Top Ten Tips for Business Success Online

Dan EagarMarketing Executive

Visit Peak District & Derbyshire Destination Management Organisation

1. Advertise on www.visitpeakdistrict.com

• Get a DMS (Destination Management System) record for your property, attraction, restaurant, cafe, etc. listed on a searchable database

• July saw a new record of 83,000 unique visitors!• These visitors looked at 975,000 property records in that

time – they could be looking at your record soon!• Wide range of advertising options available from banner

adverts and special advertising positions from as little £20 per month

Banner Adverts

Web premiers

Box Adverts

Side scrollers

2. Your website

• Sounds obvious, but keep your website up-to-date – availability, events, attractions and itineraries

• Imagery – use lots of beautiful and inspiring images – we can help you with these if necessary!

• Video – embed as much video content as possible – again, we can help get you started here!

• Reviews - Love them or loathe them!!

3. Email

• Check and respond to emails on a regular basis

• Set auto-response – “your email was received safely and we aim to get back to you as soon as we can”

• Use this as a chance to up-sell another product or service or promote a special offer

4. Facebook

• Claim your business name now!!• Like our pagesVisit Peak District – over 2,200 likesActive Peak – new and growing!

5. Twitter• A great way to spread the word• Follow and mention us in your posts:Customer facing@vpdd (3,927 followers and counting!)@activepeak (502) @peakweddings (117) Industry facing@vpddindustry (741 followers)• Don’t tweet aimlessly, prompt a reaction by linking to something or

by asking a question• Use a url shortener so that links don’t eat into your 140 characters!

6. Blogging

• If you’re in business you must have something to talk about and tell people! - Tell them using a blog

• Blogs are read and shared by people using all the social media platforms

• Blogs are very SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) friendly due to the user-generated content and links rather than commercial advertising

• Make sure people can post a comment on your blog!!

7. Pinterest

• Relatively new – launched in early 2010 • Visually driven using images rather than just

text• Create pinboards based on certain interests,

for instance, Food & Drink• Use Pinterest as a dashboard for Facebook

and Twitter• But its just another social media site!!

8. YouTube

• The second biggest search engine in the world • 1 Trillion Views in 2011, a 43% increase on 2010• 490 million unique users worldwide per month,

with 92 billion page views each month• More than 400 tweets per minute containing a

YouTube link• Over 150 years worth of video watched every

single day on Facebook

9. E-shots

• If you have an existing database of email address why not think about sending an e-shot

• Plentiful free software available online such as MailChimp.com

• If you don’t currently collect your customers email addresses consider doing so

10. Surveys

• Whilst doing an eshot, give a survey a try!• With SurveyMonkey.com you can make and

send your own online survey for free• You can also analyse your results• Try it out for customer feedback, product

development or event planning!

To summarise

• Get a presence on www.visitpeakdistrict.com

• Optimise your website by keeping it up-to-date

• Keep on top of emails• Get posting on Facebook• Get Tweeting on Twitter

• Tell all on your blog!• Pin down your interests

on Pinterest• Become a movie-maker• Send out e-shots• Ask your customers

opinions with a survey