How to get your website ranking better with these SEO techniques

You need a sound SEO strategy to ensure that your website is found on search engines. Specific and targeted keywords and key phrases relating to your products and services used within your content, page titles and meta descriptions are all basic SEO techniques that will help with your website rank.

Below are some other SEO tips to help your website rank better:

1. Quality content is essential
Search engines will favour websites that provide high quality and unique content. Create content that your customers will find interesting and actually read.

2. Use relevant keywords
It’s still important to include relevant keywords and key phrases that your visitors will type into search engines to find your website. But ensure that you don't keyword stuff your paragraphs.

3. Link building
Integrate reputable links on your website and encourage other external websites to link to your website. This will help strengthen the reliability and reputation of your website.

Creating internal links within your website is also important. For example whenever you mention accommodation or things to do, link it to your rooms page or the location or activities page on your website.

4. SEO is a long term strategy
Continue to invest in your SEO strategy and it will slowly build up your page rankings over time. Getting found on search engines the organic way does not happen overnight. You have to continue to invest and work on your website.

If you would like more information on search engine optimisation for your website, speak to TA Fastrack today on 07 3040 3588.

Is it time to revamp your website?

If you feel that rebuilding your website from scratch is too daunting a task, then you could consider revamping or re-skinning your website. Below are some reasons why you should consider revamping your website:

1. Quicker turnaround time
By using the basic structure and content of your existing website, you can achieve a new and revitalised look and feel for your website in a very shorter amount of time then if you were to rebuild a new website from scratch.

2. Custom designed website
A web designer can work with your existing website structure and create custom designed mock-up to suit your company’s branding and personality.

3. Updated graphics and styles
All it takes to make your website look fresh and modern is some new graphics, or a simple layout update. This could include fresh and updated colours, updated photos etc.

4. Lower initial cost
A revamped website could be a cheaper option then designing a whole new website from scratch.

5. Increase conversion rate and ROI
Revamping your website could help increase your website conversion.

If you would like more information about a website design for your business, speak to one of the marketing consultants at TA Fastrack today on 1300 659 289.

Website design and usability

First impressions count. Your website represents who you are as a business and brand and shows everyone what you offer. The website design needs to set people's minds at ease and show them that you are credible, your business can be trusted and it's professional. Your website also needs to make them feel welcome and be easy enough for them to navigate, find the information they want straight away and lets them book or call you without any hassles.

Below are some of our tips for great website design and will do the above things mentioned above.

Colour
Use the right colours to draw attention to specific aspects (eg your phone number or book now button). Don't make everything jump out, otherwise, nothing will stand out. We recommend keeping the website clean and avoid using too many colours.

Avoid using too many animations, gadgets or media
Avoid anything unnecessary. Keep flash animations to a minimum and only use media if it helps support your content, information or easily puts your message across quickly. Also, flash files cannot be read by search engine spiders and some browsers may block flash. Flash also cannot be viewed on smartphones.

Easy to use layout & navigation
Organise your webpages so that people can find the information they want quickly and easily. Create a clear navigation structure. Don't be afraid of using white space. Avoid clutter. Surveys show that approximately 76% of survey respondents say that the most important part of a website is the ease in which they can find information. We recommend including a navigation in the footer of your website, use breadcrumbs on every page and include internal links to other pages within your webpage copy.

Typography
Make sure that the content can be read easily. Use fonts, font sizes and colours that can be easily read. Break up the content using headings, sub-headings, bullet points and keep the paragraphs short.

Images
Images say a thousand words and are a powerful element of a website that can entice customers to stay on your website further and book with you. Use images that will be relevant to your audience. For example, if you are a holiday accommodation on the Sunshine Coast, you would use photos of families on the beach instead of businessmen in suits. Showcase your apartments with high resolution photos of your facilities, rooms and building.

Make it accessible
Make sure that your website can be viewed in all major web browsers, smartphones and tablets.

