A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

It can be difficult to explain search engines, search engine optimization and just about any other internet concept to the layperson. I know - I am responsible for internet marketing for 28 hotels and I have taught the same basic information at least 5 times over the last 4 years to basically the same people. Some times the ability to combine words and graphics together to illustrate a concept or idea is underatted. People that are able to do this well create "infographics" which are defined as

1. It's a visual explanation that helps you more easily understand, find or do something.
2. It's visual, and when necessary, integrates words and pictures in a fluid, dynamic way.
3. It stands alone and is completely self-explanatory.
4. It reveals information that was formerly hidden or submerged.
5. It makes possible faster, more consistent understanding.
6. It's universally understandable.
(from the Communication Nation blog)

I wish I had access to some of these "infographics" from Elliance during my presentations. They do an excellent job of turning words and ideas into easily understandable graphics. Check out this graphic that explains how to use search engine marketing (SEM) tactics to acheive marketing goals.

They have infographics for everything from keyword research to search algorithms.

Here is a blog that focuses on infographics. I think it helps to see how others are able to represent ideas using these strategies. It makes creating presentations and explaining concepts easier for me. Hope this can help you as well.

Technorati Tags: infographics, teaching, communication

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A Moment for Personal Growth: Are You Interesting?

Thanks to Hugh MacLeod for his tweet regarding "how to be interesting".

I love the ideas that Russell Davies gives in his blog post. I can talk to anyone in a small group, but when I get in to larger groups or networking events I often feel lost and don't feel that I have anything to talk about or share with others. Russell's post definitely gives me some food for thought and strategies on how I can feel I have more to contribute.

Anyone else have any good tips for a person who becomes introverted in large groups?

Technorati Tags: how to, self help

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Travel Suppliers At Odds With Google

Google may be the 600 pound gorilla of the internet, but right now they have big trouble on their hands from travel suppliers like Marriott and American Airlines. These suppliers are asking Google to get tougher with advertisers who utilize a tactic called piggybacking.

Piggybacking in the process of advertisers using trademarks and service marks of other companies in their advertising copy. The hope is that the consumer will get confused and click on the offender's ad instead of going to the site of the real deal. The major search engines, including Google, have policies prohibiting this currently. However, they aren't very good at enforcing these policies, unless violations are brought to their attention. In fact, one of Google's own systems for generating advertising copy can create and publish ads that violate this policy. Ouch!!

It is important that as hotel suppliers we look out for this type of activity. While we alone may not be able to stop it with the help of our brand partners, we can help put pressure on Google to solve the problem. The volume of travel related search traffic is big enough that given enough pressure, Google will surely see the light and fix the problem.

Technorati Tags: Google, SEM, PPC, trademark

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Moving On Up - Online Hotel Bookings Contine Move to Supplier Sites

Score one for the good guys. In 2005 hoteliers started the drive for best rate guarantees and it continues to pay off. The latest comScore study shows that 72% of online hotel bookings are currently going to supplier sites. This is a positive 3.2% change from the same time last year. This trend indicates what I have been thinking for a while that travel agent sites are becoming more of a shopping tool.

This is great news from my perspective. However, hoteliers need to be careful not to end up back in the same spot they were in during the downturn in 2001 to 2003. The key right now is to increase exposure via ppc and other ROI driven online marketing.

Technorati Tags: distribution, online travel agencies, supplier sites

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Economic Downturn Got You Worried?

Are we in a recession or not? There are varying opinions on just what state our economy is in right now. I am not convinced it is a full blown recession. However, I do know that in the hospitality industry things are definitely slowing down, largely in leisure business. Why? The answer is simple. . . the rising cost of fuel translates in to increased costs for just about every consumer product we purchase, from food to clothing. What's left for most families isn't much. So everyone wants to stretch their dollar right now. Some are taking the wait and see approach.

Right now everyone from grocery stores to us in the travel industry have their hands out trying to get a piece of the "economic stimulus" checks that tax paying families are receiving, but this is short sighted. We need to think long term in the current economy. The immediate reaction for most operators is to start cutting costs to achieve budgeted flow through. This strategy is very shortsighted. Instead, I think we should be looking to invest more, smarter. This article from Guy Maser in iMedia connection gives 7 Strategies for Marketing in a Downturn.

