There are many websites that you should advertise on, however focusing on local initiatives first is very important, followed by accommodation agents, and then on to smaller free sites where possible.

When you advertise on a website you want to know several things;

Number Of Visits
Using data collection tools, it is now easy to find out how many people visit your own website, and other people's websites so before you advertise on someone's website you should ask for a traffic report on how many people visit the home page of the website each month, and also how many people visit the section you will be advertising in, as these will be different.

When you are advertising you should also ask to see how many people have visited your page, perhaps every quarter to makes sure you are getting good value for money.

By using a web site designer like Net Visuals, who employ analytics data gathering, you can also see which websites are sending you website traffic so you can see which sites send you the most referrals and web traffic, this is likely to help reduce long term marketing costs.

Search Engine Rankings
Most of the time unless a website is in the top 10 position on websites it is unlikely to be of value to you, as high ranking means high traffic for that particular search term.

You should search for relevant results such as "Loch Fyne" and see what websites are visible, and concentrate initially your focus on Google, Yahoo and Bing as these are the largest search engines in the world at the time of writing.

Additional Marketing Activities
Just because someone has a website and because it has a good ranking and lots of visitors doesnt necessarily mean it is working, or working well for you! You have to use a bit of initiative and check your data to see how well your website and theirs is performing for you.

Many websites are static and purely portals for adverts, this is fine in the short term, but with the internet developing at a phenomenal rate, it is not guaranteed that these will work for you in the long term, and what is at the top of Google today may be on the second page tomorrow and not be helping at all, so make sure you;

- advertise on sites that are updated from month to month
- support initiatives where they are working for all on a local level
- support full time developers ( not part time website developers and hobbyists)

You should also check to find out what else is being done apart from the website, are they promoting themselves and have fans on Facebook, do they have a Twitter feed that is used regularly, do they visit events and exhibit, do they email you with news and information, do they advertise or plan to advertise in national media, do they take phone calls and act in the best interests of those who advertise?

Lots of questions, but they boil down to the same think, Lochfyne.info and the websites that we deliver are part of a local tourism initiative and our goal is to market these areas and local business so that we can be successful and grow together, not just through websites but by taking calls, advising people, dealing with email enquiries and more.

If you believe we can help you then please support our sites and our initative.

There are many websites that you should advertise on, however focusing on local initiatives first is very important, followed by accommodation agents, and then on to smaller free sites where possible.