Blogging for Lodging

Blogs are the hottest growing medium of communication for businesses and individuals. Based on Technorati research (blog search engine), there are almost 3 million blogs created every month, and bloggers create over 1.6 million posts per day, or over 18 updates a second!

What are Blogs?

Blogs are websites with content management systems that allow visitors to the site to add content. They are forums for organizations and individuals to exchange ideas and communicate with their partners, customers, employees, etc. You can create pages relevant for your business, post articles on different subjects, and offer a platform for others to write their comments or opinions on that post.

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Yes, most search engines, including Google, read images by the image file name and Alt tags. They look for a particular tag called “ALT tag” and “Image names” when indexing your Web page. For many sites, particularly sites heavy on images, ALT text is one of the few elements available for search engines to index. ALT tags are a required element for standards-based HTML coding.

Why should we use ALT tags?
While programming, it is important to think about people using browsers designed for people with visual, hearing or other impairments. Others who view your site may choose not to download any of the images. The ALT tag gives you the capability to convey your message in either case.

Alternative text is especially useful in the following situations:

• Visitors with low bandwidth connections, who may opt not to load graphics can read your alt tags and know the image content you have on that page.
• Visitors using handheld devices can see your alt tags before loading heavy images.
• Visitors with disabilities or visual/hearing impairments can read the alt tags.

How should we use ALT tags?
ALT tags must briefly describe the image and they should have keywords for relevancy.

Recently, TripAdvisor released a new feature to its e-opinion travel review site. Registered members of TripAdvisor can upload a video to the site which can then be tagged with a hotel, destination, restaurant, or local attraction. The site has not issued an official announcement of this new feature, as they are most likley waiting for some growth in their video library before publicizing the addition. In the meantime, hoteliers should be aware of the widespread attention their local area or hotel could receive by publishing a video on TripAdvisor.

It is free to upload once you have registered as a member of the site. When visitors of TripAdvisor are on your hotel’s profile they will see a link to view video’s that have been tagged with your hotel name, as well as videos that have been tagged with your destination. What a great way to impress savvy e-opinion site visitors. A good review plus a stunning video – it’s like a free commercial selling your hotel!

The internet has had a profound impact on the travel and hospitality industries. An interesting presentation by Forrester Research at the HEDNA 2006 Conference revealed these significant statistics and facts that show the powerful impact of internet on hotel distribution:

• 71% of all North Americans are online – this number is expected to increase by 81% by 2010. 4 in 10 online leisure travelers who research travel online use a search engine like Google to do so – even though Google does not sell travel.

• Only 5% of US online leisure travelers view themselves as extremely brand loyal. For business travelers it is only 7.5%.

• As the internet continues to evolve with it’s technology, it will become more essential for supplier sites to create rich content on their sites to enhance the user experience

• Travelers think in adjectives like “romantic”, “hip”, and “family friendly”. You can improve your search results by providing richer content into your website

Source: Forrester’s NACTAS 2005 & 2006 Online Study

Couple the above statistics with figures from Forrester that show that 51% of leisure/unmanaged business travel is estimated to be booked online this year and it’s obvious that the internet is a powerful place to be. Not only is it driving more and more business, but it is often your lowest cost distribution channel. The problem is many hoteliers treat their websites like a brochure and not a revenue generating vehicle.

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Recently W Hotels conducted a case study to see how many visitors of their site found them through a third-party travel website. They found that 40% of their website visitors were referred to their website through some other site, such as the ever-popular TripAdvisor or Travelocity.

What’s to be learned from this is that third party travel websites are growing in popularity amongst potential travelers. Even more so, the ones that are offering e-opinions from our peers are gaining the hottest buzz in the industry. For example, the e-opinion site, TripAdvisor, gets over 20 million unique visitors to the site each month and has a database of over 5 million registered members. The TripAdvisor site allows users to peruse top destinations, save their favorite hotels and vacations to their MyTrips file, respond to peer reviews, and view videos of their perspective travel destination.

TripAdvisor allows visitors to see a ranking of preferred hotels by city and even shop for the lowest rate available through multiple online booking sites. This is all free publicity and marketing for the hotel if managed correctly. Encourage your guests to use these sites as virtual comment cards and post your best reviews yourself. This is a credible way to increase the travel buzz for your hotel and local area!

e-Reach Email Marketing Tool
Email marketing is one of the most effective communication and promotion vehicles in the internet marketplace, and is a revolutionary way to increase sales and profits. Milestone’s permission-based email service will help you target, create, and deliver effective messaging with lightning speed that drives action and manages customer relationships. Hotels benefit from email marketing because it’s fast, direct, cost-effective, and builds loyal relationships. (If you are a branded property, make sure that you check your brand guidelines and tools available from your brand prior to using E-Reach).

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Milestone’s top 10 is a reader favorite. In this issue, we will cover the top 10 SEO tips.

Top 10 SEO Tips

1. Research your keyword phrases extensively. The phrases that people are typing in the search engines may be different from those that you think they are searching for. To find the optimal phrases to optimize for, use research tools such as Keyword Discovery, Wordtracker, Google AdWords, and Yahoo Search Marketing data.

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