The typical customer journey. Well, French's journey the moment Frenchy types the name of your hotel as it appears in OTAs and Google. The idea is that he finds you right away. Okay. Billboard effect. 

So the first thing you need to do is to check whether or not you appear first in Google. When you do a search on your name as it appears in the OTAs. If you do, great. You don't need to use Google Ads, at least not for the minute. But keep checking regularly. And if you drop. Rewatch this video and apply the content that you that you get you sorted to get the actual data.

Now on this, you need to go to Firefox or Google Incognito, a browser window that doesn't know your habits. If you've checked your site before on Google, Google will want to bring you back there faster. And not to confuse you with regards to how your site is ranking, simply because Google at the end of the day, have a bunch of people pleasers and they want to give you what you want, so they want to take you where you've been before. But it's just not helpful if you're trying to gather data. So you want to go incognito to figure it out.

Okay, I'll show you how to do that. I'll show you how to do some ads. All right, let's get started.

Okay, so this is a Google Incognito window. All right. Okay. So no habits. And no sign of my hotel. Okay. Which is a clear indicator that I need some ads. All right. Which is just what we'll get to right away.

Okay, guys, as you see, Google ads right here, just need to type that in and then go, okay. And yes. Okay. So wait your brand registered. Yes, indeed. See they know me because this account. I have my link for my website. But, Right. All right. There we go. That's exactly the one I got set up. Excellent.

Let's have a look at the desktop, I like that. Okay, good. I would like to get more website sales and leads. So now time to write the ad. You should put your phone number in. You should put your address. You should pick some nice keywords. I think you have a maximum of ten. Call was exactly where it is now. That's the interesting part. They give you a recommendation is 67 for a day. I've heard for a local the size of Galway that actually works quite well.

Okay. And then. You're going to review everything. Okay. I would work a little harder, but I'm just here to show you how to do it. And eventually we get to the billing, which I am not going to take part in right now, because my hotel is not real and I've already purchased a domain name for it, which you can visit by the way, any time you like.

So guys, that's about it. Look, the main point of this is that when somebody types in the name of your hotel, when they're following on from the billboard effect, that they get your hotel, okay, they don't get some other tomfoolery. So one thing is registering a domain name. Okay. Another thing is registering your trade and then get an ad out there. Guys, just so the people who are looking for you can find you.

We've just learned the basics on how to use Google Ads to boost visibility. It's a milestone. See you next time.

The typical customer journey. Well, French's journey the moment Frenchy types the name of your hotel as it appears in OTAs and Google. The idea is that he finds you right away. Okay. Billboard effect.

So the first thing you need to do is to check whether or not you appear first in Google. When you do a search on your name as it appears in the OTAs. If you do, great. You don't need to use Google Ads, at least not for the minute. But keep checking regularly. And if you drop, rewatch this video and apply the content that you get sorted to get the actual data.

Now on this, you need to go to Firefox or Google Incognito, a browser window that doesn't know your habits. If you've checked your site before on Google, Google will want to bring you back there faster. And not to confuse you with regards to how your site is ranking, simply because Google at the end of the day, have a bunch of people pleasers and they want to give you what you want, so they want to take you where you've been before. But it's just not helpful if you're trying to gather data. So you want to go incognito to figure it out.

Okay, I'll show you how to do that. I'll show you how to do some ads. All right, let's get started.

Okay, so this is a Google Incognito window. All right. Okay. So no habits. And no sign of my hotel. Okay. Which is a clear indicator that I need some ads. All right. Which is just what we'll get to right away.

Okay, guys, as you see, Google ads right here, just need to type that in and then go, okay. And yes. Okay. So wait your brand registered. Yes, indeed. See they know me because this account. I have my link for my website. But, right. All right. There we go. That's exactly the one I got set up. Excellent.

Let's have a look at the desktop, I like that. Okay, good. I would like to get more website sales and leads. So now time to write the ad. You should put your phone number in. You should put your address. You should pick some nice keywords. I think you have a maximum of ten. Call was exactly where it is now. That's the interesting part. They give you a recommendation is 67 for a day. I've heard for a local the size of Galway that actually works quite well.

Okay. And then you're going to review everything. Okay. I would work a little harder, but I'm just here to show you how to do it. And eventually we get to the billing, which I am not going to take part in right now, because my hotel is not real and I've already purchased a domain name for it, which you can visit by the way, any time you like.

