How To Accommodate Online Tourists

The moment people log on and start surfing the web, their behaviour changes dramatically. Their attention span is reduced to seconds, their patience is wearing thin much quicker and when they are displeased with a company or service, they can take action. What does accommodating this behaviour mean?

There are hundreds of thousands of sites that are aimed at online tourists and only a fraction of them will ever be visited. Those few lucky ones that are, have only but a few seconds to make an impression and persuade people to stay. Assuming your website is one of those lucky ones, what next?

After putting so much effort in getting someone to visit your website, simply give them what they came for. This is not a sweeping or general statement but the core concept behind any successful website. Adapting to these needs means that:

• The website says 'Yes, you've come to the right place for information about hiking in the Highlands' (for example), instead of 'See how pretty my graphics are and how neatly my paragraphs are laid out'.
• The website has information that truly interests the visitor and that might not be the same information you had in mind for them. In their research, online tourists are avid for details and answers to questions you never would have thought they'd ask.
• The pages on the website are arranged so that they immediately know where to find the information they need.
• They want high quality photographs of the accommodation or area where you operate in.

When considering getting a business website, try to avoid thinking like its owner: 'I want it to have so and so and I want to use this bit of information but not the other one' (for example). Think like a tourist and put yourself in their shoes. Always remember how much you appreciate websites built around what you really want when you use the Internet yourself.

I cannot emphasise enough how important it is to adapt to what online tourists want, even at the cost of compromising some of your preferences (such as what content to include, how the website should look, bells and whistles). The more people are given what they are looking for, the more likely are they to buy from you.

Practical Example

Most accommodation websites list tarrifs, location, facilities, maybe some pictures of the rooms and a few paragraphs about local attractions. This information is usually taken directly from the accommodation's brochure.

People tend to start their online research by looking at the area they want to visit and then start thinking about where to stay. If the website were to include comprehensive information about the local area, the number of visitors would increase because it would attract prospects that are in the early stages of the buying cycle.

Once the website succeeds in selling the area to them, they will start looking for accommodation and what quicker way to find it than on the website they've already visited and are familiar with?