How to optimize your website for sales using customer reviews

Optimizing your hotels’ web presencewith reviews and user-generated content By Josiah Mackenzie August 2011

Optimizing Your Website With Online ReviewsShow Me The Money! How Online Reviews and UGC Make Sales Online guest reviews and user generated content can help hotels generate sales two ways: •  Indirectly: by increasing rankings in search engines, bringing more traffic to your website •  Directly: by improving sales conversion rates by increasing consumer confidence 2

Optimizing Your Website With Online ReviewsReviews and UGC for Search Engine Optimization For a long time, the key benefits of reviews and UGC was that they provided fresh content. Now, major search engines take reviews into account for their ranking algorithms. Why are search rankings important? “The average travel purchase online involves over 50 unique search queries and 2.5 hours of research time” [Google at EyeforTravel conference, May 2011] Each of these searches is an opportunity to introduce your brand….if people see you. •  The top result on a search page gets clicked 42% of the time •  The top 3 results get 79% of the total clicks •  The top 5 results get 88% of clicks •  Only 3% of searchers go beyond the first page of results pages Placement in search results plays a huge role in how much website traffic your hotels receive! 3

Optimizing Your Website With Online ReviewsReviews for Increasing Direct Sales •  Many people who leave your hotel websites do so to read online reviews elsewhere. Publishing reviews directly on your hotel websites can cut down on this loss of traffic, and encourage more direct bookings. •  Increasing consumer confidence is another key factor in encouraging more direct sales, and placing reviews on your websites can increase this confidence. •  These issues are particularly important for small and independent hotels that may not have the recognition of a large chain brand. World Travel Market 4

Optimizing Your Website With Online ReviewsHow HKHotels Displays Social Proof 5

Optimizing Your Website With Online ReviewsMore Review Publishing Examples 6

Optimizing Your Website With Online ReviewsExample: Pueblo Bonito Resorts 7

Optimizing Your Website With Online ReviewsExample: Fierro Hotel 8

Optimizing Your Website With Online ReviewsMake It Easy – Bridge the Online/Offline Gap 9

Optimizing Your Website With Online ReviewsPutting Rich Media UGC On Your Site Hotel SO uploads photos of their guestbook to the web: 10

Optimizing Your Website With Online ReviewsExample: Seven Hotel 11

Optimizing Your Website With Online ReviewsKey Points To Remember About UGC The next time you receive positive feedback, ask the guest to share that experience online. (But remember to communicate what they have to gain from the process!) Establish mechanisms to organize it all: •  To organize uploads (tags and hashtags) •  To centralize access (Flickr, Facebook groups) •  To share the content (website section, blog, etc) 12

Optimizing Your Website With Online ReviewsTest, Test, Test Setup A/B split tests to track everything and identify improvement opportunities. A few suggested metrics to begin with include: •  Time on site •  Bounce rates •  Page exit rates •  Sales conversion rates 13

Optimizing Your Website With Online ReviewsAny Questions About Optimizing Your Presence with UGC? Email me: josiah@reviewpro.com Or connect on Twitter: @HmarketingHelp @ReviewPro More ideas, interviews, and case studies: http://www.ReviewPro.com/blog 14

http://www.hotelmarketingstrategies.com	1005
http://www.reviewpro.com	53
http://feeds.feedburner.com	4
http://translate.googleusercontent.com	2
http://www.bonkm.com	1
http://www.ofelio.com	1

How to optimize your website for sales using customer reviews

by ReviewPro on Aug 18, 2011

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

6 Embeds 1,066

Statistics

How to optimize your website for sales using customer reviews — Presentation Transcript