The first step before launching a promotion campaign is to measure your Web site's effectiveness based on its objectives, such as increasing market share, reducing selling costs, growing customer relationships, attracting tourists, and recruiting employees. This is accomplished by tracking visitor responses (e.g., number of reservation bookings) and analyzing traffic statistics found in the server logs.

The access log records hits, visits, and page views. Hits are generated whenever files are requested. A Web page with three graphics, for example, could generate up to four hits. Consequently, the most meaningful statistic is the visit, a collection of hits and page views pertaining to a specific visitor requesting files from your Web site. Since hits can be a misleading statistic, page views give a more accurate picture of the Web site areas and resources attracting an audience. The referrer and agent log information, which may be appended in the access log, reveals where visitors were before coming to the site as well as the names and version of the browsers requesting files.

Listed below are useful statistics for benchmarking a Web site's performance. Although statistics can be tracked manually, tracking software (shareware, freeware, and commercial) saves time and presents information in graphical form, which provides a more compelling and understandable performance picture.

· Visitor count: This identifies the number of visitors. A popular Web site may get 5,000 to 10,000 visitors per day, whereas a low-traffic site may get less than 100 visitors.

· Average number of page views per visitor: This indicates how satisfied visitors are with the site. If visitors are viewing many pages, they are probably finding information that interests them.

· Length of average visit: This indicates whether visitors are reading pages or just browsing. Another indicator of reading or browsing is the average duration of page view. When examining this statistic, keep in mind the page style and length and its use of text and graphics.

· Domain classes and geographic areas: This tells you where the people who are visiting your site live and work, which helps to know where and how to focus promotional efforts.

· Busiest hours of the day and busiest days of the week: This information is crucial for planning daily and weekly updates, promotion campaigns, and advertising.

· Most requested pages: This identifies the most popular pages and what pages need attention.

· Most commonly requested last pages: This helps to spot trends and bad pages. If the last page requested, for example, has a large number of links to external Web sites - it is probably the reason most people are exiting the Web site from this point. If the last page requested does not have links to external Web sites, it needs to be closely scrutinized. It may need updating or contains errors or inconsistencies.

· Top paths through site: This shows the paths most often followed on a Web site, providing insight into the effectiveness of its focus and organizational structure. If the primary intent of a resort Web site is to raise overall daily revenue, for example, the ideal path would lead to other reservations (e.g., golf, tennis, massage, dining room, etc.) in addition to room bookings.

· Top entry page: This identifies the first page viewed by a visitor. Since the top entry page is not always the home page, appropriate internal links (e.g., link back to main page) should be added to the bottom of every Web page. A well-conceived internal linking scheme will prevent dead ends, ease navigation, and highlight what the site has to offer.

When visitors encounter errors at a Web site - such as the dreaded "404 - File Not Found" - they may leave the site and never return. Check the access and error logs to identify trouble spots. Common problems include dead links, excessive load times, and faulty HTML programming.

Bad links are the primary cause of the "File Not Found Error." This error occurs when a link has an incorrect URL (uniform resource locator), an address that points to a specific page or site on the Web. The address may simply be misspelled (e.g., www.hilto.com) or have the wrong mixture of uppercase and lowercase letters.

Although all links may work perfectly initially, the moving, deleting, or the combining of pages can start an avalanche of errors. Anyone who has a created a link (e.g., search engine) to a changed page will inadvertently direct people to dead ends. This is easily fixed by creating a placeholder document, a page that redirects the visitor to a different location on a Web site. This process can be automated using client pull technology, where the visitor is redirected without having to do anything.

Lost connections are due to impatient visitors not willing to wait for a page to finish loading. Studies have shown that if a site does not load within 30 seconds, 80% of the surfers will hit another site. Since 60% of consumers are browsing the Web using 14.4K or 28.8K modems, it is critical to know the site's load time. If a page has a large number of lost connections, it should be changed to either load quicker or to allow visitors to peruse the page before it finishes loading.

To save time diagnosing or fixing problems, either purchase troubleshooting software or have the site serviced at a " Web Site Garage," where a cyber mechanic will perform various diagnostic tests including a load time check, a dead link check, a spell check, a HTML design check, and a browser compatibility check. Some sites have added a statement with an e-mail link specifically requesting visitors to report technical errors they have encountered.

The tracking of a Web site's statistics will identify the resources attracting visitors. Consequently, it is important to have a few road signs directing visitors to popular areas. Plain-old text can be used to create links to the pages needing to be promoted. People visiting the City of Coronado's recreation and leisure page (www.coronado.ca.us/Recreation), for example, might also be interested in the visitor page (www.coronado.ca.us/Visitor) to learn about the types of lodging accommodations available in the area.

