Keyword research is the process of finding which search terms are most popular for users of sites like Google. Before, it was something used exclusively by search engine marketers as they optimized websites for higher rankings.

Now, smart bloggers and content publishers include keyword research in their writing. Little things like the words you choose for an article title or video make a difference in how many people will find it.

So how does keyword research work? This video shows how:

As Martin and I were brainstorming ways to create better guest experiences, we came up with the idea of using Flickr – the photo sharing site – as a way to identify what visitors find interesting in your city or destination.

It helps to have a fresh set of eyes when engaging in concierge marketing, and Flickr can be a helpful tool for this.

• See what visitors are taking photos of
• See what type of photos got the most attention
• Identify the best photographers in your city (and work with them?)
• Locate out-of-the-way points of interest in your neighborhood
• Participate in discussions with photographers to determine the best places to take photos

Here’s the video demonstration:

In this video, I review Love is the killer app by Tim Sanders:

The big idea: Business tends to squeeze out that no-ROI thing called humanity. When we share our intangibles – knowledge, network, and compassion – it creates a memorable experience for the people we interact with.

I’ll try for better lighting and camera positioning next time – I didn’t want to run through the whole review again this time

Listening to Andrew Warner’s Mixergy.com interview with Simon Sinek during my morning run helped define my purpose for this site. In this 4-minute video, I explain:

There are many cool things coming here soon, but defining WHY I’m doing all this was important for me to do. Once we know ‘why’ we exist, ‘what’ and ‘how’ will follow.

Why do you do what you do?

The last few days my twitter stream was filled with people commenting on a viral video campaign gone wrong. Hong Kong’s Langham Hotel tried to create a series of videos promoting their hotel, but they backfired pretty badly.

The videos featured “tourists” having bad experiences in Hong Kong, then  retreating to the hotel to recover.

Langham quickly responded by removing the videos and stopping the campaign. (Above video was republished by a blogger.) In a statement, the hotel said they were disappointed the satirical nature of the campaign was misunderstood.

Actor/marketing consultant Kay Ross distanced herself from the campaign, and gave her side of the story.

What do you think: was this just good fun, or did Langham cross the line here?

In my opinion, this campaign flopped due to lack of respect. How did they expect to attract more travelers to Hong Kong this way?

Elmer is right: don’t promote yourself at the expense of the city you’re located in.

Josiah’s note: I’ve wanted to write a series of posts about producing video for your hotel, but frankly didn’t feel like the best person for the job. Since this is such an important subject, I wanted to bring in a subject expert. Fortunately, the talented Kfir Pravda has agreed to write several posts here sharing his insights into online video production. The articles will be a little technical, but we hope they will be helpful for hoteliers wanting to produce their own videos.

Producing video is a tricky thing. That’s why many companies are hiring pros to do it. But the ability to produce and distribute video was never cheaper. If your hotel is interested in creating rich media fast and in an affordable way, there are some basic things you should know about cameras.

But, before we start, let’s put one thing straight:

No camera can save a bad script, horrible talent, or plain bad experience — some great things are done with cheap cameras (1938 Media for example), and some horrible pieces of moving pictures were done in huge budget (did anyone say “The day the earth stood still“?).

Equipment can make your life easier, make some things feasible, but that’s it. Nothing can replace talent and knowledge. in other words – IT IS NOT WHAT HAPPENS WITHIN THE CAMERA THAT IS IMPORTANT, IT IS WHAT HAPPENS IN FRONT OF IT.

Ok, with that out of the way, let’s get started:

Number 1 Consideration – Audio

Yes, it sounds strange but the most important thing in video is actually Audio. If your image is not that good but your audio is excellent, people would watch, or at least listen. However, you can be Gordon Willis and have amazing images, but bad audio will make people just close the browser.

So, when you are considering buying a camera, check if it has an audio jack. It doesn’t have to be a professional XLR input (three pins socket), it can be a plain 3.5 mm one. But without it you will have to count only on the external mic of the camera – which is usually awful. This is one of the reason that I am not a huge fan of Flip Mino, Xacti, Kodak Zi6 and so on. They are great for mom and pop videos, and maybe for very hot news coverage, but personally I won’t recommend them for other uses (unless you figure out a way to connect an external mike to it). A way to bypass this issue is by recording audio with a separate mike, and then sync it. If you have the equipment, time and patience – that’s great. But then it might be worthwhile just to buy a different camera.

