Case Study - Squam Lake Inn

Mary C. | 15 September 2004 |

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Case Study - Squam Lake Inn

In April of this year, soon after purchasing the Squam Lake Inn, the new owners decided that they needed to put a lot more emphasis on their internet marketing. They were going through a name change and URL change. So, they decided this was the time to redesign a new website, and to start actively promoting that site. Blizzard had a new design for them in May, and we began promoting the new URL in a variety of different ways. Because it was a brand new URL, it was very important to get their pay-per-click resources, Google AdWords and Overture, up and running as soon as possible. Because these are pay for placement resources, it is easy to get, even a brand new site, some good exposure in the major search engines. This is a great way to jump start traffic to the site right away as we work on the resources that take longer to effect traffic. In the first four months of these campaigns alone, they have enjoyed an average of over 1000 visitors a month to their website, which previously would not have found them.

The account manager also did some important optimization, free search engine submissions, and directory work to diversify where their traffic was coming from. The effect has been profound. The owner recently told their account manager here at Blizzard that their business was up 35% over the summer, and she felt that this was directly attributed to their new internet presence.

While we’re proud of the early strides we were able to make for Squam Lake Inn, we are even more proud that the momentum is building. In four short months, link popularity has more than doubled from 59 to 147 total links in the major search engines. As their link popularity grows and optimization is refined, we will continue to see their exposure increase in the major search engines.

Of course all of the increased traffic in the world will not help if you don’t have a good, professional site that people like and find easy to maneuver to turn them from traffic into bookings. The fact that they are seeing such an increase in bookings is evidence that the newly designed website is performing its job well — presenting the property in a great light, and turning traffic into customers. The best proof of this is that their room availability page is the third most popular on the site, and receives 38% as many visitors as their home page. If you can get more than 1 in 3 visitors to your site to check room availability, your chances for conversion are tremendous!

Website promotion and design go hand in hand on many levels. If you are currently doing well in only one aspect, you are losing many potential customers. A well designed site with a good presence on a variety of resources offers the best chance for success. This is what we have been able to offer Squam Lake Inn, and the success has been obvious.