SEO

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Social Media for Tourism Operators!


I got the idea of social media aiding in promoting our technology blogs but I had a hard time translating that into marketing for hotels and tourism operators. Necessity became the mother of invention when one of our most loyal clients got a call from a SEO operator saying that their resort was not on Google for important keywords.

We had missed something important - Poinsettia Apartments, was not listed on Google page 1 for Apartment Rental St. Lucia. A year ago we discovered that the traffic for apartments was not all that great - using "Google suggests" and a few other tools we decided to re-brand them as villa apartments, villa being a much bigger tourism work than apartments.

SEO is a very precise art. Its a little like cooking. You can make a great pea soup, but add rice, ginger and carrots and its no longer a pea soup. Google understands pea soup, but pea soup with rice, ginger and carrots, well that is another matter. You cant get your ginger, rice and carrot pea soup on top of a Google listing for pea soup, forget it, its just not focused enough for Google. So it was with Villa Apartments, We got on top for villa apartments even Caribbean resort villa apartments - but apartment rentals St. Lucia got lost in the mix.

Normally it takes months to get a site linked on Google page 1, but we did not have a month. We had to fix the problem now. trying to make the accommodation page work for Apartment rentals would have been self defeating as we had made a pea soup of it, and it was working OK for several keywords - But not St. lucia apartment rentals.

So we created a new page- optimised it for apartment rentals St. Lucia etc and launched it with links from http://www.poinsettiaapartments.com/accommodation.htm.

Now to get backward links. Ie links from other, not related sites, which would give it a higher Page Ranking (PR) and get it on top of Google search results.

I did a search for St. lucia long term rentals etc, looking for social sites that would accept my comments. Up came zimbio.com A popular celebrity site with excellent PR. There was a social comment about Amy Winehouse moving to St. Lucia: I signed up and wrote "St Lucia is a great place to relocate to. You dont have to be a star to love it, its simply beautiful, and a great place for a star and the sort of place where you are like to just bump into a star at your favourite beach or bar.  St. Lucia is mountains, waterfalls, rain forests and beaches fit for the stars. If you are coming to check out opportunities, the perfect place to stay is in a townhouse close to all the action yet away from the crowd. see http://poinsettiaapartments.com/apartment-rentals-stlucia.htm. Poinsettia does long term rentals so its is very affordable and of course beautiful, up on a hill overlooking Vigie Beach and Bay - You might even spot Amy!".

Simple! I did a few more - added links from our http://Travelwatchnews.com and blog and two days later we were on page 1 of Google.

So it works folks! it takes time and know-how, but once you create a well optimised page the rest is really common sense and a bit of the gift of the gab. Try it and let me know.

By the way we did OK for Poinsettia with many links established and Page One on Google For sevaeral search words and phrases.

stlucia romantic apartment holidays 1.1
long term apartment rentals st lucia 1.1
caribbean resort villa apartments 1.2
st lucia villa apartments 1.3
stlucia romantic apartments 1.3
stlucia caribbean apartments 1.3
apartment rentals st lucia 1.8
stlucia apartments rentals 1.9
stlucia holidays apartments 1.9
caribbean villa apartments 1.6
caribbean resort villa apartments 1.2
st lucia resort villas 2.2


To find where you are use Googles Browser "CROME" and enter link:yourwebsiteurl


For More on SEO for Tourism see our website on Search Engine Optimisation For Travel and Tourism Marketing

Contact AXSES sales@axses.net for a tourism and travel marketing

Destination Marketing: Collaborative Tourism Booking Partners. Hotel and Activities Parnership

New Collaborative systems for Hotels and Tourism helps market the full destination experience at the point of purchase. More info http://booking-partners.com

Destination Marketing: Collaborate Tourism Booking Partners. Hotel and Activities Partnership

View more presentations from irclay.

Rates Managemnet

Rates Management at a Crossroads

There is nothing like a good depression to change something that needs to be fixed. The time is right - in fact, it is past due - to change the way hotels manage and maintain rate parity.

With more and more hotels striving to increase Direct bookings, the practice of only having Rack Rates on the hotel website is past. It's more than past; it's downright nonsensical.

The major chains work it well and have steady decreased their dependency on distribution partners. Many chains now get over 80% of their Internet bookings directly from their website.

The driving force in getting direct sales is simple:

Be Visible and Be Valuable.

Offering value is not about putting your highest Rate on your website. Travelers compare; they look at 6 or more sites before making a decision. They will compare costs and value given in each channel. Travelers do like to visit the Hotels' own website and they like to buy direct - but not at a premium.
See Travel Rants and Raves

This is why AXSES has developed a powerful and easy-to-use Specials Management and Marketing System. With it, our clients are able to create short-term specials for low booking periods and offer great Value. The Specials are distributed on AXSES channels and available for publising on thousands of websites, like Google Base and Facebook, with AXSES arcRes distribution tools and RSS publishing systems.
See Our Travel and Tourism Marketing dialogue Rates, Revenue Management and Specials Tourism Marketing

There are several articles that are well worth reading

See
http://tr.im/rateintegrety - This provides a very helpful strategic approach to Revenue Management

http://tr.im/goodbyeRateParity - Dennis Schall is well worth following. Here, he talks about getaroom.com technology that helps hotels avoid contract limitations regarding rates.


For marketing-related articles, see our "At a Crossroads" Blog:

Destination Marketing
Travel Marketing
The Supplier
Marketing

Other links


How top Hotels Brands are using Twitter

More on using Social Media: see AXSES Social Marketing for Travel - A Primer

Computing Crossroads

In our last Blog, we speculated that Google Wave may do more than replace email. http://axses-ianclayton.blogspot.com/2009/06/googlecrossroads.html


"Google Wave (and the Wave Protocol), already indicates the end of the email era Wave to replace email. But it is more! Have we finally reached the point where the entire premise of the computer business, the operating systems, is at a crossroads? Well, Goggle would like to think so and Microsoft would prefer not to". Today, I read that Google is working on a new Operating System built on Google Crome.