If you need help with a new website design for 2012, or if you would like some recommendations on how to improve your current website, speak to one of the marketing consultants at TA Fastrack today on 07 3040 3588 or visit www.tafastrack.com.au.

Increase website conversion with these easy tips

The first thing you need to look at is getting a professionally designed website. First impressions count and a well designed website with SEO in mind will help with your conversions.

Some of the things you should look at to help improve website conversion include:

Improve the content
Content is king, especially for search engines, but how much information should you include? We recommend that you should at least provide enough information about your products and services for your customers to make an informed and immediate purchase decision.

Customers hate having to dig around and scroll down the page for additional information. They may even become frustrated if they have to email you to find out more about your hotel. If you are leaving out product information, you are losing conversions.

Use SEO tactics when creating content for your site. That means, you should spend some time researching your relevant keywords, properly adding these keywords to your webpage title, indexing your webpages, and providing relevant content on your various site pages. Be sure to also include some relevant keywords within the content for search engine optimisation. Include detailed product information and prices for your services if necessary.

If you leave too much to the imagination, you will lose potential customers who cannot be bothered looking through your website.

2. Strong calls to action and easy to find contact information
The best placement for your contact information is at the top of the page, above the fold. Use bright, bold text to make your call to action stand out and ensure it is easy to read.

Your call to action and contact info should be on every landing page so customers don't have to spend time trying to find out how to reach you to make a purchase. Invite your customers to call or email you, or add an enquiry form so they can contact you easily.

An important call to action is your book now button. Have your book now button on ever webpage so customers don't have to hunt around the website for it and keep it near the top above the fold, so it directs people to book immediately with you.

3. Website design
Is your website visually cluttered and overflowing with too much information? Or is your website designed poorly with low resolution logos, images and no information?

First impressions count. Make sure your website stands out with a clean, user-friendly layout. Your website should give visitors the feeling that you are a respectable, trustworthy company.

If you need a new website design, speak to a marketing consultant at TA Fastrack today on 07 3040 3588 or visit www.tafastrack.com.au.

Increase repeat visits to your hotel website with hotel internet marketing

Hotel Internet marketing should result in the four ‘R’s - a high Retention rate, Repeat business, increased Referrals and improved ROI. Below are some marketing strategies to help your hotel can increase repeat visits to your website, increase hotel bookings and rely less on OTAs.

Know your target market

Who is your target market? Any marketing strategies or activities you implement must focus on your core target market and address their needs. For example, if the majority of your client base is corporate, then promote the business features of your hotel (internet access, business centre etc). If you rely mainly on families, then showcase the family-friendly facilities at your hotel, and it’s close proximity to sightseeing attractions.

Use Social Media wisely

Web 2.0 applications, such as blogs, forums and social media networks (facebook, twitter, foursquare) can all help build brand loyalty. Make sure all hotel Internet marketing tools work in cohesion. For example, add social media icons on your website, so guests know you’re on Facebook and Twitter, encourage people to follow you or become a fan of your business pages. Add social media icons at the bottom of your email signature etc.

Member only special offers

Offer member only promotions via social media networks, email marketing campaigns or other your hotel marketing strategies that you employ. For example, offering promotions or a ‘sneak peek’ which are not offered to the general public will help to increase your fan base, subscriptions or registration rate. Guests will then find more value in what you’re offering and sign up for your e-newsletters or ‘like’ your business page as these special offers aren’t available on your website.

Regularly update your content

Updating your website with blog articles, customer reviews, seasonal promotions and special offers or information about local attractions and upcoming events is a great way to get people to return to your website. If potential guests can’t find the information they want about your hotel and local attractions on your website, they will go somewhere else that will provide them all the information they need to make a booking decision.

Quality of the website design

It’s important that your website design reflects the quality of your hotel and showcases your rooms, facilities and other selling points of the hotel, for example, the views, or proximity to the beach or quiet retreat in the mountains. Your website must also be easy to navigate, show up-to-date information, a easy to use online booking engine, and straightforward enquiry forms. If you’re website doesn’t look good, it won’t entice a customer to book with you. So maybe it’s time to think about getting a new website!

