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In the Lounge
helping small businesses in travel & tourism with online technology


Summer’s winding down quickly….

In This Issue

If there’s a topic you’d like to see learn more about, just click reply and let me know.

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Being Overwhelmed & Doing What’s Important
First of all, nice to see you! I hope you took some time off like we talked about in last month’s issue and enjoyed summer (or spring, for our antipodean readers).  The seasons are definitely in change and there’s a touch of chill in the air here up north.

It’s been pretty busy here at HQ gearing up for the upcoming changes to the website.  A little TOO busy.  I managed to take some time off, but it was difficult.  Something had to give – I couldn’t finish it all anyway, even if I sat behind my laptop screen 24/7.  I did ask myself one question, though, that helped me reprioritise and get my projects in order:

What’s most important to my ideal customer right now?

Lesson Learned: Don’t worry so much about what’s important to you – worry about what’s most important to your customer.  If you worry about them first, take care of them, and make sure their needs are taken care of, then they’ll take care of you.  It just works.

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Celebrating Success:  Two Wheel Africa Tours
A quick note to wish our customer and fellow lounge member Sandi Langton congratulations – we’ve just launched her new website for her fantastic new venture, Two Wheel Africa Tours:

http://www.twowheelafricatours.com

You must go and check it out, even if it’s just to see Sandi’s amazing photography – some great shots.  And she’s got some pretty cool tours also, and even a forum for lovers of motorbike touring world-wide.  Sandi’s busy preparing some core content for the blog still, but together we’ve done a lot of work in just under a month so we’ll give her a little more time to finish. ;-)

Sandi was a customer of our value-packed website/blog launch service.  If you’d like more information on how we can help you improve your online presence (or get you started in the first place), don’t be afraid to click reply and get in touch.  Each package is customised just for you!
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Required Reading: Tips from Seth Godin and Lea Woodward
I have two articles that are this month’s required reading, one from marketing legend Seth Godin and one from online entrepreneur Lea Woodward.

Seth shares some fantastic Lessons Learned from Tiny Businesses.  My favourite points:  go where your customers, outlast the competition, and most importantly:  respond.  Small businesses have so much more capability to provide an amazing customer service than the big guys, so take advantage of that.

Lea also gave us some insightful thoughts with her article, What if Twitter Went Down and Never Came Back Up?  It doesn’t matter if you are on Twitter or not, but read the article anyway and consider what would happen is any of your critical business systems went down. Laptop stolen?  Website provider goes out of business and takes your website with it?  Consider where all of your eggs are in one basket when it comes to online tech, and figure out what’s the emergency backup plan.  You never want to be crippled by the breaking of a weak link in the chain.

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Your Questions Answered:  What is the hardest part about online business??
Last month I opened up the communication lines and asked everyone here in the lounge the following question:

What do you find the hardest part about online business?

We had some interesting questions and thoughts.  I’d like to highlight the following submission from Lisa:

I think the hardest thing for me is putting out content that doesn’t get response, because it’s discouraging.

Ouch!  Thanks for opening up and sharing your sore spot, Lisa.  This is a very common response and when I started my travel website, I had the same problem – was anyone listening?  Here’s my thoughts on the matter:

  • Are you putting out content that you are confident with?  Write about what you feel are the real problems and issues, reporting on a true perspective from your niche.  Don’t just pander to being controversial or trying to win a popularity contest.
  • Have you asked for feedback?  You can ask a trusted friend or colleague, or perhaps a former customer.  Just make sure it’s someone who will be honest – if your pal is just going to say “Oh, it’s fine” then that’s not good enough.  Pay for a professional if that’s what it takes. (I can help – don’t be afraid to ask!)
  • Give it time, but monitor closely.  Results don’t happen overnight, so if you keep changing tactics you’ll never really giving anyone angle an opportunity to get some traction.   But do monitor, especially when you make tweaks, so you know what’s working and do more of it.

I hope that helps, Lisa!  Hang in there and don’t get discouraged – we’re all here for you.
For the rest of you – did you miss out on submitting your question?  No worries: tell me by filling in this quick, one answer questionnaire. It will take 60 seconds, maybe more if you type slow. Just click here and share your view.

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When you’ve finished reading this month’s newsletter, be sure to:

  • whitelist emails from “www.travelonlinepartners.com” so that they don’t end up in your Spam folder!
  • forward a copy to a friend who might enjoy these tips and tricks – I’d love to see them here with us next month.
  • click reply and let me know if there is anything I can do to help or if there is a topic you’d like to hear more about.

Otherwise, thanks for listening. See you soon.

-Andy