As a hotel internet marketing guy, I get asked this question by hoteliers all the time: "What can I do to improve my hotel's ranking in TripAdvisor?"

For your convenience, I'm just going to set the record straight: TripAdvisor ranks hotels using an automated tool they call their "Popularity Index." According to official TripAdvisor website, they describe this Popularity Index as such:

The TripAdvisor Popularity Index incorporates Traveler Ratings to determine traveler satisfaction. Emphasis is placed on the most recent information. We calculate the Popularity Index using an algorithm.

TripAdvisor's Popularity Index is:

• Pure: Completely organic. No paid results influence rankings.
• Fresh: Constantly incorporates new information.
• Global: Reflects reviews from around the world.
• Unbiased: Based on the good and the bad!

Well, what a shocker. Just like Google, TripAdvisor is pretty opaque when it comes to disclosing to hoteliers what needs to be done in order to improve their hotels' TripAdvisor rankings. To shed some light on these vague guidelines, I'll provide some tips on improving your TripAdvisor rankings based on our experience and various discussions with TripAdvisor market managers.

Important factors that may impact the TripAdvisor Popularity Index:

• Claimed TripAdvisor Business Listing for the Hotel
• Complete and up-to-date content
• Quality of reviews
• Quantity of reviews
• Recency of reviews

TripAdvisor Best Practices for Hotels:

• Claim your TripAdvisor Business Listing
• Keep the content in your listing updated and fresh
• Encourage customers (via on and offline means) to write reviews of your hotel (but do so in a way that doesn't violate TripAdvisor's Terms of Service--ie, don't "reward" customers for leaving reviews.  If you do, you may find your hotel penalized for this violation.)
• Monitor your customer reviews
• Respond to BOTH negative and positive reviews
• Use your customer reviews as free market research to enhance your hotel's internal operations
• Enhance the good and fix the bad features of your property
• Repeat all the above on a regular basis

Managing your online reputation takes a lot of time if you want to do it effectively. Constant management of these various review channels (TripAdvisor, Yelp, etc) is necessary to be successful in social media marketing and management. At the hotel level, be sure to assign a staff member to serve as your "social media champion" and ensure that your entire hotel team is aware of the social media initiatives. In the end, there are many hotel internet marketing companies (such as yours truly) that specialize in hotel social media marketing and management.  Agencies like Blue Magnet can help monitor and manage your listings to ensure you're always on top of your hotel's online reputation.

You may hear the phrase "landing pages" thrown around the marketing world – but what are they really and why are they important?

A landing page is the first page a user is sent to after clicking on a link, ad, or search result when browsing the internet. For organic search results, Google determines what page to send their user to based on the content and meta information that the page provides. For any paid advertising including AdWords – the user can choose what page the user will see after they click.

If done properly landing pages should send the user to a relevant page with unique and authoritative content about the subject for which they are searching.

A good landing page strategy can:

• Help search engine rankings for specific keyword searches
• Increase the effectiveness of a PPC campaign
• Increase a site's conversion rate
• Decrease the bounce rate on a site
• Add to a site's overall link-building campaign

Getting Started with Landing Pages

The first step is to sit down and identify the target audience. Do you want to target users looking for "downtown Chicago hotels?" What about "Chicago airport hotels?" Or maybe "hotels near Navy Pier?"

The opportunity for landing pages can be boundless – especially when building a landing page to use in tandem with your PPC campaign. Once you've identified the keyword searches you want to target, make sure to build ad copy and a landing page that includes relevant content to what a search engine user may be looking for.  In other words, if you want to attract users looking for "Navy Pier Hotels" – make sure your landing page speaks to your hotel's proximity to Navy pier, attractions at Navy Pier or other such details.

When building landing pages for organic search rankings, the importance of "relevancy" is paramount. You will need to make sure that the keyword you choose to target is also included in the meta content as well as the copy on the page.

Keep in mind that once a landing page is built it can immediately impact the success of your PPC campaign; however, it could take several months to begin ranking organically in the search results.

Keep these tips in mind for not only your official brand.com website but for standalone sites and blogs as well. With this quick intro to landing pages you can be on your way to increasing your SEO, PPC and overall online presence in no time!

Cow. Sheep. Barn
Apple. Orange. Carrot.

Can you find the item that doesn’t belong here?

