In Part 1 of this series, we discussed how your website needs to be clear, and what information to keep above the fold. In Part 2, we covered testimonials, copywriting and using your website to sell, not entertain. Now we will wrap up the series with a few more tips that will get you more bookings more often.

Simplify booking as much as possible

This is another area where money spent is not wasted. Get a really good booking engine that works for your type of destination. Your online booking center is open 24 hours a day, so anyone in the world can check prices, availability and more importantly, book a vacation at the very moment they are ready to book. Don’t miss out on those sales by having a booking engine that is so complicated no one can figure it out, or so slow that they lose interest and leave.

If at all possible, have a toll-free number available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for the people who don’t like to book online, as there are still plenty of those.

Strive to get people engaged in your site

This does not refer to games and other gizmos like Disney has, since we’re committed to selling our destination instead of entertaining people. This refers to contests, a forum, guest book, blogs and other social media. Any and all of these things are geared toward selling your destination and have many added benefits. They get people engaged in your brand and create more market awareness. The viral sharing aspects of social media can be a huge boost to your mailing list. Guest books and forums gain the all-important user generated content (UGC) and long tail keywords, as well as providing you with a source of testimonials you didn’t even have to ask for.

Miscellaneous Details

Make sure your pages load quickly. Optimize your images, be sure you don’t have too many stylesheets or scripts loading, and if it still loads slowly, move it to a different host.

Try to offer something free to people, such as brochures, calendars, desktop wallpaper, etc.

Always have a call to action clearly visible in multiple places. “Book now!” “Call now!” You might think this is elementary, but you’d be surprised at the number of websites that don’t do it.

In conclusion, none of these principles are hard to implement, and most of them are not costly either. It’s entirely possible for virtually any travel or tourism organization to create a website that effectively sells their destination. All that’s required is a little time, a little money, and a great deal of attention to detail. If you have to choose something to start with, start with testimonials. After that, get your booking engine up to par, then start working on copy and photographs. Build your FAQ page, organize your navigation and redesign the layout after that.

Now that’s an action plan for travel and tourism marketing success!