It’s 2010 and the economy is going to remain difficult for a while. It’s therefore imperative you ensure your websites are performing to the maximum. It’s the middle of January and the traffic to your website should be showing a steep climb. You should have been full or almost full during the first two or three weeks of this month before the snow hit and wiped out much of your business.
I was at two of my clients over the last couple of days. The first, having been hammered by the weather, was full, the restaurant very busy and the conference room booked. January is not going to be so bad after all. The second hotel reported a very busy 2009 but was concerned for 2010. Their website will be promoting some exciting new initiatives in the very near future.
Your website should be fully or partly content manageable so you can update it yourselves…and you need a Late Availability page! This you can update whenever you have too many rooms to sell. It’s a facility that really works.
Most importantly, though, your website needs to be ahead of your competitors (and the hotel portals) for a host of relevant key search phrases. This means treating EVERY page of your site as a search opportunity.
If you have been relying on hotel portal sites by paying to be on there, you MUST keep track of the traffic they’re sending to your website. One of my clients was persuaded to join a well-known portal about six months ago (I negotiated a very good price), in spite of my reservations. Business generated - none. Traffic to the client website from this portal last month - 0.
Your website is your primary marketing tool but it needs your attention all the time.
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