From the earliest stages of learning we are taught how to group objects and words by meaning and similarity. However, some advertisers lose this fundamental logic when building their PPC campaigns. Building your PPC campaigns in the correct structure is essential to the success of your advertising. The cost of improper keyword structure can be detrimental to your campaign and hard to recover from.

Some of the pitfalls of poor campaign grouping are:

• Low quality scores
• Higher keyword CPC
• Lower ranking on search engine results pages

Unfortunately, these pitfalls totally defeat the way a successful campaign should operate.

Often, advertisers think it's extremely difficult to structure a PPC campaign correctly. It's not! If you employ the grouping tactics you learned back in grade school, you'll see that grouping keywords in a PPC campaign is just as easy as grouping shapes, animals, and foods. Think topically when deciding how to build your campaigns and ad groups.

Here’s an example of effective grouping:

• Campaign > Seattle Attractions
• Ad Group > Seattle Space Needle
• Keywords > Hotels near Seattle Space Needle, Seattle Space Needle Hotels, Space Needle Hotels Seattle

As you can see, this grouping of keywords is structured so that the overlying theme of the campaign is attractions in the Seattle area. Since you're building campaigns for a hotel, you will want to be careful about bidding on keywords not containing the word "hotel." For instance, you could bid on "Seattle Space Needle" and gain plenty of impressions; however, it is likely that you won't receive a large volume of clicks, thus resulting in a low click-through rate and even lower quality score. Even if you received a high number of clicks, the traffic you'd get would be low quality and result in low conversion rates. You can also see that the ad group theme is Seattle Space Needle and the keywords stick closely to this theme.

Here is an example of bad keyword structure for the same campaign and ad group:

• Ad Group > Seattle Space Needle
• Keywords > Hotels near Seattle Space Needle, Hotel near downtown Seattle Center, Seattle restaurants near space needle

The keywords in this ad group focus on the Seattle Space Needle, but really aren't relevant to each other. One keyword references restaurants, while the other two reference hotels.  Google will read this grouping as poor relevancy, and thus will reward you with one of the pitfalls of poor ad group structure--definitely not the type of reward you'd like to see.

We'll discuss keyword selection and more in future posts. If you still aren't sure that you will master the art of building a PPC campaign, visit Google's AdWords Help Center to learn more. Once you've learned how to set up your PPC campaign, you're on the road to pay-per-click success!

Hotels, it's time to send your OTA's a thank you note.  It turns out you may be getting more business from Expedia, Orbitz and the gang than previously thought--and better yet, it's business booked directly on your brand website.  According to a recent study by Chris Anderson, an assistant professor and PhD at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, "a hotel’s listing on Expedia increased total reservation volume by 7.5 to 26 percent depending on the hotel."  This is great news for all the hotels who begrudgingly relinquish their room inventory each month to the heavily commissioned likes of the OTAs.  The study details the true impact of the "Billboard Effect" of a hotels listing within the OTAs, and emphasizes the influence that an online advertisement has on the purchasing decision of a consumer on the hotel's official brand website.

The experiment, which analyzed consumer behavior related to 1,720 IHG hotel bookings on Expedia, determined that for each reservation made on Expedia between three and nine additional reservations were made on the official hotel brand website. This means that it's imperative that your hotel make the most of its listing on each of the major OTAs.  Load compelling photography, compose inviting copy, encourage customer reviews and work with your OTA marketing manager to determine what it takes to put your hotel listing at the top of the charts.  And most importantly, send your OTA a gift basket.

Currently, when I'm looking for answers to my questions on everything from "how to fix my broken printer" to "where should I stay during my trip to Seattle" I instinctively turn to Google.  And why not?  After all, Google is my quick, aggregated source for all the world's online answers to all kinds of questions that haven't even been asked yet.  But usually when I search in that way I'm looking for answers to questions that have already been asked...by someone else.  I could go to a forum, or jump on Quora, but there's always a concern that my question would get lost in the mix.  And who knows when (or if) someone who actually has the answer to my question will actually respond to me.  Furthermore, Google searches, Yahoo! Answers and Quora are all great for more technical questions or how-to's, but if I need recommendations to a restaurant in my neighborhood or suggestions on the best hotels to book in San Diego, who better to turn to than those in your close personal network?