The home page (www.coronado.ca.us) is the place to showcase the main areas on a Web site. But it is also important to list the main areas on the top-level pages within the site because many people will probably not begin their visit from the home page. Consequently, anyone visiting Coronado's recreation page should also be told about the visitor page and vice versa. By promoting both areas, page views will be increased and readers will gain a better understanding and appreciation of what the Web site offers.

Once a strategy for directing traffic to popular pages is developed, examine the pages with fewer visitors. Most low traffic pages are either deleted or ignored. If the page content has value, consider combining it with a popular page. Before doing this, however, determine if the road signs directing visitors to an unpopular page are clear and informative.

Sometimes the hardest part about running a web site is getting visitors to come back. The two basic approaches to attracting repeat visitors are "pull or push." The pull approach is to offer content compelling enough to entice repeat visitors. The push approach provides direct information to the user.

The "Hot Deals" feature at the Hyatt Web site (www.hyatt.com) is an example of the pull technique. This enables visitors to check for a variety of special offers and promotions available at Hyatt hotels and resorts around the world. Visitors can also subscribe to the Hyatt Extras e-mail newsletter, a commonly used push tactic.

Obviously, the best approach to attract repeat visitors is a mixture of push and pull techniques. Both of these techniques, for example, are used in the Hilton.com membership program (www.Hilton.com) through which members can sign-up to receive e-mail notices on important site changes and updates, instantly check Hhonors (frequent guest program) account information, and review future reservations.

Every Web site needs an e-mail link for communicating with visitors and for obtaining valuable feedback. Answering all inquiries promptly and fully is important in cultivating long-term cyber relationships. Also consider setting up a referral system. This is basically a button that lets a visitor send e-mail to a friend suggesting the site.

Depending on the number of e-mail requests a Web site receives, an e-mail management system may need to be purchased to take full advantage of Internet marketing efforts. An e-mail management system provides a tracking system, a database to store e-mail addresses and messages, an automatic e-mail acknowledgement or autoresponder, and advanced reporting capabilities. This system, for example, can track average response times and maintain complete customer communications histories.

Another useful tool for gaining feedback as well as information about Web site visitors is a guest book. Most guest books ask visitors for personal information (e.g., name, address, e-mail address, etc.) and invite comments. It may also ask them if they want to receive promotional materials. Information typically sent to subscribers includes press releases, advertisements, clips from recently published pages, contest and page updates, and highlights of interesting areas within the Web site.

In order to convert visitors into loyal customers, frequently update information, make the purchase process simple and informative, and provide timesaving self-service options and solid, one-to-one customer service. Personalizing the customer service process can be achieved by enabling customers to set up their own personal pages at your site (e.g., Hilton.com membership program). A personalized Web site, for example, could provide customers with shortcut links to areas of the site they want to visit most and information on services for which they subscribed.

Finally, consider offering a screen saver for download from your Web site. This will help visitors remember it and may bring new ones if the screen saver is downloaded to a high visibility workstation.

One of the best ways to increase traffic to a Web site is to register it with the major search engines. Nearly 90% of visitors to Web sites arrived via a search engine which indexes sites enabling people to use keywords to find Web pages that interest them.

A search engine has a database for collecting reference information. Most of the databases are created by crawlers (also known as robots or spiders). These are software programs that find and index pages for inclusion in the database. Every search engine indexes the page URL and title. Most search engines also index the Web page headers (meta tag) that start each section. Others record the most frequently mentioned words or the first few lines of text.

If a web site is not listed in the first 3 or 4 pages of any search, the odds of someone finding it diminishes greatly. Consequently, getting proper placement on search engines is as important as the Web site itself. A thorough understanding of how search engines pull up pages and place them in an "order of relevancy" is necessary. Listed below are the main factors influencing a site's ranking.

· Page Title. This is the single most important factor affecting a site's ranking. Keywords in the page title are considered more relevant than other keywords on the page. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to select page title words that clearly reflect the theme of the page. Instead of a title that says, "Welcome to my hotel," use a title that says, "Welcome to The Treetops Hotel, Playa Del Carmen, Mexico!" Since page titles are used for bookmarks and by most search engines for displaying Web pages, they must also immediately grab the reader's attention as well.

