If you’re like the majority of independent hoteliers, you have a lean marketing budget.
NB: This is an article from WebRezPro
Every marketing dollar matters and mistakes can be costly! Check out our list of seven hotel marketing mistakes you might be making—and how to fix ‘em!
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1. Website Friction & Poor Site Health
When a guest comes to your website, there must be a clear path to booking. The more friction there is, the less likely they are to book. Imagine someone walking into your hotel lobby to inquire about vacancies, but before they can do so, they must walk through several doorways, step over a dog, ignore a wailing child, and then stand in a queue for 15 minutes—there’s a good chance they’ll walk away and try the hotel next door instead.
Hotel website friction includes unresponsive website design, awkward site navigation, a hard-to-find booking button, too much or too little content, and inconsistent branding. Website friction creates distrust and an unprofessional image of your property.
Friction can also contribute to a poor Google ranking, which considers what they call Core Web Vitals: load speed, input delay speed, and visual stability.
Solution: Work with a web designer schooled in UX (user experience) and a web content professional to audit and correct all the friction points on your website. Even a few minor updates rather than a complete overhaul can make a huge impact on your bookings.
2. Neglecting SEO
Everything to do with your website is marketing, including Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It’s not as sexy as 360-degree images, video, and augmented reality! But it’s equally important. Let’s use a movie analogy.
While Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio are the clear stars of the show in Titanic, the movie could not have come to life without reams of support behind the scenes. Whereas your web designer is akin to a movie director who brings all the moving pieces to life, your SEO acts like a publicist who works hard in the background to seek out promotional opportunities (like interviews with the movie’s stars) to generate attention. Without SEO, your website will struggle to get the attention it deserves.
Solution: Your SEO works hard to get Google’s attention! Most people are familiar with the importance of keywords, but it’s also important to customize image file names, use SEO-friendly alt text, and compress image size for quicker site loading. All this information on the backend tells search engines what’s on your website, which serves to reinforce relevance. Don’t overlook those keywords, though! Incorporating a hotel blog and FAQ page are surefire ways to boost your hotel’s SEO.
