Digital Hints & Tips

The digital space within the tourism landscape is continually changing. The following is a list of top things to consider for your business or event. Please click through on each point to learn further information about each item.

Create a business or event listing on the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse (ATDW)

What is ATDW?

The Australian Tourism Data Warehouse (ATDW) is Australia’s national platform for digital tourism information on Australia. Incorporated in 2001, it is jointly owned and managed by all Australian state/territory government tourism bodies.

The ATDW collects information via its partners then stores and distributes this information.  Data includes product and destination information from all Australian States and Territories, with more than 40,000 listings. This content is compiled in a nationally agreed format and is electronically accessible by tourism business owners (operators), wholesalers, retailers and distributors for use in their websites and booking systems.

Why should I have an ATDW listing?

Over 100 distributor sites (including national, state, regional and local websites) include information and listings stored on the ATDW. Both of www.visitvictoria.com/ and www.visitnsw.com/ state tourism consumer websites receive millions of visits per year, so having a listing has the potential to significantly increase your digital exposure.

Importantly, operator listings for this region on the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse (ATDW) are imported automatically on a daily basis for use across the Murray Regional website www.visitthemurray.com.au and relevant Murray destination website i.e http://www.visitcorowaregion.com.au/, www.visitalburywodonga.com.

To be listed on the ATDW and maximise your business or event exposure on a range of tourism related websites, you will need to create a listing on http://www.atdw.com.au/atdwonline/

If you already have an ATDW listing, it can be updated via the same link.

What are the benefits of a listing?

  • Once a listing is created, it is automatically distributed at no cost to many of the ATDW 100+ distributor sites. See a full list of distributors from this link http://distribution.atdw.com.au/distributors/
  • Your website will appear higher in Google search results as both state sites are search engine optimised (SEO).
  • You can control, create and update your listing as often as you like.
  • You can monitor the performance of your listing.
  • You will have support from respective state tourism (Destination NSW and Visit Victoria) if required for your listing.

Why www.visitvictoria.com and www.visitnsw.com and not other Australian travel sites?

A number of Australian travel websites offer premium listings and charge between $300 and $400 per listing. It is important to remember that this fee only provides a listing on the one website. In comparison, an ATDW listing offers great value for money as listings are distributed and can appear on many of ATDW’s 100+ distributor websites - allowing you to spend more time focusing on your business and less time updating online listings.

www.visitvictoria.com received over 8 million visits and 25.8 million pageviews from consumers over the last 12 months. Over 660,000 visitors per month. www.visitnsw.com received over 7 millions visits from consumers over the last 12 months.

www.visitvictoria.com listings received a total of 9.6 million page views for the past 12 months.

Find out further information about the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse

Install Google Analytics

Installing Google analytics on your website allows you to see how well your site is working and to get statistics on various elements such as page visits, bounce rates and average time visits are spending on your site. It’s important to have installed so you can analyse and make adjustments to improve your website.

Understand and enhance Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

SEO is the process of affecting the visibility of a website in an online search engine’s unpaid results (like in Google). These are often referred to as natural or organic results. In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine's users, and these visitors can be converted into customers.

Here are some SEO tips to apply to your site:

  • Create keywords relating to your site, using actual terms or keywords that consumers will use. Relevant internal and external links should be included on your site.
  • Register your business on Google Business and Google Maps – add link here.
  • Use Google Adwords allows you to target specific markets and have your site listed in Google where your organic ranking may not appear.
  • Imagery It is critical in the digital age to have motivating imagery of your business to use to effectively communicate your offering.

Ensure your site is optimised for mobile devices

Mobile devices are quickly becoming the most used device to access the internet. Make sure your website is able to be accessed by this rapidly growing audience.

To check if your website is optimised for mobile devices, simply click on this link https://www.google.com.au/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/ and enter your website URL i.e. www.visitthemurray.com.au. A mobile friendly test will be run to determine if the website is mobile friendly and the result will be displayed. If the website is not mobile friendly, it is suggested that you contact your website developer to discuss further.

Consider creating a social media account for your business or event

Social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Twitter to name a few have massive numbers of active users.

For example;

Instagram has over 300 million monthly active users with 86% of the top 100 brands having Instagram Accounts.

Facebook has over 1.4 billion monthly active users and 740 million daily active mobile users.

Social media is where your existing and potential customers are hanging out! By placing quality content in front of them, it will improve your interaction and conversation with your customers.
Creating a social media plan for your business can assist with the following key marketing and promotional areas;
• Content marketing.
• Targeted promotion and advertising.
• Customer relationship management.
• Tourism industry insights and research.

Source or invest in great images

Imagery should be:

  • High resolution and crisp/clear.
  • True to the experience as it is today in the moment.
  • Available in portrait and landscape formats.
  • Well lit.
  • Communicate multiple aspects of your business offerings.