Pictures say a thousand words

Put high quality images on your website of your rooms, facilities, the scenery, the surrounding area and the property. Images can make or break a hotel booking and the more visual information a customer has, the more confident and reassured they will be that booking at your hotel is the right decision. Make sure that your pictures are also high quality.

Fast loading times

The hotel industry is a ruthless, cut throat industry and you are competing with travel agencies, wholesalers and travel products companies where a customer can potentially make a hotel booking. Don’t make it any harder for the customer with a slow loading website because it’s an easy option to book at another website if they can’t find the information they need quickly.

While a large part of your hotel Internet marketing activities should be focused on attracting new customers to your website and building your customer base, there should be a continued focus on getting existing customers to re-book at your hotel and increase brand loyalty.

Speak to one of our marketing consultants at TA Fastrack on 07 3040 3588 to find out how we can help you with your hotel Internet marketing, social media marketing and client retention campaigns.

Does Your Property Need a Website Design Makeover?

People always say, “don’t judge a book by its cover.” Well, it sounds nice, but people usually don’t take the advice, and often do judge a book by its cover. Whether it’s right or wrong is another topic, but it happens for all sorts of things, including hotel websites.

Based on an instant feeling from the look and feel of your property’s website, a travel shopper can move on faster than the speed of light. This is the worst case scenario for any property. After all, the shopper’s interest is not the only thing lost. You can kiss increased online bookings, revenue, branding and potential guest loyalty goodbye.

Let’s review five signs that your site needs a makeover. If none of these apply to your property, you’re in good shape. If any of them do apply, it’s time to make some tweaks.

Five signs that scream YES!

1) Dated Imagery
How current are the photos on your website - have they been updated in the last year or two? Have your property’s rooms recently been remodelled? 

Photos, especially if they’re rotating in flash or the largest feature on the page, are what visitors notice first, meaning photos should constantly be up to date and professional. If a visitor sees photos of a dim, empty lobby and a room with old TVs and fixtures, it may immediately cause them to start their search over. And hiring a professional photographer is usually worth it in the long run. The difference between professional photos and random photos taken by the hotel staff can be significant.

2) Non-compelling Imagery
Does you property look empty, with no cars in the parking lot, or zero guests walking the grounds?  Does your property have vibrant photos of local attractions – whether it’s the outdoors, shopping areas, theme parks, etc.? 

Your property’s website should have exciting, professional photos at all times, especially on the homepage, since it’s seen by nearly 100% of your website visitors. Don’t have two rotating photos of an empty lobby and a bed. Have four rotating photos of guest/staff interaction in the lobby, a wide angle of one your best rooms, an active pool that show guests relaxing, and most importantly, a photo of nearby local attractions, such as people enjoying a theme park, businessmen interacting at a convention centre or hikers enjoying the outdoors.

3) Non-engaging Content
Does your site’s content instantly spark interest in the travel shopper?
With the short attention span of consumers and the assault of ads and content they’re exposed to, they hardly ever read an entire page worth, but they do at least skim it… after they’ve been engaged with the imagery of course.

Besides the fact that your content has to be written with keywords and key phrases to help with search engine rankings, it’s crucial that it sells what the travel shopper wants. If you’re a luxury resort, you should sell the luxuries and amenities of your property – things like a spa and room service. You should also, even on the homepage, have relevant content about local attractions or demand generators. Often times, guests search for a property with close proximity to a place or event, not just for the property itself. If you’re located within a mile from the zoo or a botanical garden, emphasize that in your content. Capitalize on your proximity to the attractions, and try to form an emotional connection with the shoppers immediately.

4) Poor Navigation
Is your site map organized in a manner that’s easy for visitors to navigate?
Once a visitor sticks on your website, easy navigation is a must.  First and foremost, no matter where a visitor navigates to, there should always be a clear link directly back to the homepage.  Think about the goals of your website, and make sure the most important links are prominent and easy to reach from anywhere.

