A third of US Internet users now research and book travel online, according to the Conference Board and TNS' "Consumer Internet Barometer" study.
Two in 10 consumers used the Internet more this year than last to research travel arrangements, and 18% increased their online bookings.
However, the same survey concludes that the number of consumers using the internet to research travel outnumbers those that book online by nearly 2 to 1.
Wednesday, 24 October 2007
The web is still the top holiday planning tool
Thursday, 18 October 2007
The vast majority of viral marketing campaigns fail.
Viral marketing campaigns can be a highly effective means of generating site visitor traffic, as well as incoming links to help boost an SEO campaign.
However, a recent study from JupiterResearch suggests that only 15% of viral campaigns are successful. The reason for this high failure rate is simple - poor content.
Monday, 15 October 2007
One third of travel consumers abandoned websites after just 4 seconds
An Akamai study shows that one third of consumers to travel sites will abandon their search if they have to wait more than 4 seconds for their results to load. The results of the study are a clear warning to travel businesses to ensure fast loading times and data delivery on their websites - or risk losing over 30% of their online business.
Friday, 12 October 2007
Google dominates world search market.
Google generates 37 billion searches in August and dominates world search market. A recent comscore survey has revealed that Google sites generated 37 billion searches out of a global search total of 61 billion in August 2007.
That makes Google the world's biggest search property with a market share of 60%. Yahoo was placed second with a 14% share while MSN was in 4th with a 3.4% share.
Interestingly, the 3rd biggest search property in the world is now China's Baidu.com with over 5% of global search traffic.
Thursday, 11 October 2007
Should you bid on your own company name?
Bidding on your own company or brand name in a pay per click campaign is an issue that gets raised from time to time with my clients. It’s an important issue because a good percentage of traffic to many websites is generated by company name or brand based phrases, and often this traffic converts very well. However, many businesses are reluctant to pay for visitors that are already looking for their website. One client described it as feeling like they are paying twice for the same visitor.
More often than not visitors using the company name in a search are responding to an offline promotion, a word of mouth recommendation or are trying to find a site that they did not bookmark the first time around. Whatever the source, these are highly qualified visitors that have a higher chance of converting to a sale than visitors using other search phrases and every effort should be made to ensure that they can easily find your website.
Should your business bid on its own company or brand names? If your business experiences any of the following scenarios then bidding on your company or brand name may be a worthwhile strategy;
1. Your company name or brand is a generic and popular phrase.
If your business has a generic name or brand that is similar to a popular search phrase then it may be very difficult to secure the top spot for a company name search in the natural listings. If this is the case it may be that visitors looking for your site end up clicking through to a competitor’s site instead. In this scenario I would recommend bidding for a top 3 placement in the paid search listings so your site appears above the main natural search results. This would significantly increase the chance of visitors finding your site rather than your competitors.
This could be an expensive strategy depending on the popularity of the search term. However, not only will you be securing a top position for your company or brand, you will also be securing a top position for a highly targeted search phrase. So this strategy should result in a healthy ROI.
2. Your company name is not a registered trademark and your competitors are bidding on it.
A common paid search strategy is to bid on competitor names and brands in the hope of picking up some of the visitor traffic that was destined for their sites. This is clearly an attempt to cash in on a competitor’s brand equity or offline promotional spend, but it is a perfectly legal strategy if the company name or brand is not a registered trademark.
Even if you have the No 1 position in the natural listings in Google for your company name or brand it is still possible for a competitor to secure a spot in the paid listings that would site just above your site listing. The danger here is that many people don’t distinguish between paid and non-paid listings and may click on the first link they see, especially if the company or brand name is used in the competitor’s ad listing text.
In this scenario, securing the top spot in the paid listings above your competitors should be straightforward and relatively inexpensive. This is because the main search engines reward better performing ads with higher positioning and your ad listing will almost certainly have a higher click through rate than your competitors listings.
