ShowMe Cyprus

It is a pleasure to browse the island of Cyprus through images and icons. This is a new one-point access to Cyprus — to its tourist attractions, accomodations, properties for sale, holiday rentals, business, restaurants, bars/clubs, and the all important banks.

Navigation of ShowMe-Cyprus.com is clear. It is based on images and icons, minimizing language barriers for site visitors. High resolution satellite and aerial images are used (NOT Google Earth) in major tourist areas. My contact with ShowMe-Cyprus told me that the site mission was to provide an image-based directory to the landscape, to tourist destinations, to properties and accomodations. The site was reportedly constructed over two years and tested on 8 to 84 year-olds (see Leo Leonidu’s press article on the launch of the site last week). It was found to have an average web visit time of 20 minutes compared to the internet average of 30 seconds. Relatively fast-loading video clips no doubt add to the visitor’s length of stay.

Showme-Cyprus image acquisition was costly, and the site took a couple of years to build, but this expense should be recouped many times over. My navigation of this site was easy, though it took me awhile to understand the icons. The icons did not match the legend. I tried to locate some banks and had a hard time. I love the idea that a satellite image overview of Cyprus is what visitors see first.

The folks at ShowMe-Cyprus are now busy updating and adding content, adding private ’screening rooms’, and increasing functionality. The website developers are interested in extending this model to other parts of the world via franchising. Interested? Speak to their investor relations.

Question: Where’s the best place to eat in Cyprus? It looks like a great place to travel.

Roger A. Brooks‘ Rule 7 “The Rule of Perpendicular Signs” states that ‘20/20 signage equals $$$.’ Be visual. Visitors are not locals, therefore make your signs meaningful.

This entry was posted on Friday 28 July 2006 at 12:01 am and is filed under Website/Event, BEFORE the visit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.