4 steps to have a more effective website for your hotel
Digital marketing activities play a key role in the success of your property. Companies taking the advantage of digital marketing channels can now easily access their potential customers from all over the world. At this point, the first and foremost step to being digital is probably to have a decent website.
Websites do not only provide online sales options — they also facilitate various activities like boosting your recognition on the side of potential customers, turning existing customers into loyal ones and offering customer services.
However, not all websites have outstanding content and design no matter how important they are for hotels. Visiting websites of some hotels, we, from time to time, encounter such negative aspects as unsuccessful images, unavailability of some categories and insufficient information about the property.
Which points should a hotel pay particular attention to on a website? As HotelRunner, we compiled tips to increase your website’s profitability.
1. Use of quality images
Images are probably the most significant detail requiring constant attention for hotels’ websites. They prove that the content about your hotel is based on reality. It is critical for you to use images powerful enough to convince your visitors about your brand’s prestige.
Images featured on your website shouldn’t be limited to the photos of your rooms and an overview of your hotel. You should also include photos from the activities in your hotel and entertaining content like panoramic videos shot from scenery-rooms which provide a detailed grasp about your hotel.
However, this is not as easy as it seems. For instance, it may not be a good idea to use images taken with some random device like smartphones, for example, on hotels’ websites. Images taken with smartphones might sometimes pose problems like poor resolution, blur or frame-related problems. That’s why you should feature professional, bright and clear images with high quality.
For your visual content, you may pay attention to the images of your room. It might be a good idea to shoot images capable of providing all details of each section including the balconies – if any – and bathrooms. In a nutshell, all details which may be relevant for accommodation. Using wide-angle photos will facilitate things for you in such cases.
If you have an outstanding theme, architecture or service that distinguishes you from other businesses, it would be good to include them in the images. Why you are preferred might actually have to do with this.
Using the correct angles and professional video shootings – if possible- will enable the audience to understand the activities and sounds more clearly.
2. Social media marketing
Many hotels deploying social media as a marketing method try to reach their target groups in order to influence the vacation and accommodation decisions. Effective social media marketing is crucial both in terms of leading the targeted user traffic to your property’s website and attaining guests’ loyalty.
Claim your presence on social media platforms where you can often share your images to serve as a universal language in the tourism industry, and where you can access your target group. You’ll see you will reach more potential customers more easily. That’s why you should pay special attention to your presence and up-to-dateness on social networks. In your social media campaigns, you may create hashtags relating to your hotel. This way, you can create a brand personality.
3. User-friendly website
If websites are not practical and if users have problems with viewing the pages, this might cause loss of customers. Therefore, you should avoid impractical, poor designs which cause problems when viewed through mobile devices. HotelRunner helps you eliminate such problems with user-friendly designs.
4. Contact Information
On your website, you should provide contact details, social media accounts of your hotel and special information regarding your business, which all matter for your site’s visitors. The custom services you offer may also have a major role in determining guests’ preferences. Therefore, it can be useful to mention your custom services on your website. Airport transfer, car rentals and child care services may be influential in your guests’ decisions.
Make use of our tips to turn your website into an effective tool. HotelRunner collects all these needs under a single roof for Turkish companies to become stronger in global competition and keeps serving the accommodation industry through customer-oriented continuous improvement. If you want to access your customers through digital marketing channels, you can create your free HotelRunner account and start using the features offered by HotelRunner immediately.
