I’ve talked before about the importance of learning what to look for when managing your brand and reputation online.  As someone who does mainly SEO and Reputation/Brand Management – I see brands neglected in so many ways.  Like a child, you’re obligated to nurture and keep your brand alive and growing.  Without growth and outreach, a brand is just a domain – with some content on it that will mean little to your visitors.

Review Sites
Making sure you’re checking review sites and posting management feedback where available is an important step in this process.  Being approachable and involved in the conversation is key to cultivating a favorable online reputation.  Don’t get defensive, own up – explain the issue – and give available solutions to lead the conversation to a favorable outcome for all parties involved.

Nobody can manage online reviews FOR you – it’s something each hotel, resort or property management company must do on their own.  As a marketer I can tell you where to look, what to look for, and some suggestions for responding.  If I were to respond myself, and represent myself as someone in a position of power at your lodging property – it would be unethical – and a lot less effective.  I don’t have the power to make decisions FOR you – but you do.

Branded Search Engine Results Saturation (SERS)
In my mind, branding and reputation management walk the forest path hand in hand.  Having a strong online brand can alleviate the impact of minor reputation management crises.  Let me explain this concept further:

If you’re strong in the top 10 results for your brand name, in many cases negative reviews will have less impact for brand-based searches.  Saturation for a brand can take many forms – sometimes its sites that are owned, operated and populated by content that can be controlled.  Sometimes its listings that are not all “owned” but can be somewhat controlled – see a search for Starbucks.  If I were in charge of marketing for Starbucks, I would approach the brand managers there with the following tactics in an attempt to move “ihatestarbucks.com” and “starbucksgossip” out of the top 10.

1. Get a Facebook page – optimize for brand name and the word “official.”  I see some applications and some other profiles that “might” belong to corporate, but they’re under-utilizing the potential here.  Yes it takes man hours to do this, but the payoff could be HUGE if they do it right.
2. Start a blog on a subdomain of starbucks.com where anyone in the company can post – or where your corporate employees post information on what’s happening around there.  There are many things that can be done on subdomains – I suggest taking a look at a search for “Zappos” and looking at the first few pages to see search engine results that include content from various subdomains that target a portion of their business.
3. Start some sister sites (on completely different URLS) that address most popular features of Starbucks “PikesPeakBlend.com” or “StarbucksWIFI.com” are examples.
4. Get involved on Twitter – link to your website from your profile and GET INVOLVED.  I found a Twitter profile for Starbucks that hasn’t been used and is protected.  I’m not sure if this is an “official” profile – I somewhat doubt it.
   Now not all of these are “guaranteed” to work – but they can have an impact which is exactly what you want when trying to “own” the top 10 in Google.
   Paid Advertising

Branding and Paid Advertising 
Ignoring the impact a brand campaign can have on your paid advertising is a mistake.  Because some brands are pretty obscure (hotfrog), and some are pretty generic (Island real estate) this can have different levels of success.

I recommend every client w/ paid advertising have a branded campaign.  This campaign doesn’t have to have a large budget; for the most part branded searches are fairly inexpensive.  Be sure you set these up right and use negative keywords to make sure you’re not showing for brands that are similar, but not related at all.

I looked at one client in Gulf Shores, AL and their branded search terms that brought traffic to their site from January 1 through June 26, 2008.  If we combine paid and organic conversions, branded keyword searches resulted in nearly $530,000 in revenue during that time period.  They don’t spend money t o optimize for branded terms, they don’t have particularly spectacular saturation in Google for their brand, and they only spent $1506 in paid advertising for their branded campaign over that time period.

$530,000   x100 = 35,192% an INSANE return on investment!!!
$1506

Your brand is something that needs to be nurtured, protected, fed, and exercised – just like a child or a pet.  It’s your legacy and ignoring its “upbringing” can result in severe problems with its future.  You put so much effort into creating it, if you don’t take care of it you can consider that time wasted.

Would you build a building without blueprints?   Would you set out to a place you’d never been before without consulting a road map?  The answer to these questions for most people would be a resounding “No.”  However, we at Blizzard are often asked if we can “just get started” on a marketing or design project and skip the initial research.  Below are a few critical benefits to having thorough research results in hand before beginning any website marketing or design project.

