10 Practical Ways to Boost Online Reservations – Part 2

In a blog we posted on February 10, 2010, RezStream provided five practical ways to boost online reservations, with the promise to follow up in March by sharing five more helpful tips.  We hope you enjoyed part one of this two-part article last month and that you find equally as useful our tips six through ten!

6. Search Engine Optimization: Are you aware of the EXACT keywords people are searching in relation to the product you are selling?  Choosing keywords incorrectly can equal incredible losses in online revenue.  A well optimized website yields more revenue than any other source.

HOT TIPS:

  • Test organic keyword options in pay per click first.
  • Don’t guess.  Use tracking tools to show exactly what people are searching for.  You will probably be surprised!
  • Make sure you are not competing for a keyword you have no chance in ranking favorably for.
  • Understand there are numerous data centers and that Google tracks your IP.  You may not actually rank where you think you do.  Use software to effectively track your “real” positioning in Google.
  • Google is responsible for 60% of searches as they bring in the revenue.  Focus your efforts here and you will be rewarded.

7. Competitor Research: Chances are there is a competitor out there that is doing a great job with their Internet marketing.  Research their strategies and duplicate their efforts.  Find a hidden gem that elevates your profits.

HOT TIPS:

  • Find out where your competition has their incoming links through Google alerts and Yahoo alerts.
  • Compare the number of pages indexed in Google to yours.  Typing “Site: domain.com” in Google will tell you this information.
  • Compare your specials to those of your competition.
  • Compare your website design appeal to that of your competitors, as well as added features like social networking, video, and blogs.

8. Offer Online Bookings: If you are not offering online bookings, you are overlooking a very lucrative income source.  To offer a complicated
(or non-standardized) online booking engine is another way to lose money. Don’t make your potential guests learn how to use your “pretty” calendar.  Provide potential guests with a STANDARD look and feel booking process.    A large (and growing) percentage of people prefer to book online!


HOT TIPS:

  • Make sure your booking engine looks and feels like your website.
  • Your booking process should be easy to use.  The standard four-step process is the best.
  • Capture guest emails in the booking process for email marketing.

9. Content, Content, and More Content: Adding fresh content to your website is an effective way to increase exposure in the search engines for cross linking and having new pages to optimize.  And your visitors also appreciate fresh content!  Increase exposure, traffic, and revenue with content.

HOT TIPS:

  • The search engines favor larger websites and ones that are constantly growing by content additions. 
  • Add new content on a consistent basis via a blog, media room, attraction pages, guest reviews, and videos.
  • Every page of your website can be the very first one a guest sees. 
  • Be sure to pitch yourself on every page.
  • Always explain your points of difference.
  • Make sure your content is keyword-rich and that it cross links effectively throughout your website.

10. Track Results: If you are not tracking statistics to your website, you do
not know what works and what doesn’t.  Hold directories, Internet marketing companies, your website design, email blasts and other business partners accountable.  If you scrutinize your statistics, you can maximize profits and make positive changes.

HOT TIPS:

  • With the proper tracking device, you can monitor online bookings to the source (email blast, pay per click, local marketing, SEO result, and directory submission).
  • A tracker can tell you if your visitors respond well to your website.
  • If you use Google Analytics, make sure your booking engine supports its revenue-tracking feature.

Conclusion:
This article contains the second half of ten proven ideas that will produce more online reservations.  Keep in mind that “on page” factors such as how your website looks, how it is organized, and other factors determine your conversion rates.  Make sure your website is in tiptop shape first and then focus on driving more quality traffic to it.  Although a number of people with websites think, “anyone can do Internet marketing,” it is a wise practice to allot marketing dollars for this complex science.  Your best bet is to hire a qualified professional who will dedicate time each and every month to work on your search engine visibility.  This practice will make you more money and in the long run, guarantee a better bottom line.

All About ExpressionEngine

Rick Ellis first developed ExpressionEngine as a blogging tool under the name “pMachine” in 2001.  An early prototype of pMachine was installed on Nancy Sinatra’s (Frank’s daughter) website.  After some real world testing and success, pMachine was released to the public in 2002.

By the end of 2002, pMachine had been featured in a few books and magazines and was having some success, but at that point, the Web was young and still developing.  Ellis noticed website owners and developers wanted more control and management over their content.  That’s when Rick Ellis developed a more robust tool called ExpressionEngine and the web development community took notice.

The first version of ExpressionEngine was first released to the public in 2004 as a general-purpose content management system written in object-oriented PHP and using MySQL for storing data.

ExpressionEngine’s publishing features are robust, comprehensive, and highly flexible.  Where other content management systems may have limitations in terms of visual design elements and/or display and organization of content, ExpressionEngine fills the needs of these major voids.

Throughout the years, ExpressionEngine has increased its features, flexibility, and popularity among larger businesses in helping build their web presence.  These steps advanced ExpressionEngine to version 1.6.8.  As its usage continued to grow, more features were requested from site owners and developers.  ExpressionEngine developers were now building “application-like” sites and needed even more flexibility and features at their disposal.  Ellis Lab listened to these requests and delivered with ExpressionEngine 2.0.  This version has been completely rebuilt on Ellis Lab’s “CodeIgniter,” an application MVC framework.

New Features of ExpressionEngine 2.0

Built On CodeIgniter
Acclaimed for its speed and flexibility, CodeIgniter has become the application framework of choice for many of the premiere PHP developers in the world.

New Interface
The ExpressionEngine control panel has been redesigned to make your experience and workflow faster, more intuitive, efficient, and better organized for superior control.

File Manager with Image Editor
ExpressionEngine 2.0 features an incredibly powerful and intuitive file and asset manager that can be used from within the publishing interface or on its own.  The new file manager includes the ability to crop, resize, and rotate your images directly in the control panel.

Key Features of ExpressionEngine

Multiple Categories
Each entry can be assigned to multiple categories, and you can create as many unique category groups as you want.

Relationships
You can create relationships between entries in different sections of your site, enabling information to be shared.

Expiring Entries
You can set an expiration date on your entries so they will be automatically removed from your site on that requested date.

Multi-User System
ExpressionEngine is a true multi-user system.  Each user can be granted a wide range of privileges, which allows you to define with precise control what each user is permitted to do.

Security
ExpressionEngine has the most comprehensive suite of security features of any publishing platform on the market.

When will ExpressionEngine 2.0 be ready for prime time?

As of this article, ExpressionEngine 2.0 is in Beta form, which is available to the public; however bugs, errors, and minor fixes still need to be worked out.  In addition, there are very few add-ons, extensions, and modules that may be needed to accomplish feature requests. 

RezStream recommends waiting to upgrade your site until ExpressionEngine 2.2 is released, hopefully in spring/summer 2010.  That doesn’t mean you should wait until then if you are thinking of having a site built.  RezStream can easily accomplish this process using the current version 1.6.8, which can easily be upgraded to 2.2 when it becomes available.  If you have further questions regarding ExpressionEngine, please feel to contact RezStream at 303.872.0220.

Published: March 31, 2010