Putting Taranaki on the first page

TARANAKI must do more to promote itself on the Internet and takeadvantage of the opportunities that cyberspace offers, says TaranakiChamber of Commerce chief executive Colin Clarke.

With millions upon millions of web pages available to Internetusers, it has always been a hit-and-miss situation for organisationswanting to promote themselves on the Net.

It is simply not good enough to put throw information into thevast realm of the Internet and hope people will stumble upon yoursite.

Organisations that establish big profiles on the Internetinevitably reap the benefits. But Taranaki does not have a highenough profile in cyberspace, says Mr Clarke.

"There is a huge opportunity here but I think we simply haven'tmarketed ourselves effectively on the Internet.

"The Internet consists of, say, 60 million websites and of that acertain number are in New Zealand and Australia. "It's easy todevelop a website but we don't ensure we get a good return for themoney we have invested in that website."

Basically, Taranaki needs to find people using the Internet,rather than hoping people using the Internet find Taranaki.

Mr Clarke says when Internet users conduct a search forinformation, details about Taranaki must be thrust forward.

And that information about the region must be served up on thefirst page of search results.

"It is pointless being on the second, 32nd or 102nd page," saysMr Clarke.

"If Taranaki doesn't become the first to grab this opportunitythen we'll miss out and we could end up on the second page forever."

Mr Clarke believes the local tourism industry can benefit mostfrom effective marketing on the Internet.

"We must think about who is going on to the Internet so thatanyone searching for information to do with holidaying in the SouthPacific or Australasia will be presented with information about whatis on offer in Taranaki on the first page."

To that end, the chamber and Venture Taranaki have set up aseminar by Auckland-based Internet marketing expert Mike Masters totalk about how to better promote Taranaki in cyberspace.

"This man has focused on skills to ensure every website hedevelops gets on the crucial first page," says Mr Clarke.

Mr Masters believes that knowing how to use the Interneteffectively as a marketing tool is vital.

Once the fundamentals of Internet marketing are understood,businesses can then begin to look more objectively at their websitesand have a greater input into the overall design which will improveresults.

But an ongoing problem for Taranaki is the fragmentation of theregion's prootion on the Internet.

Mr Clarke says Taranaki needs one all-encompassing site.

"What we need is one site bringing together all the resourcesabout Taranaki into the one homepage that will market Taranaki andall its attributes, the whole range of activities available andbusiness opportunities.

"Then we must make sure that our website gets the maximum numberof hits possible."

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