# General Business Category > Marketing Forum >  Marketing my website...

## IMHO

I realised one thing. I have to improve my business online image. The market is changing at a very fast pace and gone is the days of outdoor advertising doing the job for me. I am not saying that outdoor advertising is dead, but in my industry the Internet has taken over and I will have to adapt or die.

In the early days of Internet it was easy, as very little was coming my way because of it. I wrote my own web page with a copy of Dreamweaver and got good rankings on the search engines. Then I disappeared from the top page and I went the Adwords route. All of a sudden my business picked up and I realized this is the way. Just to see business dwindling again. So I up my budget and it pics up again, but for a short period. Now if I Google my keywords, the opposition has taken over again. So what is happening?

Seems like everyone is just pumping more and more money into their budgets to keep the top spot. Well, I am sorry, I will have to find another way. It is getting just too expensive.

I am in the hospitality industry. When you Google for a Guest house in a particular area, none of the actual, or very little, guest house website comes up like in the past. The big guns, like booking.com, safarinow.com, roomsforafrica.com and the likes is just flooding the top rankings. It is obvious why. They spend the bucks and know all the SEO tricks. That is their game. They also jump around so much, that there is not one standing out above the rest. It is like the flavor of the hour. So joining them is also not really the answer to me, apart from the fact that they charge an arm and a leg. My cost per click in the beginning was like R2. Now sometimes I am paying up to R8. Very nice business Google has got here. But I see there is still individual guest houses in there. So I will have to make a plan to get free clicks.

Reading thru this Marketing Forum, it is clear that SEO, linking to social sites etc is some of the ways to go. Re-writing my website is also overdue. I still use frames and none of the new technology! So bots and stuff is probably ignoring me or even blocking me.

So I have to decide. Call in professional help, who is just out to milk me for everything I might save on Google is one option. Another is to buy a legal copy of Dreamweaver with all the latest technology build in, at about R4000. (I see the complete suite is like R23 grand! They must be joking...) With that I can re-write my own site and just have this once off expenditure. This way I will be able to do maintenance on my own and be able to turn on a ticky. But will I be able to do a decent job? Or will it just be another wishy washy site, like at the moment. Somehow I doubt that, as it can not be worse than at the moment.

I would love to give my web address here for evaluation, but just can not do so on an open forum. I can not afford every Tom, Dick and Harry to go Google for keywords and click on my ad when it comes up. It is just too expensive. By the way, I suspect industry sabotage like that in any case. What is easier than sitting there, clicking on your oppositions ads a few times every day, blowing his budget? So if possible, I would love to get away from Addwords. If someone really want to look at my site, honestly, PM me and I will give it to you.

So that is where I am. Stubborn as hell and want to do my own thing! But R4 or R23 grand is also out of my reach...

----------


## AndyD

Are you looking to redesign your web site from the ground up? Im trying to figure out why you'd even consider buying Dreamweaver if you're just trying to maintain a single site, it's akin to buying a Vito van, scaffolding and renting a workshop because you need to do some DIY work at home  :Smile:  There's loads of free tools available for website design and developement, Amaya, Kompozer etc etc. If you could give more info about how your website was coded it would help. Also rankings is about content, updating and adding info regularly etc.

----------


## dfsa

http://www.theforumsa.co.za/forums/s...2431-Web-sites

You can have a look at the above thread.

AMHO You have run into the ripp off zone. At least you seem to have done your PPC yourself. Your opposition have the budget for it and now your ROI is basically gone. The SERP's up untill a couple Years ago was like chicken feed. The competition is growing as more people try to establish a stronger online presense.

As AndyD say, do not go waste money on dream weaver and programs like that. You have built your own site before, you can again update it onto a new platform with little or no cost. There are free platforms ( scripts) out there and millions of free templates.

For branding and SEO purpose, you will have to fork out some money, but don't run into the 23k people. they eat you for breakfast. True some do actually give you results, but why give them all your profits, if you can have cheaper avenues with the same results.

Traffic: Do not sign annual contracts, do not believe them when they gaurentee top spot. Unless they are willing to sign a double money back Gaurentee.

Just look at the link above, you might find it interesting.

----------


## Rod

I think your first task is evaluate your strategy. You need to try and broaden your keyword range. You are not going to compete with sites like booking.com. Use the adwords keyword research tool to see how many local monthly searches your keywords get and then compare the difficulty, although it is not accurate it will give you an idea. Remember to set the location to South Africa. I would recommend a location based keyword ("Guest House Sandton" or where ever you are located).

As for your website, I am busy doing a website for KevinB right now but when I am done, I will be more than happy to build you a simple wordpress site. That way you can edit the content whenever. You just need to send me the kind of design you would like.

