Vacation Rental Owners Seeking Better Web Presence

February 16, 2009 by Blizzard Associate

Winter Park, CO – February 16, 2009

Vacations Inc, of Winter Park, Colorado continues to add vacation rental properties to their inventory as home owners are drawn to strong internet marketing and better search engine ranking.

As the present economy has greatly affected the progress of many companies across the country and globe, some are navigating these troubled waters thanks, in part, to strong online marketing efforts. Vacations Inc, a vacation rental management company in Winter Park, Colorado has placed internet marketing at the top of their marketing mix for the past several years, and their inventory is growing because of it. Vacations Inc manager Brian Lence recognizes their success in this crucial area. “Owners are gravitating towards us because of our strong internet presence,” he writes.

Vacations Inc has been a client and partner of Blizzard Internet Marketing for the past 5 years, relying on them for website design, Search Engine Optimization, and web marketing. Since 2005, they have benefited from a 58% increase in annual website visitors, and search queries in Google find Vacations Inc ranking in position:
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Filed Under: Bits From Blizzard

Web Analytics, Evaluating the Right Metrics

July 30, 2008 by Blizzard Associate

Now that you have successfully implemented a Web Analytics program to evaluate visits to your website, what should you be looking at? Whether you are utilizing the Blizzard ROI Tracker, Google Analytics or another type of analytics software on your website, these resources can provide valuable information about the effectiveness of both online and offline marketing efforts.

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Bounce Rate – tells you the percentage of visitors that only viewed one page on your website. There are many possible scenarios that cause websites to have high bounce rates. If the content on your website is outdated, you will typically lose visitors looking for the newest information about your business. How often do you update the content, specials or packages, local events, etc… on your website? Are your keywords reflective of what your visitors expect from your website? If the keyword phrases you are using, both in your optimization and paid advertising don’t give visitors what they are expecting from your website, they will most likely not make it past the first page.

Average Time Spent on Website – It is crucial to monitor how long the average visitor spends on your website. If your content keeps the visitor engaged, they are more likely to view more pages, which often lead to conversions or a request for more information. Pay attention to pages that show an unusually high time spent on the page, as there could be an issue with the page.

First Time and Returning Visitors – It is important to spend your time and efforts attracting new visitors to your website. It is just as important to see an increase in returning visitors, an indication that visitors are interested in learning more about what you are offering on your website.

Top Referring URL’s – This will help to determine which directories and search engines are bringing the most traffic to your website.

Top Keywords that send visitors to your website – analyze whether the most relevant keywords for your business are really the ones that are sending the most qualified visitors. Which keywords are resulting in more conversions?

Top Keywords by Search Engine – Analyzing the top keywords by search engine will allow you to determine what is working best for you in the organic rankings and your pay per click advertising.

Paid vs. Organic search engine referrals – this will help you to analyze your organic and paid marketing efforts. Are you investing enough money for Search Engine Optimization or Pay Per Click advertising?

Visitor Demographics – You can analyze where the majority of your visitors are coming from by Country, State, or City and focus marketing efforts in these areas.

Day 4 - Paying off debt

Conversion Rate – The number of visitors that complete the desired action, such as reserving a room, signing up for your newsletter or filling out a request for information form. It is important that you or your webmaster define the conversion pages.

Other Links – Are the other link building efforts, such as lodging directories and authority websites, sending visitors to your website, if so, are they also converting?

Don’t forget that the purpose of your website marketing efforts are saving money, increasing traffic, increasing conversions, increasing your return on investment and decreasing the bounce rate of visitors to your website. The analysis is as important as the online marketing itself.

Bounce Image Courtesy bigwibble6

Purchase image quaziefoto

Filed Under: Marketing Musts, SEM

Use Google Website Optimizer to Test Landing Pages

June 25, 2008 by Blizzard Associate

Ever wonder if your website design is giving visitors what they need to complete the actions you want? Is your navigation intuitive? Does your website give users an easy opportunity to reserve a room online or sign up for a newsletter? How much time do visitors spend on different pages on your website? With the new Google Website Optimizer landing page test tool, you can find the answers to these questions. Google’s Website Optimizer can work in combination with Google AdWords and Google Analytics to take the guess work out of knowing what aspects of your website are more likely going to convert into reservations, newsletter subscriptions, etc. Website Optimizer allows you to experiment by testing different versions of your web pages. That being said, Google Website Optimizer can be used independently of AdWords and Analytics – but packaging them together is easy and adds to the features available.