So guys, that's about it. Look, the main point of this is that when somebody types in the name of your hotel, when they're following on from the billboard effect, that they get your hotel, okay, they don't get some other tomfoolery. So one thing is registering a domain name. Okay. Another thing is registering your trade and then get an ad out there. Guys, just so the people who are looking for you can find you.

We've just learned the basics on how to use Google Ads to boost visibility. It's a milestone. See you next time.

So here's what we're going to see today. We're going to look at the benefits of having a blog for your SEO. Then we're going to see some rules that you ought to follow. Then we'll look at what kinds of things you publish and how to begin taking action.

Firstly, the benefits of having a blog for your SEO. You can optimize your SEO by including loads of keywords that you know are essential to the good ranking of your website. Remember, content is king. You can generate your ideal kind of traffic. For example, a happy customer shares one of your articles on their social media, which their friend sees and shares again. And before you know it, you're snowballing visitors, who are likely the sorts you'd like to have staying with you.

So yeah, you can convert traffic into leads—potential customers, in other words. Write an article about seasonal offers one can only avail of by subscribing to a newsletter. Then once they subscribe, you've got their email on a list for later use. You can boost notoriety. This one should be obvious. The more traffic you have on your website, the more notoriety you have.

Now, notoriety is Google's word choice, and it's one of the criteria used by Google to decide your rank in SEO. So between your website and your competitors' website, if you have a blog that generates traffic while your competitor doesn’t, your notoriety will increase, and you will be in the lead. You can improve your brand. If you craft your content carefully and make it coherent with your sales strategy, then you will grow your brand.

Look, for example, at what we do with the Hotel Club blog, right? We publish articles and videos to help you on topics related to your business. As a result, you follow the blog, and it strengthens our brand image. Branding is, in a way, the feeling people have towards you and your property, and blogging is a great way to put a shine on it.

Last but not least, the blog will help you build customer loyalty. By publishing regularly, you will stay in the mind of customers that have stayed in your hotel. This way, they won't forget about you, and when they have to travel again, they’ll keep you in mind because they will have been in contact with you regularly since their last stay.

Now some rules to be respected.

Rule number one: when you publish a blog article, you have to share it at the same time on your social networks, especially Facebook, and also the newsletter, if you have one.

Two: include keywords in the title and body text of your article that are related to your SEO strategy.

Three: a blog article, to be effective in SEO, must be at least 500 words long. Do not forget to structure your text in small, successive paragraphs. This makes the article more engaging to read.

Four: you can include links to other websites. Just make sure whoever you link to is doing the same for you, as realistically, this is the only benefit of suggesting via a button that potential customers leave your online store. It is worth it if they agree to link back to you because not only does it offer that way in, but the more people that opt to take it, the better for your SEO in the long run.

Six: customize the URL of your blog article so that they are short and explicit about the subject of the article.

Seven: the SEO title of your blog article should not exceed 60 characters.

Eight: the SEO description should not exceed 300 characters and, if possible, should use words from your article.

Nine: add a photo or an illustration—an image, basically, to your blog article that is related to the content of the article. Don’t forget to customize the title of this image. And of course, this image should be of good quality.

Ten: keep it regular. It is better to have one article per month published very regularly than 3 to 4 articles for one month and nothing for two months, then one article, then nothing. Choose a rhythm and stick to it.

Eleven: do not, I repeat, do not duplicate content you found somewhere else on the web. Simply put, just don’t copy and paste. Google recognizes it, and you will be penalized in your SEO.

So next, a good question: what to publish? That’s the million-dollar question, in fact. Of course, there are a multitude of subjects and themes you can use. The only limit is your imagination.

To help you get started, here are some examples:

Life behind the curtains of your hotel could be good: portraits of you, your employees, your loyal customers—putting a human face on the place. 

Pets: if you have any cats, dogs too. You know what I mean.

Local events or music festivals, sports events, concerts, cat competitions, whatever events happening in your hotels like weddings, seminars, whatever.

Press publications about your hotel: very important. 

Awards, certifications, and titles received by your hotel or by a member of your team.

News about your services and equipment: like a new swimming pool or bar. 

Reactions to local or national news: this one is probably the one that works the best. If you can surf on important news, then Google’s algorithm will push your content forward. Let’s say, for example, someone from your government is planning a visit in your city. You can be sure that the news will speak about it in the press, television, and radio. So if you’re smart, you will identify those keywords and use them to surf on the media craze about the event. The more people read about a topic, the more Google shows them related articles about it. You need to be that related article.

New features on the menu: maybe you’ve got a new way of cooking steak, a new-style omelet, whatever.

Stories of customer experiences in your hotel: I should not need to reiterate how important these are.

