Volume I | Issue no. 2
Choosing The Right Web PlatformHTML vs. FlashOne of the first functional decisions in creating a travel and destination site is the choice of programming language. Without getting into complex technical descriptions, the top two options are the text-based HTML format (hypertext markup language, or html) or the highly visual and graphic Flash format. Search Engine OptimizationThere are many arguments for a destination or resort to opt for an html site over a Flash-based website. With a properly coded and optimized html-based site, Google and other search engines can index the content on every page. The result? If you have, say 50 pages of content on your site, you have 50 homes pages - each relevant to a different set of keywords and search phrases. All that work invested in developing a killer content strategy will pay off as your site climbs the result rankings for a wide variety of search phrases. In contrast, if your site is built in Flash, it's a self-contained application. Currently, Google and other search engines see Flash sites as a single page, relevant to a single set of keywords and search phrases. Most often, these Flash based sites rank high in Google for their brand name only. If the person searching for a place to go doesn't know the name of the resort or destination, it’s almost impossible to find it on the web directly. For obvious reasons, this is a huge disadvantage over the competition's sites written in html. Referencing Specific PagesAnother compelling reason to avoid building your site in Flash is the inability to reference any specific page. If an agent, sales person, or brand loyalist for that matter, wants to send a potential customer to a specific page on the site that holds the key to closing the deal, they can't. They can't email a link directly to the content, they can't bookmark it using one of the social media tools like Delicious, Digg, or Technorati. The best they can do is send them to the home page, with instructions on how to navigate to the page with the relevant content. Most people won't bother. Software Compatibility IssuesHowever, there is an even more compelling reason to avoid building a Flash site. Since Flash sites are applications, they can become inoperable due to software incompatibilities. About a week ago, we were discussing the sale of a resort in New York’s Adirondack Mountains. I had visited the resort’s website a month or so ago when the deal closed to see if anything had changed. The resort still had the same Flash site the previous owners had built. Recently, I had to upgrade to Flash 10 player on my computer to accommodate the software we use to manage the agency. When I pointed my browser to the resort’s site with the new Flash 10 installed, I was served a Flash detector error page. The site wouldn’t load. Not only could I not view any content, but there was no way for me to contact the resort. I couldn’t even let them know that their Flash site has been rendered obsolete by the release of Flash 10. Given this sort of obstacle, most consumers would simply give up. Our Recommendation:HTML: Html sites, on the contrary, travel well between operating systems, work with any browser and are independent of software versions – therefore provide almost foolproof performance and expanded search functionality. | ||
Why is there no discussion of Content Management Systems (CMS) such as JOOMLA? This is at least as important as the discussion of HTML versus Flash.
Jack,
Thanks for your comment. While Joomla is a fine content management system and comes highly regarded, we haven't used it to build any sites as of yet. For that reason alone, we don't consider ourselves qualified to speak about the pros and cons of Joomla. We typically use a custom CMS that has some pretty jiggy internet marketing tools unavailable in the open source options. For lower budget projects, we have opted for Wordpress.org primarily due to its huge installed base, and the many plugins available to add functionality. If you have specific Joomla experience you would like to share, please do. I'm sure our readers would find it valuable.
I have been a user of Joomla websites for several years (not in the Tourism realm). My daughter is a Joomla expert. I worked for 37 years in Information Technology before I retired and that background included working with Content Management Systems which make the task of updating website content much easier for the end user.
The Joomla! Community Showcase has examples of several Travel and Tourism sites. See http://community.joomla.org/showcase/sites/recreation-and-hobbies/travel-and-tourism.html. Could you expound on "...some pretty jiggy internet marketing tools unavailable in the open source options." Open Source has plenty of plug-ins.
Thanks
Most of these jiggy tools are designed to track performance. Items included on the dashboard: most viewed pages, sites that refer the most traffic w/ conversion rates, most used search engine phrases with conversion rates, visits by location, keyword ranking tracker, most active sessions with user identification and drill downs, and goal conversion rates. In addition, every page has tracking stats including googlebot visits, top referring sites, total and unique page views, average time, entrance and exit rates, bounce rates, conversion rates and all search phrases used to find the page.
If you're interested, these features are described in more detail here: http://www.createwanderlust.com/destination-website-marketing-dashboard