Second, the booking engine should be a distinct call to action on the homepage, always above the page break. Visitors should be able to quickly select a date range and click search. Third, don’t have too many sub pages on different levels. If a visitor clicks on “Event Space” from the homepage, gets to a second page, clicks on “Ballroom,” gets to a third page and clicks on “Weddings,” before clicking to yet another “Bride and Groom” page, then it’s too deep in the navigation. A visitor should never have to go through more than two or three clicks from the homepage to navigate anywhere on your site.

5) Alarming Website Statistics
Are travel shoppers staying on your site longer and viewing more pages than they did last year? Is your site ranking higher in the search engines for crucial keywords and phrases? Is your overall site traffic growing?                                              

All of these questions and more need to be answered regularly at your property. Review how shoppers find your site, which pages they are visiting and how much time they’re spending there. Look at your Web analytics, and learn what every statistic means to your bottom line. These are key indicators about how well you’re engaging shoppers, and how you can improve your site to increase online bookings.  An overall “health review” of your site should be done quarterly.

So, your site does or doesn’t need a makeover…
Now that you’ve thought more about your property’s website and considered the aforementioned five potential issues, how do you feel about your site? Does it need a design and/or layout makeover. Do you feel your visitors are engaged with photos and content and compelled to book? Your website is your 24/7 sales tool, so it must be up to par to consistently fill the rooms.

If your property clearly does not have any of these five issues, chance are, the design and layout is in excellent shape. But if any of these signs ring true, whether it’s one or all five, it’s probably time for a site revision, including updated images and content and a professionally diagrammed layout.

This is where hiring an hotel Internet marketing company would be beneficial. A content management system that allows you to make updates to the site without much design or technical knowledge is also a cost-effective, beneficial option.  Because after all, improving your site will only help increase the time visitors spend on it, which will in turn, boost your direct online reservations.


For more information about website design and development, speak to one of the marketing consultants at TA Fastrack today on 07 3040 3588.

Beef Up Your Opt-In Email List With an Offer Your Visitors CAN'T Refuse!

If there is one piece of advice I would give to every business operating on the Web today, it would be this:

You MUST collect the opt-in information of visitors to your web site!

Why? Because if you're not constantly building your opt-in email list, you're letting MOST of your sales opportunities slip right through your fingers! I can't say it often enough!

Studies have shown that it takes an average of FOUR TO SEVEN points of contact to make a sale — and you won't make it to the second point of contact if you don't have a way to reach your visitors after they've left your site.

Think about how many websites you visit in an hour of surfing the Internet — do you remember the salescopy and products from each of those sites? Could you find a particular site again if you wanted to re-check their information? Even if you Googled it, there's no guarantee that exact URL would show up in your keyword results.

In most cases, visitors come to your site, they look around, then they leave, and they're gone forever.
But simply by collecting their first name, last name, and email address, you can stay firmly on their radar and expose them to your products time and time again — all at nearly no cost to you! These people are your opt-ins, and an opt-in email list is the very foundation of any online business.

That's why it's amazing to me that many people don't take advantage of opt-in email marketing.
Especially when statistics from PostFuture back up exactly what I'm saying:

• 82% of online buyers have made at least one purchase in response to an email promotion
• 67% of users open at least 60% of opt-in emails they receive
• 32% have made an immediate online purchase in response to an email!
• 59% have gone on to redeem an email coupon in an online OR offline store

People pay close attention to their email, and more and more people are buying online every year!

But consumers know that their personal information is gold, and they won't give it to you unless you give them something they want in return. If you provide your visitors with a targeted, valuable opt-in offer, your opt-in email list will grow — and so will your revenues.

So now that you know WHY you should be collecting your visitors' information, let's take a look at...

