Hotel Marketing Blog
Browse our blogs or filter by a category below.
- All Blogs ()
- Content Marketing (54)
- Email Marketing (46)
- eTourism News (3)
- eTourism Online (19)
- Hotel Marketing (168)
- Industry News (23)
- Mobile (29)
- Online Reservations (11)
- Open Source (1)
- Published Articles (2)
- Search Engine Marketing (90)
- Social Media (186)
- Tech (4)
- Tutorials (27)
- Website Design (7)
Posted on Dec 4th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
If you want to dominate search results, you need to make sure your main social profiles and pages, as well as your website itself, rank highly. One of the best ways to help these pages climb the rankings is through building links, both from external websi...
Posted on Nov 27th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Christmas is just around the corner, and as people begin to decorate their homes for the season, it's time to think about how you can change up your resort's Facebook strategy to promote engagement and spread some festive spirit. Here are four simple idea...
Posted on Nov 27th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
TripAdvisor recently announced that content from its vast portfolio of hotel reviews will now appear in the Bing search results pages. Bing will reportedly now serve up property reviews, ratings and photos, as well as TripAdvisor's price comparison tool i...
Posted on Nov 26th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Once upon a time, travel enthusiasts planned their adventures by sticking pins in a wall map. Now, thanks to image-based social media platform Pinterest, they have a convenient, visually appealing 'virtual pinboard' to share their holiday plans and dreams...
Posted on Nov 21st 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Want to know what the online travel marketing industry has in store for 2014? Here are three key trends we think you should look out for Mobile Travel At the end of last year, Google Travel estimated that around a quarter of all search engine queries rela...
Posted on Nov 20th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Great SEO isn't just about ranking highly for those carefully chosen keywords and phrases anymore. It's about making sure you have the right content and technical strategies in place to get taken seriously by Google and get in front of as many of your gue...
Posted on Nov 19th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
It has only been ten months since Twitter introduced its video sharing service Vine, and in this short time the app has gathered more than 13 million users worldwide. Vine allows users to get creative with the video cameras on their Smartphones to create...
Posted on Nov 13th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
If you've ever daydreamt about sitting back and letting someone else do all your marketing for you, implementing a marketing automation system could be the answer. Well, almost. Marketing automation software doesn't actually make the work of your resort's...
Posted on Nov 13th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Google's 'Hummingbird' switch up has made it more important than ever to continually create high quality content to get noticed in search results and drive traffic to your resort's website. Great content is an extremely effective tool for driving traffic...
Posted on Nov 12th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Twitter has come a long way since the days when simply posting a few lines of text and a link to an image or blog post was the limit of its marketing capabilities. Perhaps in response to the soaring popularity of image-based social media, the site has rec...
Posted on Nov 7th 2013 by Lee Tester
Nothing beats hitting 'publish' on a new blog post, but even when the new content is finished and up on your site, there's work to be done to maximise its reach. This simple post-publication action plan will help you get more out of each blog you publish....
Posted on Nov 5th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Social media has become an essential component of every business's digital marketing toolbox. Used effectively, it's one of the best tools at your disposal for generating buzz around your resort, promoting guest engagement and driving bookings. If your so...
Posted on Nov 5th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Mobile web usage is at an all-time high and most businesses know that a mobile strategy is an essential component of a successful online presence. Building a mobile-friendly version of your resort's website is the first step, but what happens next? This c...
Posted on Nov 1st 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Search engines see the number of links directing to your website as a strong indication that your content is worth linking to, and therefore worth ranking highly on the search results page. However, increasingly, it's not just the sheer volume of links to...
Posted on Oct 30th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Your guests have a constantly expanding library of opinions about your property right at their fingertips in the form of TripAdvisor, Google's Hotel Finder, Yelp and a host of other review sites. As we discussed in a recent blog post, it's virtually impos...
Posted on Oct 28th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Thanks to TripAdvisor's Travel Affiliate Program, content from the world's number one travel site now gets in front of more than 300 million people worldwide, making guest reviews of your resort more readily available than ever. This easy access to a weal...
