This lively event, titled SEMpdx Link Building Six Pack, is scheduled to deliver cutting-edge information from a panel of search marketing professionals pertaining to how to write and promote online content to attract inbound links from relevant external sources.  In addition, EngineWorks is proud to have Scott Fish, our Director of Search, contribute to this presentation as an expert panelist.

You can register to attend this valuable presentation by simply visiting the SEMpdx Web site.

If you are interested in gleaning insight into the latest techniques for securing inbound links so that your Web site can achieve prominent listings throughout the search engine landscape, we highly recommend that you attend this informative presentation.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Liftopia is the leading marketplace for discount ski lift tickets to the most popular alpine resorts across the country.  They provide an incredibly convenient site for snow skiing and snowboarding enthusiasts to research and find bargain prices on tickets and package deals at more than one-hundred (100) of the most desirable winter resorts in the United States.

Our advanced Paid Search Strategies ultimately resulted in a more than 110% increase in the total number of Conversions on Liftopia.com in December 2009 compared to the same month in 2008.  You can see the complete list of success metrics we were able to surpass through our EngineWorks SEO and Paid Search Marketing efforts in our EngineWorks press release.

The tremendous effort put forth by our team of search marketing specialist prompted Ron Schneidermann, Co-Founder of Liftopia, to exclaim, “The hard work and dedication from the EngineWorks team has enabled our company to deliver the best deals in the ski industry to a much larger audience, much more efficiently. We could not be more pleased with the results.”

Drop us a post to this blog if you would like more information on how we can dramatically improve your conversion performance in the same manner that we do for Liftopia.

Scott is scheduled to be on the panel of professional search marketers from our area who will be putting forth information on writing and promoting content to attract inbound links from relevant online sources.  Armed with this knowledge, audience members will be able to implement the latest techniques for improving their Natural search listings across the entire online search landscape.

Please join Scott, and our EngineWorks crew, next Tuesday for an evening of education and discussion pertaining to this critically important component of Search Engine Marketing.  You can visit SEMpdx.org to conveniently register for this event online.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Highlights of the evening, which included in-person presentations by NASA Space Shuttle Astronaut Michael Barratt, M.D., and Lt. Colonel Dick Rutan USAF (Ret.) who established the world distance record by flying the Voyager aircraft non-stop and un-refueled around the globe, can been seen in pictures through the following link:

OMSI 2010 Space Gala Photos

As a full-service Search Engine Marketing company, we fully acknowledge that the advancement of our industry and our services is directly predicated upon cutting-edge science-based technologies.  For this reason, we chose to align ourselves along-side other renowned sponsors such as Nike, Comcast, and Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) to help promote the tremendous benefits of science and industry upon our community and our world.

That is the message delivered by David Eldridge, CEO of Alterian, in a re-affirming article today from eMarketer titled ‘Consumers Demand Engagement’.  His resounding point is that even though more and more marketers are shifting dollars away from traditional advertising channels to interactive marketing, it is crucial that today’s new media (i.e., digital community marketing and social media networking) be  incorporated into an integrated communication strategy, rather than executed as a stand-alone channel.

“The age of sending out silo campaigns is long gone,” this eMarketer report added. “The only communications tolerated by consumers are those that are appropriate, timely, and relevant—regardless of channel.”

This fact is validated through the following eMarketer graph that reveals that the majority of marketing professionals around the world is expending at least “a fair amount” of effort on integrating community networking and audience engagement strategies, such as Social Media Marketing, into their overall media mix (i.e., moving away from a campaign-centric direct marketing model, to multi-channel customer engagements across all online and off-line platforms).

In today’s hyper-competitive marketing world, just building an impressive Web site, or creating a polished ad campaign, is no longer enough.  Savvy marketers are realizing that they need to reach-out to – and stay connected with – their target audience and online community influencers in order to entice customers to their brands, and generate long-term goodwill.