High Definition (HD) vs. Standard Definition (SD)

True – in many cases the web is not exactly the best HD experience. But with Vimeo, HQ YouTube, and podcasts, more and more people see online originated HD videos on their computers. So if you buy a camera now – go HD. Which brings us to the next consideration

My choice – I’ve bought an HD camera, didn’t think twice.

Tape vs. Tapeless, HDV and AVCHD

Now we get to the juicy part, that is not an issue only for amateurs and semi-professional creators but for the whole industry. There are no clear rules here, but let’s start with explaining the differences between these methods:

Tape – an established, cheap to use media. You can buy a MiniDV tape in almost every electronics store, and the best thing about it — it is a great archive solution. Now, MiniDV tapes were originally created for SD format, but, there is an HD format called HDV that records an hour of HD on a MiniDV tape (the same as in SD format). So, if you go tape, you usually go HDV. The main pitfall of tape is the capturing process. When you will need to deliver the footage to your editing system, you’ll need to play the material from the camera to the system, a process called capture. This process takes the same amount of time as your footage length. Another pitfall with Tape based cameras is that they can’t be too small as they have a limitation — the tape size.

Tapeless – tapeless cameras are using different media for storing its footage — hard disk, flash memory, or DVD. These cameras allow you to connect your camera to your computer and drag and drop the images to your editing system. It saves a lot of time, as you don’t need to wait for the capturing process. However, the main issues with tapeless are:

1. There is no good archiving solution — remember when you lost all of your old MP3 in the latest HD crash? The same can happen to your footage — your videos are just files on an HD. This is an industry wide issue, not just for us, prosumer guys.

2. The format is very resource intensive (meaning, not so much fun to edit) — most HD based cameras are using a format called AVCHD. In short, this format is heavier on the processor, and requires a stronger machine. Mac users also know that many of the editing applications automatically convert the files from the camera to an Apple Intermediate Codec, a time consuming process as well. So all in all, I am not certain that the reduced capturing time worth the editing hassle later on.

3. If you are in a long trip, or have no way to offload your camera, you might be stuck with a great tapeless camera with no room for new footage. With tape based solution you just put in a new one—.

My decision - I’ve bought a tape based, HDV camera. BUT if you are not editing a lot, have a strong enough computer, offload your camera a lot, and not concerned with archiving your material — tapeless might be the answer for you.

Tripod and Monopod

Tripod, like audio, is the kind of thing that goes a long way in improving your production value (a cool way to say looking better). Make sure that whatever you do you get a camera that can be connected to a tripod. You might not buy one now, but you need to have the possibility to do so.

In the next post in this series I will review some of the popular cameras out there, up to $1,000.

—

Kfir is owner of Pravda Media Group and consultant to organizations around the world. You can read more of his thoughts on his blog: Pravda on Media and Technology

Video will play a big role in the future of hotel internet marketing. I have a series of posts planned how you can take advantage of this medium, but first let’s look at your video production options.

Photo by ZaptheDingbat on Flickr

1) Hire a pro

The first is perhaps the most obvious – hiring a professional to shoot the video. Based on my research for a few clients, this typically costs somewhere between US$400 and US$2,500 and takes one day of on-site recording plus about a week of production time.

Advantages: Video quality, control over content
Disadvantages: Production time, expense

2) Shoot a video yourself

If you’re working on a low budget or perhaps just want that homemade feel, then consider shooting a video yourself. Technology has developed so that excellent video cameras can be purchased for under a few hundred dollars. Alternatively, you can rent a high quality one at very affordable rates.

Advantages: You control all aspects of the video (best time, place); you can re-record as needed
Disadvantages: Production quality depends on your recording skill

3) Crowdsource it from your guests

Launch an organized effort encouraging your guests to shoot video of their stay and your facility. Consider loaning them a video camera like the Flip Mino, and give them access to rooms as appropriate.