· Meta Tag. This information, hidden from the reader, includes a detailed page description and keywords for the page. The contents of the meta page description are often displayed as a page summary by search engines on their search results pages. Because some search engines use page summaries that are fewer than 200 characters, the most relevant information should come first. Also, limit the meta keyword list to less than 1,000 characters using keywords no more than seven times. Search Engines will penalize Web sites for using the same keyword over and over again to get a better listing or using keywords that have nothing to do with the page content.

As denoted in the example below, thoughtful combinations (e.g., luxury hotels, luxury resorts) and variations (e.g., travel, travelers) of keywords can improve your site's ranking. Most importantly, use words that someone would type to find your Web site. Look at successful competitor sites for guidance in keyword selection and page wording.

· Page Text. Begin each Web page with a descriptive summary statement of less than 200 characters because the text at the top of the page is given more weight than the text at the bottom and may be used as a site description by some search engines. To prevent graphical descriptions (e.g., Siapan.img.) from appearing in search engine page descriptions, the summary statement should directly follow a Web Site's graphical banner whenever possible.

The text should be well organized and focus on a page's theme by using clear and complete statements ending with proper punctuation. A few search engines do not consider incomplete sentences as relevant. Also add meta keywords, especially two-word phrases, into the text without losing the message. This is vital for search engines that do not reference meta tags. Repeating meta keywords in the text is beneficial as long as it is within a well-constructed sentence and has appropriate context.

The next step is to register the URL with search engines by personally completing the submission pages at the search engine sites or by either using automated submission software or a registration service (e.g.,www.submit-it.com). Use the latter two methods if it involves a large number of submissions. This should be done only after a Web site is completely finished and working properly.

While a site can be listed with hundreds of search engines, begin with the major ones since over 85% of web surfers use one or two of the top ten. Top search engines include Excite, Infoseek, Lycos, AltaVista, Webcrawler, and HotBot. It may take a few weeks to get listed. In some cases, it may take several submissions to get listed. According to Search Engine Watch (http://searchenginewatch.com), Infoseek will register pages within minutes, AltaVista and HotBot take a day or two, and Excite takes about three weeks. Lycos and Webcrawler are months behind in registering page submissions.

To reach audiences abroad, list your Web site in foreign search engines (www.bizforms.com/search.htm) most used in your target countries. Major American search engines like AltaVista have foreign language editions. Although the Web is a great tool for reaching international markets, customers must be able to understand the message. An international version of English using simple grammar and avoiding long sentences, slang, colloquialisms and jargon may have to be written. It is possible that a site may have to be completely translated into a foreign language. Whatever needs to be done it is important to use the right tone and style. What seems acceptable in New York City or New Delhi may look strange in Milan, even after it is translated into Italian. Adding foreign language keywords to your meta keyword tags is crucial. You may be surprised by the number of people searching for "complejo turistico" instead of resort.

In addition to the homepage, register other pages with worthwhile content. Registering multiple pages will improve the odds of people finding a site and will make it easier to enter a site through another page. The risk of a search engine not accurately indexing your pages will also be reduced. Finally, check the site's placement on a regular basis using tools (e.g., Webposition and PositionAgent) to monitor the Web site's ranking in the top search engines and to access helpful information for improving its ranking.

In addition to search engines, register your site with the Web guides and directories to reach users looking for tailored information. Both guides and directories are terms to describe Web resources that provide links to Web pages but they differ in their focus. The focus of a guide is typically on the top sites whereas the focus of a directory is on categorizing information found on the Web. Unlike search engines, guides and directories do not index Web pages but create a listing based on the information provided to the person profiling a submission. Because someone is actually profiling the site, directories and guides provide more targeted results than search engines.

Since most directory sites stringently screen all new submissions, place a listing in a category (e.g.,www.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/Sports/Tennis/Resorts/) strongly relating to the topic the site covers. Whenever possible, list the major areas of the web site in different categories to enhance its visibility. For example, a hotel Web site could list its homepage in one category and its recreational activities in another. Some of the top directories with hospitality-related listings include Yahoo!, InfoSpace, Nerd World, All Business Network, What's New, and BigBook. Yahoo! is the best known directory and was recently ranked as the most visited domain by RelevantKnowledge Inc.

Because travel and tourism is a sizeable, global industry, there are a large number of directories devoted to it. Some notable travel and tourism directories include Hotels and Travel on the Net (www.hotelstravel.com), Ecotravel (www.ecotravel.com), The Search Engine for Travel Information on the Net, TravelHub (www.travelhub.com), and Rec.Travel Library (www.remcan.ca/rec-travel/). The Hotels and Travel on the Net, for example, is an international directory that contains hundreds of thousands of listings with categories for hotels, airlines, airports, travel-related products and services, and travel references.