----------


## Mark Atkinson

IMHO, you're about to be flooded with a lot of information from lots of different folks. 50% of that information is probably going to be nonsense. 

I suspect that a lot of the reason why your CPC is on the increase is because of the quality and relevance of your landing pages. In fact, if you're using a table-based site, this is almost certainly the reason. You'd be way better off just setting up a Wordpress/Joomla site than buying Dreamweaver to build a static site.

By the way, R8 per click is not a horrible price to pay - try the web design industry, you'll quickly find reasons why you don't need Adwords.  :Stick Out Tongue:  

I'm happy to take a look at your website for you and advise you as to the right direction you should take. I'll drop you a PM now. There are a number of folks on the forum who can vouch for me.  :Smile: 

By the way, are you not making use of sites such as safarinow.com? It's a surefire way to increase your bookings. I believe they're commission-based, so you aren't paying anything unless they are helping you.

----------


## Marq

> By the way, are you not making use of sites such as safarinow.com? It's a surefire way to increase your bookings. I believe they're commission-based, so you aren't paying anything unless they are helping you.


We have used all the accommodation pirate type sites and can tell you that there are just too many establishments using them, for it to be effective anymore. There are no surefire ways to increase bookings through these sites. In addition your rates still have to be competitive - so when they charge 15% plus vat off your already discounted rate, you start to drift into an area where you may end up paying for your guests to stay with you. 

Right now, the poor economy is taking toll and the accommodation industry is being hard hit. It is a period where it will be difficult to gauge whether your low occupancy is a result of general economic problems, poor marketing effort or that Guests just dont like your spot. A rough place to be if you are just starting out. Even those that have been around for a while have not seen it this bad for quite a number of years now. If you have a good occupancy, make sure you do everything to keep your clientele happy....cause we are doing everything we know to get them to come our way. :Wink:  

Getting a website going with good SEO content takes a while and is not an instant thing, which is why you can use adwords initially to get you going. But at some stage, I believe the site itself must take over and be in the rankings to pull in the business. The current way to go and the designers and purveyors of good SEO know this and will charge for it. Unfortunately the con artists also know this and there are many who will sell you SEO and adword related services with no interest in getting you up the rankings. 
Be careful out there!

----------


## IMHO

Let me first address why I would be interested to buy Dreamweaver if I can get a good deal.

1. I love programming and working with professional software.
2. I have the time.
3. I wrote my own booking program in Delphi, self taught. It employs an Interbase database with clients on all my LAN PC's.
4. I wrote my own e-mail responder to inquiries in Visual Studio, self taught.
5. I like to work with a legal tool.
6. I like to know that I work with the leading software in its category and that time spend on the learning curve is well spend.
7. If I use leading, legal software I can always recoup some of the costs from doing things for friends and family. R100 here and there over time goes a long way to pay for the software.
8. I get enormous satisfaction from doing it myself. Even more than a night out at the casino, which I do not do anymore. So I see it as money spend on entertainment!

I could go on, but I am sure you get the idea.

----------


## IMHO

Marq, glad to see you understand. The other problem is that every second house now try and generate an extra income by renting out rooms on a daily basis. They do not offer much, but the shear number of them kills me. I have 21 Rooms, spread over three houses and 17 years in the business. There is over a 100 establishments in our 'small' town. Just imagine where I am if every one of them takes 1 room out of the market.

I discovered another one via the Internet last night. Did not even knew the name, but my socks were blown off by their site, looking so good. Actually my wife's. She panics for nothing. I then got in my car and drove past it. What a relieve, as it is not what was betrayed on the web site.

So that brings me to my next challenge. My website must make me look like 'Sun City'. People decide on what they see on the web. When they get there and it is not looking so brilliant, they do not mind. I am not saying you must lie, but I am saying the presentation must be perfect. Look at the fast food industry. Ever got a burger looking like the one in the picture?

----------


## IMHO

Keywords in this industry is very simple. Accommodation in XYZ is the top performing one. Everyone use it. Then there is lots of variations around it. Thats why the CPC is just going up and up.
Furthermore you have to be very specific with your keywords. You do not want to pitch to someone that is not looking for a place to stay. If you do, he is probably going to click on your advert, out of curiosity and no intention to stay. So, clicks is vanity, conversions is sanity. For that reason I do only South Africa. Tourists has no business in this part of the world.