Having recently attended the 2009 PhoCusWright Conference in Orlando, Florida with Angela Yost, our Director of Client Acquisition, Mike expects to reconnect with marketing executives from the travel and tourism industry at this exciting conference in Canada.  In addition, he will be gleaning insight into the latest developments and advancements in interactive travel strategies, including social media marketing and online analytics, at the Canada-e-Connect Conference.

If you would like to meet-up with Mike at this conference to discuss how EngineWorks can benefit your online promotional efforts, simple post a request to this blog, or contact him at mike@engineworks.com.

This very encouraging report validates once again, that more and more consumers are choosing to research and purchase products online rather than contend with crowded malls and out-of-stock situations.  As we conveyed in a previous blog post, forty-five percent (45%) consumers perceive that they find better bargains online, compared to only thirty-four percent (34%) who claimed to find better deals at brick and mortar locations.  We are confident that this fact contributed to the positive holiday selling season this year.

As depicted in the eMarketer graph below, a full forty-five percent (45%) of respondents in this survey stated that in November 2009 they found better bargains at e-commerce Web sites, compared to only thirty-four percent (34%) who claimed to have found better deals at brick and mortar locations.

The top three enticements to convince consumers to purchase online are free shipping, free returns, and discounted specials promoted on the home page of an e-commerce Web site, as reported in this same survey.

It is evident that the convenience and perceived savings achieved through making purchases online is spearheading the road to our economic recovery in our great nation.

This study found that the most common strategy used by marketers on Facebook is an attempt to direct online visitors to branded materials through status updates, and through ‘friending’ tactics.  However, the most effective social media strategy implemented by consumer-based companies is to create a Facebook application pertaining to their brand(s).

The following chart from eMarketer summarizes the findings from this MarketingProfs study, and reveals the fact that the strategy perceived to be most successful (as reported by almost 42% of respondents) is Creating a Facebook Application Around a Brand.

If you would like to learn more about how EngineWorks can help you implement a Facebook application, or any other cutting-edge Social Media Marketing strategy, please drop a post on this blog, or reach-out to Mike Rosenberg (mike@engineworks.com) or Angela Yost (angela@engineworks.com).

We can assist you in your efforts to directly connect with more customers and interested communities.

In 2010, eMarketer projects that domestic advertising expenditures within social media networks will increase approximately seven percent (+7%) to more than $1.3 billion.  This forecast equates to an impressive 5.5% of all projected online ad spending in the coming year.  Of this $1.3 billion anticipated to be spent in 2010, Facebook will capture almost 25%, compared approximately 20% in 2009.

It is important to acknowledge however, that companies gain the greatest value through Social Media Marketing by having genuine engagements with their target audience on social networking platforms, and not by flooding them with banner ads.  As eMarketer states, “Marketers will continue to make social networks a priority for 2010, but a significant portion of their spending will go toward building and maintaining a social network presence.  Paid social network advertising will remain somewhat of an afterthought.”

As we have realized here at EngineWorks, Social Media Marketing is most effective when it is earned through authentic two-way communication that builds personal relationships and trust between our clients’ brands and their target audience.  Thus, our outlook for this exciting, new channel in the coming year (and beyond), is an ever-increasing push for companies to have online social activities and connections ‘baked-in’ to every form of digital content, including their Web sites, search engines, shopping engines, entertainment portals, and even traditional media channels.

This view is punctuated by the following eMarketer statement, “2010 will be a year in which social network advertising will intersect with other kinds of advertising. Concepts such as earned media (the additional unpaid exposure a brand gets when consumers share about the brand online), local social advertising, social search and social ad networks will be key themes next year.”

We look forward to continuing to development new avenues of marketing success for our clients through our creative social media strategies and promotions in 2010.

Here is his number one prediction as presented in this eMarketer article:

1. During 2010, as US ad budgets crack open just a little, look for an accelerated migration of ad dollars from traditional to digital media. According to Forrester Research, 59% of US marketers plan to increase their budgets for digital by pulling funds from traditional outlets.

Since the inception of our company, we have touted that more and more companies and organizations will continue to shift more and more of their marketing dollars from traditional advertising channels, including print, outdoor, and television, to highly measurable interactive solutions such as professional Search Engine Marketing.