Enter Facebook Questions

Introduced to the world briefly back in mid-2010, Facebook Questions was a new feature that allowed users to pose questions to the entire Facebook community.  Questions posted to all 500+ million Facebook users could be answered by anyone, friends and strangers alike.  This feature never quite took off, likely because it lacked the intimate, personalized responses that can only be received from those in your personal network.  Since then, Facebook has revamped their Questions and has reintroduced it as a slightly different feature.  Now, instead of posing questions to the entire Facebook community, a user's questions are now directed only to that user's individual network.  The question then appears within the Facebook news feed for any of the friends linked to the asker.

Here is a screenshot of the Question feature on my Facebook page:

From this new section of your Facebook page you can ask two different kinds of questions: open-ended questions or questions with preselected options (polls).  Polls allow you to add preselected answers as options for your friends to select from.  You can see in the screenshot that I've included some local bars and restaurants that friends can choose.  Notice that you can even include the option for others to contribute additional answers to your question beyond the options you've provided.  In addition, once your friend contributes to your question, that same question is then distributed through the responder's network.  Theoretically, an intriguing question has the potential to go viral throughout the greater Facebook community.

Overall, this new feature is great for getting specific feedback and opinions from the people you (presumably) trust the most.  If you need to know the best way to change your car's oil, you might still be better off going through Quora or Yahoo! Answers, but for questions that are less technical and more opinion in nature, it never hurts to have a little help from your friends.  This isn't to say that users couldn't just post their question in their status update or a standard feed on the wall, but Questions offers a simple platform dedicated to the purpose of polling the community.

How Should Businesses Use Facebook Questions?

A recent study by Likeable Media found that the interaction rate of Facebook users who posed questions on their status updates, were six times more likely to illicit a response from their community than if they had posted a statement. This means that if you are a business with a Facebook page and haven't been asking question, you need to start...now!

Similar to the way you might ask your group of friends for their opinions on what kind of smartphone you should purchase next, businesses can also use their Facebook pages to poll their fan base.  So how would a business take advantage of this? Here are some suggestions on how hotels (and businesses in general) can use this feature:

1. Ask customers what their favorite attraction/restaurant/event is within the city.  Use this information to generate specials and packages around that attraction.
2. Ask customers what is features are most important to them in selecting a hotel.
3. Ask the community what "hidden gems" are to be found within the city.  Discover new businesses and exciting places that are off the beaten path or less publicized in the city.
4. Ask the community what packages they would like to see the hotel offer.

Businesses should already be posing questions to their fan base, but Facebook Questions is great because it provides a specific platform to start interacting and engaging with your community. The tool is there--all you have to do is ask.

In the hotel industry, it's sometimes hard to step back from the daily grind and look forward several months. However, reports for most markets show that users are booking more and more in advance. As far as online marketing is concerned, that means it's more important than ever to think to the future.

In addition, STR reports that hotel demand in 2011 appears to be on the rise. Taking into consideration this increase in demand plus the trend towards online travel bookers searching earlier, it's already time to plan for summer!

Here are a few opportunities we suggest your hotel revenue team discuss ASAP to get the most out of Revenue for Q2 & Q3:

Advance Purchase Management

Is Advance Purchase your top performing hotel package code? While it's great to get rooms on the books early, you should evaluate your advance purchase inventory and make sure you aren't giving up rooms that you could easily sell for BAR. Remember, if your inventory is open on your official brand website, it's also selling on your already discounted OTA sites as well. Start protecting your ADR for the summer early.

Package Rates on OTAs

Where are Advance Purchase shoppers found most often? Shopping for Room + Flight Deals! If you are interested in getting rooms on the books early, load package rates! Since consumers are typically familiar with the rise in airline prices the closer one gets to the departure date, this market segment will most likely book 1-2 months in advance. It's best to have inventory loaded, even if you leave your rate at BAR.

If your hotel is in a market where summer may be a slow period, discounts on your package rates are a great opportunity. These package discounts are opaque and thus completely within most hotel brands' rules for participation. In addition, they are often supported by free advertising and merchandising from the major OTAs. Contact your OTA market manager to discuss these sales soon; if you wait you may miss your opportunity.

International Travel

Another market segment that could already be searching for rooms for summer are international travelers. According to travel.usatoday.com, international fares have increased from an average $1,675/flight in 2009 to $1,795/flight in 2010. With an increase in airfare such as this, travelers may be very responsive to discounted rates on international sites like Expedia.uk or Booking.com. Ask your market manager at the OTAs to check if your hotel is signed up for international rates and opportunities that may be available for sales or promotions.