----------


## Mark Atkinson

> We have used all the accommodation pirate type sites and can tell you that there are just too many establishments using them, for it to be effective anymore. There are no surefire ways to increase bookings through these sites. In addition your rates still have to be competitive - so when they charge 15% plus vat off your already discounted rate, you start to drift into an area where you may end up paying for your guests to stay with you. 
> 
> Right now, the poor economy is taking toll and the accommodation industry is being hard hit. It is a period where it will be difficult to gauge whether your low occupancy is a result of general economic problems, poor marketing effort or that Guests just dont like your spot. A rough place to be if you are just starting out. Even those that have been around for a while have not seen it this bad for quite a number of years now. If you have a good occupancy, make sure you do everything to keep your clientele happy....cause we are doing everything we know to get them to come our way. 
> 
> Getting a website going with good SEO content takes a while and is not an instant thing, which is why you can use adwords initially to get you going. But at some stage, I believe the site itself must take over and be in the rankings to pull in the business. The current way to go and the designers and purveyors of good SEO know this and will charge for it. Unfortunately the con artists also know this and there are many who will sell you SEO and adword related services with no interest in getting you up the rankings. 
> Be careful out there!


Well consider that, when I look for holiday accommodation, I visit sa-venues.com or safarinow.com *before* I do any sort of searching for establishments. I'm sure I'm not the only one. Can you afford *not* to be listed there? I'm sure not everyone shops on price, either. 

Also consider that, had I not found the particular place I am visiting this weekend on safarinow.com, I would not be staying there at all, based on their website alone. If my destination were such a great place to stay, I would probably pay 15% of my accommodation fee for concluded sales. 

Do the maths, though. If you're running Adwords campaigns, figure out how much, on average, you are paying for each confirmed booking per night. More than or less than 15% of your accommodation per night? 

I maintain that if you portray a good enough image and also ensure a great experience at your establishment, you will get the guests you seek, almost regardless of your prices.

----------


## IMHO

Mark, that may be true for holiday destinations, but not for the market Marq and myself is in. This market is very much price driven, expecting all the bells and whistles as well. There is a constant price war going on and half your calls received is from opposition doing price checks.

The other problem we face is that people expect a guest house to be on call 24/7 like a hotel. They do not realize you have to sleep as well, not talking about uninterrupted time for yourself. I can understand that, but then expect to pay for the service. Hotels charge what they do for a reason.

----------


## Mark Atkinson

That may be so, but if you and a competitor are equally priced, you still need to be doing something else better than your competitor. Assuming your clients do their due diligence, that is. (Which I'm sure they do if they all their decisions are price-focused)

----------


## Raymond Smit

IMHO - you are exactly right. Most people search online for a b&b. For example: "b&b your city" - to locate a bed and breakfast.

You have a 3rd option available to you - rank in Google places (that little map that pops up when someone does a local search). Right now it is easier to rank in Google places than for
normal SEO. Even better is you stand a much, much better chance at beating the more capitalized bullies with Places than with SEO or adwords.

[The downside is you can only rank for about 5 keywords b&b, bed and breakfast, accommodation, guest house and lodging for example]

I'll send you a PM and help you set up a listing or at least point you in the right direction.

----------


## IMHO

> I'll send you a PM and help you set up a listing or at least point you in the right direction.


I think I have done so already, but send me the PM, so I can check. Thanks.

----------


## IMHO

> That may be so, but if you and a competitor are equally priced, you still need to be doing something else better than your competitor.


You are right. Thats why I want to re-do my website in the first place.

----------


## IMHO

Mark, I am still considering getting Dreamweaver, but that is going to take time. I am also considering getting someone like yourself to do the initial thing for me and I just maintain or add on to it like I feel. (My problem is I am not very artistic) I host it myself on Telkomsa and own my domain name through them. So what will it cost to develop a new site from scratch? You have seen it now and have a good idea of what it is all about. I will also PM you the name of the new place that opened up that I talked about. They are very well ranked, so I want to know why...

Just checking if you noticed. The website is advertising two guest houses. They are run as one, just two branches with two names, as the settings is very different.

----------


## Dave A

> You have a 3rd option available to you - rank in Google places (that little map that pops up when someone does a local search). Right now it is easier to rank in Google places than for normal SEO. Even better is you stand a much, much better chance at beating the more capitalized bullies with Places than with SEO or adwords.


Absolutely agree with this - I'd put getting a listing on Google Places at the top of your to-do list if you're in the accomodation business.

IMHO, I've had a look at your website, and boet I reckon you'd be *way* better off using Wordpress than what you've got there. Here's why.