• WHO you should be considering when you build your opt-in strategy
• WHAT to offer your visitors to get them excited about opting in
• HOW to promote your offer
• WHERE to put it on your web site

Once you've got the answers to these questions, you're ready to put together the best possible opt-in offer for your target market.

WHO? Know your target market — and build an offer they can't refuse!

The first step in creating a solid opt-in strategy is to consider the people you want to opt in to your list. Just as the best businesses are created in response to the needs of a specific niche market, so are the best opt-in offers!

That's why the first, most important question is always WHO. Unless you can specifically say who you're aiming your strategy at, you're going to have a hard time running any kind of an opt-in campaign... AND your business, for that matter.

You can find out a lot about your site visitors' preferences and habits by looking at the server logs that your web host supplies. What's the most popular page on your web site? What pages do visitors stay on for the longest time? Build your opt-in offer around what's on those pages.

Where do people most often click away from your site? Obviously whatever's there isn't something your market considers valuable, so a related opt-in offer wouldn't work.

When do most people visit your site? If they're visiting during work hours, your offer will be much different from one aimed at people visiting in the evenings.

Also consider the questions or comments you get from customers after a sale. What do they want to know? What do they like or dislike?

The more hard information you have on your target audience, the easier it will be to come up with an opt-in offer that answers their specific needs.

Now's the time to think about WHAT your target market really wants...

WHAT? Discover the opt-in incentive that will provide maximum value for your opt-in email list — and get your subscribers in the mood to buy! 

There are tons of different incentives you can use to encourage people to give you their personal information — but not every offer will suit every web site or business.

Because people already get so much email these days, you need to provide them with a really compelling incentive to opt in to your list.

Most people think of newsletters right off the bat when they are first developing an opt-in incentive for their web site. Starting your own online newsletter is one of the most effective methods of building your opt-in list. It's an incredibly powerful way to position yourself as an industry expert with your customers and subscribers, and it reminds them regularly of your presence.

For some businesses, however, offering a free newsletter isn't the best way to collect email addresses. Let's suppose, for example, that your site sells washers and dryers. You're going to be hard pressed to come up with interesting, relevant information about laundry for your free newsletter every month!
According to an Ipsos-Reid poll, 71% of all Internet users have unsubscribed from at least one email list because the information delivered wasn't sufficiently interesting or relevant.

Before you start a newsletter, think about how much interesting and relevant information you can deliver to your specific audience and how much time you have available to put it together so it can be delivered on a regular schedule.

If a newsletter isn't a good fit for your business, don't worry — there are other ways to collect email addresses, and they require less time and effort.

1. Offer a free brochure

A free brochure can be a great incentive, depending on the kinds of products or services you offer.
If you offer a free brochure, you'll have to take the time to actually write it. But a brochure doesn't need to be hundreds of pages long to be useful. An information-packed brochure can be as short as 8 to 10 pages, and still provide a ton of value for your opt-in subscribers.

Not only does a free brochure help build your list, it also helps familiarize your visitors with you and your products or services.

You can also make your brochure viral — and no, that doesn't mean you're making anyone sick! "Viral marketing" is a strategy in which you encourage your customers to pass on a marketing campaign or message to others. Like a virus, your message has the potential to spread throughout online communities.

With viral brochures, word about your business spreads quickly. For example, let's say that you persuade 10 people to pass your brochure on to their friends. And if they share it with even a few of their friends? That's a number that multiplies pretty quickly — and can convert into tons of highly targeted potential customers!

You can even create a new opt-in offer for people who've received the brochure from friends. Put a link in the eBook to a special landing page that features the offer and collect a "second generation" of opt-ins.

2. Offer downloadable articles

If your site contains a lot of useful, original, content-rich articles, one of the best ways to collect email addresses is to require that visitors to your site opt in toyour list if they want to download those articles.

As long as you offer useful information, and as long as the downloadable articles contain something that people can't get for free in the version you have posted on your site, you can expect to get a TON of sign-ups using this strategy.