Posted on Oct 24th 2013 by Lee Tester
YouTube has stepped up their analytics reporting over the last few months and now offers a more useful range of reports to help you assess your channel's performance. The insights contained in these reports can be used to hone your video marketing strateg...
Posted on Oct 24th 2013 by Lee Tester
Social media remains the most effective way to connect with droves of potential guests around the world while strengthening engagement with repeat guests and showing off the more human side of your resort. If you feel that your current campaign isn't work...
Posted on Oct 22nd 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Last month, Google created waves in the marketing world with "Hummingbird," its most significant algorithm change for over a decade. With the new algorithm, Google has shifted the focus away from a search system based almost entirely on keyword matching t...
Posted on Oct 17th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
The transactional or 'Thank You' email is an automated message triggered when your guests make an online booking or complete a specific action such as signing up to your mailing list. These are one of the most effective kinds of marketing emails for impro...
Posted on Oct 16th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
One of the most significant changes of Google's recent Hummingbird update is that data scraped from websites is now being displayed on the results page alongside traditional search results content. Now, each time a user makes a search enquiry, Google will...
Posted on Oct 16th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Just before its 15th birthday, Google unveiled one of its biggest and most significant algorithm overhauls yet. The update, nicknamed Hummingbird, is the search company's latest move designed to deliver a higher quality service to its users. How the updat...
Posted on Oct 9th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Getting specific when it comes to SEO can be a very profitable strategy. By ranking highly for keywords related to your resort's particular niche, your website will attract higher quality traffic and generate more bookings than ever before. Decide on Your...
Posted on Oct 9th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
What do Instagram, Flickr, Pinterest, Tumblr and even Facebook have in common? They're all predominately visual sites, which use photos and video as their key source of content. Crucially, this content isn't supplied by the brands, but by the users' thems...
Posted on Oct 8th 2013 by Lee Tester
When Google developed Google+, it created a SEO powerhouse designed to dominate search results above Facebook, Twitter and all other social media platforms. Want to take advantage of this domination and get your resort noticed in search results? Here's a...
Posted on Oct 4th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Fake online hotel reviews have been around as long as the web itself, fuelled by unscrupulous marketers seeking to drive bookings, or perhaps simply trying to stay afloat in the fiercely competitive digital world. But a recent crackdown by US authorities...
Posted on Oct 3rd 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Visual bookmarking site Pinterest is rolling out a new type of pin aimed directly at content publishers. The new, enhanced "article pin" is designed to make it easier for users to save and collect interesting written content they find around the web for f...
Posted on Oct 2nd 2013 by Bryan Marsh
At the end of last week, Google announced a major update that has changed the face of search engine marketing for good. As part of an ongoing move to create a more secure web experience, the search giant has just made all search enquiries encrypted using...
Posted on Oct 1st 2013 by Lee Tester
You've had your resort's website professionally designed to showcase your property's best features. You're driving traffic there through a carefully thought-out marketing campaign that includes a social media strategy, email, blogging and possibly pay-per...
Posted on Sep 30th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
We've all seen them the endless, envy-inducing sun-lounger and beach photos that pop up all over our social media feeds whenever a friend goes on holiday. Now, taking the world's photo-sharing obsession as its inspiration, a new Instagram themed hotel is...
Posted on Sep 30th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
There's no denying the power of the online review. Travellers are actively seeking the opinions of former guests when making a booking decision, which means you need to get proactive with your resort's reputation management if you want to shine online. Ma...
Posted on Sep 19th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Suffering from email marketing writer's block? Your email content is just another great platform to showcase all that makes your property unique. Here are 10 simple email-blast ideas to get your creative juices flowing and your guests clicking and booking...
Posted on Sep 18th 2013 by Lee Tester
If you're already juggling marketing campaigns across several social media sites, you need to be sure that any extras you add to the mix are going to be worth the time. By now, you've probably heard of Pinterest and Instagram two still relatively new phot...
