Research tells us that there are 148.3 million travel bookings on an average every year. How can you direct these bookings into your website? The answer lies in how well the digital marketing is managed for your hotel. Digital marketing will convert this number to a sizeable chunk of bookings for your hotel.
Focus on search engine optimization
In the early travel booking journey, Google continues to pay a dominant role. Google reports that the ‘Near Me’ searches have grown 150 percent faster than the usual local based searches.
One of the significant advantages of using Google Hotel Ads are that they direct traffic back to your website. They also have ways to tailor prices based on availability and seasonal rates.
Optimize your hotel for strong local SEO presence
What would people look for while looking for a hotel in your locality? Understand this and communicate it to your potential client in the limited attention you will get from them.
Encourage user reviews as Google uses this as a factor in their ranking.
When a potential client does land on your page, how well your website has been designed what will convert a looker into a booker.
Optimize your Google My Business listing by promoting your key features, quality content and record as many positive reviews as possible.
A website is a preview of user experience
Once a customer finds you, the first engagement touchpoint is the website.
When a client has landed on a site, it indicates some interest in the booking. To take forward the interest into a concrete booking, appropriate content is key. Time sensitive offers, customer reviews will be that content that will urge them to go ahead and book their stay.
A good website will
- List out the advantages of your location which is a key differentiator you’re your competitors.
- Enable your customer to reach you directly to present an opportunity to establish a relationship
- Outline the attractive features that set you apart from other hotels
- Use SEO keywords and optimize content, social media links to be picked up search engines. The more attention is paid to keywords, the more relevant traffic it can end up generating.
- Be technically stable and easy to load
- grow credibility by encouraging backlinking. Links can come from blogs, reviews, social media, partnerships, etc.
Optimized booking engine for smooth booking process
In addition to a great website, it is the booking engine which provides a seamless booking. A good booking engine will display rates and room information clearly. The process has to be easy and convenient. The loading speed of the booking engine has a direct effect on conversion rates. A slow, complicated booking process leads to the customer leaving half way through the booking process.
The customer who is interested but left halfway.
The abandonment rate for hotel bookings is 75 percent. Remarketing is a powerful strategy to show ads to people who recently visited the site. This will remind them that a deal and some incentive to book still waits for them.
Direct peak season traffic to your hotel
A good digital marketing strategy allocates budget for extra marketing during peak seasons. Different channels of communication through Google Ads, website and other social media can be utilized to craft messages to target audiences. This will ensure that the traffic generated during holidays is captured and directed to the website for bookings.
Ending Note While many of these digital marketing strategies require some investment in setting up, the analytics and consistent engagement are bound to pay off. With more information collected in various spheres of the World Wide Web, the link backs will also increase. Over time, this is bound to translate into direct bookings.
