Viator Partner Blog

To help you position Viator products on your website, we have a couple tips on what works well…and what doesn’t work.

TIP 1- Avoid using generic terms for linking to Viator

Don’t use generic terms for site navigation or links to Viator, like “tours” or “signtseeing”. Our products are a wide variety of “things to do” when on vacation – everything from Segways to Ziplines!

Examples: Use terms like “Things to Do” “Must Do Activities” “How to Spend Your Day”

TIP 2 – Use contextual linking strategies

Use links that directly relate to your page text or destination.. Dont rely soley on generic sidebar/top navigation links.

Example: Use links of product names, destinations or contextual wording like “See Alcatraz” “Things to do in Sydney” “Must do activities in Paris” within your website text.

TIP 3 – Create Top 10 (or 25!) Things to DO lists

Create your own list of top activities to better position Viator products – this will help your customers understand what is available to purchase. We find partners that use top “things to do” lists often perform much better than other partners. Website visitors want to know whats “popular” in a destination – rather than having to guess for themselves.

Example: List the “Top 10 Things to Do” on applicable destination pages. Our Top Sellers Widget can automate this list of products -making it always up to date with photos, prices and text.

Tip 4 – Use “Learn More” or “More Info” as a Call to Action

With a few exceptions, most customers want to learn more than the basics about Viator products before purchasing. If you use “Buy Now” type of language it may scare off undecided customers from learning more about the activity or products.

Example: When a call to action type of link or button is needed, just more passive language for directing visitors to the Viator site. Use working like “Learn More”, “Details” or similar for call to action buttons or links.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Below are the newest products available on your Viator site.

You can build links to these products using the product code (more info). In addition, these products will appear automatically if you are using the What’s New widget (more info).

Added 17 Jan 2012

Added 10 Jan 2012

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Added 3 Jan 2012

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Added 30 Dec 2011

Popularity: 2% [?]

Air New Zealand taps Viator enhanced API for destination activities (tnooz)

“Air New Zealand redesigned its websites and as part of the changes the airline is tapping into a new API from Viator for destination activities.”

More: http://www.tnooz.com/2011/10/26/news/air-new-zealand-taps-viator-enhanced-api-for-destination-activities/

Digital Traveler: Websites link travelers to tour guides (USAToday)

“[Viator] Pros: Big and established. Has a mobile app. A lot more guides than its competitors. Many traveler reviews. Guides tell you if transportation is provided. Traveler can easily exchange e-mail with guide”

More: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/story/2011-12-12/Digital-Traveler-Websites-link-travelers-to-tour-guides/51827592/1

Five Travel Apps You Should Be Using (and One Website, Too) (SmarterTravel.com)

“Viator (viator.com), the outfit that sells local sightseeing tours in many major destinations around the world, launched its app recently. Viator can often beat the prices charged by a cruise line or package tour operator, and it also has some options that you might not otherwise see.”

More: http://www.smartertravel.com/blogs/today-in-travel/five-travel-apps-you-should-be-using-and-one-website-too.html?id=9812469

Popularity: 2% [?]

Here are some quick tips if you are adding Viator products to a GoDaddy Website Tonight site.

Important: Be sure to review our Quick Start Guide first – this guide gives you a good overview on how to promote Viator products on your website.

The GoDaddy Website Tonight interface offers a number of ways to add Viator links, widgets and banners to your website. The following are just a few examples…

Adding Widgets via GoDaddy Website Tonight

1. Build your widget via the Viator Partner Admin site. Copy the HTML code from the Viator Admin site.

2. Add the Viator code as a SCRIPT – this is very important, adding it as simple HTML will not work

3. Once Added, it will show as a Script on the page

Adding Links to Your Viator site

1. Obtain product page links from your Viator website (example below) or via the product CSV or XML Feeds. The partner.viator.com URL should contain your Partner ID – this should be in place already, there is no need to add it.

2. Highlight existing text or image on the GoDaddy website and select the Globe+ Link icon

Tip: While linking words like “Click here to book” is good, you should also hyperlink the names of the product, destination or words like “tours” “things to do” in your own website content.

