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Many travelers today start their search for accommodations by heading to the internet. They look up different hotels that are available in their place of interest, comparing various options to find one that fits their bills.
What does this mean to a hotel owner such as you? Well, you must utilize the internet if you even want a slim chance to capture more bookings to your hotel. Your main goal now with your website, if you have one, is to generate organic visits. Unfortunately, while you may have put plenty of effort into trying to maintain a high rank in the search engine results page (SERP), Google has been changing the landscape for the hotel industry. The changes have caused many hotels to dish out billions of dollars every year to maintain their rank. As an independent hotel, this could be plain impossible to do.
With that said, despite the change, here are three things you can do to help your website maintain a high rank on SERPs:
1. Grow Your Brand and Community
When people come to learn about your brand and grow to like it, they’ll be more likely to go back to you should they need a hotel once more. This is the reason you should be working on your brand image and create a community that loves you for what you offer.
To do this, start to create a clear-cut message and brand. That way, you won’t be sending out mixed messages about what your brand is about. Also, step up your social media game. Get people to be involved with your brand, creating user-generated content, and sharing it to engage your customers.
Other things you can do to build your brand include writing a mission statement, offering a website with excellent user experience, and providing unrivaled customer service at the hotel.
2. Use Multiple Sources for Organic Traffic
Don’t put all your eggs into one basket. If anything goes wrong, all the eggs will break. While people apply this to investments, you should do the same with your source of traffic.
Don’t invest everything into Google. While it might be a great source, it shouldn’t be your only source. Tap into social media—Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and so on—to attract more guests to your hotel.
Offering blogs that offer useful and relevant content can also attract different kinds of audiences to learn more about you. For those who have already used your service, you can send them engaging emails to remind them that you’re there, ready to welcome them back once more, and possibly include promotions and discounts if they will refer you to others.
3. Increase Your Marketing Budget
While you might put all your resources into creating an excellent website, it is still important that you have a lot of money invested in marketing to begin with. After all, no one is going to learn about you if nothing about your services and offerings reach them.
In today’s business landscape, you must pay to be noticed. There’s just no going around that simple fact. In other words, you’ll have to invest money into marketing channels, such as paid online ads and so on, to compete with other people trying to attract the same clients as well.
Bottom Line
While there are changes to big search engines and plenty of new challenges to overcome, it still isn’t impossible for an independent hotel company to find success. Remember, marketing is the name of the game.
By increasing your marketing budget, finding new sources of organic traffic, and building your brand image and community, you ensure that your hotel will grow for many years to come. As a result, you’ll be attracting more and more customers and retaining happy clients. We’re a digital marketing agency in Bangkok for hotels, get in touch with us today for a free consultation.
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