Planning a Holiday in Marmaris? Things to know before making the final decision

There are millions and millions of websites on the internet these days. Without a brand name on the website, it can be hard to determine whether or not your holiday plans are being arranged professionally, let alone legitimately by a company that may or may not exist.

As a company our business is the internet. We are on the internet just about 16 hours a day. We see all sorts of websites from different industries; from corporate sites to blogs, such as the one you are on now. We spend long hours using our online media resources for the companies we do work for in promoting their businesses and need to make the right decisions – as there is no room for mistakes in our business. Occasionally we find it difficult to know if the site we are on has a real company behind it before we attempt to spend advertising monies to market the company we have a contract with.

Holidays in Marmaris Turkey | View from the Old Town

In a recent search for yachting holidays, we came across many poor quality sites of companies who have not spent the time to have their business professionally represented on the internet, using persuasive words to try and manipulate their visitors online with broken foreign languages. I suppose not everyone or every company has the budget to hire professional translators to make their websites multilingual; but they should at least use the languages that they can actually communicate with, should a client or lead surface with an inquiry. Also not every company has the financial strength to have a professionally made website, but at least use a template that can help in representing your company to potential customers properly, rather than going “circus-style”.

Another negative aspect we noticed is that some of the sites do not have actual contact information on their websites. There is either no telephone number or address – only a contact form. This doesn’t look safe. Many online visitors do not notice these little things, but these so-called little things can create a hurtful experience if they happen to book their holidays, send funds via wire transfers, to find out that there is no booking and no company around. Telephone numbers may eventually be given; however that still does not justify the legitimacy of the company in question.

It is quite easy to build a website or many websites, make it look good and legitimate. But what about beyond that?

What visitors could look out for are facts that show that the website / company is real. Things like videos, real photos of the team and information – but information that is original content and not copied from other websites on the internet.

We live in the age of social bookmarking and networking. So the company should at least have two if not more social media accounts with big name social media sites such as facebook, twitter, digg and the like. Their company profiles should not be marked as private but rather public. Hiding standard information or not having it at all, shows signs that there is either nothing to put there because there is no company, or there is something else squirrelly going on.

As an ideal example of what I am talking about – there is a company we do work for here in Marmaris. As our client we have done everything in our power to show that they are legitimate; from taking videos of their company events, generate the news of the events that take place within their firm, blog about their company and industry, to having them registered in a variety of big name social media sites with profile information, like the ones I just mentioned.

What our aim here is to make the visitors on their websites (and they do have many websites); feel like they have reached a real company, with real people, operating out of a real location in a real office. The company is sharing a part of their life, thoughts, expertise and knowledge about their sector – and not some mumbo jumbo about something that has no substance. These are important points in a business. You need to let your company show that you are professionals and not some fly-by-night and out-for-the-quick-cash kind-of-company. I am not going to get into all the types of work we do for them, but I am just providing an overview in order to give you some idea as to what to look for when you are online, just before you decide to spend money for your holidays in Marmaris or elsewhere.

So the bottom line here is this; make sure you do your research and do it well – on the companies that you intend to do business with for your holidays. Also ask around your network of friends. Visit blogs, forums and other related social media sites and analyze profiles. The more information you have, the better are your chances of completing a successful holiday booking. You don’t have to book through a brand name everytime. Sometimes the smaller companies can give you a better more personalized service than the big guys!

Gather your information and then make your decision. It’s not everyday you go on holidays. Be informed and wise on the internet and use it to your benefit. Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.

Have a safe and enjoyable holiday this year!