Posted on Sep 16th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
If you want to maximise bookings this festive season, you've got to start now.With Christmas and New Year's fast approaching, here are some tips for making the most of the busiest booking period of the year. Get Ready Planning and preparation is the first...
Posted on Sep 12th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Uploading promotional videos to YouTube boosts your online marketing campaign by bringing your property's best features to life, capturing the attention and imagination of guests and getting them ready to make a booking. With a little time and effort, the...
Posted on Sep 10th 2013 by Louise McWalters
At eTourism we're always trying to come up with new ways to enhance our systems. The latest update to the eTourism Online booking engine now allows you to upload multiple images to each of your eTourism Online packages....
Posted on Sep 10th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Over the last three years, Google has made several important changes to the way it indexes the search results page. Determined to serve up only the best, most useful results for every online query, the company has introduced a series of algorithm updates...
Posted on Sep 9th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
With 359 million users logging in every month, Google+ is hot on Facebook's heels as the second largest social media site in the world. And now that Google is prioritising content from the platform on the search results page, it's quickly becoming one of...
Posted on Sep 6th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Your resort's blog is the ideal platform to showcase your property, draw attention to interesting local events and demonstrate the more human, less corporate face of your business. By inviting comments from readers, a blog also opens up the lines of commu...
Posted on Sep 5th 2013 by Ashlee Hume
No doubt you've heard the expression 'Less is More' numerous times in your life. When it comes to email marketing, it is surprising to see that a number of business and property owners think people are reading through their entire emails....
Posted on Sep 5th 2013 by Lee Tester
Whether it's a rogue tweet from an employee or guest negativity on Facebook, it doesn't take much to spark a social media crisis that can leave your resort's carefully honed marketing campaign in tatters " if you're not prepared that is. Protecting yourse...
Posted on Sep 4th 2013 by Ashlee Hume
Understandably, for some newcomers of the hotel, motel and resort game, using CMS's (Content Management Systems) can be a little daunting. Uploading, downloading, importing, exporting, it all takes a little patience and learning. This tutorial will show y...
Posted on Sep 3rd 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Google has introduced a string of algorithm updates in the last few years in an attempt to banish spam and prioritise quality, freshness and social content on the search results page. All this has stirred up a lot of debate about the value and future of S...
Posted on Aug 28th 2013 by Lee Tester
Google+ is still barely over two years old, but it has already claimed a total of 359 million active monthly users, ranking it behind Facebook as the second largest social media network. Despite this rapid rise to success, it seems many businesses and bra...
Posted on Aug 26th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Is your resort visible in Local Search? If not, you better stake your claim fast. Every month, approximately 3 billion search queries are made using local terms according to data from comScore. Luckily, there's plenty you can do to improve your chances of...
Posted on Aug 23rd 2013 by Bryan Marsh
If you want to remain ahead of your competitors you need to be constantly creating, monitoring and managing your marketing content across multiple online platforms. So how can you be sure you're focusing your efforts wisely? Here are five current marketin...
Posted on Aug 22nd 2013 by Bryan Marsh
There are now over 1.15 billion Facebook users worldwide, and the typical user creates an average of 90 pieces of content a month, according to recent data from the company. With such a mass of content piling up every day, getting your resort's message se...
Posted on Aug 21st 2013 by Ashlee Hume
Back in July, Facebook rolled out their new and improved insights panel for business pages. Sure, managing your own Facebook business page is simple right? Well, yes, as long as you understand the information you're looking at . If you've never actually h...
Posted on Aug 20th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
The public's trust takes years to win, but in the age of TripAdvisor, a single bad review can shatter even the most glowing reputation in an instant. Where the review comes from is irrelevant. It might represent the genuine gripes of a dissatisfied guest,...
Posted on Aug 19th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Ever since Facebook and Twitter became an integral component of every company's online marketing campaign, debate has raged about how far social media will overtake traditional SEO when it comes to ranking highly in search....