Wordpress is a very popular publishing platform that Google knows, understands and really likes.It's easy to learn (certainly relative to Dreamweaver  :Stick Out Tongue:  ) and it comes with rock solid SEO built in.You can drop external scripts into pages, such as Google Maps for your directions page - waaaay better than the old way of inserting a sketchy map image.You can drop in all the fancy "online shopping" related meta tags too if you're that way inclined.

Basicly, you get a solid base to build on instead of starting pretty much from scratch. And you get all this *for free!* Damn hard to beat that deal.




> So, clicks is vanity, conversions is sanity.


I suggest the same philosophy applies when it comes to simple websites. Building them from scratch in Dreamweaver is vanity, doing it with Wordpress instead is sanity  :Wink: 

Register a second domain and take Wordpress for a spin. I don't think you'll regret it.

----------


## Mark Atkinson

I see he already has a local places listing.

Agree with Dave, you are definitely better off using Wordpress as a base. Just please, don't use free templates. 

I've sent you a PM detailing what I can do for you, as well as other advice. For the benefit of everybody else, I will consolidate everything I've already spoken to IMHO about and post it in this thread when I get a chance. 

IMHO, I did notice that it is two guest houses. Only after my third look through, though. You'll probably want to clarify that with your new site.

----------


## Marq

So I look on SafariNow this morning. I entered in the search box that I am looking for accommodation in Durban - first choice gave me 521 establishments.
So then I thought I would be more selective - so choose Durban City North = 241 establishments - mine came up number 40 this time.
Why do I say this time = cause they use a randomly generated list thats tailored towards a few tweaks along the lines of most used/most reviewed/highest points etc - they used to include (and I do not know if they still do) a factor of how many hours/minutes you took to answer your enquiries. In the early days when there where only 50 on the site, I used to have us at the top regularly and had a potential of quoting guests all the time. No its once in a blue moon, if I am lucky.
The point is here that you are in a cast of thousands playing casino odds at being found. Who is going to page through 500 potentials. Thats assuming that I know which area I would like to be in. The majority and especially overseas visitors do not know the various suburbs and which should be preferred. So the choice's are plenty and the potential of being found minimal. Still like you say Mark, we need a ticket to play, and thats the only reason we are there - same as the other 16,000 establishments that they have listed on their site.

Secondly - the price. I have discovered one thing over the years. Potential Guests do not think like I do. So yes not everybody shops on price or website looks.......but......the huge majority do. Also they surf the net and finding you on SafariNow (if they ever do) and after comparing SafariNow rate with the rate on your own website, finding that there is a difference is a huge issue. We field calls on a daily basis giving us a hard time cause a rate on some site is different to the rate on my official site etc. Like I said there is a stage where your margins just do not allow you to do the business. I do my own research on this regularly and it is a subject that usually comes up at association meetings and get-togethers. Pricing is big and being in the right ballpark definitely creates a difference in occupancy. The question is at what margin.

I have not done an adwords campaign so cannot tell you if it has the same margin as being on a site that gives you a luck looks view on marketing your business. It is something I have considered now that numbers are looking down so may be able to report back on this in the near future. 

A note to IMHO - I get a comment often when guests arrive that my place is exactly like the pictures they have seen. If they arrive at a place where realty does not look like the demo then you have an unhappy guest from the start. No amount of service and good looking hosts can save you from that. They will not return and that is one of the keys to this business - returning guests. If you do not have that type of business then a bad review can also ruin your potential.

----------


## Mark Atkinson

I can understand how in a major city you would find a whole lot of competition on Safarinow and such sites. It must be frustrating, but yes, you probably can't afford not to be on there anyway. I guess the solution is just to diversify your marketing now. So get listed on as many of those sites as possible, especially the ones that actually link back to your website. (Like sa-venues.com) Invest in your website, run an Adwords campaign, etc. 

In this day and age no business can afford to rely on one form of marketing to succeed. It's the same issue with "Internet Marketers" who stuff rubbish backlinks to their site and have no other form of traffic generation such as social media. Next thing Google changes its algorithms and your income stream goes from sustaining you to absolutely nothing. That's a major theme coming through in online marketing lately - diversify or you're risking your livelihood. 

Regarding Adwords, because you're in Durban and IMHO is in Klerksdorp I believe we'll see a big difference in terms of ROI and Adwords spend. You can expect yours to be a whole lot higher than his will be, simply due to the number of competitors.  I've looked at IMHO's competition and noted to him that beating his competition shouldn't be too difficult at all, simply because their online strategies aren't very strong and there aren't (comparatively) very many competitors.  It's definitely an avenue for you to consider, Marq. (If you have a decent website up)

----------


## Mark Atkinson

> A note to IMHO - I get a comment often when guests arrive that my place is exactly like the pictures they have seen. If they arrive at a place where realty does not look like the demo then you have an unhappy guest from the start.


