Linking you to a wealth of resources
Delivery of our ICT Diagnostic Health-checks has highlighted recurring topics that many of you feel unsure of or are not aware of. The Toolbox will bring together a series of online How To Guides, Case Studies and useful links relevant to the various technologies and applications available. We hope these easy-to-understand bite size chunks of information will encourage you to explore and make the most of the opportunities technology provides. Select the technologies most appropriate to your needs, improve the visitor experience and bring business rewards.
This is definitely 'work in progress' and we will be adding more information over the coming months, so do keep popping back. And you can get involved and let us know about the things you find via our 'links and resources' forum post. We'd love to hear from you.
Tourism ICT Diagnostic / Health Check
- How to Guide – ICT Diagnostics - A free, comprehensive and independent health check of your Information and Communications Technology systems: computers, websites, etc. Are you in the right place for your business? Where should you be best focussing your attention? Improvements to your systems will bring benefits to both your business and your customers.
- Case Study Video featuring Leighton James, Digital Tourism Business Programme Manager, Paul Gadd, ICT Diagnostic Consultant, and Hywel Davies, Proprietor, Llwynifan Farm Caravan Park. The video explains how a diagnostic works, the sort of things that it can help with and the first hand experience of one small tourism business.
- Useful Diagnostic link Welsh Government Web Site
Developing, Improving and Managing Your Website
- How to Guide – Creating Your Website Brief - Are you thinking about building a new website or maybe refreshing your old one? If so you may need a website brief. The website brief is the document that you give to potential suppliers. It should contain a full description of all the features and functionality that you want from your website. Here is a template and a few pointers to help you on your way.
- How to Guide – Choosing a Web Professional to Build or Refresh Your Website - Do you need professional help with a new website or the redesign of our old one? Everybody wants a professional looking website that will help generate more business, but how do you find someone who can create the perfect site for YOU? Read on…
- How to Guide – Choosing Your Domain Name - Are you considering creating a new website? If so, your choice of domain name is really important - it could quite literally win or lose you business. Your domain name is the first point of contact with your website and where you will create your first impression. Here are a few important points you need to consider before making your final choice!
- How to Guide – Writing Great Content for your Website - Effective search engine friendly copywriting will help you to get your site ranked higher in the major search engines. Improving the quality, content and layout of your website should improve your position on the results pages - bringing more visitors to your website and an increase in enquiries and sales. If your online visitors enjoy using your website they’ll be more inclined to direct others to your web pages via social media, blogs, personal recommendation, etc. It’s a win, win situation!
- How to Guide – Search Engine Optimisation- How many of your potential customers will know of your business and your exact web address? Did you know that more than 90% of travel products are researched online, using search engines? If your site cannot be found easily, you will be losing business. This guide explains how search engines work and how optimising your website for search engines will improve your ranking, allowing you to reach your future customers.
- How to Guide – Using Meta Data & Tags Effectively on your Website - If you go to a library, museum gallery or visitor attraction, you probably find guides or listings helpful. In the same way search engines need help when searching the web. Meta Data and Tags help search engines understand what your website is all about and help search engine users choose which web page they wish to view. Enticing Meta Description Tags could result in more visits for your website and possibly more sales!
- How to Guide – What are Inbound Links & Why Do I need Them?- Promoting traffic to your tourism website is becoming more and more important due to ever increasing competition. Quality inbound links are one of the routes to search engine optimisation and bring more visitors to your website. The best way to get relevant inbound links to your site is to create web pages which contain fresh, engaging and informative content. If people like your content they’ll share it by linking to it - bringing you more visitors!
QR Codes
How to Guide – Getting Started with QR Codes Have you heard of QR Codes? Perhaps you’ve seen the crossword type boxes around and wondered what they are? QR codes act like ‘keys’ and can be used by visitors to unlock the door to any digital content you wish to point them to - webpages, soundtracks, images and much more. They are free to create and how you use them is up to you! Read on and unlock your imagination ...
Introduction to QR Codes Video - Leighton James, Digital Tourism Business Programme Manager (as was) and Matt Chilcott from MonmouthpediA, introduce QR codes and how they can be used as a key to unlock tourism content.
HistoryPoints Case Study Video - Rhodri Clark from HistoryPoints, explains how QR codes are used by them to inform visitors about locations around Wales and to develop trails, highlighting where and why this can be particularly helpful.
MonmouthpediA Case Study Video - Matt Chilcott from MonmouthpediA, explains how easy QR's are to create and use and how a type of QR code helped Monmouth to become the first Wikipedia town in the world.
QR related links
www.historypoints.org
www.monmouthpedia.org
Social Media
Case Study Video – Cleo Browne explains how owner-managed Celtic Quest Coasteering has built up an impressive Internet presence with limited manpower - but with equally impressive results.
TripAdvisor Tips. TripAdvisor and similar online review sites are now an integral part of of the digital tourism environment. The TripAdvisor Blog is a good source of insights into how customer review sites work and how operators can use them to their advantage. Click here.
E-commerce
How to Guide – E-commerce Systems - Whatever the size of your business it’s possible to trade online - and it's fairly straightforward to set up. Many tourism businesses have taken the opportunity to offer this service 24/7 for the convenience of their existing customers and to reach new markets worldwide - thereby increasing their sales. This factsheet gives examples of simple upselling opportunities - dining reservations, entrance tickets, gift vouchers and more…
IT Security and Risks
Securing your Public Wifi - This guide is designed to help owners of hotels and B&Bs understand security risks. It gives practical advice on tightening up security measures and minimising the risk of breaches that can carry high costs to your business, both financially and in terms of reputation.
Public Wifi Template (Word doc) - This is an agreement template that you can use to set out the terms and conditions on which wireless internet access (“the Service”) is provided to your customers, and gain their agreement to receive promotional and marketing material
Case Study Video - Public Access Wifi - E-crime Wales video: Wifi at Parc Wernol Caravan Park
'How To' Video -Protecting your Android - E-crime Wales video showing the basic security steps for Android devices.
'How To' Video - Protecting your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch - E-crime Wales video showing the basic security steps for iOS devices.
Useful IT Security Links
www.ecrimewales.com
eCrime Wales is a partnership of organisations and agencies committed to equipping Welsh businesses with the knowledge and tools to be aware, vigilant, informed and ultimately safe from the destructive effects of e-Crime in all its forms.