Posted on Aug 15th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Social media has transformed the face of customer service for good. Disgruntled consumers now have more options than ever when it comes to letting you -and everyone else - know their gripes with your service....
Posted on Jul 26th 2013 by Guest Blogger - Ashley Verrill
Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) and booking channels such as Booking.com, Webjet and Wotif.com have been a boon for the hospitality industry, providing a proven conduit for filling up rooms that would have otherwise stayed empty.......
Posted on May 29th 2013 by Ashlee Hume
If you've been concerned about sending email campaigns for those Winter Specials to guests who have already booked, your worries are over. Introducing iLaunch's new 'database exclusion' functionality which allows you to import a database of particular con...
Posted on May 21st 2013 by Ashlee Hume
In today's society, email marketing continues to be the most popular digital marketing channel among businesses, so it is fair to say that when you do it, you want to be doing it right. So what is considered to be great email marketing? Images, content,...
Posted on Mar 14th 2013 by Ashlee Hume
When was the last time you heard someone say 'I really do love being marketed to'? Probably never. If you take a moment to think about the things you love...chances are your guests feel exactly the same. The idea behind this so called 'loveable marketing'...
Posted on Mar 14th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Just a few days after Facebook unveiled Graph Search, its new Bing-powered product which uses 'Likes' to create a personalised social search experience, Bing announced that it willnow incorporate 5x more social content from Facebook into its own search re...
Posted on Mar 14th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
As we've discussed in recent blogs, Facebook has recently launched Graph Search, a move that suggests the world's favourite social network is at last getting serious about search.However, although it may look like Facebook is finally stepping up to challe...
Posted on Feb 28th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Your website needs to grab visitors' attention, communicate your message and spark the viewer's interest...and all within the blink of an eye. This is the dreaded 'Blink Test' of online marketing, the 3-5 seconds it takes for a visitor to land on your web...
Posted on Feb 22nd 2013 by Ashlee Hume
Pick me, pick me! It's the endless task of trying to get subscribers to not only open your emails but also to take action. In the second half (July - December) of 2012, Unique Open Rates across the board were reported at 21.95% (Source: www.vision6.com.au...
Posted on Feb 19th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Google has recently revamped the design of its Analytics interface, streamlining several features that were strewn across different tabs and making it a more coherent, easy to use product. Here is a run through of the most prominent changes....
Posted on Jan 30th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Guest reviews are a hugely valuable way to improve your booking rate, with research showing that 61% of internet users seek out reviews before parting with their cash online, while as many as 63% say they are more likely to buy from a website that feature...
Posted on Jan 25th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Facebook Graph Search, as we covered in a recent blog, is the latest development in social search. Unlike a traditional search engine such as Google, which traverses vast search archives to find relevant information on topics, Graph Search allows Facebook...
Posted on Jan 24th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Facebook has recently unveiled Facebook Graph Search, a new feature which demonstrates that the social network is finally getting serious about search....
Posted on Jan 23rd 2013 by Bryan Marsh
There's no doubt about it, style is almost as important as substance when it comes to the success of your online marketing campaign. However, the cost of design software, as well as the time it takes to actually work out how to use it, can make it all too...
Posted on Jan 22nd 2013 by Bryan Marsh
There's no doubt about it, landing pages and lead capture forms are two of the most crucial lead generation tools at your disposal. Of course, there are a few things to bear in mind when it comes to creating and optimising your landing pages for the bes...
Posted on Jan 21st 2013 by Ashlee Hume
Sometime around the end of last year, rumour had it that email was somewhat dead. What? It can't be? Exactly! It is in fact still very much thriving, which means for us, that email marketing is still an extremely powerful tool to connect with guests and...
Posted on Jan 10th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Until recently, good SEO has been all about implementing the same tried and test techniques to get your website noticed by the search engines. Moving forward, getting noticed will be less about keyword insertion and H1 tags, and more about capitalising on...