The following eMarketer graph depicts this expected shift in marketing budgets during next twelve (12) months:

The ability to significantly effect, and track, the ROI performance of search marketing campaigns will drive this trend well into next year, and for many years to come.

In addition to this top prediction made by Geoff, the article provides insight into six other compelling dynamics within our vibrant industry.  I highly recommend that you take a moment to read this valuable article.

SEMpdx will present this professional seminar at the following time and location:

6:00pm PST
Tuesday
01.12.10
Hotel deLuxe
729 S.W. 15th Avenue
Portland, Oregon

As a founding board member of SEMpdx, we at EngineWorks highly encourage any business or organization interested in improving the performance of your Paid Search Marketing campaigns to attend this lively evening in beautiful downtown Portland.  Advanced topics scheduled to be addressed include effective keyword research and analysis, ad copy creation, A/B testing, multi-variate testing, spend cap management, and a whole lot more.

For information on registering and attending the SEMpdx Paid Search Seminar in January, simply visit the SEMpdx Web site.

We look forward to seeing you there!

This famous line from the 1968 science-fiction film written by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clark embodies the spirit behind the upcoming Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) 2010 Space Gala, taking place in Portland, Oregon on January 23, 2010. Sub-titled Discover * Inspire * Dream, the purpose for this exciting event is to ‘open the pod bay doors’ of the attendee’s minds to the possibilities of future space exploration and interplanetary travel.

Space Station Sponsor

As an industrious, technology-based services company, EngineWorks recognizes that the advancement of science and industry is spearheading new interactive technologies that are enabling our clients to connect with their target audiences through innovative means never imagined before. This fact is the impetus for our ‘Space Station’ level sponsorship of the OMSI 2010 Space Gala.

Taking place at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in beautiful downtown Portland, the 2010 Space Gala will feature “launch pad” lounges throughout the museum offering savory buffets, signature drinks, and enjoyable conversations with fellow supporters of OMSI. Coupled with the examination of possible future space endeavors, the event will also include an exhilarating look into the history of human flight and aeronautics.

An OMSI Adventure

The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) is one of the nation’s leading science museums, offering almost 220,000 square feet of brain-powered fun through hundreds of interactive exhibits and hands-on demonstrations. The museum, which was founded in 1944, also has five exhibit halls, eight science labs, and an OMNIMAX Dome Theater. Other exhibits include the most technologically advanced planetarium in the Pacific Northwest, and the USS Blueback submarine, the last fast-attack diesel-powered submarine built by the U.S. Navy.

OMSI also offers a variety of educational programs, including the largest science outreach education program in the United States. The museum’s outreach programs take innovative science education “on the road” to students, teachers, and the public throughout five Western states. In addition, OMSI delivers professional development workshops for teachers, and distance learning programs for schools and districts.

A Journey To Our Future

The OMSI 2010 Space Gala will also celebrate the opening of the museum’s latest exhibit titled Space: A Journey To Our Future. This extraordinary exhibit, which is currently touring major science centers around the country, will offer attendees the opportunity to experience our past explorations and future destiny in space. Visitors are introduced to the dreamers and thinkers who, throughout history, have given us a better understanding of our universe.

Through immersive scenic exhibits, Space: A Journey To Our Future enables OMSI attendees to touch actual rocks that have been brought back from the surfaces of both the Moon and Mars. In addition, the presentation features the most advanced interactive displays, and state-of-the-art projection and audio technology, to bring the story of outer space to life.

