Most of us know the importance of what appears ‘above the fold: that’s the part of the SERP (Search Engine Results Page) which is returned on a user guest query without having to scroll down.  Now the magic triangle happily displays Google sponsored search results on the top and to the right, and in the space formerly occupied by the top organic results you’ll see the Google Hotel Finder application directly under the sponsored links.  Where are the organic rankings that users usually use? For the most part, based on the average user computer monitor resolution settings, they are now below the fold.  The Google Hotel Finder app is directly in the user’s line of sight and displays as a non-sponsored link.  Yes, I know it says sponsored link, but it’s not colored like the rest of the sponsored links and looks more organic than sponsored.

So what are we supposed to do? Statistics have shown that hotel guests trust online reviews more than ever (thank you, TripAdvisor) and so those Google Places pages are now more important than ever.  Users can sort hotels by the number of positive reviews, and if our online research shows us anything that’s exactly what they’re going to do.  Make sure you have some type of in-house program designed to drive positive-minded guests towards a good review on Google Places as opposed to TripAdvisor, since your Google Places page is about to get very, very important.

Did Google do this on purpose? Of course they did.  It’s another way to promote hotels using a very popular search engine while they receive a portion of the booking profits (did you think they were promoting the OTA pricing out of the goodness of their hearts? Think again) from the OTA marketplace.

If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, and sounds like a duck, it’s not an OTA.  It’s just Google taking one step closer to dominating the online hotel search landscape.

Taking just a few minutes to walk the streets of Venice or Florence and perhaps view the Duomo from the Belvedere (thank you Doctor Lector) or stroll through the back streets of Cape Town to see vendors hawk their wares can be both an intellectual treat and an eye opening experience.   While I understand it’s not as good as being there (depending on where you visit) I can assure you that it is possible to expand your worldly boundaries while sitting behind your computer and to perhaps gain a better perspective on our own surroundings.

It’s a good cause when you take a few minutes each day to better your knowledge base and reduce your stress level as your co-workers, spouse, significant other and pets will thank you for it.

Google Maps.

Hurrah Pinterest.  I can post just about anything from my trip or where I wish to go, or what I had for breakfast.  However, the Pinterest fine print says that I am legally bound and responsible not only for the images I post but for any legal fees Pinterest incurs should the photos I post not be my own or if I don’t have legal rights to use said photos.  In addition, Pinterest is allowed to sell and profit from any of my image postings.  Are you feeling that burn in your nether regions yet? Yes…that’s the same burn I felt when I read this.  Preparation H anyone?

Let’s say I snap a photo of someone or something without thinking I need permission.  I post that photo up on Pinterest, and since I’ve already agreed to their terms they sell my photo to an online entity for a profit.  That online picture entity then resells the photo 100 times until the person or owner of the object of the photo calls their attorney.  Their attorney calls online photo entity, which then calls Pinterest, which in turn calls you.   Is this becoming a little clearer?

I think that until Pinterest changes their legalese I’m going to avoid posting anything there, and I recommend you do the same.  That is, of course, unless you enjoy strange phone calls from lawyers stating legal responsibility, repossession of property, and which cardboard box you’ll choose for your next home.  P for Pass.

It’s hard enough to do everything right in the hospitality industry to ensure a guest’s complete satisfaction, however it’s relatively easy to screw-up a good thing by forgetting to ask them for a positive public review (PPR).   The guest comes to the front desk (sometimes) and notes how pleasant their stay was.  The front desk clerk, busy juggling phone-calls, service requests and customer service thanks them with a smile and out the door goes the PPR.

It’s relatively inexpensive to head on over to VistaPrint or similar business-card online entity and print up a few thousand Guest Satisfaction Cards for a few dollars.  You can design your own card online with your hotel logo and with vanity site directing guests to a page that includes logos for TripAdvisor, Yelp, Google Places, or wherever you’d like feedback to take place.   In addition, you can use the back space for printing your Facebook and Twitter addresses along with the all-important QR code. (that funny square barcode read by smartphones).

These cards are inexpensive to print, placed in a guest’s hand along with a thank-you for the compliment on the nice hotel stay or included in the checkout packet slipped under the door.  What could be easier?  Let’s say that you have 3000 cards printed and you receive 10% positive feedback from those cards.  How much would you pay to have 300 positive reviews on TripAdvisor? Bingo.