Now, maybe you're not comfortable writing, or your business isn't suited to offering a written opt-in incentive. But don't worry! There are a number of opt-in offers that don't require much writing at all — just a bit of creativity!

3. Offer a contest, puzzle, or game
Running a contest on your web site works on the same principle as dropping your business card in a jar at the local cafe in hopes of winning a free lunch for your office.

The cafe collects information about its customers, and the customers get the chance to win a valuable prize. Both parties benefit, and it doesn't really cost the cafe anything more than a few burgers for the winner.

Depending on the kind of business you run, there are a ton of different options for this type of opt-in incentive. Some examples include:

A contest to win an item (or a coupon for a percentage off an item) related to your product.
A contest to win one of your products. But remember — don't offer to give away the primary product you sell. People will enter the contest hoping to win — and leave your site without considering an actual purchase!

A weekly puzzle or quiz. The type of puzzle is up to you: a crossword with words that relate to your business, or a "multiple choice"-type quiz, an animated jigsaw puzzle, or a game of "Hangman"! You can set it up as a contest and draw a name from the winning entries to award a prize — or require that people give you their opt-in information to get the answer.

4. Offer members-only specials
One of the easiest ways to encourage visitors to opt in with their personal information is to offer them a chance to save money! It can be as simple as the following text:

"Do you want to receive our special MEMBERS-ONLY offers? Every month we bring exclusive deals to our subscribers that you can't get anywhere else! To start saving now, just sign up below!"

This is a great way to drive opt-ins AND sales, and to make your potential customers feel appreciated before they even buy your products!

There are many different opt-in incentives available — you just need to apply a little creativity to choose the one that's right for you and your target market!

But even the BEST opt-in offer can be ignored if you don't know how to present it to your visitors.
Let's check out HOW to get your potential customers interested in your offer...

HOW? Build a compelling opt-in offer that no visitor to your site will ignore!

Opt-in offers aren't tough to write, but they do require a little bit of thought and time on your part. We've worked with some of the best (and highest-priced!) copywriters in the business, and here are the three hard-and-fast rules they follow when writing an opt-in offer:

Rule #1: Emphasize benefits, NOT features 

To persuade visitors to sign up for your offer, you NEED to answer their biggest question: "What's in it for me?" The best way to do this is by always emphasizing the benefits of your product or service, as opposed to the features.

Here's an example: Suppose you are offering an eBook on your tax advice site. If you were to write...
"Download our FREE eBook, written by a real CPA."

...you'd be advertising a feature. You are telling your visitors a fact about your eBook.

Here's how it reads if we emphasize benefits instead of features:

Don't pay a penny extra on your taxes! Discover 10 simple things that you can do to save hundreds — even thousands! — of dollars on your return this year! Just enter your name and email address below to get your FREE eBook!

That's a pretty dramatic difference, isn't it? You've hooked your visitors by letting them know how THEY will benefit by signing up for your offer — by avoiding costly taxes in the future.

Rule #2: Include a call to action 

If you want people to take action on your site (such as sign up for your eBook), you need to have a call to action that tells them exactly what you want them to do.

For example, if you want your visitors to opt in to your list (and of course, you do!) you should include a link that says something like, "Subscribe here to receive dozens of FREE PowerPoint templates every month!"

You might think it's obvious that you want people to opt in to your list — especially if you've written a great sales pitch that explains how your opt-in offer solves their problem.

But no matter how convincing your copy is, if you don't provide your potential customers with a very specific call to action, you're just leaving them hanging.

Rule #3: Include a link to your privacy policy
A lot of people still feel a bit reluctant to hand over their personal information to someone they've never met before. The best way to ease their fears is to include a link to your privacy policy whenever you ask for personal information. In fact, you should have a link to your privacy policy on every page of your site!

This lets people know that you are committed to protecting their privacy, and makes them feel safe leaving their email address with you.