Event Information and Registration

EngineWorks is privileged to be a ‘Space Station’ level sponsor at this important event, along with fellow Space Station companies including Nike, Comcast, and the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). For additional information pertaining to this wonderfully informative social event, and for online registration, simply access the OMSI Web site through the following online link:

http://www.omsi.edu/gala

You can also gain more insight into the current developments leading up to the 2010 Space Gala by visiting OMSI on Facebook at the following Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Portland-OR/OMSI-Gala-Event/168838082307

In addition, to find-out what the online community is saying about this worthwhile event, you can follow the OMSI Gala online through the following Twitter account:

http://twitter.com/omsi_gala

Finally, if you are not able attend the 2010 Space Gala; you can still support science education by giving museum tickets, event passes, or OMSI Experiences as a green gift this holiday season. Information pertaining to thoughtful OMSI Experience Packages can be accessed online through the following link:

http://www.omsi.edu/OMSIExperiences

Join Us

Given that our efficacious search marketing services, and the advancement of our vibrant industry, are both technology-based, we are extremely pleased to support OMSI in their effort to promote the tremendous benefits of science and industry through this exciting gala event. If you are in the Great Pacific Northwest, or plan to be on January 23, 2010, we highly encourage you to attend the OMSI 2010 Space Gala.

According to the announcement made by the G-Men and G-Women in August of this year, Caffeine is even faster and more accurate than their previous spidering and indexing algorithms. This is truly an amazing statement, given the world-class search performance that has been delivered by the company over the past decade.

It is also a development that could directly impact how search engine marketers develop effective strategies for achieving prominently positioned listings within Google’s Natural search index.

A New Brew

Caffeine appears to feature new elements and weighting factors within its ranking algorithm. We, at EngineWorks, have been testing this new algorithm over the past few months in order to understand how it affects overall search performance and the ranking of pages within Google’s organic index.

Through our research, we have discovered that there are significant changes that have occurred behind the scenes at Google, including the enhancements to their following performance metrics:

• Number of search results per query,
• Speed of search queries,
• Accuracy of search results,
• Degree of temporal relevance.
• Number of Results

Google has built their reputation on an ability to very quickly crawl and discover new content and Web sites. Over time, this ability has created a situation whereby any given search query can return an astronomical number of search results. For example, the search query ‘hotels’ currently returns more than 343 million listings. However, our analysis of Caffeine reveals that Google appears to be attempting to eliminate a significant amount of duplicate content and irrelevant listings, in order to present even higher quality search results.

For example, a search conducted for ‘destination resort’ through their old algorithm returned more than 38 million result pages; whereas Caffeine displayed less than 19 million listings for the same query. In addition, a similar percentage in the reduction of the number of search results generated by Caffeine occurred for many other popular queries.

Speed

We have discovered that Caffeine generates results almost twice as fast as the previous iteration of their algorithm. It is important to point-out, however, that this increase in speed can only be discerned by turning your attention to the return time displayed by Google on each search engine result page (SERP). In terms of the actual time it takes for Caffeine to generate a relevant SERP compared to their previous algorithm, we found it to be approximately a quarter-of-a-second (i.e., from 0.25 seconds to 0.12 seconds).

While difficult to perceive in real-time, Google’s new algorithm is able to identify what you are searching for, query their massive index, and return highly relevant results in half the time it took through their previous engine. A very impressive feat.

Accuracy

As most individuals familiar with the Google story know, the champion of search technology built their empire upon accurate search results. In fact, the company’s ability to consistently deliver a better user experience than competitive engines, keeps them far, far ahead of the pack.

Caffeine attempts to enhance this commitment to accuracy by delivering blended search results that fit each search query more precisely than their previous algorithm. At first glance, there does not appear to be much difference. However, this new version of Google’s algorithm presents more relevant images, videos, news stories, and blog posts in its search results. At the time of our analysis, overall accuracy through Caffeine appears to be improved for some results. More time will tell if users recognize this improvement.

Temporal Relevance

A hot topic in the search industry right now is temporal relevance, which pertains to which online sources are able to present breaking stories in the timeliest manner. In other words, where do individuals go online to get the most up-to-the-moment news?

When an important news story breaks, who will have the fastest and most relevant news results? Is it Twitter, with their legions of mobile phone users? Or, Wikipedia, with their army of independent editors? What about CNN, and their global network of professional journalists? Or, will it be Google, with their impressive ability to identify the slightest uptick in attention being given to a specific story, and then aggregate the best sources in their search results?

