Πέμπτη 18 Οκτωβρίου 2012

5 Signs You Need An Online Marketing Consultant

Investing in an online marketing consultant should be seen as a profitable investment, not an expense.
Whether you need online marketing for your hotel is not in dispute, the question you need to ask yourself as an hotelier is whether you can afford not to hire an online marketing consultant? Internet marketing is not difficult but it does take time to learn and requires ongoing education as well as resources to carry out marketing strategies. Here are five signs that you may want to think about outsourcing your online marketing activities.

You’re not ranking for your own hotel name

You know you have a problem with your online marketing when you’re not even ranking for your own hotel name. There may be several reasons for this; you haven’t spent any time optimising your site, your website has been penalised by Search Engines or you’ve chosen a very competitive hotel name. Whatever the reason, if your site is not ranking for hotel-related keywords relevant to your name and your destination, you need to address this problem pronto.

You’ve got a high bounce rate

You may be attracting visitors to your site but have a high bounce rate. Google defines a bounce rate as the percentage of single-page visits or visits in which the person left your site from the entrance (landing) page. You can look at your Bounce Rate Report in Google Analytics. This is different from an abandonment rate (below). There are many reasons for a high bounce rate. Some of these include:

  • You do not have a trustworthy website design.
  • The navigation of your site is confusing and unclear.
  • The website content isn’t written well.
  • Your website is optimised for non-relevant keywords.
  • Your pay-per-click campaign is targeting non-relevant keywords.
  • The title and meta description tag does not reflect the content on the page.
  • The page speed of your website is sluggish and slow.
You’ve got a high abandonment rate

There are many reasons for a high abandonment rate. It could be due to your website design looking untrustworthy. Leading research marketing group Forrester Research’s study on ‘Understanding Shopping Cart Abandonment’ in 2010 revealed that 88% of Web buyers say that they have abandoned an online shopping cart or hotel web booking engine without completing a transaction. Opportunities for hoteliers to recover lost sales include:
  • Incorporating an online booking engine or shopping cart on your website rather directing customers to third-party websites to complete their purchase.
  • Increasing security on your website by having a secure server and encrypted credit card transactions gives increased comfort to buyers.
  • Removing stumbling blocks and clearing the path to conversion.

You’ve got bad online reviews

Online reputation management should be an important part of a hotel’s online marketing strategy. If you are getting bad reviews, you may want to hire an online marketing consultant to help you to improve your online reputation. However, if you keep on getting bad reviews, hiring a marketing specialist is just a bandaid approach. You need to address the problem of the reviews whether it is due to bad customer service or your hotel facilities.

You just don’t have the time or know-how

Internet marketing is a specialised and learned skill. Your online marketing consultant is likely to have a university degree in marketing as well as supplementing their studies with ongoing learning and experience in the field. Someone running a bed and breakfast or hotel with a small budget could do their own online marketing but it all comes down to whether you have the time and resources. Otherwise, it may in fact be more economical to outsource this task.
Whether you’re running a boutique hotel or managing an international hotel chain, spending money on online marketing is one of the best investments you will make. Hotel Website Designers have proven experience in creating campaigns for a high-profile clientele located around the world. If you’re ready to take the next step in your internet marketing strategy, contact Hotel Website Designers to speak to an experienced online marketing consultant.

This entry was posted in Hotel Internet Marketing


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