When a guest leaves you a positive review on a site like TripAdvisor, it’s not only more powerful than advertising – it can have multiple uses. I encourage you to “recycle” your positive guest reviews to get the most benefit:

1) Publish it on your website – Rather than just pontificating on how great your hotel is, get others to sing your praises. You may want to feature positive reviews directly on your home page, or create a separate page like the Inn at Bay Harbor did.

2) Include it in your reservations system – In my web booking system makeover, I talked about the importance of reassuring the guest if you want to improve conversions. You may want to put the positive review in the sidebar so it’s visible without being distracting. With a little piece of code, you can randomly draw from a list, and display a different review each time.

3) Feature it in your offline advertising – Electronics retailer Best Buy understands the role customer reviews play in influencing buying decisions. That’s why they use snippets of online reviews in their print advertising.

4) Use it in your marketing collateral – Take this beyond advertising: what other communications materials could you put positive feedback on or in? Newsletters? Press releases? Social networks?

5) Borrow it for your AdWords campaign – Frankly, I’m a little hesitant to share this tip because its effectiveness may diminish if a lot of people use it. In limited AdWords test campaigns for a few clients, I’ve experimented with using guest testimonials in the ad copy. Because this stands out from the self-praise most hotels publish, I’ve seen excellent results. You may want to give it a try:

Guest-written Adwords copy

In last week’s lessons from ecommerce for hotel websites, I shared some tactics you can borrow to improve your website’s effectiveness. Now I’d like to focus specifically on improving booking conversion rates. Again, this draws heavily from ecommerce, but the principles are just as useful for you.

Conversion Optimization 101

Simplify, simplify, simplify – each extra step or request for information is a chance for the person to abandon the process. Remove everything but the core essentials. Less is better.

Save the spiel – don’t spend a lot of time going through the details of your reservations policy. Today I used a hotel reservation system that devoted an entire page with over 800 words to explain the intricacies of their reservation procedure – ouch! Sure, you may have to remind us of the basics, but don’t get so wordy…and don’t take a separate page for it.

Reassure the customer – as your potential guest is finalizing the booking, you want them to feel good about their decision. The key: providing just enough information to accomplish this (not enough to distract them from completing the process).

Provide live help – it could be the difference between making the sale and losing it

Emphasize security – what technology are you using to protect online transactions?

Work everywhere – if you’re using advanced JavaScript or Ajax programming, make sure it works in all major browsers on all major platforms. A cool feature that works in Firefox on a Mac may not function in Internet Explorer.

Show progress – indicate where they are in the booking process, and how many steps are left

Fail gracefully – No availability? Give a solution: perhaps a phone number to call directly

What’s Your $300 Million Fix?

For one website, it was replacing a “Register” button with one that said “Continue.” You will never know until you test. Get testing software installed on your website, then always be testing.

There are some important lessons hotel internet marketers can learn from their colleagues in ecommerce. In many ways ecommerce is more competitive than hospitality – with more focus on price and less flexibility to differentiate your offering with an exceptional guest experience.

This level of competition forces some ecommerce websites to the cutting edge of internet marketing tactics. Here’s a few ideas you may want to try:

Focus on the landing pages

A “landing page” is the first page a website visitor sees on your site. Building custom landing pages is often used together with a special promotion or advertising campaign to increase conversions. The page’s content can be uniquely written to tie into your campaign’s message. The landing page gives the visitor a good first impression and clear next step to take.

Is there collaboration between your hotel’s marketing and web development people to create relevant landing pages for each campaign?

Focus on the content

I talked about content marketing for hotels in depth yesterday, so I’ll just add this: ensure your hotel description pages are very compelling. If your room descriptions are boring, considering hiring a talented copywriter to freshen them up. (Armando wrote a nice post on writing descriptions that sell.)

Is your hotel’s website full of vivid descriptions and exciting content?

Have a strong call to action

A call to action is where you clearly ask for the reader to take a step leading to the sale. In direct marketing, this may request the recipient call for more information. On a hotel website, it begins by giving prominence to the booking module. (You’ll need to know usability expert Jakob Nielsen’s f-shaped pattern for reading web content.) I see too many websites that lack clear directions for their visitors.