Google is currently battling with these other “real-time” aggregators, such as Twitter and Facebook. In addition, the search company is also competing head-to-head with the other major engines, including Microsoft’s new “Decision Engine” – Bing. Through our analysis of news-based keyword searches in Caffeine, we found little to no improvement in temporal relevance compared to Google’s previous algorithm. We perceive that this will be a factor that Google will need to address in order to maintain its dominant position within the today’s search landscape.

So, What Can Caffeine Do For Me

Google is committed to continuously enhancing your online search experience. While Caffeine does not necessarily present a quantum leap in this area, it does offer faster results that feature more types of relevant sources pertaining to your query.

As a Web site owner or search marketing professional, this means that it is paramount for you to continually feature fresh, optimized content in varied presentations that appeal to the greatest number of individuals searching for your brands, products, and services. Google’s enhanced algorithms in Caffeine seek-out the most relevant, most diverse, and most time-sensitive Web sites for each search query.

To ensure that your site makes it to the top of the list, stimulate your Web pages with legitimate optimization enhancements and effective usability elements.

As well documented, Microsoft has been relegated to a distant third place position in the domestic search market-share race (trailing both rivals Google and Yahoo!). However, this recent launch presents a tremendous opportunity for online marketers to capture additional qualified traffic and improve conversion-to-customer performance on their Web sites.

The Decision Engine

In an attempt to differentiate Bing from the ‘other’ search engine (‘other’ being the term used in their advertising instead of ‘that well-known search company in Mountain View, California’), Microsoft has dubbed Bing as a decision engine. While it remains to be seen if Bing actually facilitates decisions, this advertising tactic is the latest example of the age-old marketing strategy designed to convince an audience that it needs a solution to a previously unrealized problem.

Much like “embarrassing dishwasher water spots”, and “calcium-deficient antacid tablets”, Microsoft touts that using Bing will cure “search overload syndrome” . . . even though the general population is not even aware that they suffer from this debilitating affliction! The intent is to claim that, unlike that ‘other’ engine (which may provide lots of search results that are random and unrelated to the purpose for your search query); Bing offers a superior search experience by delivering much more relevant listings. These ostensibly more succinct search results enable better decisions, according to this ad campaign.

Binghoo!

Before turning our attention to specific strategies that you can employ to achieve enhanced performance through Bing, it’s important to point-out that the top executives at Yahoo! were so impressed with the capabilities of Bing, they decided to hand-over their entire search function to Microsoft. In fact, last month, the Big Purple Portal contracted with Microsoft to have Bing perform as its search provider for the next ten (10) years!

This unprecedented multi-year arrangement gives Microsoft access to the Internet’s second-largest search engine audience, and should enable the Redmond-based software company to better confront Google. It also, obviously, has significant repercussions within the search engine marketing industry. Today, a combined Yahoo! and Microsoft now commands more than twenty-seven percent (27%) percent of all Internet searches in the United States.

Optimizing for Bing

Microsoft has segmented Bing’s core searches into the following four primary categories: local, shopping, travel, and health. In addition, for large-volume search queries (e.g., ‘insurance’ or ‘mortgage’), Bing presents results in ‘Explore Panes’ that feature internal links referred to as ‘Quick Tabs’. It is important to note, however, that its algorithm continuously refines the selection of a given category for specific search queries. This means that you should not attempt to implement optimization strategies designed to rank for a specific Quick Tab, but rather integrate enhancements that will improve your current search listings.

As most search marketers are aware, effective optimization begins with proper page titles and descriptions. For each Web page in Bing, the title and page descriptions are pulled from the title description tag and the Meta description tag, respectively. Because of this, the best strategy for ensuring proper title and description elements in Microsoft’s new engine is to maintain the optimized tags that you have created for Google. This prevents the possibility of negatively affecting your rank within Google, while at the same time presenting compelling call-to-action information and accurate page descriptions in Bing.

In addition to maintaining optimized title and Meta tags, it is very important that you optimize the images and videos contained on your site for Bing. Just as you would optimize these elements for Google; use Alt tags for your images, and descriptive keyword tags with your videos.