A Web site should be registered in city and metro guides that cover the geographical area where the business establishment resides. This type of directory is growing in popularity because it enables users to access information related to a specific city, state, or country. For example, a person wishing to find a Mexican restaurant in Phoenix would access a city guide featuring Phoenix such as USA CityLink (www.usacitylink.com). This city guide focuses primarily on travel and tourism where people can find information on dining, vacation tips, tourist attractions, convention centers, airports, entertainment, accommodations, shopping, etc

A guide will list a submission only if it is judged to be among the best sites on the Web. Sites are evaluated on such things as presentation, design, content, personality and experience and are typically assigned awards in the form of a numerical score, star rating, or medal. Having a Web site listed in a guide attracts visitors, especially if it is listed in Magellan (www.mckinley.com), Excite (www.excite.com), Looksmart (www.looksmart.com), Lycos Top 5% (//point.lycos.com), NetGuide (www.netguide.com), or Infoseek Travel Channel (//guide-p.infoseek.com/Topic?tid=1753lk=noframes). To improve the chances of a site begin listed in a guide, the submission should focus on the top level areas and include eye-catching, descriptive information that is based on a clear understanding of how the guide functions.

Finally, consider submitting your Web site for awards. A high profile award such as "Cool Site of the Day" will dramatically increase traffic. To improve your odds of being selected, take the time to get to know the types of sites reviewers prefer. Some meaningful award sites are Windows Magazine (www.winmag.com/flanga/hotspots.htm)), PC Magazine (www.pcmag.com/special/web100), Too Cool (www.toocool.com), and Cool central (www.coolcentral.com).

Getting listed on search engines, directories and guides is a great way to begin marketing a Web site. The Internet, however, has exploded to more than 320 million Web pages and is expected to grow by 1000 percent in just a few years. According to a recent study published in the journal, Science, even the most dedicated surfer using the best search engine would be able to find barely one-third of the pages. Thus, creative approaches are required to attract visitors. Following are various measures to effectively promote your site.

· Banner Advertising. A banner is an ad on a Web page hyper-linked to the advertiser's site. Clicks on a banner ad are routed through a banner network where the click is counted before reaching the Web site. Banners are the most popular method to promote products and services on the Internet.

Advertisers talk about banner advertising in terms of cost per thousand (CPM), governing, frequency and click-through percentages. CPM is the amount of money you pay per thousand banners served (impressions) at a site and is typically determined by the amount and quality of traffic. A Web site, for example, that charges $1,000 per banner and guarantees 100,000 impressions has a CPM of $10 ($1,000/100).

To display banner ads without cost, join a banner exchange, a cooperative advertising program through which participants work together to advertise Web sites for each other. While most banner exchanges allow almost any type of banner advertising, there are specialty banner exchanges that focus in specific areas such as travel Web sites (e.g., www.travel-resources.com/exchange). Currently, the largest banner exchange network is LinkExchange (www.linkexchange.com).

Click-through percentages are based on the direct relationship between banner impressions and the number people who click on the banner. The current industry average is 2.11%. To earn a good click-through rate, a banner must be topic-specific, well designed and placed at a site with the right audience. For example, if you place a banner about a beach resort on a site about Hawaii, the results would be better than if it were on a site about web page design. By properly selecting placement sites you will be able to focus directly on your target market. Furthermore, it is easy and inexpensive to test which banner ads work best on which site.

Banner frequency refers to the number of times a banner is consistently displayed before moving on to another banner. Most analysts agree that a banner frequency of three is optimal. The life span of a banner is short. Response rates can drop by one-half from the second to third time someone views an ad. As a result, rotate banners and quickly remove bad performers.

Governing refers to the pace the entire campaign follows. If 100,000 banner impressions are purchased for a site that receives 2.4 million visitors per month, they could be run though quickly. Pacing the impressions over a 30-day period, however, provides a campaign with balance and a potential for greater exposure.

· Reciprocal Links. This refers to two Web sites hyper-linked to each other. The best reciprocal links are sites with similar interests. Many sites offer reciprocal links. This is a good way to increase the number of visitors. In fact, by routinely adding related sites to your site, you can actually drive up repeat hits. Also consider joining a Web Ring (www.webring.org). This consists of a number of sites (e.g., Bed and Breakfast Ring http://bandb.tqn.com/blring.htm) on the same topic. At the bottom of the page, links are listed along with the ring's identifying graphic. In almost every case, there will be links to the "next" site in the ring, the "previous site" in the ring, or a "random site" in the ring. There is no cost to joining a Web Ring, which some feel may be integral to successfully organizing and navigating the Web of tomorrow.