3. Recently launched websites.
A new website may not get listed in the natural results for its company or brand name for several weeks after launch, this is especially true in Google. If this is the case, and you are spending money on offline promotions with the objective of driving visitors to your new website, it would be a good idea to include your company and brand name in a PPC campaign until the search engines index your new domain.
In many ways bidding on your own company and brand names could be considered a defensive PPC tactic. However, it’s important to remember that these are your visitors and your bookings and this may be the only way to ensure that they don’t both end up with your competitors.
Tuesday, 9 October 2007
Online reviews twice as trusted as search ads
A recent global Nielsen Internet survey shows that nearly twice as many consumers trust online reviews than they do search engine ads. The precise figures were 61% compared to 34%. Only banner ads at 26% and mobile text ads at 18% were trusted less than paid search ads. The question posed was "To what extent do you trust the following forms of advertising?" and the results are as follows;
Recommendations from consumers - 78%
Newspapers - 63%
Consumer opinions posted online - 61%
Brand websites - 60%
Television - 56%
Magazines - 56%
Radio - 54%
Brand sponsorships - 49%
Email I signed up for - 49%
Ads before movies - 38%
Search engine ads - 34%
Online banner ads - 26%
Text ads on mobile phones - 18%
The Nielsen survey - which covered 26,486 internet users in 47 markets from Europe, Asia Pacific, the Americas and the Middle East - is further evidence of the growth in importance of consumer generate reviews and content, as well as the emergence of online review based sites such as TripAdvisor, Holiday Critic, and RealHolidayReports.com. It also issues a clear warning to those businesses that ignore user generated content and rely solely on paid search marketing strategies such as pay per click and banner ads to influence online consumers.
However, before proceeding to terminate your paid search campaigns and divert all of your precious online marketing budget into social media websites, it is worth taking a moment to look more closely at what the survey results are actually saying.
First of all, these results are really only reinforcing what we already know - which is that "word of mouth" and "personal recommendations" are one of the most influential marketing tools available to any business. There is nothing earth shattering in this revelation.
We also know that the internet consistently receives bad publicity through spam, fraud, phishing and other unsavoury activities, so it shouldn't be that surprising if some of this filters through to influence the way consumers view online advertising. This credibility issue is unique to the internet and traditional media such as newspapers, TV and radio do not face the same level of negativity.
Another important point is that the survey is not suggesting that paid search ads, banner ads or mobile text ads are not effective. The issue here is about perception and not effectiveness - even though the two are inextricably linked. Many people may say that they do not trust search ads, but there is no doubting that well organised pay per click campaigns can be highly profitable and many businesses rely heavily on them.
One final point, the Nielsen survey did not include natural search engine listings in the mix. This is a shame as it would have been very interesting to see how these stacked up credibility wise against both online reviews and paid search ads. There is plenty of research to show that consumers view the natural listings as somehow being "endorsed" by the search engines and so attach a greater trust to these than they do paid listings. It is possible that the paid search ads from businesses that have good exposure in the natural search listings have a greater trust amongst consumers than those that don't.
So, what can we learn from the results of this survey.
In recent years many travel and leisure based businesses have had to re-think the way they approach their online marketing with the emergence of consumer generated content. This is particularly true of the hotels sector where user generated reviews have been a widely used component of the online buying process for several years, and cannot be ignored. As the survey clearly shows, the time has come for online PR and online reputation management to be key components of every hotel's online marketing mix.
What about other travel and leisure based businesses that are less affected by online reviews and rely heavily on paid search strategies? Well, despite the 'trust" issue highlighted by the survey, Pay Per Click, banner ads and mobile text ads are still highly effective advertising mediums. If a paid search campaign has a positive ROI then why would you not continue with that campaign?
It is not an 'either or scenario', and there is an increasingly compelling argument for all travel based businesses to look at diverting at least some marketing funds to social media websites to ensure that they are maximising their opportunities to generate sales through creating positive digital word of mouth.
