Vacation Rental Marketing

Achieving 100% EfficiencySEO/SEM/SMO

Rezfest 2010 – Las Vegas, NVPresented By: Amber Mayer

Topic Overview

1. Online Booking Conversion Sources2. Google Updates 3. Bing Updates4. Social Marketing 5. Email Marketing6. Mobile Marketing

Vacation Rental Web Trends

*The top ten keywords that resulted in conversions (organic) were all brand based keywords (clients who typed in the name of the company along with destination based keywords)

*Data Represents a cumulative review of client web traffic and conversion from sites that utilize the Rezolution™ Booking Engine with Marketing Analytics Module. Over 25,000 Online Bookings are represented from 2009-2010 YTD

Google Caffeine

•Google will update and index web pages 50% Faster•Caffeine indexes web pages on an enormous scale. In fact, every second Caffeine processes hundreds of thousands of pages in parallel. If this were a pile of paper it would grow three miles taller every second.•Caffeine indexes everything – web pages, video, images, news, blog posts, Facebook Page updates, Twitter updates, press releases and more!

Google Instant

What is Google Instant?

Google Instant is a new search technology that shows search results as you type in the search query box.

This change was based on Google’s findings that people read much faster than they can type . Thus, this change is based on the principal that online users will read the results as they type and stop typing when they find relevant results.

Google Instant suggests keywords as an online user types based on the top search queries containing the phrases that have already been entered on the screen – thus enabling people who are not sure what they are looking for – to utilize keyword strings that are popular for the same topic.

Google Instant

What does this mean for you?

1.It changes everything – reset your expectations and be open minded.2.Understanding your destinations top Keywords and Long Tail Phrases is critical. 3.The keywords that currently result in Online Bookings will not necessarily be the top producers under Instant.4.Revisit your PPC/CPC Keywords as this does affect your Google AdWords campaigns. If a user stops typing after 3 seconds – AdWords will credit the keyword phrase currently shown in the query box as the referral keyword.5.Keywords will be suggested to Online Travel Searchers that they have never considered.

Instant Keyword Research

Original Search Query: Destin

Original Search Query: Destin+(space)

Instant Keyword Research

Original Search Query: Chicago V

Original Search Query: Houston Va

Google Places

Bing: Have you Decided?

Testing Began July 21st!This means it is VITAL that you log your rankings on Yahoo Search right and do the following “check-ups”:

1.Submit a Bing XML Sitemap2.Sign up for Bing Tools3.Ensure that your Robots.txt file is the same for Yahoo and MSN/Bing as soon as possible.

More Bing Distribution!

Bing will now be a choice for Apple/Safari product users along with the existing choices of Yahoo and Google, but Google will remain the default Engine behind the Safari Search interface.

Market Share vs. Google

Bing Maps

Bing pulls most of their “Map” locations/listings from Yellowpages.com (this is why there are tons of “spam” listings on their maps right now.

1.Make SURE that you go into Bing Local and claim/update your listing. Once you have completed that and added your Website – the BOOK IT button will appear next to your listing on the maps.2.Users have to download software to see the 3D View

Bing Directory

http://www.bing.com/local/ypdefault.aspx

Adding your company is a great way to build links – the Bing Directory does not “no follow” their links!

Bing – Adding/Verify Your Listing

https://ssl.bing.com/listings/BusinessSearch.aspx

Bing – Toolbox

Focus:Crawl, Index & Traffic

Key Highlights:•Browse through Bing Index to verify pages and directories that have been submitted•Submit URLs/XML Sitemaps•Identify Crawl Issues•Block specific URLs from Indexing•Keyword Performance•Inbound Links

Bing: An Aside

Does your Website Answer Questions & Help People Make Decisions?

Social Marketing

How much should I be spending on Social Marketing?

1.Do I even know what Social Marketing is suppose to do for me?

2.Are all Fans/Likes/Followers equal?

3.Can I track conversion from Social Marketing?

4.Do I have the staff & resources to dedicate to Social Marketing?

5.How well do I understand my client demographics?

Social Marketing

Social Marketing

FACEBOOK USERS

FACEBOOK – WHAT MOTIVATES USERS TO “LIKE” YOU

40% To Receive Discounts and Promotions

39% To Show Support for the Company to Others

36% To Get a Freebie

34% To Stay Informed about Activities of the Company

33% To Get Updates on Future Products/Projects

30% To Get Updates on Upcoming Sales/Promotions

29% For Entertainment/Enjoyment

22% Someone Recommended it to Me

21% To Learn about the Company

13% For Education about Company Topics

13% To Interact

Social Marketing – Facebook

Do You “Like” It?

http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like

Social Marketing

TWITTER USERS

Social Marketing – Twitter

Do You “Tweet This” ?

http://twitter.com/goodies/tweetbutton

Email Marketing

Benchmarks:

Open Rates: 11.2%Click Rates: 9% - 10.5%Open Rates by Day: High: Sunday Low: MondayClick Rates by Day: High: Sunday Low: MondayBounce Rates: >Monthly: 1%-2% <Monthly: 5%+

Effect of Personalization:

In Body of Email: Increased Open RatesIn Subject Line: Reduced Open Rates

Other Hints:

% of Users that images turned on by default: 33%% of Users reading email on mobile devices: 25%

Email Marketing

•Small Businesses Report a 20% increase in Customer Loyalty when Social Marketing is integrated with the Email Marketing Campaigns

•Approximately 10% of email marketers are integrating social marketing tools into their email campaigns

Mobile Marketing

Great Resources

•Google Webmaster Blog: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/•Google Blog: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/•Bing ToolBox: http://www.bing.com/toolbox/webmasters/•Search Engine Land: http://www.searchengineland.com•Mashable: http://www.mashable.com•Website Mag: http://www.websitemagazine.com•Demographics: http://www.quantcast.com

Contact Info

Amber (Leto) MayerChief Operating OfficerTravelStorm, Inc.

amayer@instantsoftware.comwww.facebook.com/rezolutionedgewww.twitter.com/rezolutionedgewww.linkedin.com/in/amberleto