· E-mail. E-mail is an effective mechanism for promoting a Web site. E-mail messages can take one of three forms: messages sent from person to person, messages posted to a newsgroup, and messages submitted to a mailing list.

Sending a message person to person is the most direct method and should never be sent unsolicited. Information should only sent to people who have visited a site and have requested promotional materials. It might be appropriate, however, to use a direct e-mail announcement service, wherein the Web site is announced to a database of individuals who have requested news and information in specific categories of interest within your target market.

A message to a newsgroup appears in a central discussion area where those who follow the newsgroup may see it. On the Internet, there are thousands of newsgroups covering a vast array of topics. To view and post messages to a newsgroup, use a news reader, which is a program that runs on a computer and connects to a news server on the Internet. When posting a promotional message to a newsgroup, make it short, informative and very relevant to the subject at hand. For example, if a newsgroup participant asks about tourist attractions in Arizona and you operate a resort in this area, an appropriate reply might be a message (a few paragraphs at the most) discussing the types of tourist-related links featured at your Web site. To find suitable newsgroups for posting promotional messages, visit Deja News (www.dejanews.com). At this site, there are millions of current postings to newsgroups by keywords.

Mailing lists are like newsgroups except their messages go to all of the subscribers. Many mailing lists have moderators to screen out inappropriate messages. With potentially thousands of people on the receiving end of a promotional message, a blatant advertisement will quickly generate hate mail. An ideal posting is informative, helpful and brief. One of the best mailing list directories is Liszt (www.liszt.com), which provides a searchable and category index of over 66,000 mailing lists.

Use a creative e-mail signature file and customize it for each target audience whenever possible (e.g., golfers, business travelers, etc.). This little file goes at the end of every e-mail sent, except when posting to a mailing list. It is considered acceptable to use a signature file for advertising purposes, but keep it to less than five lines. It should contain your name, title, telephone and fax numbers, company name, a brief description of your product or service, and the Web site URL. Special events or promotions may also be included. Finally, put your e-mail and Web site addresses on stationary, business cards, brochures and advertisements. This will amplify the impact of marketing dollars.

· Classified Ads. Place Internet classified ads with an embedded link to your Web site. The Internet has become a leading electronic medium in direct marketing. A traditional classified ad would probably cost about ten cents to reach a thousand people. On the Internet, an ad would cost between zero and eight cents per thousand people. Both the cost per thousand and the cost per word are lower. Internet classified ads are typically 25 to 200 words. In some cases, ads are free. Some feel the Internet is the most cost-effective means of advertising ever developed, enabling an advertiser to test any product, service or information inexpensively and instantly.

There are hundreds of classified web sites that receive over 10,000 visitors per day. Placing an ad at multiple classified ad sites will increase its response rate. Ad submission services, such Ad-Submit (www.ad-submit.com), place ads quickly at a large number of Web sites. Visit Triple One Directory (www.triple1.com/services/ads) for examples of classifieds with embedded Web links.

The Web is having a profound impact on the hospitality industry fueled by personal computer (PC) and online adoption rates. According to the 1997 Ernst and Young Internet Shopping Survey, 41% of U.S. households own a PC where half of them are already online. The number of online households is projected to grow to nearly 25% over the next 12 months. This study contends that price reductions for PCs, advances in Web content, and new Internet access devices will further spark online growth. Most importantly to the hospitality industry, the Ernst and Young study points out that one of the favorite activities of online shoppers is making online reservations.

It is clear that the Internet has emerged as a potent business channel. The decision is no longer whether to have a Web site but how to make it more relevant in a new and cluttered technical world.

Increasing Web traffic begins with a performance evaluation. What areas do visitors find appealing? What areas need improvement based on an analysis of visitor and page usage statistics? Studying successful competitor sites is helpful. Once a Web site is fined tuned and completely finished and functioning properly, launch a promotion campaign that sharply focuses on targeted audiences. The first step is to register with search engines, the principal billboards in cyberspace. The next step is to register with guides and directories for people looking for specific types of information. Other ways to build the necessary infrastructure for driving long term traffic to a site include banner ads, strategic links to related sites, e-mail promotions, and classified ads. Finally, if a Web site's content is relevant, visitors will persist with a less than perfect layout. And remember, there is a greater likelihood that visitors will bookmark an exceptional Web site and refer it to friends or associates.