Humor: if you have a funny story related to your hotel, and I know you do—I’ve worked in them long enough—you should share it.

Taking action.

All right, it’s time. Come on, get to work. Start by creating your plan. How many articles do you want to publish each month, for example? Then choose the right tool. If you’re using WordPress, it’s going to be easy. If you’re using another CMS, look if there is a blog function. If not, look on the web for an add-on that you can use for that.

For those who choose to use Amenities, activating the blog is an option, so get in touch with Amenities’ customer service to find out the terms and conditions of getting that done.

All right, guys, that’s it for today’s video. See you in the next one. Bye.

The power of words can be immense. And now you have the tools to harness this power. But we’re not done yet. Our final module promises more exciting insights and powerful tools. So let’s keep moving forward.

Here's what we're going to cover today. We're going to cover the reservation form we've had a look at before. You probably recognise it. Recap of your communication strategy is always a good idea. Create some upstream visibility. The man of the hour. And finally a little conclusion.

Okay, so the reservation funnel, you'll remember it. What is it? Think of it as a funnel made up of the different steps a potential client will go through before making a reservation. The more visible you are at the top of the funnel, the more potential customers you will get. If you are only visible at the bottom of the funnel, you will get way fewer clients. The idea is simple: we want to be visible at all pre-reservation stages and as high up in the funnel as possible.

The first step at the very top is the dream. This is also called the inspiration stage. To put it simply, the potential traveller—Frenchy, let's say him again—has the desire to travel but doesn't really know what he wants. He has not yet defined the destination. He has not defined a budget. In fact, at this stage, he doesn't even know how he's going to leave without his mother-in-law getting involved in the trip. He is looking for inspiration. This step is the holy grail of visibility. Quite frankly, if you manage to make your message visible to one of your niches when they are at this stage, well, jackpot. You eliminate competition: OTAs, metasearch websites, everything.

Imagine, for example, that one of your niches is a doctor who has to go to a professional congress near you. Let's say it's the Congress of Doctors Specialised in Very, Very Sick People but Not So Sick as to Be Annoying. You know that this Congress will take place on a certain date and you have designed a message in advance to convince this niche to book your hotel. If, in addition, you have communicated this message, say, in the specialised journal of doctors specialising in very special, very, very sick people but not so sick as to be annoying, then your message will reach the proper audience and you will get many direct reservations, even before this trip is organised. The doctor planning to go to that Congress has the solution to his accommodation needs. This allows you to hack the funnel and be visible at the very top.

The second stage in this funnel is the research and discovery stage. Your potential client now knows where he wants to go, but he hasn't yet selected a precise date, a precise place, or a precise budget. He needs to get an idea. He will consult blogs, Facebook groups about the destination, YouTube channels, reports, books like Lonely Planet guides, that kind of thing. It is absolutely necessary to be visible at this stage. This is your last chance before your potential clients go to the OTAs or metasearch sites.

Once the discovery phase is over, the potential client knows where he's going, with whom, when, and what budget he will allocate to his trip. And it is now at the planning stage. This is war. No need to speak too much about this stage. You know it all by heart. It is the one in which the vast majority of hotels are stuck. You are all competing with each other. And on top of that, of course, there are the OTAs. In short, it is the Battle of Guadalcanal for hotels. It's going to get bloody. It is very important to be there. Of course, you cannot not take part in this battle, but as you have understood, you must do everything to be visible before the fact. If you can win the war before going into the bloody battle, more power to you, I say.

Then comes the reservation stage. It is no longer a question of visibility. At this stage, you have either won the client or lost them. What is interesting is that you can take one of your clients from the dream stage, this one, without them going through the research stage. In the planning stage, that's how it is. You can also move them from the search step to this one directly. This is your main objective, by the way, in this battle for visibility.

The next step is experience—what the customer will experience in your hotel. Basically, what will happen, how it will happen, and how your client will feel about it. So as you have already heard me say 100 times by now, the most important thing at this stage is the story your clients will tell once they leave your hotel. If you did the job poorly, they will talk negatively about their experience in your hotel. If you did everything right, they won’t talk about their stay with you. If you have done an amazing job and wowed them, then they will speak positively about you. Keep all of that in mind.

And then the last step is the customer loyalty stage. We’ll see that later next week. Actually, we have some videos on that.

So let's recap your communication strategy right now. Logically, at this stage, you should have a good vision of what messages to craft, to whom you should address them, and through which channel. So let's go over the elements at your disposal. You have defined your avatars, which personify your niches. You know their needs, their expectations, their interests, their style, their voice. The key words to put forward to convince them, the images and videos to use to arouse emotion in them.