Remember it’s important not to exchange goods or services for a positive review. That’s a big no-no.  Can you say, blacklisted from TripAdvisor? Instead, if the guest has a positive stay…hand them a card and ask for a review with a smile.  It’s easy, cheap, and will pay off in handsome dividends.

Online video is an excellent way of promoting your service, especially in the hospitality industry. It works both from an cost standpoint and a search engine ranking perspective.   In some markets, YouTube is the number two search engine behind Google.  You can increase user engagement of your services by over 400%, and capture a market that doesn’t necessarily lend itself to television or radio advertising.

Don’t post all your videos at once to your channel, but post them over time to naturally build rank.  Posting all at once, or ‘dumping’, appears to be inorganic and designed to specifically draw traffic.  Slow and steady wins the race.

Don’t overload on tags.  Keep the number of tags for each video to 6 or less and keep the relevance strict. Tag stuffing is like keyword stuffing: it’s stupid so don’t do it, this isn’t 1997.

Embed your videos on pages with relevant content.  I can’t stress enough that relevance is key.  You can’t brag about being all things to all people, as you’ll end up being very little to very few.

These are just a few ideas to help your hospitality website garner better positioning over the competition.  Shooting an inexpensive video that’s funny has a much better chance of getting traffic and going viral than a stodgy boring corporate-centric themed video.   However it takes creativity, desire, and work to get these videos placed but the payoff can be substantial: more reservations for less money without going through your local OTA.

Make sure you use hyperlinks in your postings. If the service you subscribe to doesn’t allow it, then dump them and get someone who does.  Without hyperlinks you’re just hoping someone links back to your page…not what I would call part of a successful online marketing strategy.   Make sure to hyperlink specific keywords in your ad copy that link back to…imagine this…a landing page specifically designed to cater to those keywords!  That will increase the amount of juice you generate and reinforce the message you’re trying to deliver.  If you link to ‘fantastic Denver hotel specials’ leading to a page about your hotel specials, you’re much more inclined to generate better traffic than if you just link to the homepage.   Did I mention it’s important for SEO purposes as well? Yes..it’s crucial to have an effective linking strategy in all your postings, including those in a press release.  Driving relevant traffic through specific keywords to a page that supports those words is an important part of your SEO marketing goals.

seoforceo.com helps to increase your ROI & social media exposure!

Increasing your website social media exposure is not just getting on Facebook and Twitter.  It’s ensuring you’re maximizing your exposure in a positive way while not over-extending yourself from a managerial standpoint in the social media realm of possibilities.  This is about taking your existing advertising budget and substantially increasing your ROI without significant increases to media spend.  Diligence and consistency will pay out in-house over throwing thousands at a media firm with almost no vested interest in what you do. Capiche?

First: Ensure your website conveys your message in a short amount of time directly to the consumer.  If you spend your money on mobile marketing and social media to drive traffic to your website, and then the website isn’t efficient with the message, you’re going to lose customers – fast.  Quick and concise message delivery is crucial to ensuring a high conversion rate and successful customer acquisition and retention.

Second: Retention is key, but recruitment is the lifeblood of any business.  Ensure what you offer your customer is clear and concise along all advertising medium: nothing is worse than spending thousands on a pay per click / social media campaign and driving all the traffic to your homepage.  I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve seen businesses make this error resulting in lost clients and declining ROI.  Deliver a concise AND consistent message across your entire advertising medium from cradle to commitment action.  Don’t lose the client on superfluous messaging!

Third:  Be prepared.  Is your website platform mobile-media compatible?  By 2013 (Forrester Research) more users will be conducting searches from mobile devices that from desktop PC’s.  This means that the traffic you drive from your advertising campaigns will likely be from a mobile media smart device.  Is your current web platform ready to accept those customers?  Is your advertising messages and customer benefit ready to be delivered in short concise phrases?  These are some of the topics which should be addressed now, rather than 12 months from now.  Don’t underestimate the intelligence of the average consumer!

Some of my favorite advertising campaigns suffer a quick death upon arrival to the target website.  I love the ad, adore the medium, yet upon arrival to my destination it’s like Disneyland is closed and I’m the last one to know.  What do you do?  Turn your car around and head to some other theme park, cursing Disneyland all the way…

These are just a couple of simple ideas to increase your customer retention and improve your bottom line.  Remember: customers aren’t stupid, but they need to be helped upon arrival to your website.  Your advertising has achieved a partial goal of getting them to your product, and it rests on the effectiveness of your website to complete the transaction.