Is your hotel website providing a clear “next step” for visitors?

Build the list

Many of the top internet marketers credit opt-in mailing lists as one of the most powerful tools in their arsenal. I know people that build a product, announce it through their mailing list, and make hundreds of thousands of dollars within 24 hours.

That may not be realistic for many hotels, but it doesn’t detract for the fact that email list building is essential for keeping in touch with potential buyers. You’ll probably even want to create a few lists – including one rewarding your best guests.

Is your hotel actively building an opt-in email list?

Craft an “iron-clad” guarantee

Especially with independent and boutique hotels, one of the biggest reasons people don’t book a room is because they fear making the wrong decision and wasting time and money. Online guest reviews and social media have helped eliminate some of that fear, but anyone selling anything can improve by offering a strong guarantee.

Home page of Zappos.com

In ecommerce, creating an “iron clad” guarantee is very important. In retail, Zappos.com has achieved success by offering a 365-day return policy along with free shipping both ways. This eliminates the fear of buying the wrong shoe size – something very important to their customers.

Sites selling digital information often go a step further – since their products are intangible. I’ve seen offers like “double your money back” or “money back & keep the product” work well. Of course, this more costly to do with tangible products, but it’s an undoubtedly compelling offer.

Is your hotel guaranteeing a great experience in a meaningful way?

Provide live help

Again, the Zappos screenshot above is a great example of this: “Have questions? We’ve got answers right now!” When people are traveling, they often cannot (or don’t want to) make a phone call to your hotel. But having a live person provide an answer to their question in real time may be the difference between making the sale and losing it.

Is your hotel offering some form of live help to potential guests who cannot call you?

Include real guest reviews

Again, the point here is to make a potential guest as comfortable as possible with creating a booking. TripAdvisor makes this easy with a few options for review syndication.

Important note: Only publishing positive comments isn’t nearly as powerful as including both good and bad feedback. (My radical proposal)

Is your hotel putting un-edited guest reviews on your website?

Cross-sell & upsell

Many ecommerce websites I buy from have sophisticated engines that suggest other products I may be interested in. This often has the effect of increasing the overall order amount, and is excellent for building revenue. You do need to use caution here though: Get Elastic shares the do’s and don’ts.

Is your hotel cross-selling and upselling rooms and hotel amenities?

Test, test, test

Top ecommerce sites are continually testing new things. It’s the only way to achieve continual improvement. I’ve seen examples where changing one word in a headline increased sales over 3x. What difference could a seemingly insignificant change like that do for your website?

Tools like the free Google Optimizer make this process simple – there’s no excuse to not be testing.

Is your hotel actively split-testing new website features?

• Think like a publisher
• Create informative content our readers will love
• Distribute it as far as possible

That has been my mantra for the past 7 years I’ve been working online. I’ve been involved with a wide range of companies, and this policy has worked equally well in every industry. Why?

Photo by mpclemens on Flickr

Content is your web presence. It’s why the web exists. It’s how people find you.

Content makes it easier for people to find you. When people perform a web search, they’re looking for some specific information. The more information you have published, the chances for people to find your website improve.

Content makes you a subject authority. As a hotel, you want to be the source of information for people planning a trip to your city. Now more than ever, people want to be educated before they make a purchase.

Content makes you more valuable to your customers. For instance, if you’re trying to sell to corporate meeting planners, a portfolio of informative content makes that easier. Research performed for the development of your content makes you a better resource, and increases the value you offer.

Content has multiple uses. The educational material you produce for your target audience can be adapted to multiple formats and uses. For example, one good article could become a series of blog posts, videos, or a podcast.

Content almost always provides higher ROI than advertising. I have managed campaigns for myself and other clients, and in my experience, building a network of great content provides more benefits than paid “interruption” messages.

Content has long-term payoff. Unlike advertising, great content will stay around and provide you with ongoing results. It’s an investment that keeps on giving.

Probably the top three people that have influenced my thinking over the past few years are:

• David Meerman Scott
• Scott Ginsberg
• Joe Pulizzi

(These guys publish some great content on…publishing great content. I’d recommend you subscribe to their newsfeeds and read daily.)