Recommendations from consumers - 78%
Newspapers - 63%
Consumer opinions posted online - 61%
Brand websites - 60%
Television - 56%
Magazines - 56%
Radio - 54%
Brand sponsorships - 49%
Email I signed up for - 49%
Ads before movies - 38%
Search engine ads - 34%
Online banner ads - 26%
Text ads on mobile phones - 18%
The Nielsen survey - which covered 26,486 internet users in 47 markets from Europe, Asia Pacific, the Americas and the Middle East - is further evidence of the growth in importance of consumer generate reviews and content, as well as the emergence of online review based sites such as TripAdvisor, Holiday Critic, and RealHolidayReports.com. It also issues a clear warning to those businesses that ignore user generated content and rely solely on paid search marketing strategies such as pay per click and banner ads to influence online consumers.
However, before proceeding to terminate your paid search campaigns and divert all of your precious online marketing budget into social media websites, it is worth taking a moment to look more closely at what the survey results are actually saying.
First of all, these results are really only reinforcing what we already know - which is that "word of mouth" and "personal recommendations" are one of the most influential marketing tools available to any business. There is nothing earth shattering in this revelation.
We also know that the internet consistently receives bad publicity through spam, fraud, phishing and other unsavoury activities, so it shouldn't be that surprising if some of this filters through to influence the way consumers view online advertising. This credibility issue is unique to the internet and traditional media such as newspapers, TV and radio do not face the same level of negativity.
Another important point is that the survey is not suggesting that paid search ads, banner ads or mobile text ads are not effective. The issue here is about perception and not effectiveness - even though the two are inextricably linked. Many people may say that they do not trust search ads, but there is no doubting that well organised pay per click campaigns can be highly profitable and many businesses rely heavily on them.
One final point, the Nielsen survey did not include natural search engine listings in the mix. This is a shame as it would have been very interesting to see how these stacked up credibility wise against both online reviews and paid search ads. There is plenty of research to show that consumers view the natural listings as somehow being "endorsed" by the search engines and so attach a greater trust to these than they do paid listings. It is possible that the paid search ads from businesses that have good exposure in the natural search listings have a greater trust amongst consumers than those that don't.
So, what can we learn from the results of this survey.
In recent years many travel and leisure based businesses have had to re-think the way they approach their online marketing with the emergence of consumer generated content. This is particularly true of the hotels sector where user generated reviews have been a widely used component of the online buying process for several years, and cannot be ignored. As the survey clearly shows, the time has come for online PR and online reputation management to be key components of every hotel's online marketing mix.
What about other travel and leisure based businesses that are less affected by online reviews and rely heavily on paid search strategies? Well, despite the 'trust" issue highlighted by the survey, Pay Per Click, banner ads and mobile text ads are still highly effective advertising mediums. If a paid search campaign has a positive ROI then why would you not continue with that campaign?
It is not an 'either or scenario', and there is an increasingly compelling argument for all travel based businesses to look at diverting at least some marketing funds to social media websites to ensure that they are maximising their opportunities to generate sales through creating positive digital word of mouth.
Monday, 8 October 2007
Marketing on multi-language search engines
A client of mine who prefers to remain anonymous was recently approached by an agency offering to increase the visibility of their website on multilingual search engines without having to translate their website. Their service involves creating a translated and optimised version of the home page in as many languages as required. The client asked for our views on the value of this type of service and whether we thought it would be effective. This is our response;
Clearly, if you want to sell your holidays into other language markets then translating and optimising your site in the local languages would be a key part of this.
However, there are some issues with the proposed approach that need to be considered;
1. The first thing to make clear is that if your site is ranked well in the English language versions of the major search properties then it will also be ranked in the foreign search engines. For example, if you go to Google Spain (http://www.google.es/) and just type in your company name (or a phrase that your site ranks well for in Google.com) you will see your site appear in the listings. This is because the default setting of the foreign language versions of most major search engines is the global database. This is the same in any language version of Google (and other major search engines).