You also worked on the booking cycle, so you understand that such and such a niche books x amount of time in advance for Y nights. Let’s say, for example, you know that the doctor specialising in very, very sick people will book a minimum of one month in advance to go to his Congress. So you know that it is not on the day of the Congress that you will have to make your message visible to this doctor, but between 1 and 2 months before the date of the Congress.

Now it's time to create some visibility upstream. It means being visible at the top of the funnel. How do you do it? Well, it's simple. You have to use your brains to find out where your niches will be able to see, look, read, or listen to your message in the dream stage and in the discovery stage. Is there a miracle solution to be visible from the top of the funnel? No, unfortunately not. I think you suspected as much.

However, I'm going to give you an example of where you can be visible that will allow you to get started. Here is a non-exhaustive list of where you can be visible at the top of the funnel in the first two stages:

Firstly, Facebook groups. For example, the Facebook group of doctors specialising in very very sick people but not so sick as to be annoying. That's a good one to start.

In directories. Look them up by doing Google searches. There are plenty of them. Some are free, others are paid. Decide whether or not it's worth investing in visibility in a directory called hotels listed there. You have to call at least ten of them for the feedback to be worth considering. Ideally, in statistics, you should contact 30 if you want consolidated data.

Forums. If you know that your niche is passionate about space geology, for example, post on the Teleology Forum. There are as many forums on the internet as there are groups on Facebook. It's up to you to infiltrate them.

Associations. There are thousands of these. Contact them. The information on who makes up the board of directors of an association is public and should be on their website. A small search in the legal notices will tell you who to contact.

Clubs. This can be sports clubs or even collectors clubs. If you have retired people as a niche, contact golf clubs. If you have collectors of all English carriages as a niche, find the corresponding club and call them.

Blogs. Yes, we've already talked about them. If there's a blog that is read a lot by one of your niches, it's really worth being on it.

Vlogs. Same as the blogs.

Partners. If you are targeting doctors specialising in very, very sick people but not so sick as to be annoying for their big annual congress, I advise you to contact the place that hosts the Congress to be in the list of partner hotels. It’s a thing that's done. Also, who is a partner of this Congress? Maybe they have a catering supplier. Contact them and offer them a win-win deal too. There's a lot to do with partners, and you're going to have to be creative and just approach people.

The written press. Of course, a good press relations campaign can be very, very lucrative if it is well targeted in the right media. The idea here is not to pay for press advertising, but to bring in a journalist to write an article about you and your hotel.

Radio. Same thing. If you know that your niche is listening to such and such a radio broadcast, why not try to get on it?

Also, think about LinkedIn groups. I'll show you that in more detail next week. It’s a great source of visibility upstream of the reservation funnel. It's particularly suitable for clients travelling for business, obviously.

Facebook advertising. Be careful with this one. I included it in the list, but it is reserved only for those of you who know how to do it and who know how to measure the return on investment of a campaign. All the others, please train yourself before getting your fingers in Facebook paid advertising. The same goes for paid campaigns on Google Ads. Learn a little first, guys. Don't dive

 right in. Seriously, you can burn money on this if you don’t know how to do it right.

There are many, many other sources of visibility that are not coming to me right now, but they're intimately linked with your niches. The more you know your avatars, the easier it will be for you to find the right sources of visibility. And keep in mind that you need to be able to measure the effectiveness of the actions you put in motion. It is useless to try things if you cannot measure an ROI.

My advice is to create a unique promo code for each action that gives access to the promotion, with a time limit on how long it's available for use. I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that a promotion does not necessarily mean a reduction in price; a promotion means an increase in value. You can go back to the module dedicated to promotion if you want to refresh your memory on that point—it’s a good one to refresh yourself on. You can perfectly well make a promotional package by adding a service or product to your price, rather than applying a discount. Then what you do is measure the number of reservations you get with each promo code and decide whether or not the visibility channel was effective and worth keeping.

And for a conclusion, you now understand the different stages of visibility for your hotel. You also understand that it is important to be as high up in this funnel as humanly possible. Don’t hesitate to be creative. There is still a lot to discover. You've successfully completed the final module. Well done! You've discovered the untapped potential of Google as a traffic-boosting toolkit for your hospitality business. 

As we wrap up this course, I urge you to leverage these tools and strategies. Google is no longer just a search engine to you. It's your toolkit. It's your guide. It's your ally in maximising your online presence. So let it do the work for you. Talk to you soon.