Top Online Tools to Manage Your Online Marketing

October 26, 2012 by 1BlizzAdmin

Learn about some of the best online marketing tools to manage and enhance your online presence. These tools will help you manage your entire online presence, research your market, discover what works for your competitors, and provide compelling reporting. Get help with keywords, links, social media and analytics.

Watch the Powerpoint from a presentation given at the Vacation Rental Manager’s Association (VRMA) conference in Phoenix, Arizona on October 22:

Here is the description of the presentation from the Conference Literature:

Online Marketing Toolbox: Essential Tools to Manage and Enhance Your Online Presence

Learn about professional-strength online tools that benefit every vacation rental manager. General managers will learn executive-level tools to track key performance indicators and manage online teams. Marketing managers will discover tools that increase productivity, improve reporting and enhance research. Special attention will be given to tools that help improve search engine results, increase productivity and ease employee transitions.

Filed Under: SEM

Upcoming Search Marketing Workshops

October 4, 2012 by 1BlizzAdmin

Blizzard’s upcoming workshops that can help you market your website more effectively.

It would be great if you can attend any or all of these… if you cannot, order a video copy instead. We are selling a package of ALL 3 workshop for $499 and will record each workshop and deliver it to you via streaming video after the event. You can watch it at your leisure.

At VRMA 2012 Nationals in Phoenix (October 21st) we are hosting a 4-hour workshop that is All About Google Analytics. Learn how to use Google Analytics more effectively. I hope to see you there!

Are you looking for a more intensive learning experience? We are offering both a beginners and an advanced workshop in the next few months:

All About Google 2-day workshop will be in Glenwood Springs on November 12 and 13th. This is a great opportunity to sharpen up your SEO skills and understanding of the many opportunities Google offers your website.

Advanced Search Marketing Workshop is a 2-day workshop intensively focused on enhancing the performance of your website marketing efforts. January 21-22 in Glenwood Springs, CO.

Filed Under: Analytics, Breaking News, SEO Simplified

Top Reports in Google Analytics Every Marketer Should Use

October 2, 2012 by 1BlizzAdmin

This is a recording of a 20 minute session presented by Trent Blizzard at RezFest2012. The topic was the top reports that many marketers don’t know exist in Google Analytics. The reports include Multi-Channel Reporting, Queries, Events, In-Page Analytics and Experiments.

Filed Under: Analytics

Microsites for Vacation Rental Managers – A Warning

June 5, 2012 by 1BlizzAdmin

I regularly get asked by vacation rental managers about starting a second or third website to promote their business. It seems they usually want to be told it is a good idea and that it will help them in Google. Typically microsites are a dangerous distraction and should be approached carefully.

There are two reasons why a microsite may not be a good idea:

Google doesn’t want you to create multiple websites selling the same stuff. Many of their algorithm changes over the last few years have been targeted and penalizing websites that are not unique and valuable.
Most VRMs struggle to make their primary website perform at a high level. Why spread yourself even thinner and create a second website? Focus on making your primary website better optimized, more user friendly and more content rich!

What is a a Microsite in the Vacation Rental Manager’s World? It could run the gamut of large to small, but here are the general ones I hear about: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Design, Travel Marketing

Hotel Enjoys Ginormous ROI from Reviews — Infographic

April 26, 2012 by 1BlizzAdmin

Reviews matter.

Filed Under: SEM

Best Practices of Mobile Website Usability in the Hospitality Industry

April 11, 2012 by 1BlizzAdmin

The key to ensuring a positive user experience for your guests on your hotel, resort or vacation rental mobile site is to simplify and streamline. Smart phone users are often on the go and are looking to quickly and easily complete their goal. Ask yourself, “What goals would my guests like to complete on my mobile site?” Is it to book a stay on the mobile site? Is it to call in to book a stay? Or is it simply to improve their stay by having easy access to relevant information?

More often than not the mobile user on a hospitality site is looking for your contact information. This could be a phone number to call for booking or other information, or this could be a physical address to use to navigate to your site. The number one rule for hospitality mobile sites:

Have your address and phone number boldly displayed on every page of your mobile site and make sure it they are clickable!

Next, since this is not every mobile user’s goal, there are a few more important usability rules to follow. Whatever your guests are looking to accomplish, the first step is to make all goals easier to achieve by cutting down as much excess media and content as possible. Make sure you provide enough content to support your goals but don’t overload the site. Keep in mind while designing your mobile site: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Mobile, SEM

Anatomy of a Killer Facebook Ad Campaign (Infographic)

December 5, 2011 by 1BlizzAdmin

We are trucking along getting our clients set up with Facebook Advertising. There are some really awesome targeting features that border on “creepy” when you think about it.

We can target a 34 year old mother of 2 with a full time job and a college degree that “likes” vacation rentals, beach vacations and Kill Devil Hills, NC and has a household income of $175k+ and lives in a town within a 2-hour drive of my client’s lodging property.

Like I said, CREEPY!

This infographic is floating around and has a great roadmap for getting started on a successful campaign. Keep in mind, we find that your Facebook Ads need more frequent maintenance than even your AdWords ads to be effective, so don’t expect to set these ads and forget about them….If you need help getting started, give us a call!

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Facebook, Infographic