Around 2002 when I was getting started in web marketing, great content was a good way to attract links to our websites. In 2004 when I started blogging, great content was needed to build our blogs. Over the past few years, the explosion in social media popularity (Digg, Facebook, Twitter) provided even further incentives with the opportunity for viral distribution. It’s been interesting to watch that while the publishing options may have changed slightly, the need for great content has remained.

A few days ago, Todd Lucier raised the need for two social media teams: one to listen to your customers, and the other to produce great content. If we believe the trends underlying social media truly represent a fundamental change in the way people buy, then we’ll allocate our resources accordingly. You need to get more people involved.

If you don’t have the time or expertise to develop all of your content, consider hiring a journalist. With the state of print media declining, many talented writers are open to taking part or full time work outside traditional media.

Whatever your publishing strategy is, you want to create content that is:

1. Timely (current and delivered to the right people at the right time)
2. Comprehensive (a true resource)
3. Useful to the reader (they bookmark & keep coming back)
4. Easy to find (search engine friendly)
5. Easy to share (linked to social media networks)

In the words of Scott Ginsberg, “The more you give away, the wealthier you will be.”

Today’s question: what valuable content can you produce and give away for free?

“The problem isn’t piracy, it’s obscurity.” – Tim O’Reilly

Building an online community of raving fans is something many marketers attempt, but not all achieve. When done correctly, it can be a powerful way to build loyalty and spread your message. The bad news: It’s not something that can be forced.

Photo by Anirudh Koul on Flickr

You can’t force people to be fans

The web is all about democratization – putting power in the hands of its users. We love that when users generate positive content about our hotel, but it also means we have less control over what they say. For this reason, you cannot coerce an effective community.

You CAN plan elements of success

I’ve been involved in the launch and management of about a half-dozen online communities across a wide range of topics, and have noticed patterns develop for what works. While all marketing is experimentation to some extent, I hope you can take some of these best practices in growing your fanbase.

Why do you exist?

Before developing an online community for your hotel or brand, make sure you have a strong reason for doing so. People don’t usually join an online community unless they receive attractive benefits. What compelling reasons can you offer?

To build this value, you may consider creating the community around a concept that is larger than just your hotel. Would promoting your city or area draw more visitors and add more value? What about dedicated information for a specific niche you serve?

Understanding online leadership

Good online communities require strong leadership – which doesn’t always come from the organizer. Many times a couple members will emerge as natural leaders. Let that happen, and enable them to lead. Give them moderation roles, and involve them in the planning. You need to release control to some extent.

Good moderation – not censorship – is important

Inevitably someone will eventually say something you don’t agree with or feel damages your brand. To maintain your credibility and authenticity, you need to avoid censoring these comments. Public negative feedback needs to be addressed publically – not instantly removed as a knee-jerk reaction.

That said, strong online communities have a set of values that they expect members to abide by. Abuse and personal attacts cannot be tolerated. It’s a fine line to walk between moderation and censorship of detractors. The first is essential, the second must be avoided even in appearance.

Members attract members

Online communities are a prime example of the network effect – their value increases with its size. In order to build a vibrant community, you need to build your user base. For that to happen, you need to promote like crazy. Link to the community from your other outposts on the web. Advertise and recommend it on your main website.

Plant content to get started

Upload photos, videos and other hotel information. Post some questions to get the discussion going. Post valuable content that will attract traffic and encourage feedback and interaction. There needs to be activity to attract new members.

Some suggest using dummy accounts to create the illusion of activity. I don’t think that is wise or nessessary. Instead, get members of your staff and people you know involved from the beginning.Real people and real interaction gives you real credibility.

Generate some buzz!

Start a contest. Announce a giveaway. Break news in the community first. This draws traffic, encourages participation, and rewards your fanbase by making them feel like an insider.

Offline fans make strong online fans

It’s interesting to note that some of the strongest online communities are built around offline relationships. Even in the digital age we live in, we still need real human interaction. The popularity of Meetup.com is a good example of this. How could you provide opportunities for your online fans to get together and build friendships offline?