Summer Attractions & Packages

Of course the majority of your demand in the summer is due to the plethora of things to do in your market when it's sunny and warm and students are out of school. Sit down with your online marketing manager and provide a list of attractions users will be frequenting. Your marketing manager will help you plan strategies to promote these packages online.

Adding these events & attractions to your PPC keywords and SEO strategy will help bring more traffic to your site, but don’t stop there. We suggest building packages that will help this market segment convert. One suggestion that can work for multiple event guests would be a "Gas up and Go" package, which includes a gas gift card along with the hotel booking. These packages are becoming increasingly more attractive to consumers as gas prices continue to rise and effect the overall budget for a vacation.

Reputation Management

Consumers are not only booking further out, they are spending more time gathering information before making their decision. The very final suggestion we can make is to review your overall online presence.

Audit your photos throughout the year--do they appeal to summer travelers? Check your reviews--have you responded to any reviews that may negatively impact someone's choice to book your hotel? We cannot emphasize the importance of good reviews and visual media enough.

Summer is often one of the highest demand seasons for hotels; don’t forget this as you’re working on occupancy during your spring months. And don’t delay, there are plenty of consumers out there already looking for hotels. Make sure your hotel is the one they choose!

It's amazing that no matter how far our society has come technologically, some things never change--like these top 5 viral videos (or "talkies," to use the proper vernacular) from 100 years ago, remastered and uploaded to YouTube.  Some types of comedy just never go out of fashion.

Google is making big changes to its traditional search engine results by integrating Google Places, and more recently, Google AdWords.  Previously, each component of Google was separate from the others, living in different sections of search results and functioning independently. Today, a heavy emphasis has been placed on location-based search results and location targeting. Thus, companies that are not ranking well in Google Places or using geographic targeting in Google AdWords could be missing out on customers.

How does a business that isn’t ranking well in Google Places nor has a presence in AdWords have a chance at succeeding in the local search market?

Google Boost is the answer. This new pay-per-click product marries Google Places and AdWords to provide a low-cost, simple, local search solution for small businesses and advertisers who want to capture a local market.

Google Boost ads appear at the top of the search engine results page among sponsored search ads. Boost ads look relatively similar to standard Google Places listings with the exception of a blue pin marker rather than red.

Google Boost Ads are only offered to advertisers with a physical address. Signup is easy as Boost Ads are a part of Google Places. An advertiser only has to sign in to their current Google Places account and add Boost Ads to their marketing mix. Even better, like standard Google Adwords pay-per-click ads, a business is only charged when someone clicks on their ad.

Here are a few specific reasons why Boost Ads are a viable local search advertising option for small businesses and businesses focused on gaining interest from consumers located near their physical address.

Location is key!

Recent studies show that customers tend to include their intended location in their search queries. Studies also show that with the rapid growth of mobile search, customers will search for businesses while on the go and expect to see local results based on their mobile signals or GPS location. This makes it important for advertisers to have positioning in the top of the search results. Google Boost offers top positioning both of PC and mobile browsers.

Ease of use

For inexperienced advertisers and small businesses, Google AdWords may seem overwhelming and unmanageable. Google Boost offers a simple, almost hands-off approach to pay-per-click advertising. As stated above, signup is easy. Once set up is complete, the Google algorithm does all of the work for you by choosing keywords, bids, and running automatically.

Important company info presented up front

There are a few simple pieces of information most users seek when looking for a company: Location, quality, and contact information for the company are typically the most important. With Boost Ads, users get this info immediately. Since the ads are actually Google Place page results, customers are able to see the website, user reviews, location and company description all from the search results. For an extra fee, the company phone number can be added to the listing. This is very important for mobile users as the Google click-to-call feature is activated allowing customers to call a business directly from the search results on their mobile phone.

In short, Google is concentrating on local search and geographic targeting, and you should too. You may not be ready for the world of AdWords and this is fine (although we highly recommend that you consider PPC), but Google Boost gives you an opportunity to focus on what matters to Google while getting your feet wet in the great world of pay-per-click advertising. Undoubtedly, Google will continue to integrate the various components of its search marketing program. Therefore, staying ahead of your competition (as well as Google's frequent additions and updates) should be a primary goal for your search engine marketing efforts.