The old adage - "build it and they will come" has been ... as a fallacy time and time again. As a hotel or ... owner it is crucial that you ... that you need to do more than just b
The old adage - "build it and they will come" has been disproved as a fallacy time and time again. As a hotel or guesthouse owner it is crucial that you understand that you need to do more than just build your site. But how do you go about promoting it to potential guests?
You have probably heard the buzzwords - optimisation, search engine submission, rankings, tracking, reciprocal linking, analytics etc. Unfortunately these buzzwords describe the activities you need to be doing to make your website visible to the world and potential guests.
Of course as a busy hotelier it is difficult for you to find the time to learn all of these techniques and apply them to your website.
Can I suggest a free solution? Yes, completely free! Try Web Ceo.
Web Ceo can be downloaded free of charge (there are paid versions but the free version will be more than adequate for most independent hotels) from www.webceo.com. But what does it do?
Web Ceo takes you through the process in distinct stages and includes great information about why each stage is necessary and how to to carry out each technique automatically (using the free software).
Keyword Research
This involves identifying the keywords that web surfers use to search for your hotel (see Who's Looking For Your Hotel?). Web Ceo helps you identify these as well as recognising alternatives which are being searched for. The programme also provides you with the number of competitors who are seeking to be listed for similar keywords. By applying an index number you are then able to identify searches that may not be so competitive (eg 'London Hotels' has almost 8 million competitors whilst 'discounted London hotel' has only 800). You may then choose to target searches where you can achieve higher listings when optimising your web site.
Site Optimisation
After identifying your keywords, Web Ceo then provides you with optimisation advice. Humans and search engines treat a web page differently! The key issue for search engines is information and Web Ceo helps you ensure your site is sufficiently optimised with your keywords, but not over-optimised (stuffed with keywords which could get your site banned from the search engines). Site optimisation involves adjusting title tags, meta tags, content, positioning, alt tags etc. It does this before submitting your site to the search engines.
Site Submission
After optimising your site you are then ready to start submitting your site to the search engines. The search engines which Web Ceo submits to, provide about 95% of all web searches and include Google, Yahoo, AltaVista, and MSN amongst others. In total, you can easily submit automatically to about 250 search engines and make manual submissions (which take a little longer but are very important) to about another 20 directories.
Rankings
After submitting your site you can then use Web Ceo to monitor your rankings with individual search engines based on your keywords. Although you can do this manually using a spreadsheet and browsing all of the search engines, Web Ceo does it so much more easily and saves you the time you need to get on with running your hotel!
Linking
Many search engines will rank your site according to who links to you. Web Ceo helps to discover which websites link to you and which link to your competition. As a result you can learn who links doesn't link to your site but is linking to your competitors so that you too can request a link.
Site Maintenance
As well as helping you with your Internet Marketing efforts Web Ceo will also help you maintain your site. It can pinpoint broken links, edit your web pages, upload HTML files to your web server, and tell when your web site is down.
Tracking
Web Ceo may also be optionally used to track your campaign and who is visiting your site with which browser, operating system etc.
Summary
We use Web Ceo at Hotel-Pro and cannot recommend it highly enough. If you are serious about promoting your site then Web Ceo is the best FREE tool available - go get it from www.webceo.com
Of course after you get them to your site you want them to book! Why not consider our EUBookings package which costs you just £99 per year and allows guests to book securely online in minutes? Our customers have found it pays for itself within days of being up and running!
To find out how Hotel-Pro can help you promote your hotel online and allow you to take online bookings visit http://www.hotel-pro.co.uk
Pay-Per-Click Marketing For Hotels
Do you ... ... ... ... to a recent survey by the European Tour ... ... (ETOA) Search Engine ... and Internet ... ... was the biggest c
The Internet: Can it Really Level The Playing Field For Hotels?
Like it or not, the Internet has provided the ... ... the massive ... in tourism which has touched all parts of the travel ... This has had ... from the vast
