If you build it, they will come. That strategy might work in some arenas, but not when it comes to the success of a direct booking website. Your website is an engine for revenue generation and every engine needs fuel: your website can’t convert if travelers can’t find it online. How do you make sure your brand is in front of travelers when they are ready to click the “book now” button?
Potential travelers don’t plan vacations overnight – most take the time to research the big decisions on destinations, accommodations, and dates. It’s critical for your vacation rental brand to remain in front of travelers at every stage of their journey, from the initial dreaming and research to setting up timed reminders. Our team of digital marketing experts came up with some simple and effective tips to help you amp up your vacation rental brand’s direct booking website.
START WITH A SOLID SEO STRATEGY
How effective is a direct booking website, if it’s not attracting interested and qualified website visitors? Setting up a robust and targeted Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy to drive traffic to your website is essential: and without it, your website isn’t going to deliver your desired results. SEO is what makes your business and listings show up in search page results. Two tips for driving traffic to your website:
- Consider the technical side of things, like how search engines see your website. Focus on ranking for keywords that will set your unique listings apart.
- Use long-tail keywords to push your content up in the search results. As an example, a brand might try to rank for: “socially distant beachfront properties in Destin, Florida.”
FILL YOUR WEBSITE WITH INFORMED CONTENT
Creating relevant and useful website content is a substantial part of any effective SEO strategy By regularly publishing quality content — content that demonstrates your brand’s expertise in your market — you’ll increase relevant traffic to your website through organic search results. It’s simple to become a trusted resource: create content about local attractions, best places to eat, and social distant activities, and local COVID-19 restrictions. And remember, Google rewards content with purpose!
RETARGET PAST WEBSITE VISITORS
One of the most effective ways to retarget previous website visitors is with dynamic display advertising. What does that term mean, exactly? It means you can follow your website users around the internet with ads featuring properties they showed an interest in. When the traveler clicks on the ad, they are lead directly to the listing they viewed – including the dates they previously searched! In addition, consider sending booking abandonment emails. With the highest conversion rates (up to a whopping 6.81 percent!) you can target travelers who “forgot” to finish their booking.
ARE YOU READY FOR YOUR WEBSITE TO DELIVER?
Whether you have one of Bluetent’s powerhouse direct bookings websites or have something of your own, our team of marketing experts can deliver email and digital strategies designed to complement your website and increase bookings and revenue. Schedule a demo with our team today!