Your goal: integrating the digital experience

Obviously, one of your biggest target groups for the online community will be your hotel guests. You need creative ways to invite these offline fans to your online presence. (Hint: it’s probably going to look similar to the ways you encourage social media reviews.)

Facilitate content co-creation

Many online communities thrive on sharing rich media and other content. (Just look at Flickr.) To make this happen among your fanbase, you need to make creating content easy. Link to your presence on media sharing sites, and provide keyword tagging and content submission suggestions. Make it easy for your guests to create content and share their experience.

The platform doesn’t matter

A successful community can be built around a forum, a blog, or on a social networking service such as Facebook. There is some debate out there on whether you should use an existing network or build your own on a service such as Ning. In my opinion it doesn’t matter. There are some good examples of online communities across a variety of platforms:

• New York’s Pod Hotel uses a forum to connect guests
• Wnydham uses a microsite with a forum and blogs for Women on Their Way
• Jitendra Jain also uses a microsite with articles, videos, and a forum for his Young Hoteliers community
• Amy Graff blogs for Best Western at On The Go With Amy

Flickr is perhaps the web’s most active community of photographers, currently hosting around 3.5 billion photos viewed by over 76 million visitors last month. The site was started in Vancouver in early 2004, and bought by Yahoo a year later in March 2005.

It’s interesting to note that Flickr is not the largest photo sharing site – ImageShack, Facebook, and PhotoBucket all host more photos. But those services do not provide the same level of exposure for photos, and are largely used as online storage or for sharing with a few friends. Flickr, on the other hand, is an online photography community, and is built to share photos with as many people as possible. Photographers such as Trey Ratcliff, James Neeley, and Kris Kros regularly get thousands of views for each image they post. This focus on sharing and distribution makes it ideal for hotel marketers looking to build their web media presence.

Photo by Stuck in Customs on Flickr

Before I dive into the “how” of promoting your photos on this site, let’s go over the “why”…

The 5 most compelling reasons for hotels to use Flickr in their web marketing

1. Flickr increases your web presence, building awareness among potential guests and travel planners
2. Flickr can link back to your hotel website, encouraging direct bookings and helping your search engine position
3. Flickr hosts your images for free
4. Flickr syndicates your photos across other websites (important in Google’s universal search – which includes media)
5. Flickr provides the opportunity to build relationships in your online community

As a bonus, Flickr has a large international following…particularly as a percentage of its users. Many social media networks are heavily weighted in one country, so this diversity is helpful if you’re trying to reach an international market. Art really does cross the language barrier:

Search data from Google Trends

Registering your Hotel Flickr Account

Registration is easy. Since it’s part of the Yahoo network, an existing account there will speed the process.  I recommend you use your hotel name as your Flickr username for search optimization purposes.

Customizing your Flickr Profile

One of the first things you want to do is change the URL of your photos. By default, it will look something like http://flickr.com/photos/96576897@N00345/. That’s not very friendly to search engines or regular people. Change it to include your hotel name or important keywords. You want your permanent URL to be something like http://flickr.com/photos/yourhotel/

The rest of pretty straightforward. You can upload a small image for your hotel’s avatar. You’ll probably want to fill out the “about” section with a brief description of your hotel, and then enter your website URL.

Ideas for your Flickr Photostream

• Professionally shot photographs of your hotel’s interior and exterior (example: Tiara Hotels)
• Professionally staged theme photos (see Witt Istanbul’s vintage travel-themed photos for a good example of this)
• Photos of your neighborhood
• Photos of your city (landmarks, little-known attractions, etc)
• Directions to your location in photos (guests arriving by foot from a nearby train station may want to know which landmarks to orient themselves by, for example)

Photo by Josiah Mackenzie on Flickr

Optimizing Flickr Photos for Increased Exposure

Just as there are adjustments for making your website appear higher in search results, there are steps you can take to optimize your Flickr photos so more people see them. As with any search optimization project, it involves putting your important keywords in prominent places:

• Put keywords in your image title (instead of the ugly camera-generated DCGW100322…or whatever)
• Include keywords in your image description
• Place a keyword-rich link back to a specific, related page on your website
• Tag your photo with relevant keywords

Here’s an example of an image from Lawrence Travel Center that is doing a pretty good job with image optimization. They have keywords in the right places and have a keyword-rich link in the description back to their website. I feel they could add a few more relevant keywords to the image, but they have the basic idea.

