Presentation on Website Trends that Matter at VRMA Annual Conference 2010 in San Antonio, TX

1. Web Trends that Matter
Achieving 100% Efficiency
SEO/SEM/SMO
VRMA 2010 – San Antonio,
TX
Presented By: Amber Mayer

2. Topic Overview
1. Online Booking Conversion Sources
2. Google Updates
3. Bing Updates
4. Social Marketing
5. Email Marketing
6. Mobile Marketing

3. Vacation Rental Web Trends
*The top ten keywords that resulted in conversions (organic) were all brand based
keywords (clients who typed in the name of the company along with destination based
keywords)
*Data Represents a cumulative review of client web traffic and conversion from sites that utilize the Rezolution™
Booking Engine with Marketing Analytics Module. Over 25,000 Online Bookings are represented from 2009-2010 YTD
30%
25%
8%
10%
15%
11% 1%
Online BookingROI
Organic PPC/CPC Local/Maps
Email Marketing Direct Traffic Online Ads
Facebook

4. Google New
http://www.google.com/newproducts/

5. Google Caffeine
•Google will update and index web pages 50% Faster
•Caffeine indexes web pages on an enormous scale. In fact, every
second Caffeine processes hundreds of thousands of pages in
parallel. If this were a pile of paper it would grow three miles taller
every second.
•Caffeine indexes everything – web pages, video, images, news,
blog posts, Facebook Page updates, Twitter updates, press
releases and more!

6. Google Instant
What is Google Instant?
Google Instant is a new search technology that shows
search results as you type in the search query box.
This change was based on Google’s findings that
people read much faster than they can type . Thus,
this change is based on the principal that online users
will read the results as they type and stop typing when
they find relevant results.
Google Instant suggests keywords as an online user
types based on the top search queries containing the
phrases that have already been entered on the screen
– thus enabling people who are not sure what they are
looking for – to utilize keyword strings that are popular
for the same topic.

7. Google Instant
What does this mean for you?
1.It changes everything – reset your
expectations and be open minded.
2.Understanding your destinations top
Keywords and Long Tail Phrases is critical.
3.The keywords that currently result in
Online Bookings will not necessarily be
the top producers under Instant.
4.Revisit your PPC/CPC Keywords as this
does affect your Google AdWords
campaigns. If a user stops typing after 3
seconds – AdWords will credit the
keyword phrase currently shown in the
query box as the referral keyword.
5.Keywords will be suggested to Online
Travel Searchers that they have never
considered.

8. Instant Keyword Research
Original Search Query: Destin
Original Search Query: Destin+(space)

9. Instant Keyword Research
Original Search Query: Chicago V
Original Search Query: Houston Va

10. Google Local Updates
What does this mean for you?
1.More Organic Results will display on Page 1 again!
2.You better have your Google Places Account Up-to-Date!

11. Google Places

12. Google Local Ranking Factors
1. Your Address
2. Your Business Categories
3. Keyword in Business Name
4. Citation Quantity
5. Completing your Places Page Profile
6. Business Data Consistency
7. Review & Ratings
8. Proximity to Location
9. My Maps Usage by Online User
10. Traditional SEO Factors

13. LSO Tool Tip!

14. Bing: Have you Decided?
Testing Began July 21st
!
This means it is VITAL that you log your rankings on
Yahoo Search right and do the following “check-ups”:
1.Submit a Bing XML Sitemap
2.Sign up for Bing Tools
3.Ensure that your Robots.txt file is the same for Yahoo
and MSN/Bing as soon as possible.
More Bing Distribution!
Bing will now be a choice for Apple/Safari product users
along with the existing choices of Yahoo and Google, but
Google will remain the default Engine behind the Safari
Search interface.
Market Share vs. Google

15. Bing Maps
Bing pulls most of their “Map” locations/listings from Yellowpages.com
(this is why there are tons of “spam” listings on their maps right now.
1.Make SURE that you go into Bing Local and claim/update your listing. Once you have
completed that and added your Website – the BOOK IT button will appear next to your listing on
the maps.
2.Users have to download software to see the 3D View

16. Bing Directory
http://www.bing.com/local/ypdefault.aspx
Adding your company is a great way to build links – the Bing Directory
does not “no follow” their links!

17. Bing – Adding/Verify Your Listing
https://ssl.bing.com/listings/BusinessSearch.aspx

18. Bing – Toolbox
Focus:
Crawl, Index & Traffic
Key Highlights:
•Browse through Bing Index to verify
pages and directories that have been
submitted
•Submit URLs/XML Sitemaps
•Identify Crawl Issues
•Block specific URLs from Indexing
•Keyword Performance
•Inbound Links

19. Bing: An Aside
Does your Website Answer Questions & Help People Make Decisions?

20. Social Marketing
How much should I be spending on Social Marketing?
1.Do I even know what Social Marketing is suppose to do
for me?
2.Are all Fans/Likes/Followers equal?
3.Can I track conversion from Social Marketing?
4.Do I have the staff & resources to dedicate to Social
Marketing?
5.How well do I understand my client demographics?

21. Social Marketing

22. LinkedIn Big News

23. Social Marketing
FACEBOOK USERS

24. FACEBOOK – WHAT MOTIVATES USERS TO “LIKE” YOU
40% To Receive Discounts and Promotions
39% To Show Support for the Company to Others
36% To Get a Freebie
34% To Stay Informed about Activities of the Company
33% To Get Updates on Future Products/Projects
30% To Get Updates on Upcoming Sales/Promotions
29% For Entertainment/Enjoyment
22% Someone Recommended it to Me
21% To Learn about the Company
13% For Education about Company Topics
13% To Interact
Social Marketing – Facebook

25. Do You “Like” It?
http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like

26. Growing your Facebook Fans
Hints & Tips based on my humble experience:
1.Setup a Facebook Ad to your page based on CPM not CPC (Cost
per Impressions not Clicks!)
2.Drive the traffic from your Facebook Ad to your Facebook
Page…
3.Use the demographic segmentation tools to find your target
audience
4.Use a Contest/Vacation Give-away to grow your Facebook
“Like” Audience on your Fan Page
5.Track the performance every day and tweak your demographic
segmentation!

27. Social Marketing
TWITTER USERS

28. Social Marketing – Twitter

29. Do You “Tweet This” ?
http://twitter.com/goodies/tweetbutton

30. Email Marketing
Benchmarks:
Open Rates: 11.2%
Click Rates: 9% - 10.5%
Open Rates by Day: High: Sunday Low: Monday
Click Rates by Day: High: Sunday Low: Monday
Bounce Rates: >Monthly: 1%-2% <Monthly: 5%+
Effect of Personalization:
In Body of Email: Increased Open Rates
In Subject Line: Reduced Open Rates
Other Hints:
% of Users that images turned on by default: 33%
% of Users reading email on mobile devices: 25%

31. Email Marketing
•Small Businesses Report a 20%
increase in Customer Loyalty
when Social Marketing is
integrated with the Email
Marketing Campaigns
•Approximately 10% of email
marketers are integrating social
marketing tools into their email
campaigns

32. Mobile Marketing

33. Great Resources
•Google Webmaster Blog: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/
•Google Blog: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/
•Bing ToolBox: http://www.bing.com/toolbox/webmasters/
•Search Engine Land: http://www.searchengineland.com
•Mashable: http://www.mashable.com
•Website Mag: http://www.websitemagazine.com
•Demographics: http://www.quantcast.com

34. Contact Info
Amber (Leto) Mayer
Mayer Consulting
www.ambermayer.com
amberrmayer@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/amberleto
www.twitter.com/amberletomayer
www.linkedin.com/in/amberleto