Quick Preview

Another important feature within Bing’s search engine result pages (SERP’s) is the ability for users to preview the landing page associated with each search listing. By scrolling over a specific listing on Bing’s SERP’s, a window will appear that provides a textual description of the Web site, along with additional page elements such as contact information, content topics, and internal links. To attract more visitors through your listings in Bing, it is paramount that you include all of these Quick Preview elements into every page of your Web site.

Be Local

A significant component of Microsoft’s new search design, Local Search, is very similar in appearance and function to Google’s extremely popular Local Business Listings (LBL) section. This section on the SERP’s presents information, such as phone numbers and directions, pertaining to local businesses that are relevant to each specific search query. In order to have your site listed on Bing Maps within Local Search, all you have to do is add your business profile in the Bing Listing Center. It’s important to always keep this information updated within your profile, as well. Given the fact that the Local Search listings appear at the top of Bing’s SERP’s (as they do on Google), we recommend that you include as much detailed information as possible within your business profile.

Best Practices = Best Results

As with most search engines today, your best performance within Bing will be achieved through proper site structure, legitimate optimization enhancements, and rich, relevant page content. Even though this newly re-designed engine from Microsoft has only existed for a couple of months, it is already apparent that by adhering to the best practices and Web site guidelines published by the ‘other’ major engine, you can achieve prominently positioned Natural search listings in Bing. This may not be revolutionary . . . however; it is the premise behind the Big Bing Theory!

The following eMarketer chart depicts this enthusiastic projection for revenue spending in 2010, and also reveals the anticipated annual revenue increases over the next five (5) years:

As shown in this chart above, total advertising revenues through search engines is forecasted to impressively increase to almost $16 billion by the end of 2014.

This eMarketer article also prognosticates that the major engines will increasingly use data real-time data gathered through the social media sites and networks, such as Twitter.com and Digg.com, to determine the most relevant search results for online queries.

We, at EngineWorks, perceive that this advancement could lead to even better targeted Paid Search listings, and content network advertising, which in turn could drive more revenue through search engines over the next five years.

Our professional team of search marketing experts recognizes that the advancement of science and industry is spearheading new interactive technologies that are enabling our clients to connect with their target audiences through innovative means never imagined before.  This fact is the impetus for our ‘Space Station’ level sponsorship of the OMSI 2010 Space Gala.

The 2010 Space Gala, taking place at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, will include “launch pad” lounges throughout the museum offering savory buffets, signature drinks, and enjoyable conversations with fellow supporters of OMSI.

Please join our EngineWorks team at this worthwhile event by registering through the OMSI Web site.

Founded in 1944, OMSI is one of the nation’s leading science museums that features almost 220,000 square feet of brain-powered fun through hundreds of interactive exhibits and hands-on demonstrations. In addition, the museum’s outreach programs also take innovative science education “on the road” to students, teachers, and the public throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Open the pod bay doors, Hal.

The November 17, 2009 article titled Google Fights to Protect Itself Against Ad Scammers states that Google “started disabling AdWords accounts of perpetrators earlier this fall, and is now stepping up those efforts to try to eliminate the mini-economy of fraudsters that continue to plague text advertising.”

This new stringent policy is a major shift from the search behemoth’s fraud prevention measures to date, which have relied on its algorithm-based technologies to recognize and disable fraudulent ads within their network.  With this new announcement, it is evident that Google is now policing ads at the client level, instead of at the Web site level.  This means that the company is attempting to eliminate not just the offending ad from their system, but also the actual offender by banning the site for life.

With the announcement of this new policy, it is even now more important than ever to ensure that your Paid Search Marketing accounts features ad copy and listings that strictly abide by Google’s rules and regulations.  As you can see, one misstep could get your company or agency permanently removed from the world’s largest search marketplace.

Having just returned from this latest adventure, my mind is filled with the latest search marketing strategies (especially advancements in Link Building) that are being implemented across the globe for travel and tourism companies of all size.

