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Once again the 'Best of the Net' section of Saturday's Travel Guardian recommends iknow-uk websites. This time the feature is on marketing trends internet advertising for self catering holidays and holiday cottages with 10 sites singled out mainly covering areas of the UK and Europe. The comment on the iknow directory service was "it's a good one"!
www.iknow-lakedistrict.co.uk is the latest regional accommodation website to be launched by iknow-uk. The release of the Lake District site is timed to provide Cumbria accommodation providers with the perfect opportunity to receive more online bookings than ever before during the important month of January.
A one month free trial awaits any accommodation provider in Cumbria so that they can try before they buy. Marcus Simmons, Director of iknow-uk says "The free trials are particularly important in an advertising market saturated by websites that simply fail to deliver results. We only ask for money once our sites have demonstrated their ability to provide high quality booking enquiries. In most cases the annual subscription is paid for by bookings made during the free trial period.
The Lake District site also includes a number of new features designed to make the site even easier to use. Marcus continues, "We continuously strive to improve our sites as the better they become the more bookings they generate, the happier our customers are. New features such as a simple map navigation system will be rolled out across the other iknow sites if they are well received on this site."
Marcus Simmons of iknow-uk meets Trevor Baylis OBE, the inventor of the Clockwork Radio
The 'Living Innovation' evening was part of a week-long series of nationwide events designed to introduce the secrets of outperforming the competition through innovation.
iknow-uk were invited to speak at the Lancashire event held at Blackburn Rovers Football Club where the main speaker was Trevor Baylis OBE, the inventor of the Clockwork Radio.
The event draw an audience in excess of 250 Lancashire Business people who were all educated and entertained in equal measure by Trevor's excellent and passionate speech. He spoke particularly strongly about the difficulties of protecting ideas and the lack of recognition for the role of women in many inventions.
Marcus Simmons used his speech to draw attention to some of the problems of developing a 100% web based after the dot com bust, but also the immense satisfaction of helping hundreds of customers improve their business online. He drew attention to some of the support organizations that had delivered real help, such as the networking organization BNI and the Lancashire based business support group Guardian Angels.
Marcus Simmons, Director, iknow-uk, wins the 'Star Performer 2004' accolade, voted for by his fellow BNI members at the recent Lancashire BNI Awards Ceremony. However the night was crowned when Marcus's Preston 'Olympus' chapter won the Lancashire BNI Chapter of the Year 2004.
Marcus has been in BNI the Olympus (Preston) chapter of BNI for almost 3 years during which time he has held the position of Chapter Director, Treasurer and Education Coordinator. He is a strong believer in business networking and is a very enthusiastic member of BNI the business referral organization.
"iknow-uk would not be the same without BNI. Through this organization I have met one of my business partners and had plenty of doors opened for me. If you put a lot of effort in you get a lot in return" said Marcus after receiving his award.
For more information on BNI including finding your nearest meeting see: www.bni-europe.com
In a ringing endorsement of the quality and performance of the www.iknow-yorkshire.co.uk website the Yorkshire Tourist Board (YTB) invited the site to integrate with its online booking system known as Nexus.
The significance of this move is clear to Marcus Simmons, Director, iknow-uk. "Tourist boards are one of the most trusted sources of tourist information and accommodation. Their online product is therefore highly relevant to the online audience and they have to be careful about who they associate themselves with. We are very proud to become the first private accommodation site to integrate with YTB and are confident that the additional online bookings generated through iknow-yorkshire will enhance that service significantly."
iknow-uk are celebrating the first anniversary of the www.iknow-yorkshire.co.uk website. The company's first regional accommodation finding website has been an incredible success by generating online booking enquiries valued in excess of £12,000,000 in just 12 months.
This represents an outstanding success for a new site in a highly competitive online sector. Marcus Simmons, Director, iknow-uk, is clear about the reasons for the success.
"We put all our efforts into developing site that have a huge search engine presence. When someone finds a site through a search engine you know that they are looking for something that you provide. The design of the site must then be quick and easy to use in order to convert a visitor into a site user. We manage to convert around 10% of all site visitors into online enquirers so we must be doing something right!"
iknow-yorkshire received over 500,000 visitors in year one but even more encouraging is the increase of 20% in year-on-year figures already showing. "Our policy of continuous improvement is great news for our customers. The only way we can grow and expand is by attracting more visitors and converting more of them into enquirers."
"As the couple who were recently turned away from a Scottish B&B discovered, gay travelers are not yet welcome everywhere." Best of the Net, Guardian Unlimited, July 2004. iknow-yorkshire was recommended as a site to find gay friendly UK accommodation.
By selecting a 'Gay Friendly' accommodation on an iknow-uk site it means that you will stay at a property that will not discriminate against you on the grounds of your sexuality.
From the outset iknow-uk has put gay travelers into the mainstream of its sites. This is not just an attempt at social inclusion but also makes good business sense for hoteliers. The gay community rapidly adopted the internet and the so called 'pink pound' represents a significant amount of business that enlightened hoteliers would be silly to turn away.
iknow-uk win award for 'Best Use of Website' at Business and Innovation Awards
iknow-uk scooped the first prize for 'Best Use of Web Site' in the first ever Burnley Business and Innovation awards beating off stiff competition from companies representing Aerospace, manufacturing and service industries.
The award was for the 'business who has demonstrated the best use of the internet and development of web site to improve their business performance and delivery of their business plan.'
The awards evening was sponsored by Michelin Developments Ltd and were held at the Towneley Hall in Burnley. Other winners on the night included Veka (Suppliers of home and automotive products), Perseverance Mills (Advanced Textiles) and Warburtons (Bakers of Bread).
iknow-uk now provide their accommodation finding services in their home area of the North West of England. This site covers Blackpool, Manchester, Chester, Liverpool and the surrounding counties.
The launch of the second iknow-uk website marks a significant step forward for the company and its existing customers. Each site that is launched opens up new markets but also has a strengthening effect on our existing sites. Site launches therefore fit in with our continuous improvement objectives for all our current and future customers.
With figures from just two months of trading using in its entry iknow-uk has been short listed for the "UK Online award for Excellence through E-Business".
The event is the Business Link Lancashire "Be Inspired Lancashire Business Awards". The short listing represents a fantastic early recognition of the potential of this business.
Tony Hewitt MBE runs the Harmony Country Lodge Hotel near Scarborough with his wife Sue. Tony is an ex-world champion motorcycle side car champion and had been featured in the BBC sports review in the past. He can obviously spot a winner when he sees it! It looks and sounds like a wonderful place as well.