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Unlike web designers and other Internet marketing companies, Hotel Sales Online focuses exclusively on Internet marketing and direct electronic distribution for hotels. We know this area very well and can approach the issues involved from a wide perspective while at the same time identifying and exploiting subtleties that others miss. Click here to see what we can do and how we compare with other hotel Internet marketing companies.

In all cases our goal is to make you money by increasing the number of bookings you get and to save you money by reducing the commissions you pay. Our service is a smart investment that will pay for itself quickly and many times over, and will continue to make you money for years to come.

Internet Marketing Audit
The first step in a professional and effective Internet marketing campaign for your hotel is a full marketing audit of your hotel's current visibility on the Internet. This will provide the information needed to promote your hotel and provide a benchmark against which to measure future results. A Hotel Sales Online Internet marketing audit includes:

• A detailed review of your website, including its design, appearance in different browsers, technical status, speed, navigation, ease-of-use, content, booking method, search engine optimisation, etc. - all examined from a marketing and sales perspective.
• A comprehensive review of your website's search engine rankings by both position and page under top keywords for your hotel and destination. Search Engines checked include Google/AOL, MSN, Yahoo, Alta Vista, HotBot, Lycos/Alltheweb, Teoma and AskJeeves.
• An examination of your existing website logs (i.e. website statistics), to identify current website traffic patterns, referrals, keyword usage, etc.
• The identification and itemisation of all existing links to your website (including links to all pages within your website).
• An examination, using sample booking scenarios and dates, of your hotel's exposure and pricing in the top travel intermediary websites (Hotel.com (Travelocity), Lodging.com, Obitz, PlacesToStay.com (WorldRes) and TripGenius).

We then rank the most valuable keyword words and phrases for your hotel and the services it offers in terms of both popularity and competition from other websites. This will identify the keyword phrases that are popular with potential customers yet have little competition from other websites. These are the niche keyword phrases we will target.

The keywords that we identify for your hotel can be used both for optimising individual pages of your website and for pay-per-click/keyword advertising campaign (see below).

To help plan the most cost-effective pay-per-click/keyword advertising campaign, we will also identify the lowest cost keywords relevant to your hotel in Overture and other pay-per-click search engines.

Once we have identified the top keyword words and phrases that your potential customers are using to find hotels and services like yours, will allocate two or three keywords to each separate page of your website. We will then optimise that page for those particular keywords.

In optimizing the pages of your website for the search engines we will add to, or alter, the 'meta-tags' of each page to the best effect, particularly the 'title', 'description' and 'keywords' meta-tags. We may also alter the filenames of individual web pages, the filenames of images used on your website and the 'alt' tags for images used on your website. In all cases we will ensure that your website continues to function as normal and we will check each modified page thoroughly before replacing the existing page. We will make a full backup of your website before beginning work.

All optimization work is done by experienced web designers and the entire process is checked and tested at each step.

Hotel Sales Online can separately submit each page of your website to over 300 major search engines and directories, including Google, AOL Search, Netscape Search, Lycos and Alltheweb. This is not an automated process and submissions are tailored to emphasise the top keyword words and phrases for your hotel. Submissions are made from our own email address and we will handle all confirmation and other email from the submission process.

We will also submit your website to the Overture site match program (About, Excite, Fast, Alta Vista, Yahoo, Looksmart, Infospace and more) and to Ask Jeeves. (Please note that these are both paid submissions and this quotation covers only payment for the first year).

Hotel Sales Online can identify all existing links to your website and to individual pages within your website. We will then look at the links to similar websites and pages and, if possible, examine your website's server logs to find out where your existing traffic is coming from.

We will also examine your market sector to identify the main news, information and discussion websites that are relevant to your hotel, including traditional media websites and any relevant portals, forums, discussion groups and newsletters. From this analysis we will identify general target areas for link requests and then research these to identify specific websites to approach.

Where possible we will contact potential link-partners directly (with your clearance, if required), tailoring our request to the website concerned. We will add reciprocal links to your website where necessary and also advise you on actions that you can take to attract further quality links to your websites.

Following the identification of the most valuable keyword words and phrases for your hotel and its services, we will carry out an introductory pay-per-click/keyword advertising campaign for your hotels using Google and Overture (MSN, Yahoo, etc.).

We will isolate keywords that are both popular with potential customers and that are also available at relatively low bids, and then bid for these keywords so that an advertisement for your hotel and a link to its website appears when potential customers search using those keywords.

Please note that this is an introductory pay-per-click/keyword advertising campaign only. Once the initial budget is exhausted you will be responsible for further costs if you wish to continue the campaign.

With this in mind we will advise and consult with you on a wide variety of areas related to hotel electronic distribution channels, some of which are beyond the specific tasks outlined above.

Issues we can advise you on include website hosting, website statistics, updates and changes to your website, online booking engines, ways to minimise GDS, intermediary and other commissions, customer relationship management using email, and the online marketing of weddings, conferences, restaurants and other business units.

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