The term “search engine optimisation” often strikes fear into the hearts of hoteliers and can be especially daunting for the independent hotel that has no marketing or PR department to charge these activities with. But SEO doesn’t need to be scary or costly if you break it down into segments and allocate time to each. This article will focus on 3 areas of search engine optimisation; content, link building and social media. Each plays a vital role in increasing your hotel’s website positioning in Google for your chosen keywords.
In order to understand the purpose of these activities, it is first crucial that you understand the fundamental reason the search engines reward websites with higher positions in the way they do. As an avid user of Google, I know I can rely on it. It doesn’t let me down. If I type in a keyword, Google returns relevant results for me. But Google has to do better than that – millions of websites competing for the 'top spots’ are relevant to my search. Google’s reputation as the ‘search engine of choice’ rests firmly in the hands of measuring criteria, otherwise known as “algorithms” and if it fails, the risk is that searchers go to an alternative engine. But, how does Google choose which websites to reward with page 1 search results for a given search term?
Content
You must remember “content is king.” If you do not update your hotel website content regularly, you are not encouraging the search engines to keep returning to re-index your website. New content should be exciting and relevant and can be in the form of articles or press releases. I would recommend creating a page within your site, dedicated to your new content updates. Try to add new content every week. This may seem like a lot, but if time is limited, you can keep the pieces short. It is important that you write over 260 words to ensure the new content is picked up by the search engines.
You should identify the keywords you wish to increase your positions in the search engine page results for, and use these keywords as 'anchor text' pointing the hyperlink back to the relevant page on the website. ‘Anchor text’ is a link label or link title and is the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink. A ‘hyperlink’ is a link from the text document to your website.
If you use Microsoft Word to write your content, simply highlight the key phrase you wish to make into anchor text, right click with your mouse and hit “hyperlink”. You can then add the URL address you wish this keyword to link back to. This is called “deep linking” and ensures that those reading your content can click quickly and easily to the area of your site that interests them.
Link Building
Inbound links are of utmost importance to the search engines. If you have a host of relevant links pointing back to your website, you are demonstrating the importance of your hotel’s site. If you have no inbound links, the search engines will assume your website holds no content of value. Therefore “sourcing quality”, relevant inbound links to your website, can really up the anti when it comes to your SEO campaign. Acquiring inbound links is pretty simple; the key is ensuring they are quality links. Poor quality or irrelevant inbound links can be detrimental to your SEO efforts. Therefore “black hat” SEO (unethical means of acquiring inbound links, link spamming, links farms) must be avoided.
The best way of sourcing quality link-backs is by using your content as a ‘vehicle.’ The all important anchor text within the content will form the links back to your site. So, that’s half the job done. The second half is sourcing websites relevant to your hotel to publish your content. Contact travel websites and blogs that talk about your hotel’s destination. These are ideal websites to publish your content to. By sourcing quality and relevant links, you are not only adding value to your SEO activity, but you are also widening your audience and will ensure traffic is coming to your website from new relevant sources.
Social Media
Social media provides new ways to connect with potential guests who you might not be able to get to otherwise. Moreover, it can spread your brand presence quickly and further than traditional PR methods. Undertaking social media activity is cost effective and enables you to meticulously pick social media sites that match your brand and audience closely. It also provides you with areas to publish your content to your target audience, thus increasing your inbound links to your site. Think of your website as a “city” and inbound links to your website are routes into your city. By creating more links from high quality and high visibility sources, you ensure there are more ways for your potential guests to find you.
Moreover, sites like blogger.com are owned by Google. Because of this, items published on blogger.com may also appear in the search results on Google when a relevant search term is entered. This again serves to increase your hotel’s online visibility, placing your hotel website at the centre of a spider’s web created by you, using only the most relevant outlets.
Making time for these SEO activities will make your hotel’s website more visible. Regularly updated content also serves to keep users returning after their first visit. If a site is never updated, there is no reason to go back and have another look – remember that! Don’t expect page 1 results overnight. With the volume of sites Google indexes for your chosen keywords, it is safe to say they are looking for positive SEO activity performed over a lengthy period of time. For newer sites, you may not see much of a change for 12 months. Remember, the design of your website can inhibit progress, A search engine-friendly and user-friendly site will enable you to increase positions quicker. Using Flash on your website isn’t always SEO suicide, but it can inhibit the search engines’ ability to index your site- if for example your textual content is imbedded in Flash.
About GlobRes
GlobRes offers hotel website design with best practice search engine optimisation incorporated. This ensures your website can be indexed effectively by the search engines. The website is free when taken with the Guest Connect Web Booking Engine.
GlobRes provides the best hotel central reservation systems and hotel Internet marketing services for hotels around the world and operates a fully serviced support centre, offering assistance to hotels in English, Italian, German, Spanish and French.
Editors Note: Please direct all press queries to Samantha Hasler. Tel +41 41 500 0111 or email marketing@globres.com www.globres.com
Friday, July 24, 2009
Friday, July 3, 2009
Your Hotel’s Website is your Ultimate Sales Tool!
Your hotel website is vitally important in acquiring reservations. It is the first and more often the last experience a potential guest may have of your hotel. Hoteliers must therefore cast a critical eye over the website and address the fundamental question: Is your hotel website doing its job properly? To reveal the true performance of your website, you must identify the number of reservations you generate through your website. The easiest way to measure your site’s production is to look at your web booking engine’s analytics. This will tell you in detail how many reservations you have received over a particular time period. I would recommend that you use web analytics for the website as a whole, to identify how many visitors you have received to your site and where they have come from. Most website analytic software will also tell you at the very least how long your visitors remain on the site, the pages looked at the longest; it will even tell you what pages received the highest bounce rate.