Adding Images to Your Website

The GoDaddy Website Tonight interface has a photo library method of managing website images. Viator Affiliates are not allowed to host Viator images on their own, so please do not upload Viator images into the GoDaddy Photo Gallery.

You can display Viator images by using the Viator Image URL directly. This allows Viator to host the image and keep it updated.

Here is an example of placing the Viator Image URL on a GoDaddy Wesbite Tonight page:

1. Obtain the Image URL from the CSV, XML or Product page

Note: You are copying the image location (URL), not the image itself

2. Add the Image code to your GoDaddy Page via HTML

There are only just a couple of ways to add Viator marketing elements to your website. Have questions? Suggestions? Please let us know, click here

Popularity: 3% [?]

Here are our 2011-12 Holiday tours. Its easy to link to these tours and place holiday-themed banners up on your website.

(Be sure to replace 6885 with your three or four digit Partner ID so you are credited with sales from these links)

Need help finding and linking to products? Click Here

Christmas Destination Links:

http://www.partner.viator.com/en/6885/USA-Tours/Christmas/d77-g7-c22

http://www.partner.viator.com/en/6885/Europe-Tours/Christmas/d6-g7-c22

http://www.partner.viator.com/en/6885/Paris-Tours/Christmas/d479-g7-c22

http://www.partner.viator.com/en/6885/New-York-City-Tours/Christmas/d687-g7-c22

http://www.partner.viator.com/en/6885/London-Tours/Christmas/d737-g7-c22

Select Christmas Products:

Moulin Rouge Paris: Christmas Dinner and Show 

Enjoy a lively Christmas dinner show at the Moulin Rouge, the number one show in Paris! Dine in style watching the world-renowned showgirls and French Cancan dancers strut their stuff on the Moulin Rouge’s historic stage. You will be served a delicious 5-course Christmas menu including half bottle of champagne. Moulin Rouge Paris sells out months in advance, so book ahead to avoid disappointment.

LINK: http://www.partner.viator.com/en/6885/tours/Paris/Moulin-Rouge-Paris-Christmas-Dinner-and-Show/d479-5022CHRISTMAS

Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular

America’s most beloved holiday theatrical, The Radio City Christmas Spectacular, starring the world-famous Rockettes, returns to New York City’s Radio City Music Hall this Christmas season! The Radio City Christmas Spectacular is an unparalleled Broadway show featuring precision choreography in multiple show stopping numbers including the legendary “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers.” Don’t miss out – book now!

LINK: http://www.partner.viator.com/en/6885/tours/New-York-City/Radio-City-Music-Hall-Christmas-Spectacular/d687-3242NYCRAD

New York City Holiday Lights Tour

New York City at Christmas is one of the most spectacular sights to see. Get in the festive mood by taking a two-hour, early-evening tour of Manhattan’s glittering holiday-season lights. New York City comes alive at night, and there is no better time to tour the illuminated city than during the Christmas holidays.

LINK: http://www.partner.viator.com/en/6885/tours/New-York-City/New-York-City-Holiday-Lights-Tour/d687-2625HL

Christmas Morning London Panoramic Tour

Why share London with all the other travelers? See the best of London’s iconic landmarks on Christmas Day when the streets are empty and virtually traffic free. Line up the perfect uninterrupted photographs as you tour London with freedom and space.

LINK: http://www.partner.viator.com/en/6885/tours/London/Christmas-Morning-London-Panoramic-Tour/d737-3858CD29

Christmas Horse Drawn Sleigh Ride from Salzburg

Your full day winter excursion takes you along the Salzach river valley past many of Austria’s ski resorts. Near Schladming, location of the 1982 Ski World Championships, you will ascend up to the “Steirische Ramsau” 3,281 feet (1,000 meters) above sea level at the base of one of the Alpine glacier massifs – the Dachstein.

LINK: http://www.partner.viator.com/en/8647/tours/Salzburg/Christmas-Horse-Drawn-Sleigh-Ride-from-Salzburg/d451-3595HORSE

(Be sure to replace 6885 with your three or four digit Partner ID so you are credited with sales from these links)

Need help finding and linking to products? Click Here

Popularity: 9% [?]

We are proud to announce a number of enhancements launched this month on the Viator Partner platform.