Most of these things we should already be doing. That is why we have taken such a big move into online marketing. We get that are messages need to be targeted and we need measurable results. One item that Guy talks about is seeking assistance from our media partners. What can they do to help us achieve our goals? He suggests that we ask them some key questions:

• Do they have your target audience's attention?
• Can they keep your company visible to prospects and customers at all times?
• Do they offer a variety of integrated marketing solutions aligned with your goals?
• Can they provide both visibility and lead generation?
• Do they deliver targeted, quality leads with full contact information?
• Do they provide reports you can use to measure the performance of your marketing and justify your marketing investments?

This is smart business. It is important for us to understand the full offering that our media partners bring to the table. I think we should constantly be pushing them for improvements and results. We shouldn't be afraid to pull out of a partner that isn't giving us the results we need.

Technorati Tags: marketing strategy, integrated marketing

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Travel.Google.Com is Closer to Becoming a Reality

I mentioned the potential for Google to get in the travel vertical of search previously in my blog. Here is a blog post from the Tech Beat blog at Business Week discussing more in depth Google's plans to get into the very lucrative travel search arena. That's a $90 billion market to quote numbers from the BW post.

The interview with Rob Torres, Google's Managing Director for Travel, exposes some of the search giants plans for travel. One item mentioned was the integration of destination videos from YouTube on their travel pages. This allows Google to monetize YouTube indirectly.

It is interesting to note that they are going to be staying out of the booking business all together.

It’s worth noting one thing that any future Google offering won’t have—airline fares or hotel bookings. Even Google is unwilling to try its hand at the part of the beleaguered industry’s business. The customer service investment is huge, explains Torres.

More likely is that they would sacrifice major ad revenue from some of the major online travel agencies who spend BIG TIME with them right now. I could see Google purchasing a travel meta search site like Kayak to get into this area down the road though.

Technorati Tags: Google, travel

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How Do You Keep Up - The AdAge Power 150 Media and Marketing Blogs

There could not be a better place to start your online marketing education than the blogs listed in the Power 150. Thanks to Jacob Morgan for sending this out via Twitter.

Not every blog is going to work for you, but the goal is to find the one or two that you regularly get information from. I was amazed to see how many of the top 150 I am already looking at regularly.

Technorati Tags: marketing, advertising, resources, blogging

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HOT TOPIC: How to Measure the Success of Social Media Campaigns

If business getting into the social media conversation is hot, then determining how to measure the success of social media participation has to be one of the hot topics of the year.

Do you measure increased conversion? How about increased time spent on your web site? Or do you look at how often your hotel is mentioned in blogs, review sites, etc.

The trouble for most advertisers, and specifically hoteliers, is that we want to get some type of measurable ROI because in the end it is all about the revenue it has generated for us. I have to be honest and say that in the current environment, I don't think anyone has the perfect set of measurement tools. Depending on the level of integration you have with your site, your booking engine and your analytic tools you may or may not be able to get to an ROI calculation.

This post from m-Travel shows the discussion that Eye For Travel had with industry executives and what they look at in their social media campaigns.

What are you using to measure the success of your social media campaigns?

Technorati Tags: social media, ROI measurement

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Gaining Consumer Trust - Search Engines Making Ground

In this post from m-Travel's blog, Porter Gale, from Virgin America, says that the work done by search engines to reduce spam and improve the quality of pay-per-click landing pages has gone a long way to improve consumer trust in paid search engine listings.

I have to agree here. Search engines are all about providing the correct relevant content to their users whether it be from the organic or paid listings. Obviously they have made big improvements reducing the search engine spam from organic listings. They constantly refine their "secret sauce" - algorithms - to eliminate elements for manipulation whether you are talking about metatags, cloaking, keyword stuffing or paid linking. They took on paid advertising spam, when they started giving ads quality scores and requiring relevant landing pages. All of this done to improve their search results and hopefully their share of those results and the money it brings in.

Technorati Tags: search engine, ppc, landing pages, SEO, SEM

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WeGo Bezurk: What's in a Name? Confusion I Say

In the latest renaming game that's happening online, Bezurk.com, a travel metasearch site, like Kayak.com, is changing it's name to Wego.com.

I guess it makes sense, but why do online companies insist on creating confusion. In all the rush to create "unique" names that stick, we forget that consumers have to remember them in the first place. Perhaps we need to spend more time on that part of the research process.

Technorati Tags: metasearch

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