TripAdvisor: The Next Step To Increase Your Online Presence!

Anticipated by many, TripAdvisor has now made it possible for businesses to enhance their business listings on the TripAdvisor site. This added functionality offers properties the opportunity to add important information about their business including phone number, email address and a direct link to the property website from their TripAdvisor page. To entice businesses to sign up for this new service, TripAdvisor has discounted the annual rate by 50% for customers who sign up by February 2010.

For businesses that choose to make this wise marketing investment, it is then prudent to maintain high standards at your property so that postings on TripAdvisor remain positive.  Complimentary comments from guests will only ensure and encourage TripAdvisor users to click through to your property’s own website.

In the list below, RezStream provides tips for business owners to use to help enhance their expanded listing on TripAdvisor and receive the best return on investment for this marketing expense.

• Pictures: Add as many photographs as possible and make sure they display well in thumbnail format, which is small in size and as such, details are often hard to see. Also to remember is that Yahoo pulls the primary photo from your TripAdvisor listing to their search results page. To choose which photo you would like as your “Primary” one in TripAdvisor, go to options under “Manage your Listing.”
• Video: Did you know it was possible to upload videos on your TripAdvisor page? Allow TripAdvisor searchers to experience your property as if they were actually there in person by including engaging video on TripAdvisor.
• Link to Articles: TripAdvisor allows you to link to online guidebooks, articles and web comments published by third parties that meet specific requirements. Learn more about linking to third party articles.
• Interact with Customers: It is important to enter through the “Owners Center” at set up to be notified when reviews are posted about your property. Make sure to ALWAYS respond to negative reviews and comment on some positive ones as well. This is a great way to show customers you value their feedback. It is also a constructive method to find potential weaknesses in customer service, property upkeep, and more.
• Website Badge: Displaying your TripAdvisor review badge shows confidence in your property and is an easy way for potential guests to check out your property reviews.
  “87% of people looking for hotels are influenced by reviews.”
  Kelsey Group, November 2007. Source: Forrester NACTAS Healthcare, Travel & Customer
• Get Reviews: Do not be afraid to ask your guests to review your property when they check out. TripAdvisor even offers a printable PDF that you can provide your guests with their receipt.

The TripAdvisor Upgraded Business Listing is a worthwhile investment to help your property generate additional revenue, but as with any marketing strategy, its performance should be monitored for success. Current RezStream marketing clients have the benefit of having an experienced Internet marketing team on their side advising them of the best places to spend their advertising dollars.  If you would like help with your Internet marketing needs, RezStream offers a variety of plans for all budgets.

For more information, please contact RezStream at 866.360.8210 or sales@temp.rezstream.com to get started today!

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.