Name of your website?Walking in Languedoc
Your name?
Steve Taylor
Your Location (city, etc)
Montpellier
Please give us a short summary of your website?
Welcome to Walking in Languedoc, specialists in affordable and original self-guided and independent walking tours in France. Our themed and British-supported walking tours in France are for both experienced and novice hikers, and based on years of local knowledge and expertise.
We've taken the hard work out of planning and executing your hiking in France, leaving you simply to enjoy the experience itself. We're here to give you a reassuring hand if you need us.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
A desire to enable those who do not ordinarily hike to enjoy hiking in general and hiking in southern France in particular.
When did you launch your website?
August 2006
How did you decide on a name for your website?
Easy, our love for Languedoc.
What makes your hiking tours different from those offered by competitors?
The following reasons apply, depending on the 'competitor'... 1. We are a bone-fide tour operator - many hiking outfits in France are not. 2. We are qualified hikers... 3. We supply direct to the customer, not through wholesalers in the UK, US or elsewhere. You deal with us when in France, not through intermediaries. 4. Local knowledge and expertise that goes back to the 1930s. 5. No intermediatries means better value. 6. We customise tours to your needs.
What is your eventual goal?
To be the reference for hiking tours in France.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
This is a long term committment by hikeaholics and success can be measured in may ways.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
I'd translate it into a few other languages. The site itself is meant to be simple and easy to use.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
That's the kind of problem any business would like.
What unexpected headaches have you had to deal with?
The financial crisis and the credit crunch has hit some of our customers; but the company lives within budget and from its own resources.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Finding time to sleep.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Hard work.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
I'm running a business and an international shop.
Tell us about your committment to the environment
We practice what we preach. We do not encourage deforestation by producing a brochure - everything is on-line; all our pronted literature is produced on re-cycled paper - even our business cards; we encourage responsible travel by taking a lead; we support local causes - the preservation of flamingos, the Regordane Way and the Cevennes Railway.
What is your website address?
Walking in Languedoc
