To link … or not to link
I was faced with an interesting dilemma this week … I received a Skype message from a colleague, the director of another tour company based here in Bishkek. He wanted to swap links between our websites.
It’s not the first time I have received such a request … and I do understand the reasons why people want to do it. It’s quite clear that there are advantages to swapping links … it helps to raise search engine scores, or rankings, and thus should help to increase traffic to both our sites. Surely that’s something I should welcome. Well, yes, …. but … I do find that some of the suggested link-swaps very strange. For example, also this week, we received a suggested link swap for a site that aims to find accommodation … in London. OK, so I am a British citizen, but that seems a fairly weak justification for providing a link to their site … and I am not sure how a link on their site is going to help, or even interest, surfers looking for accommodation in a European capital.
OK, OK, I know that is not the main reason for implementing links … webmasters that propose such a link exchange don’t really expect these links to attract many clicks … the idea is to take advantage of the way search engines organize their rankings, to manipulate the advantages that the rules provide, or to put it in a more negative light: to try and “fool” the search engines.
Now, I am not opposed per se to swapping links. It seems to me, however, that the links should be at least related to the topic of the site. For example, we used to have on our main site, (www.celestial.com.kg), to a chain of restaurants in London called Shish. The link no longer works, and at least one of the chain has closed, but it some time since I have been to London, so I am not sure if the rest of the chain is still working. However, at that time, we were happy to agree to the link swap because the restaurants specialized in Asian cuisine, especially “Silk Road” Cuisines that you find here in Central Asia. There seemed to be a relationship, a synergy, between the two.
I am not sure that I see such a connection between a site offering accommodation in one of Europe’s capital cities, and ours.
However, the request I received via Skype presented me with a number of different problems.
First of all, assuming we agreed to the suggestion, where to place the link … at the moment we don’t have a page for links, although we used to have and are planning “partners” page. That’s a technical question and easy to to answer.
More to the point, however, why would we, (or he for that matter), want to link to, (advertise), a competitor on their website? It is one thing to link to, (advertise), a partner based in the UK, France or New Zealand, that runs tours to Kyrgyzstan and use us to organize the delivery of services here in Kyrgyzstan … and another to link, (advertise), a local company offering similar or the same services that we offer – especially in the difficult times that we are experiencing in Kyrgyz Tourism at the present time.
Now, I am on record as saying that I am afraid of competition, in fact I welcome it … because it gives the client a choice and it helps to keep us “on our toes”. I remember, how the hall fell silent back in 2001, when I said this at at a conference. A couple of people who were there have even referred to it as being an important moment in helping them to define their own thinking on the subject. I am not claiming that they all agreed with me … just that I gave them something to think about.
I had been asked to make a speech about the roles of different sectors of society in delivering tourism services. It was a very powered conference, but I was one of the last speakers on the programme … and to my surprise, there were still quite a few people present. During the main “headline speeches”, before the coffee break, by notable “bigwigs”, the hall had been packed … there were lots of press. Usually, after the coffee break, however, the “bigwigs” depart and the press and most of the delegates follow. This time, it wasn’t so noticeable and the hall was still about half full when I came to the podium in order to make my modest contribution.
There were a few comments about the role of the state, and of the wider community, and then I turned my attention to the private sector. I pointed out that we all competitors in some respects … there is a limited market, or pool of potential clients and we all wanted, needed even, to attract our fair share in order to survive in business. On the other hand we were also colleagues … and it would be difficult in some ways to survive if the others didn’t exist. In many respects we shared a common aim – and we needed each other.
More to the point, Competition, like profit, is not a bad thing in itself. For one thing, it “keeps us on our toes”. Competition acts as a spur which motivates businesses to respond to changes in the market and improve their range and standards of facilities and service. Like many species, a failure to adapt to changes in the environment can lead to death and extinction.
It also offers the clients a choice … “one size doesn’t fit all” … nobody welcomes “Hobson’s Choice” … or as Henry Ford is supposed to have said: “You can have any colour you want, so long as it’s black.” Clients want to have the option to review a set of offers and then decide for themselves which one to go with. Imagine going shopping for a piece of furniture, or a household appliance, or in item of clothing … or almost anything, in fact. The difference between buying a item of clothing or a household appliance and a tour, is that with the first there is usually a chance to “try it on” to “see how it fits” but buying a tour package is very much like “buying a pig in a poke”.
It’s our job to put out our stand in the market place and persuade potential clients that we are the best choice … and that’s what we try to do. Sometimes we succeed but sometimes, unfortunately, we don’t. Some people make their choice based on one set of criteria … whilst others choose a different set of criteria. On more than one occasion we have been told by a potential client that they have chosen to go with another company because they offer a similar itinerary for a cheaper price. Well, thank you for telling us … you would be surprised how many enquirers don’t … they just seem to fall off the face of the earth and we never know, (although we might be able to guess), the reason why? Another client told us that they chose us because we answered their questions and didn’t make them feel as if they were being treated as “fodder”. Those are just two examples … sometimes the decision is based on social, economic or policy grounds … one client actually said that her group almost chose another company because they were afraid that a British owned and operated company might not “have the connections” and be able to “deliver” … but they were impressed with the down to earth, practical comments, which suggested that perhaps we could … We did, by the way and some of the group are still in contact with us.
Well, one answer to the dilemma posed by the Skype message is that although there be an overlap between the services offered by the two companies … there are also differences – and sometimes they are quite strong or striking differences. For example, there are some things that we don’t do, for example we undertake mountaineering expeditions, so we are more than happy to refer people who require about such activities to other local companies that do specialize in these activities. It helps to bring visitors to Kyrgyzstan who then go home and act as “goodwill ambassadors” and spread the news about the potential of this little known country in Central Asia.
In this particular case, we have known the company quite well for some years and have collaborated with them on a number of projects … sometimes it is a case that we subcontract them to provide some services where they are better equipped or specialized, and we provide others where we are better placed to do so … and sometimes it’s the other way around. We know them and trust them … they know us and trust us.
It’s not the only local company with whom we cooperate, but the only one that has, so far, asked for an exchange of links.
So, for the record, if you are interested, go and have a look at http://trekking.kg/ … although we also offer trekking routes, we tend to specialize on motor tours and they have a wider variety of itineraries …
Another site of his that you might want to look at is http://www.traveltajikistan.net/ … although we have tours that cross into Tajikistan … through the Pamirs or along some of the more remote and difficult Silk Road mountain tracks, basically we are based and operate mainly in Kyrgyzstan. This is the first in a series of sites dedicated to Central Asian Destinations …
Bishkek