There are 2 other search options; 'Pages in Spanish' and 'Pages from Spain'. If you make the same search after selecting either of these 2 options your site will not appear. To appear in a 'Pages in Spanish' search you need to have some Spanish content on your website. To appear in a 'Pages from Spain' search you need to have an .es domain or have your site hosted in Spain. So, just optimising one site page will only allow you to enter the 'Pages in Spanish' option index, not 'Pages from Spain' index.
2. Translating and optimising just one site page will only allow you to effectively target 2 or 3 search phrases, so your exposure will be very limited. If a business is serious about wanting to access the German market, for example, then a much greater number of site pages need to be translated into German and then optimised in order to create any real level of exposure for your target search phrases.
3. You also need to take into account that if you are marketing to a foreign language audience you are likely to need to have staff within your company that can deal with enquiries in that language, otherwise you are unlikely to convert many of the enquiries.
If you are serious about wanting to market your business on foreign language search engines simply optimising your home page into various languages is not an effective way of doing this. We would recommend that you have your website professionally translated into the target languages, and then optimised by search marketing experts native in those languages.
Clearly, if you want to sell your holidays into other language markets then translating and optimising your site in the local languages would be a key part of this.
However, there are some issues with the proposed approach that need to be considered;
1. The first thing to make clear is that if your site is ranked well in the English language versions of the major search properties then it will also be ranked in the foreign search engines. For example, if you go to Google Spain (http://www.google.es/) and just type in your company name (or a phrase that your site ranks well for in Google.com) you will see your site appear in the listings. This is because the default setting of the foreign language versions of most major search engines is the global database. This is the same in any language version of Google (and other major search engines).
There are 2 other search options; 'Pages in Spanish' and 'Pages from Spain'. If you make the same search after selecting either of these 2 options your site will not appear. To appear in a 'Pages in Spanish' search you need to have some Spanish content on your website. To appear in a 'Pages from Spain' search you need to have an .es domain or have your site hosted in Spain. So, just optimising one site page will only allow you to enter the 'Pages in Spanish' option index, not 'Pages from Spain' index.
2. Translating and optimising just one site page will only allow you to effectively target 2 or 3 search phrases, so your exposure will be very limited. If a business is serious about wanting to access the German market, for example, then a much greater number of site pages need to be translated into German and then optimised in order to create any real level of exposure for your target search phrases.
3. You also need to take into account that if you are marketing to a foreign language audience you are likely to need to have staff within your company that can deal with enquiries in that language, otherwise you are unlikely to convert many of the enquiries.
If you are serious about wanting to market your business on foreign language search engines simply optimising your home page into various languages is not an effective way of doing this. We would recommend that you have your website professionally translated into the target languages, and then optimised by search marketing experts native in those languages.
How to get your site in the Google UK index
This is a question emailed in by Peter Thomson, President of Thomson Bike Tours (http://www.thomsonbiketours.com/).
Peter asks "Our company website is well ranked in Google.com and much of our business is from the US, however, we would now like to increase our focus on the UK market. My question is how do we get our site listed on Google UK?"
To answer Peter's question we first of all we need to distinguish between Google UK and Google's UK index. If you go to Google.co.uk you will see that the default search setting is 'the web'. This is basically Google's main global index and usually returns the same results as Google.com. Your site does appear in this index.
However, if I make the same search again, but this time select 'pages from the UK', your site does not appear. This is a problem for you because a relatively significant percentage of UK consumers use the 'pages from the UK' option to narrow their search. As it stands, these potential customers will not find your website in the natural search results.
To get your site in the Google UK sites only index you must have one of two things; either a .co.uk domain, or a site hosted within the UK with a UK I.P. address. A word of warning though, just because you use a UK based hosting company does not guarantee that your site is physically hosted in the UK. This is because some hosting companies use offshore servers. It's definitely worth getting assurances on this before committing to new hosting services.
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