You can pay for many web analytics softwares and systems, or you can use Google Analytics for free. For use in its simplest form, Google analytics will allow you to see the total number of visitors to the site and where the visitor came from. When used comparatively against your reservations statistics, these numbers will give you a conversion rate. This rate is vital in determining the performance of your website.
Of course, we must not ignore other factors that can have an impact on reservation rates. Amongst others, room rates, room availability, value and convenience will all play a part. These are also important considerations and must be viewed so when analyzing the data from your analytics.
As a 21st century hotelier weathering the all too apparent recession, you must realize the importance of the internet to sell your hotel rooms. To be unaware of the ratio of visitors to reservations is akin to burying your head in the sand. Your website should be treated as a sales tool and measured as such.
Unfortunately, during the last 10 years there has been a changing fashion in website design. This can arguably be held responsible for the all too “flashy” hotel website that is difficult to navigate, contains little general information about the area and has a distinct lack of presence in the search engines. Hotel websites should be designed by people who understand hotels and have experience working for or with hotels. A hotel website should look great, but to the detriment of its content, usability and search visibility? Certainly not.
Research indicates that travelers choose a destination, attraction or activity first and foremost. Specific hotel choice is a secondary consideration; the chosen hotel will usually fit criteria in line with the destination. Therefore, it is common sense that a hotel website should include information about the destination. Travelers are very much looking for value as well – not just best rates, but value in terms of convenience.
Search visibility is also of the utmost importance for a hotel website. What is the point in having a great website if no one can find it? The importance of visibility on leading search engines should not be underestimated. Best practice Search Engine Optimisation must be incorporated in your website, and that is just to get you started. Remember, updating your content regularly will encourage the search engines to keep coming back and re-indexing your page. Send out press releases and articles about your hotel to other websites to form in-bound links to your site. Remember, relevant links are key. They serve to increase your site’s position over time and they will enable you to receive traffic to your site from new sources as well. Using social media to promote your hotel will equally increase your inbound links and is great for creating communities engaged with your hotel brand.
The clear message to take from this is that your website is your most important sales tool and should be evaluated, amended and re-designed if necessary. Your hotel’s website should be your potential guest’s first of many experiences of your hotel, not the last and the only experience.
About GlobRes
GlobRes provide hotel reservations and marketing solutions for hoteliers globally. GlobRes offer hotel website design for free when purchased with hotel reservation systems. Complete our online contact form for more information.
Editors Note: Samantha Hasler leads the Digital Marketing Team at GlobRes www.globres.com pleased direct all press queries to marketing@globres.com
You can pay for many web analytics softwares and systems, or you can use Google Analytics for free. For use in its simplest form, Google analytics will allow you to see the total number of visitors to the site and where the visitor came from. When used comparatively against your reservations statistics, these numbers will give you a conversion rate. This rate is vital in determining the performance of your website.
Of course, we must not ignore other factors that can have an impact on reservation rates. Amongst others, room rates, room availability, value and convenience will all play a part. These are also important considerations and must be viewed so when analyzing the data from your analytics.
As a 21st century hotelier weathering the all too apparent recession, you must realize the importance of the internet to sell your hotel rooms. To be unaware of the ratio of visitors to reservations is akin to burying your head in the sand. Your website should be treated as a sales tool and measured as such.
Unfortunately, during the last 10 years there has been a changing fashion in website design. This can arguably be held responsible for the all too “flashy” hotel website that is difficult to navigate, contains little general information about the area and has a distinct lack of presence in the search engines. Hotel websites should be designed by people who understand hotels and have experience working for or with hotels. A hotel website should look great, but to the detriment of its content, usability and search visibility? Certainly not.
Research indicates that travelers choose a destination, attraction or activity first and foremost. Specific hotel choice is a secondary consideration; the chosen hotel will usually fit criteria in line with the destination. Therefore, it is common sense that a hotel website should include information about the destination. Travelers are very much looking for value as well – not just best rates, but value in terms of convenience.
Search visibility is also of the utmost importance for a hotel website. What is the point in having a great website if no one can find it? The importance of visibility on leading search engines should not be underestimated. Best practice Search Engine Optimisation must be incorporated in your website, and that is just to get you started. Remember, updating your content regularly will encourage the search engines to keep coming back and re-indexing your page. Send out press releases and articles about your hotel to other websites to form in-bound links to your site. Remember, relevant links are key. They serve to increase your site’s position over time and they will enable you to receive traffic to your site from new sources as well. Using social media to promote your hotel will equally increase your inbound links and is great for creating communities engaged with your hotel brand.
The clear message to take from this is that your website is your most important sales tool and should be evaluated, amended and re-designed if necessary. Your hotel’s website should be your potential guest’s first of many experiences of your hotel, not the last and the only experience.
About GlobRes
GlobRes provide hotel reservations and marketing solutions for hoteliers globally. GlobRes offer hotel website design for free when purchased with hotel reservation systems. Complete our online contact form for more information.
Editors Note: Samantha Hasler leads the Digital Marketing Team at GlobRes www.globres.com pleased direct all press queries to marketing@globres.com
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