handle your search engine submissions  Visit these search engine information sites: Search Engine Watch and Search Engine Guide Search Engine WatchSearch Engine Guide

6. 6 Driving Traffic to Website - Details  Check your business web site's links regularly to make sure they all work. Use a free link checker such as Xenu's Link SleuthXenu's Link Sleuth  Write articles, post them to your business Web site, and submit them to article banksarticle banks  Design some quizzes or surveys. Statistics show that visitors love quizzes and assessment tools  Participate in online forums as an expert. You get to ‘quietly’ promote your business in your signature  Place your business web site address on all your printed literature -- business cards, brochures, newsletters, letterhead, e-mail signature, ads - everything  Promote your web address in your signature for e-mails (change it regularly to highlight something new you're promoting)  Teach classes or speak to groups about subjects relating to your products.  Network locally to bring people to your site  When your website is launched, send a Press Release to the media, your clients, and partners  Visit this Internet Marketing Index at Internet.com's Interactive Marketing ChannelInternet Marketing Index