Website Design

Your website is your international face. The image you depict through your website design is very crucial for all international marketing efforts. Since, Nepal is a poor country, we must accept that we will compete against the entire travel industry for travel-dollars spent around the world. Here are few designs to be considered for your website:

why use the internet and who are the audience?

• Low Cost: A website is certainly the most cost effective way of international marketing.
• Worldwide Acceptance: If you don't have a website now, you are left far behind.
• Competition: If you have a 4-color brochure, you will have to travel outside the country for promotions/travel trade shows, work with wholesale agents and spend a minimum of $1,000 to $5,000 every year when Internet marketing does it all in a very low cost without any hassle of travel and promotions. If you don't make the most of the internet and your website right now, your competitor certainly will.
• Big Spenders: Almost all the people in the USA are on the internet and Europe is not far either. Working people who go on vacations usually spend 2 to 3 weeks per year, spending approximately $2,500 to $5,000 per person. That's an average spending after deducting airfare of $50 to $200 per day and you can tap this market.
• Invest at Par to Your Image: Websites are like digital brochures. The more you spend, the greater the image of your company. If you want big spenders, you'll also need to invest in a website that will lure people. If a foreigner sees a fancy website with proper English and design, they will be more likely to trust your organization.
• Top Countries Accessing VisitNepal.com in the year 2004: USA, Australia, Singapore, UK, Canada, Netherlands, Germany, India, Malaysia, France, Japan, Denmark, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Israel, Belgium, Brazil, Finland, and Spain.

how will people select your organization over the internet?

• Visual Referral: The best form of advertising is certainly word-of-mouth referral business. Your website should facilitate this. When a friend tells another friend, trust is conveyed about your company. A website solely cannot compete with this form of promotion, but it can certainly help if your website address is on the brochure or business card handed to a friend by a past client.
• Hook People with Good Content: We've been promoting travel related business on the Internet for 8 years. Again and again, we see that BIG websites are NOT the answer to successful promotion. The secret is to get people hooked so they may send you an inquiry to start building a personal relationship.
• Promote Your Specialty: Your existing marketing success should go hand-in-hand with whatever you put on the Internet. If you specialize in Tibet tours, be focused and be careful not to offer all kinds of other services. You will lose the advantage of your specialized knowledge.
• Avoid Web-izing Your Local Brochure: If we see one more website that reads like a Thamel brochure handed to a budget backpacker, we may pack up and leave the country. Western people are not interested in your cheap price neither in your company being the best in service or your donations to local schools. These are all stale, old marketing gimmicks well known in other countries.
• Logos: Your logo may be used to create your company image. Many organizations have logos printed on cards and stationary with one of two colors to be cost effective. Realize, the Internet offers you a chance to use Graphics, Photos and Animation to draw attention to your logo. Don't be afraid to experiment with your logo, or change it altogether for the Internet.
• Offer a Personal Touch: People want to FEEL who you are and what you do through your website. Hearing stories, seeing smiling faces and knowing personal experiences are all part of the cultural immersion that brings people to Nepal. Why not present this information on your website? Don't you like to hear a funny story rather than watching a TV commercial?
• Humor: Be funny, witty and personal and people will want to work with you. VisitNepal.com was recommended in Time Magazine due to our funny stories of Yeti, not just because we list Trekking Agents and Hotels.

Need help in creating Fun and Humorous website? Contact Us.

how will people contact you?

A successful Internet Marketing campaign and proper web-site design will allow a client to contact you from any page of the site with an email link or a suggestion to fill out and submit an Inquiry/Input Form.

• Email Link: A simple email link to contact@visitnepal.com may get us lots of inquiries. Many of those are concerned to temperature, weather and the best time to travel somewhere. An alternative solution is to qualify the client with an Inquiry/Input Form.
• Inquiry/Input Forms: Request more information to qualify the client and promote Add-on Sales. An Inquiry form allows to ask questions about the client. How many people will be coming? How long will they stay? Would they need any help with Hotel Bookings, Trekking, etc?
  
  See a sample Inquiry Form - Here
  
  The answers to your Inquiry questions to the client will be sent to your own email address.
  
• Offer Less Information but More Reasons to Contact: Another clever Internet marketing tip is to Hook clients into sending you an Inquiry. Some examples are to offer a FREE brochure or to show a single itinerary and offer more through further contact. We have many examples of how this may be implemented on your site. Simply contact us for a FREE consultation and we'll tell you more. Get it!!

how should you respond?

Even if you have no answer for a specific question, at least acknowledge the receipt of the message and send a notice saying it will take some time to answer all the questions.

• Same Day Response: All responses to inquiries should be clear, concise and sent within 24 hours of receipt.
• Clear English and Specific Answers: We have an example of a sponsor receiving 100 inquiries and not booking a single client. Further analysis from their email responses showed that the sponsor used poor English and tried to get clients on the basis of fixed-departure treks that they were not interested in. After reviewing 100 emails and bringing in a trained marketing manager, 6 of the inquiries were converted into business.
• Know Your Competitive Advantages: Most web-surfers looking for travel information and pricing will shop around on 3 to 5 sites that look appealing. These sites will all receive a copy of the same email. Just like in the real world, you'll need to be competitive and build trust with the client. Less experienced companies often are overlooked for a more experienced company even at the cost of a more expensive package.
• Email Addresses and Email Forwarding
  Your website name and email address are one way to help promote your site.
• Domain: If you own your domain (i.e. www.nepalshangrila.com), do not use your Nepal based email address (hokat@shangrila.mos.com.np) as a Responding Address. Route your email through your domain. This will promote your domain (kathmandu@nepalshangrila.com) and make it easy for people to remember your email address.
• Sub-Domain: If you are a Sponsor with VisitNepal.com, we also provide Email addresses that can be forwarded to your Nepal based email box through any local ISP.

For more information with site promotion - Select Promoting Your Site or Contact Us for a FREE consultation.

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