Power Tips 95% of Flickr Users Don’t Know About

Shhh…here are techniques that few people share, but that Flickr’s most effective users have been using to generate massive profile views and gain huge followings. I’ve noticed them by being a Flickr user myself and working with several other top accounts. If you just create an account, upload some photos, and leave you can’t expect to gain huge traffic. You have to do a little extra.

• Be smart with your licensing. “All rights reserved” is an old mindset that doesn’t work well in new media. Creative Commons offers a great alternative – select a license that meets your needs best. Allow anyone to download or republish your photos on their site with attribution. This spreads your brand much faster than if you reserved all rights and prohibited republishing. (See David Meerman Scott’s free ebook on ‘losing control’ for more on this topic.)
• Embed Flickr photos on your website whenever possible. Embedding increases your view count, and ‘interestingness‘ according to Flickr’s algorithm. This is why you want to use the open licensing described above.
• Use conceptual tag themes creatively. Don’t just tag photos with obvious hotel terms. Use as many relevant keywords as possible…describing the room, your property, and so on. Top photos will also have seemingly abstract terms like “light,” “design,” and “relaxing”…because those conceptual terms are what people search for.
• Participate in lots of groups. Groups focused around a subject like hotels or your city can be a great platform for boosting the popularity of your images. But don’t just dump your photos in the group pool and leave: get to know the other members and interact with their photos. Participation in the community is true in any social media situation, and applies here as well.
• Create varied content. This is seldom practiced by organizations on Flickr, but very important. For example, with Witt Istanbul Suites we included a great image of the Istanbul Skyline. Not everyone will be searching for ‘Istanbul Hotel’ on the site, but quite a few searches take place for ‘Istanbul Night Skyline.’ Having a hotel-produced image of that phrase enables them to capture some traffic there.
• Geo-tag your photos. Quite simply, this is placing your photos on a map showing visitors where the pictures were taken. It’s important for reaching people looking for photos in the area your hotel is located. (There’s a tutorial from Flickr describing the process.)
• Create great content. That should go without saying, but developing fascinating images will make your promotional efforts much easier. If you’re taking the pictures yourself, learn how to use different lenses, lighting, and processing techniques to create captivating images. Great photography will spread organically and virally.

Photo by Josiah Mackenzie on Flickr

Examples of Hotels on Flickr

I’ve linked to several photostreams earlier in this post, but here are a couple more examples of hotels and hospitality companies on Flickr:

• Happy Hotelier (Guido has a set with photos of his Haagsche Suites, but is a good example of someone who publishes a diverse range of interesting content)
• Royal Ramblas Hotel
• St. Martenslane’s
• Domes of Elounda (suites in Crete)
• Hyatt Hotels (they have decided to put all their properties under one account)

Hotel Groups on Flickr

• Hotel Design <- My group
• Hotels
• Hotel Rooms
• Great Hotels of the World
• Hotels & Resorts – Around the World
• Luxury Hotels
• Hotel Chatter

Helpful Tools for Hoteliers Using Flickr

• Flickr uploading tool (free) – a must if you’re uploading lots of pictures
• Flickr badges allow you to automatically update your hotel website with new photos
• Flickr plugin for WordPress
• Big Huge Labs produces a few very helpful tools (along with many fun ones)

Further Resources about Flickr

• Killr Flickr Tips Blog
• Top 10 Tips for Getting Attention on Flickr
• How to Rock Flickr Like a Champ
• 100+ Tools for Flickr Addicts
• 60+ Tools to Enhance Your Flickr Experience
• FlickrLeech (my favorite tool for creative inspiration)

I hope you’ve enjoyed this article. If you’ve found it helpful, please consider bookmarking or stumbling it. For more hotel marketing ideas, you can subscribe to this blog via RSS.