The “before and after” test is simple to setup with Website Optimizer. You can make a small change on a page to see if the performance improves. This test is uncontrolled since many factors can contribute to an improvement or decrease in the performance of the page.

We recommend using a control page (no change) and the test page (small change) to see how what you’ve done effects traffic and conversions. Keep in mind, if your website traffic is seasonal, comparing March to April is probably not a valid measure, but comparing April to April could be.

The A/B test is useful for those that want to test small changes without a large amount of time investment or complication. A/B testing allows you to change the content, the look and the overall layout of two or more pages on your website.

Multivariate testing allows you to test multiple variables on different versions of your web pages. This type of test can be used to change different aspects on the page, such as the header photo, headline, and the text content on the page. If these are areas you wish to improve, Google Website Optimizer would show visitors the different versions of each design aspect. Website Optimizer is also capable of showing visitors several different combinations of the page versions; for example, Headline #1, Header Photo #2, and Text Version #3) to see what brings the best response.

You can also use the test for the time spent on a page, to let you know if the content on your web pages is of interest to your visitors.

The test pages that are set up in Google Website Optimizer will be alternated by scripts when the page is opened in a browser a visitor. The tool does show the each unique visitor the same version of the page, even if they visit more than one time. Soon after you begin your A/B or Multivariate testing with Google Website Optimizer; the tool will start showing you reports allowing you to decide which pages are leading to the desired results from your visitors. If the visitor ends up on the desired conversion page, Google Website Optimizer will record the conversion and display it in the reporting section of the tool. It is important for you to remember that tests need to measure a significant portion of traffic before conclusions can be drawn. One day is not indicative of a trend, but one month may be if you have high unique visitor counts.

By combining Website Optimizer with Google AdWords allows you to test and refine your landing pages, ensuring increased conversion rates from your paid advertising.

For each text or local map ad within your Google ad groups, you can designate the landing page URL and utilize either Google Analytics or other tracking software to see the results of each click. You will also be able to see the results of any test you are running in the Google Website Optimizer tool. The scripts that you are required to use on your desired conversion pages will not interfere with any existing tracking scripts on those pages.

Testing different variations of your landing pages will allow you to increase conversions, decrease the bounce rate of visitors to your website, increase visitor approval, and increase the amount of time visitors spend on your web pages. While Google’s Website Optimizer is a new tool, just out of beta testing, it could prove to be invaluable in finding out what aspects of your website are attractive to visitors, leading to more online conversions.

Filed Under: Marketing Musts, Toolbox

Using Facebook to Promote Your Business

March 4, 2008 by Blizzard Associate

Social Media sites like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter have long been thought of by businesses as places for teenagers and geeks. That may have been true two or three years ago but now these sites have become places for adults. The appeal of these social networking to reconnecting with old friends, have your own “place” online, and have the ability to find new and interesting people and events makes social networking even more appealing. I have reconnected with a number of friends from high school and college, and use the space to post photos, and keep people updated with what I am doing. From a marketing perspective, these sites offer so much more. Facebook in particular has some nice features any online businesses can take advantage of.

While adults are getting onto these sites at an ever increasing rate, especially well informed and educated adults, teenagers still the majority. For the hospitality industry, this is a unique chance to target a very influential demographic. While teens are not usually the ones who make the final decision on vacation plans , they offer a huge amount of influence over the decision making in most every family. Forgetting to bring a lodging property to the attention of these voices can be a huge mistake. Imagine that sulky teenage girl on your next family vacation – completely irritated because you’re staying at a resort full of “old people.” Instead of trying to entice a younger demographic to your site through typical marketing techniques, why not attempt to draw them to your site by engaging them where they already are. A Facebook business page is a great way to bring your business to them.

