The topic of “content” comes up time and time again in discussions about online presence. I’m not sure who coined the phrase “content is king,” but I have customers continuing to ask the question: Is Content King in Travel and Tourism?

The answer is, without a doubt, yes - especially for smaller outfits and organisations with limited online presence. Sure, there is plenty of free content out there – and judging by the traffic numbers of sites like Wikitravel and the forums on Lonely Planet, free content is here to stay. But the content on your site is your vehicle to present your message and portray your brand. And if you offer the ability to book online or at least direct customers to contact info, the content might be the last stand between you and a booking. Consider:

• a frustrated mother can’t decipher if your tour offering is suitable for children will decide to book something else. Worse, if it is clearer on your competitor’s site, they might get the sale instead of you.
• a last minute client who doesn’t see your contact information cannot call to see if there is space for an extra booking.
• a referral customer visits your photo gallery and decides not to book because the images don’t reflect the experience his friend described.

The worst part about each of these scenarios is two-fold: 1) you’ll never know that it happened, and 2) the problems were easy to fix.

Here are some easy questions you can ask while browsing your content. Do you like the answers you get back?

• Is it easy to find all the available mediums for contacting you (phone, email, post)?
• Is it easy to see the types of services available, the details on the offering, and availability/cost?
• Are images or video professional and reflect the reality of your offering (In this case, less is more.)
• Do you display important certification information?

The European online travel market alone is expected to reach EUR 67 billion in 2009 (source: eMarketer.com) , never mind the exploding success in the US. Is your online presence sending the message it should? Content is king in travel and tourism, so I hope the answer is yes.

Andy Hayes is a professional travel writer and photographer based in Edinburgh, Scotland. He helps small businesses in travel & tourism embrace online technologies. To learn more, visit his website, Sharing Experiences where you can download a free copy of his recent eBook, Preparing for Takeoff: 7 Common Mistakes Businesses Make when Going Online.

We’ve launched a blog for Mahindra Homestays, offering high quality Indian Homestays.

The blog is all about celebrating and discovering India - encouraging travellers to experience something different.

Let us know what you think - we’d love the feedback.

Highlights include:

• Series of Things To Do articles. Delhi, Jaipur, Agra, Wayanad, Cochin, Kewzing and Udaipur.
• Monthly photo competition
• Video tours of the Homestays
• Special offers
• Previews of the latest homestays

Along with the design and development we’re also helping with content creation and blog promotion.

Clearly not writing on our blog!

Apologies for that - we’ve been extremely busy and concentrating our energy on a flurry of recent client projects.  This includes a site to promote Eilat in Israel. Visit www.Explore-Eilat.com - see screenshot below.

We’ve also started the process of developing a new Dot Tourism site - it’s in the wireframe stage but will tighten up the integration of our blog with main site.

It’s here again! I’ll be at the World Travel Market next week - drop me a line if you’d like to meet up.

Will also be attending the Travel BlogCamp on Tuesday evening.

• SEO terms and rich content - can they ever be friends? http://tinyurl.com/5mf85c with a travel writing focus
• 50+ Must Read Web Design for ROI, Usability and SEO Articles http://tinyurl.com/64qvqx
• Kayak received 62% of the vote for best travel site for cheap tickets over at the recent Lifehacker poll http://tinyurl.com/6kfu2q
• Not really surprising given ROI tracking of PPC & SEM - From the IAB “SEO top priority for travel sector” http://tinyurl.com/6nay8j
• Apps for LinkedIn launched - TripIt seems to be the first travel one http://tinyurl.com/5aux88
• Community shout out for the best travel web sites on Lifehacker http://tinyurl.com/6kq3as
• Of interest to UK’ers - Google Testing Post Code Search Boxes http://tinyurl.com/6jgfen
• Just had a go with Google Earth for the iPhone, very impressive http://tinyurl.com/62×3ek
• Neville compares the communication approach of JetBlue and BA and their respective terminal openings. http://tinyurl.com/67llrr

More commentary and links taken from our Twitter - excuse the lack of blog posts, we’re experiencing a large client workload at the moment. Knee deep in SEO audits and PPC campaigns. But it’s all good!

Check out Alex’s blog or browse the new Travolution site and blog for recent online travel insights.

• Good tips and advice on internal site searches http://tinyurl.com/44oxt8
• Neat categorisation of five Social Media spheres http://tinyurl.com/49j9cx
• ‘Adding social links to emails: what and where?’ http://tinyurl.com/6q5rz3
• I was aware of a significant difference in PPC vs SEO spend but didn’t realise the gulf was so great http://tinyurl.com/56udo7
• Joy! Big Google Analytics upgrade - get the lowdown at TechCrunch http://tinyurl.com/5v8vu4
• It’s time for travel content 2.0 http://tinyurl.com/6xhedr
• Great tips from Kevin ‘Travel SEO – How to Target Searchers at the Right Stage of the Buying Cycle’ http://tinyurl.com/6frzoj