Pay-per-click advertising, commonly referred to as PPC, is considered by some to be the most effective way to generate more bookings on your website. If this is your current path, there are a number of actions that can and must be taken into account before investing in campaigns.
In fact, we’re taking it one step further and saying that without them, paid campaigns won’t have the same impact. Besides, when does the easy way out ever prove to be the better choice?
Are you ready to take your website to the next level but don’t have a strategy? Hold off on the PPC campaigns! Let’s focus on what really matters – Visibility. If you have less than 2000 visits on the website you should begin by embracing the idea that your website does not exist. Visibility has to be the foundation of your business. Following from this fundamental premise, you need to ensure that your visibility is promoted through the following strategy:
- Use OTA’s as a marketing channel.
- Stay on top of review sites (comment’s feedback, etc.).
- Consider Meta Searches since they grew between 30% and 40% during 2018, generating a significant number of visits.
- Promote back-links generation – this can result in a 15% increase in traffic (i.e. articles with links to the website).
- Implement proper SEO (i.e. meta title and description, URL optimization, Google My Business, etc.) – this can actually make your website #1.
- Conversion: If the conversion rate on your website is under 30%, your website is simply failing to generate visits to your booking engine. In other words, lookers aren’t converting into bookers.
Because website conversion is the only way to get direct reservations, we want to let you in on some super powerful details that you might be missing out on:
- Emotional connection: you don’t have a second chance to make a good first impression, so start the personalization journey now.
- Clear navigation and pop-up messages drive guests to book directly.
- Integrated branding and sales, meaning a website with an integrated booking engine that provides guests with a fast and seamless experience.
- Use conversion tools like shopping activation, pop-up, mobile, shopping recovery, etc. which can have more than 30% impact on sales.
- Best Price: If you have less than 2% of conversion, you’re not offering the best deal on your website and booking engine.
To get direct bookings with €0 advertising spend you need to start thinking about:
- Having unique offers for visitors booking directly on your site (“you won’t find this price anywhere”, added values, etc.).
- Make it easy to buy directly (easy-to-use booking engine, price comparison tool, etc.).
- Information: Think beyond the idea that what really matters is the book now button in a neon showcase. A great website needs to show users the information they’re looking for intuitively and correctly, and no one knows your guests better than you, so there’s no one better to do that job than you.
So hold off on the PPC campaigns. First, follow these tips and you’ll already be leaps ahead in making your website better in order to drive direct revenue for your hotel!