• Save Money - Like the building built without a blueprint or the road trip taken without a map, a marketing or design project launched without research is bound to take more time and incur more costs.  Why?  Because inevitably some of the work will need to be altered mid-project in order to meet unforeseen needs or concerns.  Lee Odden posted a great internet marketing article earlier this month where he describes a scenario all too familiar to online marketing professionals.   A redesign is to be published on Monday and Friday afternoon someone decides to ask, “How does this look with regards to SEO?”  The result is twice the time spent cleaning up what could have been avoided had thorough research been applied at the outset.
• Minimize Risks and Realize Higher Returns – Having research as the foundation for your marketing plan is the best insurance for that plan’s success.  If your marketing team is able, through proper research, to identify risks and weaknesses at the start of a plan, they are able to allocate marketing funds towards those initiatives that will mitigate weaknesses while building upon existing strengths.   Let’s take the example Lee offered in his article.  If instead this project had begun by creating a research team before launching their redesign, a thorough migration plan could have been in place before one piece of code had been written.  The SEO team would have been given the opportunity to identify successful, high ranking pages to preserve in the redesign process and to pinpoint underperforming pages that offered opportunities for increased visibility in the new design, resulting in increased returns from the finished product. 
• Gain a Competitive Edge - A successful marketing initiative doesn’t exist in a vacuum; a complete analysis of the competition provides a panoramic view of the marketing landscape in which your initiative will perform.  Competitive analysis will find weaknesses to be capitalized upon, strategies to be emulated and opportunities for growth in market share.  

At the beginning of a marketing project, the Blizzard Internet Marketing team may implement a number of programs to glean as much as possible about your design or marketing plan prior to implementation.  Here are some examples of the types of research your team may conduct:

• Keyword Research – We utilize several tools in order to assess which phrases will bring your website the most traffic, which will offer opportunities to expand market share and which are being overlooked by your competition.  If you want to try it out for yourself, Trent has listed a couple free tools for keyword research.
• Website Navigation Roadmap – At the outset of a design or redesign, our SEO experts map out the recommended site structure from an SEO perspective.  This research helps create a website that utilizes the latest techniques in website usability and search engine optimization.
• Competitor Research – Competition research includes search engine rankings and the various elements that affect them, including SEO and linking strategies.   Your project manager will use these findings to your advantage when creating the marketing plan for your project.
• Website Baseline Research – Your marketing team analyzes the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities associated with your website based upon industry benchmarks for page saturation, inbound links, age of domain, usability and conversion rate.  Historic traffic trends and website statistics are also recorded, if available.
• Demographic Research – If your website analytics software has the capability, your marketing team will evaluate the demographic profile of website visitors based upon location, channel and platform utilized.
• Paid Advertising Research – Pay-per-click campaigns can make up a large portion of an online marketing budget.  Detailed research prior to account creation can help maximize the return on this investment by targeting the most cost-effective keywords to include in the campaign.
• Directory Research – Our directory experts analyze your current internet reach and identify new resources to build traffic to and conversions from your website.
• Online Reputation Research – What are your customers are saying about your company or your product?  Online reputation research involves reviewing social media sites so that marketing efforts can capitalize on what your clients like while addressing any issues that may be uncovered by the team.

What’s the moral of this story?  Don’t start driving until you know where you’re headed!  Whether embarking on a design or marketing project, comprehensive research will provide a strong foundation for any project’s success. 

 Photo from federico_marque

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.

I just returned from a vacation with my family and to tell you the truth – traveling with kids is a royal pain. My kids are 11 and 6 and they fight like you wouldn’t believe. The key to keeping a happy family on vacation is to keep everyone busy. Vacations are supposed to be about relaxing, but to be honest – when you’re traveling with young kids – relaxing on the beach reading a book is just NOT going to happen. Some things I don’t see hotels or vacation rentals doing to help draw the family traveler could be quick implementations and could also be great ways to tout your “family-friendliness” on your website.

• Put a comprehensive list of area attractions along with close to current pricing in EVERY room or rental. I had done some homework so we had a few days planned out, but the days we had planned to spend “relaxing on the beach” were overruled by cries of “I’m bored!” and “It’s too hot!” By giving me a list of stuff I can fall back on in a pinch, you’re helping me keep everyone happy and NOT fighting. No fighting means a happy vacation for mom.
• Vacation Rentals should be stocked with a few decks of cards and some simple board games. Things like Monopoly and Connect Four will keep kids occupied for awhile and they are also games the family can play together. I’m flying to my vacation and I cant bring these things with us – so having them available when I get there is a BIG bonus.
• Get the kids involved in planning by putting a few widget-type games on your website. Have a kid’s section that is dedicated to things they’ll want to see in the area and history or area fauna that will interest them. My kids are big into dinosaurs. In Plant City, FL there’s a big dinosaur attraction. A Web site for a hotel in Orlando might feature a fun little “watch the dinosaur eat the tourist” game. This sounds morbid but kids think this is hilarious and it would be fun for them to play. It could also win them over to your property so when mom asks “Where do you want to go?” the kids have an answer. If the parent thinks the kids are going to be happy, they’re more likely to be happy with the accommodation choice.
• If you have a pool that starts at 3 feet, you need to let the parents of small tots and babies know that. No kiddie pool means mom & dad have to float the kid around endlessly in the 3′ deep water. That can be okay for a few minutes, but not every time we go to the pool. My best advice? Build a kiddy pool that goes from 6″ to 12″ deep or something similar so mom and dad can lounge under the umbrella and watch the tots splash around.
• Small touches like a stuffed animal at check-in or a workbook of puzzles and games that is age appropriate is a great way to engage the kids and make mom and dad happy and more likely to book. A game room or arcade is a good way to keep families occupied during inclement weather. I would love ALL hotels have a small movie room where they could show family movies at certain show-times with popcorn during the hottest parts of the day and on rainy or snowy days.

