Online marketing, is about marketing a product online.
 

Online Marketing Streams :

Search engine marketing is where you optimise/market your website to have better search engine page results. Social media marketing involves Facebook, Twitter and Google+.  There is also online advertising and affiliate marketing.

This guide for hotel online marketing creates a solid foundation for search engine marketing. The framework is the same for luxury hotels to bed & breakfasts to guest houses. We have also added a hotel online marketing Infographic for easy reference.
 

Your Websites Structure

It has to be readable by a search engine, strike a balance between Images and text. Alt tag your images on pages. clearly describe what the product is, packages, special offers,  on their specific page.

Separate and clearly titled pages with search engine friendly URL’s. Restaurants, Weddings, Conferences, Accommodation, Things to do in….

Add a blog to your site. Google now requires fresh, updated content. Think of your blog as an online marketing tool in its own right. Special offers, local events, information that potential customers, users will find helpful and interesting.
 

Search Terms / Keywords on Site

If you are a 5 Star luxury hotel, use this in your Title tags. If you are a Bed & Breakfast in Norfolk use this. Understand that online marketing is about placing your product in front of people that are searching for your product. Use this in your product pages. Your wedding page can have a sentence, ” the most attractive wedding venue in Suffolk”.

Do not keyword / search term spam, but if it fits naturally within your text, use it.

Add the hotels address to the footer of the site. This will naturally add your town and county on page for search engines. In your contact page you may add adjoining counties,  add these in a natural way, we are in easy reach from …( area / county)  or by train from ….(area / county).
 

Hotel Online Marketing with Social Media

My personal preference is Google+. Facebook and Twitter are closed systems – they will not increase your search engine page results. Google+ is Google !

If you already have FB and Twit on site, then add G+ to your hotel site and cross post.

Google+ has recently integrated Google+ Local, which was previously your hotels Google business listing (Google maps).

If you do not have a Business listing, then you can add this to your Google+ business page when you create your hotels business page.

Add the Google+ 1 button to your websites page.
 

Hotel Online Marketing Infographic

 

 
Online Ownership provides local seo consulting to hotels to help them appear for local area search queries, helping customers to find and book their hotel.