Alright, so maybe you can’t monetize social media directly – but it can definitely help in the sales process. Let me give you some examples of how hotels can use social media to increase bookings:

1) Sell with social proof. If your hotel has good reviews and an excellent rating on sites like TripAdvisor, leverage those 3rd-party recommendations. The opinions of other guests carry more credibility than something you would say about your own hotel.

2) Crowdsource your website content and marketing materials. Slick photos don’t always sell the most. By involving your past guests, potential new guests get to see real, original content.

3) If you already have professional photos of your property, try hosting them on Flickr so people searching for hotel rooms in your city will see them. By embedding photos from photo sharing sites (instead of your website server), you get free hosting and free referral traffic.

4) Use Twitter to sell last-minute rooms or other perishable offers. If you’re built a community of followers, sending updates through this channel can be more responsive than email.

5) Use destination blogs to attract corporate and leisure travel planners. Especially in rural or remote areas, your biggest competition is not the hotel down the street but another location. By providing information on area attractions and events, you’ll sell rooms by being the source for useful information.

How are you using social media to increase sales at your hotel?

In the past, many content marketers advised writing articles and submitting them to directories such as EzineArticles.com. I know, I was one of them.

The fundamentals of that practice were solid. You developed interesting content, and distributed it to lots of people. By sharing useful information, you could build your industry reputation as a thought leader, and obtain some nice backlinks to your website in the process.

There’s a few problems with that now:

1) Too many “SEO spammers” have flooded directories like that with low-quality information designed only to boost their search rankings.

2) Duplicate content issues: Because of these SEO spammers, Google doesn’t like the same content appearing on many sites.

So now I still recommend that destination marketers write articles.  However, I recommend they distribute them differently:

• Publish them on a destination blog
• Distribute them to a select destination websites (with variations)
• Submit them to media outlets
• Offer them for download on your website (as an ebook or PDF)

Continue article marketing, but do it smart.

A Google search for “hotel near san francisco, ca” returns these results:

How do you get your hotel into that all-important top 10 listing? That’s what I want to share with you – tips for ranking higher in local business searches. I’ve already described the process for on-site hotel SEO, so this post will focus on other, off-site influences.

Factor #1: A profile in Google’s Local Business Center. Setting one up is not only important, it’s quick and easy. (GetListed.org is a useful starting point if you’re beginning local search optimization.)

Factor #2: Keywords in your business listing title. During setup, put your hotel name, the word “hotel” or “resort” (if needed), and your city name.

Factor #3: Keywords in your business description. Be compelling and accurate, while including important phrases.

Factor #4: Appearing in the right category. Understand – this is not just about business categories. One hotel I’m working with was incorrectly placed in the wrong city – which of course is reduces the number of people they get searching for hotels in their area. Make sure to check this.

(Being close to the city center usually helps rankings, but there is probably not much you can do about this one.)

Factor #5: Your presence in travel directories. Search engines will usually reference this data in their listings:

Factor #6: Appearing in business databases such as infoUSA, Citysearch, and Open List. Again, this gives 3rd-party validation of your information.

Factor #7: Your phone number & address on all website pages. This helps to establish your local presence.

Factor #8: Number (and quality) of local links. Try to obtain location keywords in inbound anchor text. (Eg, San Francisco hotel rather than “[Name of hotel]“)

Factor #9: Number of guest reviews. From a search standpoint, the number of reviews is usually more important than the contents of the reviews. Of course, you want to encourage positive reviews, but don’t hesitate to ask for reviews because you’re afraid they will be negative. As Justin points out, reviewers will often include important keywords:

Factor #10: Photos and videos associated with your listing. Yet another reason to build your social media presence.  Involve your guests in creating a wide range of media types.

Using these tools will help build your local search position, which in turn increases direct sales.  Good luck, and let us know if you need any help.

The best hotel websites engage visitors, and there’s no better way to do that than by actually talking with them.  Meebo is a cool little widget that enables live chat direct from your website. No one needs to download software, and it’s completely free.

You can see an example of how this works in the sidebar of this blog:

Try it out! Say “hi” if you see me online.