Posted on Jan 9th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
Now that Google is rolling out Hotel Finder on a worldwide scale, it's time to pay attention to your hotel's Google Hotel Finder page. Because the product's initial feed of data was collected from sites like Yelp.com, online travel agencies and GDS repr...
Posted on Jan 8th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
The following OTAs and GDSs can be used to get your hotel rooms and rates listed on Google Hotel Finder. As we find more GDS or OTAs connected to Hotel Finder we'll update the list....
Posted on Jan 8th 2013 by Bryan Marsh
New research shows that people are increasingly using mobile devices to access their emails. While this brings fresh challenges for marketers trying to capitalise on the platform, it also provides a wealth of new opportunities with the rise of m-commerce...
Posted on Dec 17th 2012 by Bryan Marsh
Google's Hotel Finder product has recently become available on a global scale and the company is beginning to display Google Hotel results in regular search engine results pages....
Posted on Dec 17th 2012 by Ashlee Hume
So you've created a fantastic email campaign, you're offering unbeatable deals, showcasing your hotel or resort with stunning imagery and content and it's now on its way to everyone in your database....
Posted on Dec 13th 2012 by Ashlee Hume
I'm sure you've questioned how effective personalising an email subject line actually is. Does including something as simple as the recipient's name really work? Well, it is definitely one way to make your email stand out when someone is scanning their bu...
Posted on Nov 20th 2012 by Bryan Marsh
Facebook has recently launched Sponsored Results; its own version of pay per click search ads. The new feature allows businesses to promote their brands by paying to display ads in search results alongside related Apps, Pages and Places. Advertisers who t...
Posted on Nov 20th 2012 by Bryan Marsh
If you're ever in doubt about the power of social media as a marketing tool for your resort, here's yet more proof. Marketing research company Lab24 recently conducted a survey which asked 1000 social network users to reflect on the way they interact with...
Posted on Nov 19th 2012 by Bryan Marsh
If you've noticed the click-through rates on your email marketing campaigns have take a nose dive recently, it's time to inject some creativity into the special promotions you're sending your guests. So what kind of deals can you send? Take a look at the...
Posted on Nov 7th 2012 by Lee Tester
What makes a special attractive and sell to your audience? That is the key question. Is it price? Is it the inclusion? Is it the way it is presented? The answer is simple, it is all of them. There is no use advertising or promoting a special on your websi...
Posted on Nov 5th 2012 by Lee Tester
Social Media is really a bit of a buzz at the moment. There are a number of clients who have asked eTourism to setup Facebook and Twitter accounts on their websites for them only to ask the question 'What Now?" Firstly be under no impression that you are...
Posted on Oct 17th 2012 by Lee Tester
We are continually looking at ways to communicate information in a better way to our clients so that they are fully informed on their bookings. This week, on our latest release, we have upgraded our eTourism Online Daily Booking Report to include some new...
Posted on Oct 16th 2012 by Allan Gaddi
Meta tags are html codes that contain your pages' metadata. They are meant to convey additional data for use by web browsers, search engines, and the like. They are the insider information, so to speak....
Posted on Oct 10th 2012 by Bryan Marsh
If you want to get more out of your blogging campaign, but don't have the time to produce more content, you'll be pleased to hear there are plenty of things you can do to take your hotel's blog to the next level, without spending hours slaving over the ke...
Posted on Oct 4th 2012 by Bryan Marsh
We've posted a number of times on the importance of using email segmentation to create highly targeted marketing campaigns for specific guests groups. Today, we are pleased to announce the launch of Guest Connect, a new module within the iLaunch Content...
Posted on Oct 3rd 2012 by Lee Tester
At eTourism we are constantly looking at ways to improve how we promote specials and grow your sales. In our latest upgrade, we have added in 'Flames' to promote your specials in the booking engine. This is something that we have been using in eTourism Ho...
