If you’re reading this, there’s probably one thing on your mind: how to increase your hotel’s revenue and bookings through digital marketing.
Luckily, taking advantage of several SEO white-label reseller companies, optimizing content and websites, increasing engagement, and expanding your brand reach across social media channels have never been more accessible or affordable.
Read on to learn more about how all these services work together and the step-by-step instructions to use them effectively.
Digital Marketing For Hotels: What Is It And How Does It Work?
Digital marketing for hotels means creating and distributing content that promotes a hotel online. This can be done through various channels, such as a hotel’s website, social media accounts, and email marketing campaigns.
By optimizing content and websites for search engines, hotels can increase their visibility in search results and attract more visitors to their sites. Hotels can build relationships and create customer loyalty by increasing engagement with potential guests through social media and other channels.
If you are interested in exploring digital marketing for hotels, developing a plan to help your hotel succeed is essential. A fantastic place to start is with a website strategy that answers important questions like how you want your website to look and what type of content you’ll use on it. It’s also helpful to do keyword research to determine which terms people use when searching online.
This can help inform how your content is organized on your site and which terms you target in SEO efforts. Other important aspects of digital marketing for hotels include identifying which platforms work best for your business and monitoring performance. The best platforms hotels use for this are WordPress for website hosting, Instagram for social media, and MailChimp for email marketing. Hence, you know where improvements are needed and develop an effective promotion strategy.
Why Is It Important?
The hotel industry has a very competitive landscape. Guests have a lot of choices when it comes to where they want to stay, and they often base their decision on reviews they read online.
This is why it’s so crucial for hotels to have a solid digital marketing strategy in place. If they optimize their content and websites for search engines, they can increase the likelihood that their property will be the top result that appears when prospective guests search for lodging. And once they’ve got a guest’s attention, it’s essential to keep them engaged with relevant and targeted content.
Otherwise, they may move to another hotel that better meets their needs. An excellent digital marketing strategy can help hotels increase bookings and grow their business. They should work with experts who can provide quality link-building services, like monthly round-ups, SEO reseller services, or white-label SEO reseller services, to give them an edge over the competition.
Digital Marketing Strategies For Hotels
Digital marketing for hotels has come a long way in recent years. Hoteliers can now reach a wider audience with content and website optimization strategies. There is room for improvement regarding engagement and conversion rates. Here are some digital marketing tips that hoteliers can use to take their business to the next level!
1) Choose The Right Website For Your Hotel
A well-designed website is the first step, followed by a reliable booking engine with all the features necessary to persuade the visitor and streamline all the required processes.
Any hotel looking to succeed in the digital age must have a strong website. Nowadays, customers expect a hotel’s website to be more than just a digital brochure. A website is often the first impression potential guests will have of your hotel, so it’s important to ensure it’s up to industry standards.
To create a website that accurately reflects your brand and attracts positive attention, you should keep a few key elements in mind.
- It’s best to build your site on a reliable platform like WordPress. This way, you will be able to ensure the security and stability of your website.
- The website should be designed with mobile users in mind. In this day and age, people are more likely to book hotels on their smartphones, so your site must be easy to navigate on small screens.
- The content should be high-quality and accurately describe what your hotel has to offer.
It is essential to give the customer an idea of who you are and what he can expect from his stay at your establishment. You may offer discounts or special packages if the booking goes directly through the website.
2) Search Engine Optimization
Neglecting hotel search engine optimization is a huge error. Hotels are losing out on business as the Internet continues to grow in importance as a medium of communication and commerce. Poor SEO techniques can cause a hotel’s website to rank below its competitors in the results pages of Google and other search engines.
Hotels can use digital marketing to their advantage by improving website content and using services like link-building and SEO reseller services to increase engagement with current customers or find new ones through social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter.
Many individuals, even business owners, misunderstand search engine optimization (SEO) and confuse it with Google AdWords because they think it has something to do with terms. Although keywords are a big part of SEO, they are only the tip of the iceberg.
Hundreds of other factors influence whether you or your rival will be promoted to the top page of Google, Yahoo, Bing, or any other search engine. When searching for your goods or services via a search engine, you need to pay attention to the kind of people that make up your audience and the types of terms they are likely to enter.
You also need to consider who links back to your site, how many links there are from other sites, how often these links change, and how many unique visitors come from specific areas. White hat link building ensures that all of these variables stay within the parameters set by Google so that you don’t get penalized for creating links that violate their guidelines.
3) Google Ads
There has been a recent leap in the number of hotels, B&Bs, villas, and apartments that use Google Ads. Google Ads can be a great way to improve your hotel’s engagement. Here are some ways in which Google Ads can help you boost traffic:
- Optimizing your content and website for relevant keywords can attract more potential guests to your site.