Google says over 30 million people use Google Crome regularly. It was designed for people who live on the web. "However, the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web. So today, we're announcing a new project that's a natural extension of Google Chrome — the Google Chrome Operating System. It's our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be".

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html

Interesting, Indeed. We will be watching this. Google is changing our universe; Watch It!

Bill Gates says GoogleOS is nothing more than a browser! http://tr.im/googleOSbyMS - Could Bill be nothing more that sour grapes?

Google Crossroads

Google at a Crossroads with Wave Technology

We stared writing these blogs on technology as a journey into the crossroads of marketing and communications. For some time, we have seen that the world is at a breakthrough point in transformation. Technology and its application are leaping forward almost at the speed of thought. We wrote about the crossroads for search, advertising, marketing, destination marketing, travel distribution and the Internet.

In our blog newweb, we noted that there was a critical mass of technology and, more importantly a critical mass of knowledge about technology and how to build on it. It’s the critical mass of knowledge that is exciting. Knowledge is what will drive the success of Google Wave. It is interesting to see that Google recognises this. By demonstrating Google Wave to application developers and inviting them to be creative, Google is hoping to accelerate the evolution of Google Wave technology.


Many believe Google Wave (and the Wave Protocol), already indicates the end of the email era wave2replaceemail. But is it more! Have we finally reached the point where the entire premise of the computer business, the operating systems, is at a crossroads? Well, Goggle would like to think so and Microsoft would prefer not to.

What is certain is that the Internet is becoming a full platform for computing in a way that the PC was. The next step forward is collaborative working and networking computers. The possibilities can hardly be imagined. Google Wave is an advanced set of protocols, robot web services and applications for networking. But its success as a platform will depend on the applications and our knowledge of how to use it effectively.


Google Wave resources
Easy link to this blog http://tr.im/waveblog
AXSES short definition - http://tr.im/wavedefined
A more technical definition http://tr.im/wavetechnology
Google Wave Demo in small chucks - http://tr.im/bytesizewave
- or you can view an 80-min. video http://wave.google.com
Questions and Answers http://tr.im/waveFAQ
How the Wave works – very technical - http://tr.im/howdoeswavework
Will Wave replace email? - http://tr.im/wave2replaceemail


Related ideas on technology
The Next web - linked data: by Tim Berners

Email and Google Friends Connect
Social Media For Tourism & Travel Marketing

Keep up with Technology for Travel and Tourism: http://axses.com/travelwatchnews.cfm

HouseHolidays

We have been running travel portals for over 12 years now. In some of our channels I find that very best value is often overlooked. Travelers have pretty fixed ideas about what to look for. For instance they will insist on being on the beach - but across the road we often have far better hotels; offering better value and sometimes a far more comfortable and elegant setting.

House rentals is another area that tends to get passed over. There is a passionate following for villas but I am still trying to figure what a villa really is. We have villas that are really apartments or condos, and that to me is wrong. To me, a villa has to have a private front door - not an hallway and elevator. So really a villa is some sort of house. In Roman days it was a upper class country house and through the middle ages it was associated with luxury. wikipedia.org suggest that today a villa refers to a specific type of detached suburban dwelling. I don't think that holds. Settlers Beach Villa complex in Barbados is not detached but it is clearly a Villa Resort of the highest standard and on a perfect beach.

Now I know that holidays are a chance to get away and one likes to go to a hotel where everything is catered for - But golly gee, the Villa-Home complex across the road has better prices, full maid service, a cook you can hire, a pool, a fantastic view and its private - spacious - spotlessly clean with a helpful and friendly family management and staff. Its a whole house with washer, dryer, stove, microwave, a full stand up fridge, iron and board, 3 rooms - kitchen, patio and a garden with fruit trees you are invited to pick from! Why are so many people ignoring houses and settling for a Room. A house is so much more that a room - why settle for less!

I think the holiday home resort vacation is undervalued. If you don't want to cook - there are many restaurants that offer more variety. But part of a real holidays is exploring - shopping - going to the market and buying your fresh fish and local vegetables - experimenting and sampling another culture. Lets hear it for Island house rentals and holiday home living!

An example I like is http://poinsettiaapartments.com. Its a family run complex of 7 villa style homes/apartments, tastefully furnished, fully equipped and on a hill overlooking a lovely bay with a working marina. Its not on the beach and you need a car to get around, but if you have a car its a perfect spot for the more discerning traveler who prefers not to be one of a crowd and have their own space. For the business traveler a Townhouse is the perfect choice; see Town houses and Apartment Rentals - St. Lucia. Poinsettia Villa-Apartment and townhouses can also be rented long term.

Check out the latest webpage dedicated to Island House Holidays in St. Lucia - http://island-houses-for-rent.com - a http://bookingsstlucia.com initiative. Soon to be a Caribbean wide service - if you would like to participate please contact us.

facebook

How to use Facebook for tourism and travel marketing

A frank discussion of how Facebook operates and what its terms and condition imply. The article illustrates how Facebook is positioned relative to search engines and what may be in store!. It illustrates how to use FaceBook to boost your position on the search engines and drive more travelers to your website. How to use Facebook pages, discussions, groups and events for tourism and travel marketing. There are strategic Tips on how Facebook can help you reach out to new social groups and market your hotel, activity or tourism destination.

Links to the best social media marketing resources and technology on the net.

http://arcres.com/facebook-travel-marketing.cfm