Posted on Sep 27th 2012 by Bryan Marsh
We've already discussed the importance of using segmentation to categorise your contact database and create tailored email marketing campaigns that target specific guest groups. You might choose to segment your leads based on demographic information such...
Posted on Sep 25th 2012 by Bryan Marsh
As Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr continue to hog the spotlight, blogging has taken a backseat in the online marketing world. Despite this, blogs remain one of the best ways to improve your website's search ranking, create links, share content and open up t...
Posted on Sep 18th 2012 by Bryan Marsh
As you have probably heard by now, "to attract links you need great content." But defining what it is exactly that makes great content is not always so easy. Bad content, however, typically follows the same patterns, making it easy to spot and avoid....
Posted on Sep 18th 2012 by Bryan Marsh
Nearly a year after its acquisition of restaurant review and ratings service Zagat Survey, Google has announced it is buying travel guidebook brand Frommer's....
Posted on Sep 10th 2012 by Bryan Marsh
Including an image with your blog post is one of the best ways to catch the reader's eye, stir their interest and make them start reading. If you are holding back from brightening up your hotel's blog for fear of cost or copyright issues, you'll be plea...
Posted on Sep 7th 2012 by Bryan Marsh
A new study has shown that the photos hotels choose to use in their OTA booking paths have a considerable bearing on click through rates....
Posted on Sep 6th 2012 by Bryan Marsh
If you struggle to memorise that long string of random numbers that makes up your hotel's Google + business page, you'll be pleased to hear that Google is in the process of rolling out shorter, more professional custom URLs to thousands of its users....
Posted on Aug 24th 2012 by Lee Tester
Ever wondered how are bookings missed and not received? Well, email and the internet is unfortunately not 100% foolproof and emails do on occasions get put into spam/junk folders or are simply not received. In the modern day world, you would think that th...
Posted on Aug 24th 2012 by Bryan Marsh
As Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr continue to hog the spotlight, blogging has taken a backseat in the online marketing world. Despite this, blogs remain one of the best ways to improve your website's search ranking, create links, share content and open up t...
Posted on Jul 9th 2012 by Bryan Marsh
Good marketing is all about creating an experience that makes your guests feel like your addressing their specific needs as individuals. When it comes to your email marketing campaign, the most effective way to do this is to personalise your message, and...
Posted on Jul 9th 2012 by Bryan Marsh
Google dominates 87.6% of the search engine market share worldwide, so it goes it without saying that optimising your resort's website to rank highly in Google search results is essential. And where better to find out how to improve your ranking than from...
Posted on Jul 4th 2012 by Lee Tester
We often get asked a lot of questions about how you connect your channel manager to eTourism Online. eTourism Online works with the major & most popular channel managers in the marketplace including Siteminder, Resonline, HiSite, Ezychannel & Update 247....
Posted on Jul 4th 2012 by Bryan Marsh
How many emails do you receive each day? And how many of those do you actually open? When you're scanning your inbox each morning, chances are it's the email subject line that determines which emails you open and which you send straight to your trash can...
Posted on Jun 25th 2012 by Bryan Marsh
You're probably aware by now that blogging is absolutely essential to the success of your online marketing campaign. Without regular fresh content, Google will no longer crawl your site, your search engine ranking will plummet, your social media community...
Posted on Jun 21st 2012 by Lee Tester
Have you heard of the term 'Last Room Availability'?How does that benefit me? Well the simple answer is more online bookings. To achieve this you should have your property management system connected to your channel manager. The concept is that if you hav...
Posted on Jun 21st 2012 by Bryan Marsh
Email marketing campaigns are an effective and affordable way to attract return visitors to your resort's website. Campaign tags help you to analyze the success of each email you send so you can stay on top of your campaign and maximize your return on inv...
Posted on Jun 15th 2012 by Bryan Marsh
Social media may have stolen the limelight in recent years, but email marketing is going nowhere. Although most marketers recognise the ongoing importance of email, certain email best practices, such as Segmentation, have been slow to catch on. Segmentin...