Facebook business pages offer a number of built in functions that can help you realize your goals:

Brand your page by placing your logo at the top of the page
Entice the teenager by emphasizing things they’re interested in like “free wifi” and “pool scene.”
Supply basic business information like website address and physical location.
Very easy to upload photos and your clients can upload photos as well
Engage your clients in a conversation using the discussion board or “The Wall”
Post events that are happening on your property as well as the area
Add notes, which act just like blog post or you can link your blog to the site easily
Uploading videos could not be easier. The quality and speed of playback on videos is very impressive
Most important is other users can become fans of your company

These tools, when used effectively can engage your audience and give them a chance to learn more about your location as well as your business in general. Give them a place to ask you questions about your property and a way to let easily people know that they really liked staying with you.

Facebook has made it even easier to promote your page by placing a recognizable image link on your main website. This may drive traffic to your Facebook page but you still are able to control the message and attract bookings on your site.

Your Facebook page:

Lets teens know that you care about their ability to influence their parents’ decision.
Gives everyone another place to find your property, while still linking back to your site.
Gives you one more opportunity to win over potential clients by showing them more about your area in order to make an informed vacation decision.

By quickly searching Facebook I found resorts with over 200 fans quite easily. There are not that many resorts, hotels, or vacation rentals listed on Facebook, yet. You’re going to change that! Building a Facebook profile now is a great way to get in on the bottom floor and start attracting those customers who are looking for places to stay that are willing come to their online neighborhood to engage and appeal to their vacation whims.

For an example of a Facebook business page please look at our new Blizzard Internet Marketing page on Facebook. For an Example of a personal Facebook page visit Trent Blizzard‘s profile (you will have to sign up to see Trent’s profile but our business page anyone can see). If you do sign up feel free to become a fan of Blizzard. You may even find and Account Manager or another employee that you know and want to add as a friend.

Filed Under: Facebook, Web 2.0

Re-Kindle The Web with Amazon’s New E-Book Reader

January 2, 2008 by Blizzard Associate

I’m a geek and I admit it. For Christmas I asked for (and actually got) a Kindle from Amazon. Its billed as an e-book reader on steroids. The basic idea is that you can get your books on this electronically and have them in one handy and portable device. In the past, I have avoided e-book readers because they were hard to use, had horrible glare off the screen, weighed about as much as a laptop, and quite frankly, they distracted from the enjoyment of reading. Amazon seems to have gotten it right with the Kindle, though, plus they added a number of great features.

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Filed Under: Breaking News

Blizzard Internet Marketing Named to Top 30 Best SEO Companies for November 2007

November 1, 2007 by Blizzard Associate

Topseos.com, a trusted and well respected resource for evaluating Internet marketing vendors, has announced the inclusion of Blizzard Internet in the November 2007 list of Top 30 Best SEO Firms at number 20. Since 2002, topseos.com has evaluated the leading Internet marketing services giving companies a trusted resource for locating the right online marketing vendors. Published each month, the top 30 list of the best SEO firms will feature Blizzard Internet and is expected to reach more than 500,000 people.

“Blizzard Internet has demonstrated that it is a leader in its field, showing superior service levels and performance for their clients,” commented Bill Peden, of topseos.com. “Blizzard Internet is a standout amongst the many Internet marketing vendors in the $5 billion plus search marketing industry.”

Topseos.com evaluates candidates based on a rigorous selection process. Each Internet marketing firm, consultant, or service is evaluated in terms of its:

Competitive advantage
Superior services and pricing
Customer and technical support
Response to client problems
Innovations that set it apart from the competition
Overall efficiency
Overall performance

Filed Under: Breaking News

Get Going with Go-States.com

September 21, 2007 by Blizzard Associate

Have you checked out the go-state.com for your state? Go-state is one of the largest travel websites for each state. These content laden websites have proven to be both an extremely popular way for travelers to plan their trips and a very effective advertising vehicle for businesses.

Go-states has been in business since 1998 and starting with one website, www.go-utah.com. Since that time they have expanded to every state in the union. Many of these states have a lot of built out content. Some of these websites are new and they are still incomplete. Upon completion, each website will provide comprehensive information on lodging, national parks, adventure travel, camping, and activities.

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Filed Under: SEM