Employee of the Year: Carrie Hill

March 3, 2009 by 1BlizzAdmin

Congratulations to Carrie Hill who is our 2009 Employee of the Year!

Carrie is known around the office as a team player. She is involved in SEO and R&D and does a fantastic job representing Blizzard at SEO industry events. Carrie provides awesome research to our whole office. She is a forward thinker who can also bring it back to the basics. As our SEO team leader she is a true expert and is passionate about her job.

Thanks Carrie!

Fine Print: Carrie was actually awarded the Blizzard Internet Employee of the Year award in January at our annual Blizzard Ski Day 2009.

Filed Under: Bits From Blizzard

Measuring Value, Cost and Benefit for Pay-Per-Click Advertising

March 2, 2009 by 1BlizzAdmin

A client recently asked me what kind of return (ROI) to expect from their pay-per click marketing. Hmm… good question. I pulled up 4 boutique hotel PPC accounts that all had full tracking: phone call, online revenue, visitors, etc.

Now, I didn’t cherry pick accounts, I just picked four normal boutique hotel accounts in hotels spread around the country in vacation destinations. Consider for a moment the definition of ”Value”… value = benefit/cost. In order to make the numbers manageable, I leveled the data to measure what benefit the clients received for every $100 spent.

Pretty nice numbers, huh?

We also had someone who experimented with taking brand bidding (bidding on brand name terms, even though the client already ranked in organic for them) on and off their pay-per click accounts. This client was a boutique hotel and was tested for several months. It would seem that bidding on your brand increases the ROI from PPC marketing:

Brand Bidding:

Raised their click-thru-rates by over 100%
Rasied their phonecalls from PPC visitors by over 500%
Raised their “web events” by 1000%
Decreased their cost-per-visitor by over 50%
Increased their online revenue from PPC by over 300%
Increased their overall online revenue by 30%

I wonder if this information on brand bidding will elicit some comments?

Hopefully, many hoteliers and resort mgrs are reading this post saying “I don’t have this data” and are going to email me right now and ask if Blizzard can help revamp their pay-per-click marketing campaign! Really, there are two question here: 1) can you even measure your benefits? 2)How do your metrics compare?

If you are spending a couple of thousand dollars a month on PPC, you really should be sure you are maximizing the return on that investment. My direct line at the office is 970-928-7875 xt. 101 if you would rather call.

Talk to you soon.

Filed Under: Bits From Blizzard, Industry Stats

Myrtle Beach – Full Day Google Workshop

February 27, 2009 by 1BlizzAdmin

Trent Blizzard is teaming up with the Horry-Georgetown Technical College to teach a seminar about Google: “Using Google to Market your Business”

Attendees will learn powerful tips, tools and tactics for search engine success. The hands-on full day workshop is focused on the hospitality industry in general, and the hotels, resort and property manager segments in particular. HGTC offers 6 Continuing Education Units.

This Google workshop is limited to 20 people and is expected to sell out. Attendees should bring a laptop.

Attendees will learn:

Industry research about search engines
How Google works
Tools for keyword research
How to optimize their website
How to build powerful referral links
Tools for tracking results
Tools for spying on your competitors

Details

Where: Myrtle Beach, SC
When: Wednesday, March 11, 2009, 8:30 -4:30
Where: HGTC Conference & Business Center
Cost: $199 per person [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bits From Blizzard, SEO

Blizzard Awards

February 25, 2009 by 1BlizzAdmin

Congratulations to three of Blizzard’s recent award winners:

February Employee of the Month (MVP)

Cristin Oldenburg

Blizzard Excellence Award:

Greg Chavez

Customer Service Award

Anna Kaiser

Thanks Anns, Greg and Cristin for all of your hard work and professionalism!

Filed Under: Bits From Blizzard

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:
[Read more...]

Filed Under: Bits From Blizzard

Blizzard Internet Marketing Partners with ResortQuest

February 5, 2009 by 1BlizzAdmin

Fort Walton Beach, Florida – February, 5 2009 – Blizzard Internet Marketing, a search engine marketing company out of Glenwood Springs, Colorado has formed a partnership with ResortQuest, one of the nation’s leading vacation rental and resort real estate companies.

This partnership joins two market leaders to provide added benefit and value to the vacation rental industry. Blizzard Internet Marketing is a leading provider of search engine marketing services for the hospitality industry. ResortQuest and its Partners represent a portfolio of over 50,000 vacation rentals, encompassing over 100 resort locations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Europe. Blizzard and ResortQuest perfectly compliment one another in product, expertise, and their mutual belief in the importance of web marketing and Search Engine Optimization to the vacation rental industry.

John Ellis, ResortQuest’s Senior Online Marketing Manager and renowned SEO expert comments on Blizzard:

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Bits From Blizzard

Blizzard Internet Marketing, Inc. Announces Change in Top Management

June 28, 2008 by Heather Austin

Blizz Logo

Blizzard Internet Marketing, Inc., a leading provider of successful, innovative, and professional online marketing solutions to the hospitality industry, is pleased to announce recent changes in their top management positions.

Since the company’s inception, Trent Blizzard, founder of Blizzard Internet Marketing, has held the position of Chief Executive Officer and has been the driving force behind the growth and success of the company. In his new role of President and Chief Marketing Officer, Trent will be able to focus his efforts on his greatest love: educating people about Internet marketing, and emerging web technologies. In addition, Trent will be able to continue to teach seminars throughout the U.S. as well as develop other educational tools.

Trent’s inspirational speaking ability has generated many leads and valued customers. Since the company was founded in 1997, Susan Blizzard, co-owner of Blizzard Internet Marketing, has filled the position of Chief Financial Officer, developing financial strategies, managing assets and analyzing profitability. Prior to starting the company, Susan spent several years in the corporate world after receiving an MBA from Columbia University. “Susan has earned the CEO position through her excellent business sense and ability to provide vision and leadership,” Trent said.

Heather Austin began working with Blizzard in 2000 and has held the positions of Promotion Manager, Director of Marketing and most recently as Chief Operations Officer. Her interests however, are now taking her into the position of Chief Administrative Officer. Her skills in budgeting and forecasting, as well as her excellent interpersonal skills will serve her very well in her new position.

Russ Cabe now moves into the Chief Operations Officer role. His experience in heading the largest department in Blizzard’s organization for the last 5 years has prepared him well for this new role. He has been the pivotal force in bringing the production departments closely together to seamlessly deliver top-notch service to Blizzard’s clients.

The company, based in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, is one of the leading providers of Internet services within the hospitality industry, and recognized as one of the “Top 30 SEO Companies” in the world, a top producer of websites in Colorado, and one of the “Top 50 Family Owned Companies” in Colorado.

For more information on Blizzard Internet Marketing, Inc. please visit our website or call 888-840-5893.

Filed Under: Bits From Blizzard, Breaking News