Thinking of small things and some big things can go along way to proving to the travel shopper that you really ARE family friendly. Everyone may be saying it – and throwing some pictures of cute little kids on the beach into their website – but are they following through? Think about how you can appeal to your youngest shoppers and use your imagination – you never know where you’ll find the pearl in that funny looking oyster.

image courtesy MyAngelG

In email marketing, targeting every electronic communication to each specific customer’s interests makes it easier for them to buy from you. Researchers at Listrak have proven that customizing a newsletter and tailoring it to a client’s specific interests results in better response and feedback.

The key reasons to target and personalize your marketing emails are to:

Build Trust by giving clients what was promised when they signed up for your newsletters.

Satisfy Needs and Wants by giving clients what they desire.

Create Significance and Value by personalizing your email communications to the reader and helping you to remain aware of their needs.

Build Brand Loyalty. Clients perceive quality in a company when it meets their needs.

Strengthen Customer Relationships with regular communication.

Personalization
On newsletter sign-up forms, drilling down to the details about your customers helps you to target your newsletters to specific client needs. The more data you collect about your customers, the more targeted your newsletters can be.

Gather information about your subscribers that can be helpful in your marketing, such as gender, age, marital status, location, occupation, hobbies, number and ages of children, product preferences and more . For example, if you know someone’s address, you can then direct them to the location of your store closest to them or invite them to events taking place nearby.

Demographics
When creating the newsletter sign-up form for your website, begin targeting and segmenting subscribers with form fields that give you useful information, including their specific interests. Obviously, the relevant data you wish to collect will differ by type of business and industry.

In the hospitality niche, for example, you can add a list of specials or packages to your newsletter. This will allow you to find out what each client is most interested in and it can also help you discover their reason for traveling. Adding the right fields to your sign-up form is an important part of organizing data and getting as much information about the customer as possible.

Tracking
Another important way to gather data about your customers is by tracking their actions. Analytics software allows you to see which links subscribers click on in your emails and tell you if they bounce after reaching your website. Use a website tracker, like Google Analytics, to determine which products and pages subscribers look at on your website. Then, offer discounts or specials accordingly. Tracking is a very significant aspect to managing your subscriber data.

Dynamic Content
Instead of sending out an all inclusive email, use dynamic content in your newsletters to send specialized messages to specific subscribers. The crucial aspect of these types of newsletters is the management of subscriber data and targeting individual interests and needs.

Your content can target both first-time buyers and loyal customers. To gain new business, use special coupons or discount codes for first-time buyers. You may also offer different levels of discounts to subscribers. For example, you could offer 10% off to a one-time buyer, 15% off to a two-time buyer off and 20% off to a customer who has purchased from you 3 or more times. Once clicks and purchase history have been saved, the emails themselves are easily produced.

Here are a few other ways to use dynamic content:

Cross Selling
Once a customer has made a purchase, you can send out a dynamic email with related items they may wish to add to their original purchase. For example, with a room reservation confirmation, send out offers for add-ons such as breakfast, champagne or area activities.

Rewards
Dynamic content can also be used to deliver rewards to loyal customers. Rewards can also be given to recipients that forward your offer to a friend. Other perks may be based on the number of times a customer has stayed with you.

Customer Support
You can also use dynamic newsletters is to inform customers about website maintenance or to send out responses to customer inquiries.

Email Marketing Objectives
Email Marketing can provide a wealth of information about your customers and the services you offer. Managing your subscriber data takes work, but once the information is sorted, sending out your newsletters is simple.

Use email newsletter personalization and dynamic content delivery to its full potential and it can give you just the boost your online marketing needs.

With just the clothes on his back, 50 pounds of camera equipment, a harmonica and a trusty Leatherman multi-tool, one man is set out for seven days to survive on his own without food or water.  This man’s name is Les Stroud.  In each episode of “Survivorman,”  Les places himself in a unique survival situation and demonstrates how to survive in a remote location with minimal supplies until being rescued.

Surviving in a wilderness is slightly the same as a website’s survival online.  It is important to understand the essentials to a web site’s success in order for you to benefit the most from website ownership. So here are a few survival tips to prepare you for the pitfalls you may face online.