These new functions and features improve usability and provide some additional marketing opportunities for partners.

Here are some of the new enhancements:

Additional Non-English XML Feeds

We have added XML USD Product feeds for ES, DE, FR and CAD for FR Partners. If you are a Spanish, French or German partner with a USD-currency Viator site, you can now access the XML feeds via URL or in the Partner Admin. In addition, for French-Canadian partners you can now access the CAD XML feed.

For more information on adding Non-English Viator sites, click here

Add URL Link to Home Page Modules

Partners can now link to any URL from the custom Home Page Modules. This allows you to promote links back to your own website or to any page on the Viator site.

More Specials Offers available in Non-English languages

We have expanded the translations of Special Offer text on the site and in the XML feeds. Non-English Partners now have expanded access to the special offer content, which is one of the best ways to market Viator Products.

Have suggestions for new functions or features on your Viator Partner site? To send us your comments, click here

Popularity: 7% [?]

Marketing Viator’s tours and sightseeing products on your website is very important.

Here are a couple of tips to best position the products on your website and increase sales:

1- Add “Things to Do” to Main Navigation

We found using the term “things to do” is the best way to position Viator Products. This seems to work better than “tours” – which some users confuse with the narrow product type of multi-day guided tours. “Sightseeing” works well, but “Things to Do” seems to convert the best.

Add Things to Do to your main Navigation Bar/Tabs – it should be a primary navigation (not a subtab). Under this tab you can add Viator Categories as well as other similar offerings. It’s a very good catch-all for promoting non-air/car/hotel products.

2- Dedicated “Things to Do” page

Successful partners create a dedicated “Things to Do” page hosted on their own website. The page can feature Viator feed content, Viator Widgets, and Banners. One of the most important elements to add is unique content. Having your own content on this page will help in SEO ranking – even basic editorial content helps (Top 10 Lists, My Favorite things, Best places to XYZ, etc).

3- Cross Promote Viator Widgets or Banners

By adding Viator Widgets or ad banners on pages throughout your site, you will increase the awareness of the products. As an example, adding Viator Widgets or banners to your Hotel listings page will remind visitors to come back to your site to book a sightseeing product in addition to the hotel room. By cross-promoting, you will earn commission from hotel bookings –and- Sightseeing products.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Help us improve the Viator Partner platform by giving us your comments and feedback in our yearly survey.

Note – if you have already submitted the survey, this page may appear blank. To give us additional feedback, please click here

Popularity: 7% [?]

We are proud to announce a number of enhancements launched this month on the Viator Partner platform.

These new functions and features improve usability and provide some additional marketing opportunities for partners.

Here are some of the new enhancements:

- Improved Continue Shopping link from shopping cart

Website customers can now easily go back to the destination page to book additional products from the Shopping Cart. This link should help to increase the value of each transaction.

- Booking Link for the Calendar Pricing page

If customers view the Pricing Calendar, they can now select the number of passengers and add the product to the Shopping Cart.

- Dedicated Specials and Deals page

We have added another tab to the product results where customers can view products that are on sale or have special offers. For more information about this new tab, click here.

Have suggestions for new functions or features on your Viator Partner site? To send us your comments, click here

Popularity: 7% [?]

Also see:
Specials Widget
Product Feeds

In addition to our Specials Widget and specials indicator within our Product Feeds, we have now added another way to market “Deals” to your website visitors. The new function is a Deals and Specials Tab on your Viator Partner Site. This dedicated tab allows users to view on sale and special offer products only — in other words, our best deals!

The Tab is located under each City-level destination. The Tab will appear if there are current specials for the destination.

You can directly link to the Deals and Specials tab from your website. Simply access your Partner Site and locate the desired Specials and Deals tab, then copy the URL from the page (see example below). Since this URL has your Partner ID, you can use this link on your website for text links, banners or other uses. Any traffic using this link to book transactions will be credited to your Partner account.

Note: As with any partner link, be sure your own Partner ID is located within the URL. In this example the Partner ID is 8625.

The Deals and Specials Tab is “on” by default. The Tab can be adjusted in the Partner Admin under the Edit Site section – however, we suggest leaving the tab “on” to increase potential sales.

Popularity: 8% [?]