Internet Marketing for Your Tourism Business: Proven Techniques for Promoting Tourist-Based Businesses over the Internet

The number of people turning to the Interne for vacation and travel planning has increased more than 300 percent over the past four years and that explosive growth continues today. Consumer spending in the online travel industry is expected to climb to billion by 2001! That’s why tourism businesses have flocked to the Internet in record numbers. But as many soon find out, it’s not enough to just put up a web site. You must know how to attract tourists to your web site and more importantly how to convert your web site visitors to paying customers. In Internet marketing for your tourism business, recognized Internet marketing expert and professional speaker Susan Sweeney offers many proven techniques for doing both.

This combination book/web site is full of practical tips, tools, techniques, resources, and step-by-step strategies to help tourism operators increase their bookings. It will help you increase your web site traffic and then convert curious visitors into paying customers. Each chapter is laid out as a stand-alone entity, so you can begin implementing your online tourism promotion strategy immediately! Country inns, bed and breakfasts, hotels, motels, theme parks, adventure tours, campgrounds, tour operators, outdoor adventures, fishing camps, and guides and outfitters will all find this book invaluable in developing their online strategies. Whether you already have a web site or you’re just starting out, you stand to dramatically increase profits through the proven techniques shared in this book.

Rating: (out of 6 reviews)

List Price: $ 39.95

Price: $ 79.97

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog [Blu-ray]

Emmy Award Winner
Winner People s Choice Award
Favorite Online Sensation

Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother) stars as Billy, A.K.A. Dr. Horrible, a budding supervillain whose plans for world domination continually go awry. His two goals: getting accepted into the Evil League of Evil, and working up the guts to speak to his laundromat crush Penny, played by Felicia Day (The Guild). The only thing standing in his way is Captain Hammer, Billy s superhero archnemesis played by Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Castle). With one big score, Billy could get into the E.L.E. and earn the respect of Penny, but only if he can keep her away from the dashing Captain Hammer…Conceived as an “online miniseries event” during the 2008 writers’ strike, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is a 42-minute musical romp that bears the distinctive stamp of Joss Whedon. Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother) plays the title character, who video-blogs about his twin goals to join the Evil League of Evil and to woo the fair Penny (Felicia Day, of Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Web series The Guild), a woman he met at the local laundromat. Dr. Horrible is foiled on both fronts, however, by his arch-nemesis, the self-absorbed superhero Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion, Whedon’s Firefly).

Dr. Horrible was written by Whedon, his brothers Zack and Jed, and Jed’s fiancee Maurissa Tancharoen, and the songs were written by Joss and Jed (who also produced, orchestrated, played, etc.) with some lyrics by Tancharoen. (Jed and Tancharoen have backup singing roles.) The offbeat, off-the-cuff humor is laugh-out-loud funny, and just like Dr. Horrible wants to take over the world, the songs will take over your head: they’re engaging (“My Freeze Ray”), stirring (“My Eyes”), and sweet (“Penny’s Song”). “So They Say” is particularly evocative of Jonathan Larson’s Rent, but as with Joss Whedon’s musical episode of Buffy, “Once More with Feeling,” the influences are diverse. It’s hard to imagine a better cast. Harris, who’s sung Sondheim on Broadway, is a great lead and clearly the best singer, Day is completely charming, and who better than Captain Tightpants to play the pompous superhero? One could argue about the ending, and the independent budget shows, but Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is a complete hoot for people who enjoy musicals with quirky humor. Plan on watching it multiple times. –David Horiuchi

On the Blu-ray disc
Even if you’ve already watched or downloaded Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, a number of bonus features might entice you. There are two commentary tracks: Harris, the three Whedons, Tancharoen, Day, and Fillion recorded a spirited track discussing the movie, and there’s also “Commentary! The Musical” in which they ignore the movie and sing about the writers’ strike and each other (e.g., Fillion sings “I’m Better than Neil”)–the songs aren’t as good as the Horrible songs, but it’s good silly fun. A 20-minute making-of discusses the cast, the recording sessions, and how the movie became a phenomenon, and 10 videos (a half-hour total) were recorded by fans who want to join the Evil League of Evil. And when’s the last time you wanted to pause the FBI warning? –David Horiuchi

Rating: (out of 524 reviews)

List Price: $ 19.95

Price: $ 9.74

The Internet Marketing Plan: A Practical Handbook for Creating, Implementing and Assessing Your Online Presence

With this guide, consultant Kim Bayne brings coherence and integration to Internet marketing and general marketing practice. She provides in a hands-on workbook format the means to set up a marketing blueprint which readers can use to effectively design, implement, and evaluate their Web sites.Kim Bayne’s The Internet Marketing Plan provides a marketing plan geared toward Web commerce and covers the middle ground between marketing and Web technology. Marketers who are seeking the basics on Web site design or HTML-savvy technicians who are looking for marketing basics can use this book as an outline for their business plans.

Because Bayne’s book is dense with information, it’s easier to skip around rather than read it cover to cover. Activities augment some of the book’s sections and you can use hands-on investigation to reinforce other concepts within the book. The Internet Marketing Plan’s diskette contains documents, spreadsheets, and forms that guide the reader through marketing plan creation. Bayne also offers several worthwhile applications of Web technology that can fortify different areas of your company’s business.

Rating: (out of 12 reviews)

List Price: $ 39.95

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