1. Website Optimization
Optimization of your website for search engines and submission to search engines and directories will stay our number one priority for 2011. By researching keywords your ideal guests might be using in connection with your destination and writing content based on these keywords, you can further increase traffic to your website. Search engines love fresh and relevant content.

2. Link Building
We are busy to change the way in which we are building links, enabling us to further grow and diversify the reciprocal link portfolio for our clients. Our recently launched social media packages, including article submissions to hundreds of article directories and blogs have also proven to establish a reputable amount of one-way links.

3. Online Exposure
If you have not subscribed to our Online Exposure package, than you should make sure that all your listings are 100% up to date and that you further grow the number of listings. Login to our Listing Manager to find out which directories are the most successful ones, manage your listings easier and add your property on as many as possible, based on our ratings. Properties with an extensive exposure on accommodation directories also get more traffic to their own website.

4. Google Adwords
Between 20 - 30% of visitors searching Google click on the first 3 adds, which are sponsored adds. That should be reason enough to convince you that Google Adwords are able to get you more targeted traffic. But there is one more but less obvious reason: Try to search Google for your own establishment name and you will see in over 50% cases of our clients that other businesses are using adwords to attract searches for your establishment name. Don't let them steal your ideal guests.

5. Google Places
Google has changed a lot of things recently, but three of the most obvious changes are the introduction of Google Instant, Google Preview, and the fact that Google is promoting Google Places listings more, spreading them throughout organic search results. In some cases, we have seen over 100 visits per week to some of our establishment's Google Places listing. You can also post news on your Google Places listing and offer visitors one or more discount coupons. With that, we believe your business listing on Google Places should receive as much attention as your best accommodation directory listings.

6. Conversion Optimization
Conversion optimization ensures that all the efforts spend on getting visitors to your site will pay off by turning lookers into bookers. A simple test with two buttons on some of our websites has shown that over 60% of visitors rather click on a "Check Availability & Book Online" button than on the identical button saying "Make an Enquiry". Accepting credit cards and online bookings is more important than ever, but there is still the other 40% of visitors, who prefer to make an enquiry, get answers to their many questions and above all, get a feeling for your establishment before making a reservation. It is important to offer different calls to action accommodating each stage a visitor to your website might be at and placing these various calls to action in the right position. We have spent a lot of time on conversion optimization during the past few months and will be sharing and applying the results with you in 2011.

7. Deliver on your bold promise
Now that you went through all the effort to attract your ideal guests, it's time to deliver on your bold promise portrayed on all your marketing material. Now you need to “wow” them with your service and experience, making sure that your guest's stay will become a memory of a lifetime for all the good reasons. All your marketing efforts boil down to the one chance you have while your guests are staying with you, thus every single person involved in creating this experience is part of your marketing team.

8. Reviews
Reviews are more important than ever before and the places where guests can write a review seem to explode: Trip Advisor and other hotel review sites, Google Hotpot, Google Places, Facebook and other social media sites and of course a growing number of accommodation directories. Your reviews are everywhere and it is hard to hide them. The best method of ensuring that you are getting positive reviews is by managing your guest's expectations. Rather under-promise and over-deliver and make sure your images and descriptions are detailed and 100% accurate. But even if everything is 100% perfect, you will only get guests to write positive reviews if they like YOU and they believe that you care about them and you are worth their time and effort! Your ultimate goal must be to get a positive review from every guest staying with you and we will assist you in the new year achieving this goal.

9. Social Media
While Social Media made everything more dynamic and less controllable, it is very important that you, if you haven't done so in the past, start embracing social media. There are incredidable opportunities for your establishment to stay in touch with your guests and let them share their experience with their family and friends. Your guests are your #1 ambassadors of your establishment, they share their experience with their friends and family and influence who will and who will not be your next guests. Social Media offers them the tools to share their experience and you the opportunity to provide them with the right "marketing material".

10. E-mail Newsletters
A regular e-mail newsletter sent out two to four times per year to your existing client base is a great way of keeping in touch with your guests (ok, we keep saying this, but still only about 20% of our clients are making use of this marketing tool). Wouldn't a good friend of yours be happy to hear from you from time to time? Wouldn't a great special or an upcoming event be a reason to come back? Wouldn't it help to remember your name if next time a friend asks them for their recommendation where to stay in...? Well, we know it would.

While the first six items in this list all focus on attracting your ideal guests, the last four are in the long run the most important marketing activities to retain guests. It is also worth mentioning that it is up to ten times more costly to attract new guests compared to retaining guests and the last 4 items on this list don't cost a lot neither. With this focus on the last four items, we want to encourage our clients to focus on the retention of their guests and make sure that their guests will have all reasons and are being motivated to recommend their establishment. During the recession and the past view months, it has become very clear that those establishments with a high percentage of repeat and referred visitors have been able to sustain good occupancy levels. With so much choice and extremely competitive pricing, a guest who has been referred to you will not browse the internet ending up at your competitors door step.

We thank you for reading all the way to the end and hope you could pick up the one or other idea for 2011 – we look forward to work with you in 2011.