Living off of the Land

In the woods:
Being able to eat off of the land is priceless in a survival situation.  It is important that you locate a decent food supply from your surroundings and be able to build a shelter to protect you from the elements.  Dining on wild animals and plants can be your only chances of getting out alive.  But be aware that not everything edible is safe to eat.

On the web:
Traffic is the food for your web site.  Although there are many forms of traffic online, it is important to know that not all of it will help you.  Make sure that your site is setup for your targeted audience.  If you are offering vacation rentals in Florida, you would most likely want to get traffic from vacationers and not someone planning their camping trip in South Dakota.

Rabbit Starvation

In the woods:
Feasting on rabbits and rabbits alone can lead to death.  An exclusive diet of lean meat, of which a rabbit is a practical example, will make you sick due to the lack of fat.  It is important to have a variety of edibles in a survival situation.  This is a great example of how overeating can kill you when you are starving.

On the web:
Relying primarily on off-line advertising and word of mouth to promote your website will eventually lead to a decline in your site’s visitors.  By investing in a search engine marketing firm to provide you with pay per click advertising and search engine optimization, you will increase your overall website traffic, since it will be coming from different sources.  It is better to have a variety of traffic sources as opposed to just one, because if one stops working, the other sources will still pull in site visitors.

Shelter

In the woods:
Having a sturdy shelter is imperative to protect you from the elements.  Whether in rain or snow, your shelter should be able to hold up and keep you safe.  A good shelter should have a thick roof and at least three protected sides.  It should be able to be used as a wind break and also provide a sense of comfort that you most likely wouldn’t get anywhere else.

On the web:
By having a good hosting provider that can protect your site from viruses, hackers and server crashes is a valuable asset.  Make sure that your host provides 24/7 network monitoring and response and a 99% uptime guarantee.  You should have a peace of mind knowing that your web hosting is being taken care of by a decent provider, because if your site goes down, no one can buy from you.

Staying Found

In the woods:
Knowing where you are at all times is critical to getting out alive.  If this becomes difficult, you can draw a map of where you have been to avoid further confusion.  It is important that you have your head straight in this crisis so that others can find you.  You can signal for others to find you by shouting, shining a piece of mirror or reflective metal or by using smoke signals from your fire. 

On the web:
Know where you stand with your current customers.  Returning customers are the key to your success online.  Let them know you are still there by sending out email newsletters, blogging, offering new special offers or even hosting a contest.  The more informed they are, the more likely you will get the sale.

So there you have it, four survival tips for the website owner.  Being able to be prepared for whatever is thrown at you is priceless.  Be sure to remember that traffic is great, but targeted traffic is even better.  Utilizing only one traffic source can be deadly and you should have a variety of sources of traffic.  Picking a sold web hosting provider can mean life or death of a successful website and that returning customers are essential to your success.  You can never be over prepared when it comes to the success of your website.

You’ve all dealt with the harried and harassed guests at the front desk.  Their plane was delayed, the airport lost their luggage, and the kids screamed the whole way.  Unfortunately, their vacation experience started when they left the house, and your online reviews could possibly suffer from a traveler’s bad mood.

 What can you do to help guests travel safely and conveniently to your doorstep?  Arm them with some great travel tips to keep them  happy, safe, and on-time!  I was just reading an article that my online friend Shane Keener from the Places to Stay blog sent me from BudgetTravel.com called the Family Travel Handbook  

This article had some great advice for traveling with kids – here are my favorite tips:

Sign kids up as Frequent Fliers

Check the car-seat – don’t use it on the plane.  I just put mine in an airline-provided plastic bag and it’s traveled well every time.  Car Rental car seats are dirty.

DONT preboard.  An extra 1/2 hour strapped in a seat? No Thanks!

Only the essentials – divide carry-on items by parent.  Dad has the fun stuff, Mom has snacks diapers, etc.  Then you’ll know who has what and you’re not digging around in your bags the whole flight.

Bring a few empty 8oz water bottles & refill once through security.

Not all of your guests will be families – so provide some essential items for adults to find your front door.

Printable directions with a map

Transportation information (shuttles & taxis) along with the location of the desk/taxi stop at the Airport Terminal

Let the guests send directions and reservations information via SMS (Text) message to their cellphones

Is your site mobile friendly?  Add a sub-domain to your site that is mobile friendly and contains location information, maps, directions and phone numbers. 

Provide a “suggested packing list.”  If your evenings are chilly, let your guest know beforehand. 

See if your confirmation pages and emails are compatible with a trip organizing service like TripIt.com.  Pretty handy for frequent travelers.

Keep in mind, the journey is part of the vacation…making sur eyour guests have a good one is a great service to offer.  Sometimes a “How was your trip?” is enough to release tension.  A sympathetic ear and some help with lost luggage goes a long way to gaining a good review.

texting photo from Nesster
packing photo from Tomeppy
Kid flying photo from ninjapoodles