For an object lesson in how to exploit the Internet to maximum effect, you can't do better than this small hotel on the island of Corfu. On the face of it, it has every obstacle to overcome. It is only a two star hotel, it has no restaurant, no swimming pool, no car parking, it is in a small town twenty minutes to the south of Corfu town itself, it is on the "wrong" side of the island so far as the beaches are concerned, while the bigger hotels on Corfu are slashing their rates and sucking all the business away from the smaller hotels.

Plus, there is intense competition with all the other Mediterranean destinations to draw holiday makers to Corfu in the first place.

So how is it this hotel is full all through the season? It certainly isn't because they have slashed their rates, they haven't. No discounts here. Is it because they have a fabulous web site? Well, partly, I did create it after all. But really it is all down to the manager, Anthea Pouli, who really works the 'Net. It helps too that she has three degrees in hotel management and is a certified workaholic. She spends hours every day on email, corresponding with booking agents - the hotel is listed everywhere - enquiring guests seeking information, and, crucially, staying in touch with previous guests who are all motivated to return for more of the same enjoyable holiday experience she provides.

The foundation for all of that is the web site, which we both spent countless hours on. It is bright, cheerful, and full of information, such as car hire and ferry timetables. It even has information about rival hotels so visitors can make objective comparisons, Anthea truly believes in her hotel. There are sections in different languages which she even gets guests to translate for her if she or her multi-national staff cannot do it. We had to be very careful, however, to represent the hotel accurately. I can often be accused of doing too good a job, and we have had to ensure that the site lets visitors know, with big bold letters, in italics, that this is in fact just a two star hotel. She still gets the occasional guest who turns up expecting much more having seen the web site.

A new development this season is her Facebook presence. Facebook is of course a social networking site, but it does have a lot to offer a business if you manage it properly. The Bella Vista group on Facebook enables her and her guests to upload photos, videos and even music, it allows staff and guests to socialise and bond. More importantly, being on Facebook means you can be found. That might seem like stating the obvious, but by being on Facebook, by joining lots of other groups and by having lots of "friends", Anthea has created a wide profile that will enable friends-of-friends to find out about the hotel. They can see friends of theirs have stayed there, see photos of the hotel and the holiday, and be motivated to follow in their footsteps.

Search results on Facebook include people, groups and events, so someone thinking about a holiday in the Med might search on Corfu to see what comes up. The Bella Vista group page will come up, as will anyone who has mentioned Corfu in their profiles, including any photos they have posted of anywhere in Corfu. The next step then is to take advantage of another feature on Facebook, the "fan" page and the ability to post adverts. Facebook operates a little like Google AdSense in that users will see mini-ads relevant to the content of their profiles or searches. If they once had a holiday on Corfu and have mentioned it on their profile, they may well see the Bella Vista ad which drives traffic to the fan page and more information about the hotel.

The point of all this, so ably demonstrated by Anthea, is don't create a web site and sit back and wait for the world to come and visit it. You have to drive traffic to it, and you have to go out there and find that traffic in the first place.

You can check out the web site here

If you are on Facebook, this is the Bella Vista group page

And this is Anthea Pouli's personal profile

If you are not on Facebook you will need to register, but it is free and I do recommend it anyway. If you do, please join the Cyberpoint group as well.
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