Advantages: Authentic video shot from a guests’ perspective, multiple videos provide multiple perspectives
Disadvantages: Less control over video content, time planning an organized campaign

4) 3rd-party video production

Sites like TVTrip will shoot a professional video for a moderate fee. They often subsidize production cost with an ongoing comission or flat fee relationship.

Advantages: Video quality, possibility for increased distribution on their website
Disadvantages: Production time, may lack control over video contents, ongoing commissions

The more content you have to work with, the better. You may eventually want to try all four of these video formats. For your beginning experiments with video marketing, you could start out with your own recording. Then you may want to increase quality with a professional production before opening up the creative process through crowdsourcing.

Yesterday I met with Steve Stollerman of TVTrip at their offices in Paris. Below is an excerpt from our conversation:

What does TVTrip do?

TVTrip provides professionally produced videos of hotels. Travel planners can use the site to see what a hotel is really like before booking a room. Hoteliers can benefit from direct bookings and increased exposure. We operate in 15 markets, and are expanding to 25 next month.

What is your competitive advantage over other video review sites?

Consumers want professionally produced content. They like the videos shot the same way around the world. They dislike videos created by hotels that look like infomercials. We shoot a minute-long overview of the hotel, then separate videos of different rooms or hotel amenities. The viewer can access all information (rooms, rates) all in one place.

You say you’re independent, and the site is free to use for consumers. How do you make money?

We make money through CPC generated leads to merchant sites (hotel direct sites and online travel agencies). We also earn money through advertising and licensing our video catalog.

Does the hotel have an option which payment arrangement to use with you?

Yes, they can be part of the check-rate (on a CPC basis) or take part in TVtrip’s preferred partners program – which is a flat monthly fee.

Okay, if I’m a hotel owner, why should I use you?

It’s an affordable way to get into video. We’re doing well in this climate because we are a middle-ground solution: not really expensive like a high-end video production company or low end like user-generated content. TVTrip is high quality, low cost solution.

You get filming of your hotel in HD by professional cameramen, editing, hosting of the video (bandwidth costs are taken care of), and you get the video on your site in multiple languages. The content of your hotel is translated into 24 languages, and distributed around the world.

Explain the video production process

First you contact us through our website. We have cameramen ready in all the key cities, which gives us the flexibility to respond quickly. For hotels that are in secondary markets or remote places, there may be travel costs involved. The reason the setup cost is so cheap is that we finance most of the video…we absorb costs for filming, editing, encoding, translation. That’s the added value we’re providing consumers and hotels. The setup fee is a fraction of the total cost, more of a security deposit.

Now the videos have no voice-overs, right?

No they don’t. The reason is that we decided early on that video is the universal language. We did, however, translate titles and information into 24 different languages. So users in each country will be able to navigate the video player in their own language. Our player also shows rates, photos, a description of the hotel, and a map of the area – which the view can access without leaving.

Can the hotel place the video you produce on their own website?

They can’t place the exact player we use on our website, but they can have the video embedded on their website. Your website visitors will then be able to view the video, but it won’t have all the features as on our website.

How would you recommend hotels use the video for best results?

The video needs to be in the website’s hotel description or on the “about us” page. It should accompany the website visitor as they view the room descriptions. Doing this typically helps conversions.

Do you have any plans for mobile distribution in the future?

Great question! We’re still waiting to see how this will play out with all the operators. I think committing to mobile now would be a little premature just because things are still so much in the air with all the providers. But I think it’s not a question of if, but when. For the guy who just landed and doesn’t have a hotel…being able to view and book a hotel room on his Blackberry or iPhone makes a lot of sense.

Thank you for your time, Steve. Visit the TVTrip website to learn more, or watch a sample video of Ku’Damm 101 in Berlin.

Video has changed the way travelers share experiences. As Juliet on the Mr. & Mrs. Smith travel blog said, video is the new postcard.

In the weeks ahead, I’ll be sharing how hotels can benefit from that – but of course, I had to launch the series with a video of my own:

My video editing skills could use a little work, but you get the point…