Increase online sales conversions by posting tourism videos

Video technology has changed dramatically over the last few years. Why on recently for example, I pulled out my Sony DVD video camera to shock of my friends.  The camera, which was state of the art only a few years ago is now practically obsolete, especially since cheap HD cameras are readily available at relatively low cost.  The benefit to you as a tour operator is that adding video to your tourism business is now a relatively inexpensive endeavour.  Video can add valuable content for your customers in making a booking decision.  After all, if you can show some of the experience you intend to provide, then your customers will have more faith in you as a service provider.

Here are some great tips to help you decide how to integrate videos into your tourism business:

1. Where does video fit it into your business? All tours and activities are different, therefore, it is unlikely that every tour or activity is going to be recorded in the same way.  A zip-lining activity for example is generally short and intense and lends itself well to a short video snippet.  A multi-day cultural tour of Italy may need to be recorded differently.  Before you jump in and add to your marketing strategy, decide on what kind of videos will work best for your customers, how you are going to record the videos, and how much work you need to put into editing the videos.

2. Focus on people – Make sure your terms and conditions include a video release that allows you to take videos of your customers on tour.  This is important in order to protect your customers’ privacy and to ensure you don’t get yourself into hot water later.  When you record video, be sure to focus on people rather than scenery.  Remember that this is video for the web so it will most likely be viewed in a small Youtube style interface.  Sprawling landscapes just don’t translate well.

3. Keep the videos short – Stay on topic and focus on capture “the moment”. A 1 min. interview with a guest after an experience can act as a video testimonial for your web site.  If appropriate, try and create many short videos rather than one long video.  Ten videos with your brand are better than one video with your brand.

4. Skip the fancy title screen – Just get right to the good stuff.  The title screen with music is fluff and doesn’t add anything to the video, especially if the video is short and to the point.  Introduce yourself and the context of the video at the beginning of the video.  You can add more details in the description of the video once you upload it to your video hosting site (more on that later).

5. Upload Videos to Web A.S.A.P. – If you keep your videos simple and to the point with little editing, then you should have no problem uploading the videos to your favorite hosting site at the end of each day.  Just like your tour photos, the video uploading should become part of your daily routine.

Consider if you offer two tours a day, three days a week, for twenty-six weeks a year.  Now imagine making a two minute video for each tour.  In one season, you would have 156 videos posted.  Each video would have a description of your tour or activity, keywords associated to your tour and brand, and your brand name associated with it.

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