Fast Forward to 2013 Destination Marketing via SEO

“Staying ahead of the curve in Irish Tourism with the biggest Irish Diaspora event – The Gathering – has never presented as much opportunity or as many Challenges”

Anton Mannering,David Quaid

What is SEO?

• SEO is the presentation of information and data so that a search engine can best understand it

• Its also the understanding of how a search engine prioritises websites to give the *best* result to users

• You cannot improve your SEO on your own – 3rd party validation is critical

Google Zoo

• Google is a rich set of tools that have grown up and been added to since the original search engine invented in the late 1990s

• Google now indexes 30 trillion pages and serves up more than 100 billion searches per month.

• YouTube servers up another 40 billion

Google as a platform

• True size is impossible to quantify• October 2012: Alexa.com ranks Facebook.com

as the first to displace Google as #1 in terms of Visits

• But it doesn’t take into account Google.co.uk, .ie, fr....

• It also excludes Google+, YouTube, Gmail, Android. Actually – nobody knows...

Results

• Roomz predicts 70% of bookings are made via Google

• Other sites predict 90% of traffic is still search based

• Its mega critical

Zoo Pets

• Google’s Panda and Penguin are making news for all the right reasons

• Good news for people who build their own sites and content

• Mostly – build your value proposition = build your company

SEO as it is and should have been

• What is your true value proposition?• Where do you really add value?– What you set out to do– What you actually do– What people found useful– Why you get recommended– Problems you solve– Target audience

Alpha Set: How consumers think

Am I buying on price?Am I buying on exclusivity?

Am I buying on service?

Am I buying because of a location?

What do you offer?

• Best Price?

What do you offer?

• Best Price?• Best location?

What do you offer?

• Best Price?• Best location?• Best Service?

Summary of sales

• Do people want what you have (high demand)• Or have you had to create demand• Have you created demand by– Reaching further– Dropping your sales price– Offering more?

What does the customer really want?

• Price• Location• Connection?• Concierge?• Problem solving!

ITS ABOUT PROBLEM SOLVING!

SEO?

WhatWhere

What

Online Marketing

• Develop Value proposition• Drive up awareness• Develop demand• Offer solution:– Be the most searched for– Be the easiest to find

Pay it forward

• Are you leveraging off of Ireland as a destination or a location?– Are you a specific location– Or are you a part of selling Ireland Inc?

• Build your content and site around a larger offering while still selling core local product

• Who is your target audience and who else is targeting them = marketing partnerships

Partners

• SEO and Social are made easier by identifying partners

• Co-sell with others is much easier than competing with everyone

• If more people want to come to your location, your SEO will be lifted by higher search

• Those who lead collaboration get pay off first• Make partners link to you. Make locals link to

you.

Consumer Choice

• Value = Cheap• Consumer is looking for– Locations– Activity– Sight seeing– History– Overcome distance, transport– Solve Logistical problems

Dublin always wins?

• Dublin SWOT– Airport / International Traffic– Lots to do in a relatively small place– Budget to suit everyone– Well known

Most popular places

• Are outside Dublin– Cliffs of Moher– Blarney– Kylemore– Cashel

• In Truth – everywhere in Ireland is local

Hyperlocal

• Make your place riveting because its close to everywhere

• Help people know that its easy to get around and sell them easy transport

• Your local tour guide needs you – you need your local tour guide. Help them and own the relationship

Hyperlocal

• Make your place riveting because its close to everywhere

• Help people know that its easy to get around and sell them easy transport

• Your local tour guide needs you – you need your local tour guide. Help them and own the relationship

Ask not what can my

country do for me,

but what I can do for

my country

Supporting others

• Makes you look knowledgeable• Makes you look good• Makes you findable• People don’t like writing – massive spend on

copywriters• Write content for them – share it and make

sure they link back

Building your site for SEO

• You can never have too much content• Writing small is disingenuous to the user• Search users are expert researchers because

they use the best tools• Support tourism bodies and they will support

you• Ask tourists what problems they encountered

BEFORE they came – solve them for others

Building your site for SEO

• You can never have too much content• Writing small is disingenuous to the user• Search users are expert researchers because

they use the best tools• Support tourism bodies and they will support

you• Ask tourists what problems they encountered

BEFORE they came – solve them for others

Change your thinking and misconceptions first

Think like your customer

• Will I be able to see?• How can I save on this?• I’ve heard about this but I don’t understand it• E-mail us even if you’re not staying here and if

we can answer your questions, we will!– Gives you free content– Gives you contacts– Makes you shareable

Where Social meets Search

• You can raise a profile and awareness via Social• Does your destination have a good Facebook

page? Are you active on it? Should you be?• You can measure social effectively via Google

Analytics• Effective SEO will drive social engagement• Effective Social Engagement will drive branded

and location specific searches

Greatest sweet spot for increasing traffic

• Is not the Google AdWords tool – its the Google Webmasters tool

• It will tell you what searches, and in what volume, your site is already being found for

• And what you’re not ranking high enough for

SIMPLE EXAMPLE

No one has heard of Glenties

• If the location isn’t well known “One-Level-Up” your marketing.

• If there is no search for “Hotels in Glenties” then perhaps you need to rank for “Hotels in Donegal”

• Sideways - what is there to do?

Glenties??

• Festivals• Surfing, Canoeing, Outdoors, mountain climbing,

hill walking.• Unspoiled scenery, images• History• Literary• Sport• People• Geology