Fabienne Untangles Web for Tourism

Brisbane, Australia, February 27, 2008 --(PR.com)-- Having worked for Gold Coast Tourism (GCT) where she set up and managed the Market Intelligence division, Ms Rabbiosi identified a gap in the industry around technology optimisation. With a Master of International Tourism and Hospitality Management from Griffith University, Ms Rabbiosi saw an opportunity to combine her tourism marketing knowledge with her IT skills developed through a Bachelor degree and came up with the idea for her business.

"More than 90 percent of the key players in the tourism industry are SMEs and most lack a strategic sense of how to move forward in the e-marketplace," Ms Rabbiosi said.

"SMEs are yet to incorporate an e-business strategy into their business or use web-enabled technologies to assist in internal and external business process. While working at GCT I realised most SME tourism operators had an e-commerce-enabled website, but they weren't optimised for potential clients to find them online – and that's where I can help."

With Ms Rabbiosi's background in tourism, it's easy for her to put herself in both SMEs and their customers' shoes to ensure the business is found on search engines and booked by potential customers.

"Operators get sold fancy online booking platforms by very well trained sales people but unfortunately the link between these online booking platforms and the potential customer is not established," Ms Rabbiosi said.

"As I mention to my clients, it's as if they have a phone line but are not listed in the phone book. Operators don't see the expected return on investment for their booking platform simply because the client cannot find them. These operators need Online Marketing to be findable."

Online Marketing branches out into Search Engine Marketing (ads the operator pays for), Search Engine Optimisation (keyword tweaking to get search engine ranking up) and Social Media and Social Bookmarking. "Online Marketing used to be assimilated to web development a decade ago but it has now become a specialty on its own," Ms Rabbiosi said.

"Unfortunately, many tourism and other operators have not yet grasped that concept and believe a Web designer will get them a fantastic website and lots of traffic and conversions through it - wrong! The Online Marketer therefore has a strong educational role in this regard," Ms Rabbiosi said.

Untanglemyweb.com has optimised many South East Queensland websites and provides online marketing training to tourism operators and local councils.

Workshops run by Untanglemyweb.com (eg Search Engine Marketing, Optimisation and Web Analytics) teach small businesses in a cost-effective manner how to increase their visibility and conversions by implementing an online strategy specific to their needs.

"I bring the technology to the industry in a language they can understand, which is why I've been so successful," Ms Rabbiosi said. "Many companies just want to sell a product without taking the time to find out their clients' needs. Tourism is my passion and I want my clients to be as successful as they can be. To do so, you simply have to take the time to listen and to ask the right questions."

Before designing and optimising a website, Untanglemyweb.com will audit how the company's online game plan ties in with its existing tourism strategy.

This approach gives businesses the tools to effectively market their product online without having to constantly rely on an external IT professional. Now Ms Rabbiosi is using the strong combination to create results for the Queensland tourism industry.

www.untanglemyweb.com

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