Your privacy policy should state explicitly what information you collect from your visitors and how you intend to use it. You don't even have to create your own privacy policy from scratch! There's an easy-to-use "privacy policy" generator at:
www.the-dma.org/privacy/creating.shtml

Now that you've learned about HOW to craft a winning opt-in offer, let me show you WHERE on your site it should go to get you the maximum amount of opt-ins!

WHERE? Place your opt-in offer in the RIGHT spot and send your opt-in rates through the ROOF!

Believe it or not, there are still a lot of sites that hide their opt-in offer, making it almost impossible for their visitors to find it. In fact, a 2005 MarketingSherpa study showed that only 52% of e-commerce sites have a prominent call to register on their main home page!

If your homepage contains a long salesletter, you'll want to put the opt-in form somewhere around the second "page" of text. By this point, you'll have grabbed your visitors' attention and shown them that your site offers some valuable information. They'll be more inclined to give you their email address once you've established your credibility.

If your homepage DOESN'T have a long salesletter, you'll want to place your opt-in form prominently within the "first fold." (This is the portion of your web site that is visible to a visitor without scrolling.) That's where you'll see our opt-in offer on this page.

Place the opt-in box in the same place on every single page of your site. The more chances you give your visitors to opt in, the higher your conversion rate is going to be. Of course, you don't want to overdo it... one opt-in offer per page is plenty!

You can create an opt-in offer that is specifically targeted to a particular page on your site. For example, if your web site is a catalog site selling home aquarium products, and you have a special page dedicated to different kinds of fish food, you can include an opt-in offer on that page for a free report on "The Top 5 Mistakes People Make When They Feed Their Fish."

And on your page dedicated to exotic breeds of fish, you could offer a free eBook on "Tips and Tricks for Caring For Exotic Fish". That way, you could establish yourself as a fish expert with your potential customers at the same time as you capture their information for your marketing purposes.

Final thoughts

An opt-in email list that you build with great opt-in offers will generate profits for you starting immediately — and continuing well into the future! If you follow these suggestions, there's no reason you shouldn't be able to get at least 10% of your site visitors converted to subscribers!

If you are getting less than 5% of your traffic opting in to your offer, you know you need to tweak your strategy.

I'll say it again: Building a successful opt-in email list is one of the most important things you can do for your online business. That's why we've spent years learning and testing how to create the kinds of opt-in offers that will have a DRAMATIC impact on your conversion rates — and your bottom line.

For more information about email marketing, speak to TA Fastrack today.

Why the Design of Your Hotel Web Site Matters

It’s more than just Personal Taste - with so many hotels relying on the Internet to help fill their rooms- it amazes me that there are still so many hotel web sites that are not designed to produce room reservations. After-all isn’t that the primary reason why hotel sites are published to the Internet to begin with? It’s also shocking that so many web site designers don’t have a clue about search engines, how they work, nor how and why people select a hotel in which to stay.


So much of the planning and designing of a productive hotel web site starts with the intent of the designer, when the site is being designed. Does the designer understand the purpose of a hotel site? Stephen Covey, in his best seller “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, teaches us to “Begin with the end in mind”.

With hotel web sites, the “end” to keep in mind is that a hotel web site must be designed to “sell” reservations; not simply to be an online brochure. Many people have asked me why I feel so strongly that it takes knowledge of hotel marketing to design a productive hotel web site. It’s because an effective hotel web site must incorporate the basic hotel marketing principles of location, facilities, and attractions (both business and leisure); and, most importantly, the site must include dominant well-written sales text.

While a hotel brochure is designed to describe facilities and services, it is not relied upon to “close” sales. The purpose of a web site is far more complex. It must be designed to create search engine popularity, so the site can be found using many different search terms; it must create interest in the hotel’s location, facilities, and services; and, most importantly, its text must be written to convert “lookers into bookers”.

It’s Location, Location, and Location…

With few exceptions, people visit an area but stay at a hotel because of its location, nearby attractions and facilities. Knowing this, it makes pure common-sense to highlight your hotel’s location. It is always amazing to me to see so many hotel web sites which give no clue where the hotel is located; some even without a posted address.

