RezNEWS Feature Article:
Ten things your website marketing company does not want you to know.
RezNEWS explains why.
Working in the Internet marketing business the past seven years, I have seen many styles and types of business practices. To an experienced professional, some of these styles can range from silly, to irresponsible, to downright illegal. The purpose of this article is to educate our RezStream clients and RezNews subscribers about Internet marketing in general, expose the irresponsible practices commonly found in the Internet marketing arena, and shed light on some of the procedures that many marketing companies would rather not share.
Click here to download PDF version of article.
Here are ten topics that every lodging property should know about their website management:
- Success should not be measured by the amount of traffic your website gets.
RezNEWS: Many marketing companies focus primarily on generating traffic to your website. This is an acceptable approach only when the traffic to your website is “good” traffic. It is easy to send general and untargeted traffic to any website. This type of traffic produces an extremely low conversion rate and most often will not translate into any additional revenue. Make sure your marketing company understands that you are in the business of making money, not simply increasing traffic to your website. - Your account manager has no Internet marketing experience or formal marketing education.
RezNEWS: The recent proliferation of websites and the need to correctly market these websites has created an increased demand for skilled online marketers. A new problem arises, one of low supply and high demand for individuals with Internet marketing expertise. As a result, some marketing companies are hiring individuals with no experience based on the common misconception that "anyone can do this.” Like many vocations, specialists with industry education and/or experience should perform website marketing work. Guarantee your property’s Internet marketing success by asking for credentials, education, and industry experience of the specialist that will be assigned to your account. The practice of hiring inexperienced people, paying them low wages, and then charging clients exorbitant fees is a result of market conditions that will not last as hoteliers become more educated. - Your pay per click (PPC) account management may be "farmed out” to a company other than the one that you hired.
RezNEWS: This situation addresses some major concerns. This occurs when you hire an industry specialist who is good at marketing themselves, but then they pass your account over to a generalist. Assigning the account to a Jack-of-all-trades PPC management company is NOT a good way to make sure your account receives the attention that it needs. Another concern is a clear conflict of interest. Some firms charge for providing their marketing services on the “front end” and then also receive a “cut” on your property’s per-click fees, or the “back end.” This concept relates to the first point we made in this list of ten. With this practice, this firm would be motivated to send as much traffic (targeted or not) as possible to your website regardless of whether or not your property in turn made more money. In this case, the marketing company would make more money, literally, at your expense. This turns into a great situation for the marketing company, but not so great for the unsuspecting property owner. Another related topic worth mentioning here is working with local “gurus,” friends or relatives who are eager to manage your PPC accounts and promise to “save you money.” Like using a generalist, amateur PPC account management has universal results: per-click costs go up while click-thru and conversion rates go down. Perhaps this reminds you of the phrase “penny wise and pound foolish?” - Some so-called marketing services you are paying for do not generate additional online revenue.
RezNEWS: Watch out for marketing jargon and fads having to do with blogs, link farms, social or viral networking, Web 2.0, and such. Most are “re-branding” of old ideas that have been around for a long time in Internet years. Amazon.com has been using social networking in the form of online book reviews (just like tripadvisor.com’s hotel reviews) since 1995. This practice is far from new, as some would like you to believe. It is better to stick with what delivers proven results and revenue, not to follow the "flavor of the week.” Avoiding these fads is also a good way to avoid getting banned from search engines. This article is not dismissing blogs and social networks as a whole, but only as they relate to generating additional revenue for hotels. To say that blogs work for some businesses, so therefore they work for hotels, is erroneous logic. - You are being overcharged or charged for services that should be included with your account management.
RezNEWS: Are you being charged for a "consultation" when you are just asking simple account or billing questions? Website management should be a partnership that benefits both parties and fosters open communication and learning. Look for a company that charges a flat fee and focuses on your success, not one that finds ways to “nickel and dime” you. - Your marketing company does not produce any original ideas.
RezNEWS: Let’s face it; Internet marketing companies today are busy. It takes time and money to do their own in-house research, hire and retain industry specialists, and speak and write articles on original and timely topics. As a result, some companies simply use others’ ideas and articles and “rebrand” them as if they were their own. Pay attention to newsletters and blogs with automated RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feeds that import other people’s ideas and content. If your marketing company does not have original ideas, products, research and data, they will probably be using other people’s ideas...good or bad. - Your website design is not converting at a high percentage, a statistic that your marketing company does not know or want to share.
RezNEWS: The company responsible for marketing your website should have an unwavering focus on increasing your online revenue. To do this, they must have the tools and knowledge to accurately measure online conversion rates and revenue. The industry average conversion rate for a hotel website is 2-3%, although the professionals at RezStream consider this percentage very low. Do you know what your website conversion rate is? Ask your marketing company. If it is less than 3%, or they do not know the answer to the question, fire them! They are not doing their job. (Note: for the purpose of this article, a conversion is defined as an online transaction involving the exchange of money, i.e., booking a room. Other visitor behaviors, like certain page views or downloads, should not be considered a conversion.) - If you want to get more traffic and revenue from your website, it does not necessarily mean having to "spend more money.”
RezNEWS: “You have to spend more money to make more money.” Beware of marketing companies if this is their only suggestion when you ask for help generating more online revenue during off seasons or slow times. This is also true at contract renewal with your marketing company. Many times, you can get similar or even better results by more effectively spending less money…not more! Renewal time may be the perfect time to switch to an Internet marketing company that understands this concept. - A 30% commission rate on directory reservations is too much! If you are paying that, you are getting ripped off.
RezNEWS: In the last few years, there has been downward pressure on online commissions in global distribution and booking engine rates. Many of the biggest online portals that used to charge 30% or more are now charging less than 20% for online commissions. Booking engines are now in the 2-3% per reservation range or offer reasonable flat monthly fees. If you are approached by someone from an online resource that wants to charge you a 30% commission per booking, you are dealing with someone who is not in touch with the current market. Commission fees for online reservations are decreasing and will continue to decrease…not increase! - Your marketing company is not savvy enough to understand the value of taking online reservations from your website.
RezNEWS: Statistically, more and more of your visitors prefer to book online and will not pick up the phone. Give them what they want. Aside from increasing revenue and creating a new revenue stream, a booking engine on your website will also enable you to track revenue and hold your marketing company accountable for desired results...additional online revenue!
About the author
Joe Pawlak is the Vice President of sales and business development for RezStream. Joe also heads the Internet marketing division. Joe has over seven years extensive experience in the website design, hosting, and marketing arena.
Click here to contact the author with comments or questions.