- Increasing your hotel’s engagement can also be achieved by creating compelling content that encourages users to book a stay at your hotel.
- You can also increase bookings at your hotel by optimizing your website and content for the Google platform.
There’s no doubt that Google Ads can be a powerful tool for hotels looking to improve their bookings and engagement. Here are a few ways that hotels can use Google Ads to their advantage:
- Target potential guests who are searching for hotel information online. By targeting relevant keywords, hotels can ensure that their ads are seen by people who are already interested in booking a stay.
- Target Local Customers: You can use Google Ads to target customers in your area who are searching for hotels. This ensures that your ad is seen by people who are interested in staying at your hotel.
- Use ad extensions to provide potential guests with additional information about your hotels, such as your location, amenities, and contact information. Ad extensions can help improve click-through rates and conversion rates.
- Use remarketing to target potential guests who have previously visited your website but didn’t book a stay. Remarketing allows you to show them targeted ads as they browse other websites, reminding them of your hotel and why it would be the perfect choice for their next vacation or business trip.
- Take advantage of Google’s vast data resources to create highly targeted ads that reach potential guests at the right time with the right message. By using demographic and behavioral data, hotels can create ads that are more likely to result in bookings and conversions.
Following these tips, hotels can use this platform to drive more bookings and engagement from potential guests. Take advantage of these tools to make the most of your investment with Google Ads!
4) Online Booking System
An online hotel booking system is on the wish list of every visitor. By using an online booking system, customers feel they have more information and control over their booking, and their data and money are secure.
The problem with this is that there are so many systems out there that it’s hard to know which one to choose. You don’t want to end up with an outdated or incompatible system that makes it difficult for your team and that you will regret choosing in the future. To ensure you get the best solution possible, you need to do your research before making a final decision!
5) Best Use Of Social Media
Social media management is a powerful tool that hotels can use to reach a larger audience and increase engagement. When used correctly, social media can help hotels boost their visibility, build brand awareness, and drive traffic to their website. Here are some points for using social media as part of your hotel’s digital marketing strategy:
- Build Brand Awareness – By posting unique content on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media channels regularly, you’ll be able to attract more followers or “likes” who want to keep up with the latest updates from your company.
- Establish Authority – Ensure you’re actively answering questions about your business through these networks. Hence, people know you’re available and willing to answer questions about any of your services.
- Create An Online Community – Create an online community by inviting customers to share pictures and stories about their experience at your hotel through platforms like Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.
- Track Success – Keep track of your success in increasing web visits or getting new followers by using a third-party service like Hootsuite or TweetDeck, which will show you how many retweets, comments, shares, etc., each post has received.
Conclusion
The marketing plan of any hotel must include digital advertising. From search engine optimization to paid ad campaigns, there are a variety of ways that hotels can engage with potential customers online.
Every new guest has the opportunity to become a lifelong customer; this is what motivates hotels to engage in digital marketing. A study showed that 76% of guests who interacted with social media platforms during their stay would recommend the property to others (source).
Online reviews and ratings also impact future bookings – 91% of consumers use them as tools when researching their next vacation or business trip (source). These numbers make it clear that effective digital marketing strategies are necessary for hotels.
You may raise the number of people aware of your brand, drive traffic to your website, and generate direct bookings, increasing revenue and occupancy rates if you use some or all of the digital marketing tactics outlined above.
Over to you
The hotel industry is constantly changing, especially during a time of crisis. By investing in these solutions, make sure to future-proof your business and continue attracting new guests.
Ready to take your hotels digital transformation to a new level?
Hire a digital transformation coach for a new and bright future!
Contact Are Morch – Digital Transformation Coach today!
Related article: Digital Transformation for Hotels
We are in this together!
I need to let you all know that we are in on this together. If you need to vent, talk, cry, or just have someone to talk with, I am here listening.
Where to reach me
Email: [email protected]
Also, join us at our Facebook Group – Hotel Social Media Community
We will get through this unprecedented event together! #hotelstrong #hospitalitystrong
For any specific information on COVID-19, I recommend going to CDC, WHO, AHLA, AAHOA, and HSMAI. Also, follow information from your local authorities.
NOTE
The hotel industry still is facing some uphill challenges. Make sure you follow their guidelines and say THANK YOU to those that now show a unique spirit to serve, and help us all get through this!! #hotelstrong #hospitalitystrong
About Are Morch
Are Morch is a digital transformation coach helping hotels open their digital gateways, reimagine their processes and culture, and transform experiences in a fast-paced world while earning more direct bookings without competing with the OTA!
Get more from Are on Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Pinterest | Instagram| Podcast
