Dec
11
I've lost count of the number of times I've seen this. It is tooth-grindingly annoying to find that it still happens. There's lots of great advice about how to do Google Adwords campaigns available to you as business owners and managers - if this happens to you, it is easy to fix.
What's the problem I'm talking about?
Google adwords campaigns based on keyword sets which include the business name.
But it's not the businesses themselves who are mounting these campaigns - it's so-called experts. People who should really know better.
What's the problem I'm talking about?
Google adwords campaigns based on keyword sets which include the business name.
But it's not the businesses themselves who are mounting these campaigns - it's so-called experts. People who should really know better.
It's great to have high visibility on page one of a Google search. Perhaps a top five page one listing for your target keywords, a Google Local listing and now - thanks to your Adwords campaign - a paid search listing either at the top of the page or down the side. How can you fail?
Well, the first way you can fail is to waste money on buying clicks for your own business name. If your web people can't get you on Google page one for a search term that is your business name, you either need to change the business name or get another web bod.
Why shouldn't you pay to attract clicks for a search on your own business name? Well, because it's a waste of money. Only people who know your business will know its name. If they've heard of the name or have seen it in an advert or an article, they'll type it into a search engine. Your organic search performance should be good enough for them to find you. You've already spent money on some other method of "reaching out" to your prospects with your business name - you don't wand to spend money all over again by offering people a paid link to click.
You see, people tend not to search for your business name. This is because if they've never been to your location before (remember I'm talking about hotels here) they don't know your business from a hole in the ground. They don't know you exist, they've never heard of you.
So what do they search for? What are the words they type into Google?
That is what you need to research! That is what your Adwords advisors should be doing for you!
At its most basic, people looking for a hotel in London will type in "london hotel" or "hotels in London". I leave you to imagine how expensive a click is going to be for those search terms.
Getting a little more sophisticated, people often search for the result they want to achieve from their search activity - this is what you need to get your head around.
"Book hotel in London", however will return a lot of results.
Then they might want to get a bit more specific. They can be more specific about location, about the type of hotel and/or room they're looking for, or even the date or reason for visit.
Yes I know, everybody just types in "hotels in london" don't they? Yes, to begin with, they probably do. But people are constantly learning how to use the internet to narrow down their search. In order to narrow down a search, you need to be more specific about what you're searching for don't you?
So a more effective search might look like this:
"Book three star hotel double room Camden Town"
Now that's pretty specific isn't it? Interestingly, if you go and type it into Google today I've done it for you, look here, you'll be offered a selection of hotel booking sites in the paid links, which have nothing to do with Camden Town.
(note, at the time of writing, it took about ten minutes for this article to appear for the search term noted above - page one on Google, position 9. This artlcle also, ranks fairly well for the term "adwords campaigns for hotels" - so if your advisors are telling you how difficult and expensive it's going to be, you can always contact me ... )
Indeed, the competition for this search term is so weak, I'm prepared to bet that this blog article might occupy a position on page one within about ten minutes of my publishing it.
Long search terms like this take a lot of thinking about, but if you can do the research on them you can be well rewarded. It's known as "long tail marketing" - lots of people distributed in very small groups, looking for very specific things. When they find web pages that cater specifically for their needs, they have a high propensity for buying.
And importantly - in Adwords, long keyphrases are cheaper to buy "per click" because the competition for them is less intense. So you get more out of your hotel marketing budget.
Most hotels I've come across can't be bothered doing the research to tap into these highly lucrative and loyal groups. They'd rather:
a) Throw money down the drain by shouting out their own bsuiness name on the internet, and assuming that's what people are searching for, or
b) Compete directly with the big boys (the online travel agents and large hotel chains) who have much bigger budgets and can "own" simple search terms like "hotels in ...." or "book hotel ..."
If you're going to beat them at this game, you're going to have to focus. Focus on what your prospect is looking for and build your campaign around that.
Once you've done that, you need to make sure that your website converts visits from clicks into a result for you. You need to at least try to capture permission to communicate with your visitor (get their email address and permission to use it) if not an actual booking.
Well, the first way you can fail is to waste money on buying clicks for your own business name. If your web people can't get you on Google page one for a search term that is your business name, you either need to change the business name or get another web bod.
Why shouldn't you pay to attract clicks for a search on your own business name? Well, because it's a waste of money. Only people who know your business will know its name. If they've heard of the name or have seen it in an advert or an article, they'll type it into a search engine. Your organic search performance should be good enough for them to find you. You've already spent money on some other method of "reaching out" to your prospects with your business name - you don't wand to spend money all over again by offering people a paid link to click.
You see, people tend not to search for your business name. This is because if they've never been to your location before (remember I'm talking about hotels here) they don't know your business from a hole in the ground. They don't know you exist, they've never heard of you.
So what do they search for? What are the words they type into Google?
That is what you need to research! That is what your Adwords advisors should be doing for you!
At its most basic, people looking for a hotel in London will type in "london hotel" or "hotels in London". I leave you to imagine how expensive a click is going to be for those search terms.
Getting a little more sophisticated, people often search for the result they want to achieve from their search activity - this is what you need to get your head around.
"Book hotel in London", however will return a lot of results.
Then they might want to get a bit more specific. They can be more specific about location, about the type of hotel and/or room they're looking for, or even the date or reason for visit.
Yes I know, everybody just types in "hotels in london" don't they? Yes, to begin with, they probably do. But people are constantly learning how to use the internet to narrow down their search. In order to narrow down a search, you need to be more specific about what you're searching for don't you?
So a more effective search might look like this:
"Book three star hotel double room Camden Town"
Now that's pretty specific isn't it? Interestingly, if you go and type it into Google today I've done it for you, look here, you'll be offered a selection of hotel booking sites in the paid links, which have nothing to do with Camden Town.
(note, at the time of writing, it took about ten minutes for this article to appear for the search term noted above - page one on Google, position 9. This artlcle also, ranks fairly well for the term "adwords campaigns for hotels" - so if your advisors are telling you how difficult and expensive it's going to be, you can always contact me ... )
Indeed, the competition for this search term is so weak, I'm prepared to bet that this blog article might occupy a position on page one within about ten minutes of my publishing it.
Long search terms like this take a lot of thinking about, but if you can do the research on them you can be well rewarded. It's known as "long tail marketing" - lots of people distributed in very small groups, looking for very specific things. When they find web pages that cater specifically for their needs, they have a high propensity for buying.
And importantly - in Adwords, long keyphrases are cheaper to buy "per click" because the competition for them is less intense. So you get more out of your hotel marketing budget.
Most hotels I've come across can't be bothered doing the research to tap into these highly lucrative and loyal groups. They'd rather:
a) Throw money down the drain by shouting out their own bsuiness name on the internet, and assuming that's what people are searching for, or
b) Compete directly with the big boys (the online travel agents and large hotel chains) who have much bigger budgets and can "own" simple search terms like "hotels in ...." or "book hotel ..."
If you're going to beat them at this game, you're going to have to focus. Focus on what your prospect is looking for and build your campaign around that.
Once you've done that, you need to make sure that your website converts visits from clicks into a result for you. You need to at least try to capture permission to communicate with your visitor (get their email address and permission to use it) if not an actual booking.
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