Given that the major search engines regularly updating their algorithms to provide the most relevant search results possible, effective Link Building continues to be significant challenge for today’s search marketing professionals. While the various ways in which the search engines evaluate inbound links have become much more sophisticated, several basic ethical Link Building tactics can be employed to jump-start the SEO efforts for your travel and hospitality Web site.

Here are six (6) basic Link Building tactics that have proven to be effective for companies within the online travel and hospitality vertical.

1. Content

Whether you refer to it as ‘link bait’, or just solid interactive marketing, the number one strategy for generating inbound links is the creation of quality content. Writing great content is a strategy that almost all members of the SEO community agree will achieve positive results within the major Natural search indexes. Just look here, here, and here.

With that being said, here is a short list of content ideas that, when promoted properly, can generate quality inbound links for resort and travel sites:

• Create an informative list of activities pertaining your location, such as Top Ten Thing to Do in Vail this Summer. (Concentrate on ideas not covered by your competitors.)
• Develop a simple site tool, such as a weather widget or travel planner.
• Write an article, or blog post, from an unusual perspective. A great example is Travel + Leisure’s article on the World’s Most Unusual Hotels.
• Run a simple online photo contest.
• Provide free data. For example, KAYAK Travel Trends delivers much-sought-after, useful, FREE data.

2. Testimonials

This tactic is very simple, but often overlooked. Most hotels and resorts have some type of partnership with local businesses, such as rental shops, restaurants, and transportation providers. Reach-out to your partners and vendors to let them know you value your relationship with them by offering a testimonial which they can post on their site. Within your testimonial, create a link back to your site. These types of inbound links are valuable because you can often customize the anchor text of the link so that a benefit is derived by both parties.

3. Directories

First off, do not submit your site to hundreds of irrelevant paid directories. This strategy is a waste of time and money. Online directories have become less relevant over the past few years. However, certain targeted directories can still provide Link Building value for travel and tourism sites. It’s best to focus on high quality, niche directories that have submissions reviewed by an human editor. Think relevancy and authority. Be sure to submit your site to the appropriate travel-related category within each specific directory. Here are a few of my favorite general directories that I have found to be effective for our resort and hospitality clients:

• DMOZ
• Best of the Web
• Yahoo! Directory
• Business.com

4. Charities

Does your travel and hospitality company contribute time and/or capital to non-profit or charity projects? If so, request a link back to your site from these organizations. Often, these types of entities have an online donor list, and regularly publish online press releases. Both of these areas are great places for a link back to your site. If you have any doubts about the benefits of philanthropy-based Link Building, just take a look at the results achieved by Marriott.

5. Organizations

Similar to strategy Number Four above, industry organizations and trade associations can be effective Link Building sources for your company. Inbound links from these entities can be valuable for two reasons. First, the links are generally coming from a relevant and authoritative organization, which are the most valuable. Second, these links typically benefit your local search optimization efforts. Examples of organizations and associations that can be targeted for Link Building include:

• Local Chamber of Commerce
• Better Business Bureau
• Retailers sites
• Partner sites
• Local event sites that you are participating in
• Industry associations like the Boutique Lifestyle & Lodging Association
• Energy and Water Conservation Associations
• Renewable Energy Organizations

Our trip to the World Travel Market was an awesome experience! One that expanded my knowledge of effective interactive strategies for dramatically improving the bottom line for travel and tourisms sites. I hope this blog post has imparted some of this knowledge. You can check-out some photos from this impressive conference at our EngineWorks Flickr account.

What travel and hospitality link building tactics have you found to be the most effective? Let us know by leaving a comment!

Even though total retail sales are projected to experience no growth in the months of November and December, the Forrester survey revealed that ninety-four percent (94%) of consumers who made a purchase online within the past three months, plan to continue to buy online this holiday season.

To quote Ms. Mulpura, “What’s different this holiday from past years is that online retailers will manage to the bottom line, which will change some of the tactics they have employed in the past.”  As we have conveyed through our EngineWorks blog, no other form of marketing does a better job of enhancing your bottom line than professional search marketing.

Drop us post, and we’ll be happy to show you how SEM can benefit your site.