Your location is a very special place. Your location has its own special attributes which attract visitors from all over the World. Your web site should prominently highlight your location’s special attributes and provide a reason to visit that location. Simply listing your hotel’s address is not enough; generating new visitors to your hotel’s location is most important; sell destination first, your hotel second.


Having a Web Presence

In the beginning of the Internet’s popularity, only ten or so years ago, many hotels had the foresight to take advantage of the opportunity to have a presence on this radically new marketing medium. But the Internet has changed a lot since then; we learned that merely having a presence on the Internet does not necessarily generate reservations.

Many of these early sites were designed by pure technicians, or in some cases the owner’s nephew, with a flair for design and some techno-knowledge of how to publish a web site on the Internet. Some sites were good; many were terrible, but in those days, few hoteliers knew how much the Internet would impact our industry and they knew even less about how to design a hotel web site to sell reservations.

During its maturation process, the number of web sites on the Internet has grown exponentially and search engines (the heart of the Internet) have been refined and improved; and are constantly being improved today. If a site cannot be found easily, it’s useless.

The Internet’s explosive growth has been unprecedented in our lifetime. Google, one of the Internet’s most popular search engines indexes more than 6.8 billion web sites. World population is 6.6 billion people; that’s more than one site for each and every one of us! Without search engines, navigating the net would be nearly impossible.

At this point you may be wondering what web site design has to do with search engines; the answer is everything. Search engine requirements must be built into the site’s design. Keep in mind that search engines, at the present time, read text; images and graphics are, for the most part, invisible to them. Search engines seek-out sites which contain the words contained in the search term.

Many web site designers do an excellent job of making web sites look attractive, but fail miserably to comply with search engine and hotel sales and marketing needs. It’s what your site “says” and “how it says it” that creates popularity with search engines and converts visitors into reservations.

Some Web Site Common-Sense

Hotel site designers, even those with hotel marketing experience, tend to be very right-brained creative types. Don’t assume that they always know all those key factors which make your hotel’s location unique and popular. When you select a designer for your site, either new or replacement site, make a list of sales features and keep them in priority order.


A good designer knows the prime web site real estate to occupy those most important details of your location and hotel. Remember, it’s not just what you say; it’s how you say it. Begin with the end in mind; the “end” is to generate reservations not just increase the number of visitors to your site.

I know it’s tempting to let your designer create a work of art; after-all you have all those beautiful images of your hotel, but it’s often their lack of hotel sales knowledge which will doom your site to obscurity and mediocre performance.

Good simple navigation of your site is also essential. Basic rule; don’t make users learn how to navigate your web site. Understanding how and why people choose a hotel is the first ingredient in designing a hotel web site. It is not a matter of simply describing all your hotel’s attributes; it is how they are presented that really counts.

Take an Objective Look at Your Site

If your site is not producing a good volume of reservations, it’s probably time to have a marketing analysis done of your site. A site analysis can reveal why your site is performing poorly; often some minor adjustments can make a substantial difference in your sales results. It can also reveal a need to scrap your current site in favor of a new, properly designed, one.


Are you measuring your site’s conversion rate? If not, why not? Don’t be fooled by simply measuring the number of visitors to your site. Most hotel web sites only convert less than four percent of visitors into reservations; increasing that ratio is the ultimate goal. Properly written and placed sales text can make a huge difference.


A web site is a living breathing sales tool which needs to be adjusted constantly to keep up with changes in your market, your hotel, and the ever-changing search engine parameters. Your web site is generating data and statistics, which you can use to improve your web site and its performance. Ask your web master to produce and evaluate this data. Sometimes there may be a small additional fee, but it is very worthwhile.


Your web site is capable of producing 30% to 70% of your total reservations; get it to work for you.

If you would like any further information on our budget and premium hotel website design click here to contact us or call us on 07 3040 3588.