While this is true, the frame is almost as important as the picture itself when it comes to web design. A good designer can take a photo and put it in an appealing environment, accompanied by good copy and see a huge amount more success than the same photo would see on its own with no aesthetic appeal around it. 

If you're in the hospitality industry, I would always recommend professional photography to accompany all your venue listings as well as to go on your website. Imagery is crucial in your industry and you will know that many decisions are swung by the images alone.

----------


## IMHO

> A note to IMHO - I get a comment often when guests arrive that my place is exactly like the pictures they have seen. If they arrive at a place where realty does not look like the demo then you have an unhappy guest from the start. No amount of service and good looking hosts can save you from that. They will not return and that is one of the keys to this business - returning guests. If you do not have that type of business then a bad review can also ruin your potential.


I agree with you all the way. Why I mentioned the looking different to the actual, because so many places do it. But I refuse. My place needs an urgent facelift as well, especially the front, facing the street. But capital outlay in this economy is just plain irresponsible. That being said, I still take the lion share of the cake. If I can get this website thing sorted, I am sure it is going to be even better and then there will be money to do something to the outside looks.

Returning guests is like you say very important and that is why I concentrate on the inside.

----------


## Marq

Yesterday some new Guests arrived thankful to have found a place that was, well in their opinion, 6 stars, compared to where they had been booked by the Secretary. Sold by the photos and demo again, close to the venue they were visiting.

But a new item was mentioned which I thought could be a challenge for the webmasters of this world.
The guy said, "If only they had a smell swatch attached to the site so that we could have a complete experience up front...maybe some folk wouldn't mind the old musty, sewerage type stench".

So there you go webweavers - see if you can add that to the demo. :Cool:   :Yes:

----------


## Mark Atkinson

> So there you go webweavers - see if you can add that to the demo.


It wouldn't only be up to the "webweavers" - the adequate hardware would need to be in place before we could make use of it. Can't play music if there ain't any speakers.  :Wink: 

For now, though, it is the job of the copy to appeal to the senses of the visitor. It is quite possible to invoke a sense of smell with great wordplay.  :Smile:  The best marketers will appeal to all your senses and a lot of it is done just through your copy.

----------


## Upstairs

Go joomla. You have full control over your site and with free extentions it will cost you nothing. If you have the ability to do your own graphics even better.

----------


## KirstenB

The on thing very important when it comes to internet marketing is content. The more content you have on your site, whether it's relevant or not you will stand a better chance of being found on search engines. Search engines lso dont always scan sites automatically and therefore it's important to submit your site directly to the search engine. Another tip is to add your business to as many directories as possible, this increases content and your name grows within the online community.

----------


## SilverNodashi

> Let me first address why I would be interested to buy Dreamweaver if I can get a good deal.
> 
> 1. I love programming and working with professional software.
> 2. I have the time.
> 3. I wrote my own booking program in Delphi, self taught. It employs an Interbase database with clients on all my LAN PC's.
> 4. I wrote my own e-mail responder to inquiries in Visual Studio, self taught.
> 5. I like to work with a legal tool.
> 6. I like to know that I work with the leading software in its category and that time spend on the learning curve is well spend.
> 7. If I use leading, legal software I can always recoup some of the costs from doing things for friends and family. R100 here and there over time goes a long way to pay for the software.
> ...


Dreamweaver is overrated, IMO

You can do all of the above, and much more in other applications like Netbeans, Eclipse, etc. If you need graphics done, get Abode CS or one of the others. Rather spend the money for Dreamweaver on tutorials if you have to, or Adsense or SEO, etc

----------


## nostresswebsites

Hi IMHO,

I just joined this forum.  I see this discussion is a couple of weeks old.  Hope I could still add some value here.

This conversation generated a lot of interest.  And yes, here are some really great advice.  

My business coach's partner once said that you cannot play a round of golf with only a putter, you need 9 clubs.  

So I use various ways to market my business (which is complete based in my website).  

I'm using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Entrepreneur Magazine, JV partners, SEO, my own newsletter, cold calling, a free local business directory (which I created to get local business's permission to contact them), and forums like this one, advertisements in our local newspaper.  None of these create enormous traffic, but they all work together to provide a steady stream of visitors to my site.  

Once they're on my site, I want to capture their contact details.  This I do by giving them a free gift and a subscription them to my newsletter.  

Now it's my target to convert these people to become clients.  

I'm trained as a direct response copywriter - I rely on words to sell.  But in my industry is perfect to sell with words.  Pictures are almost worthless.  Yours might be different, where you might need a combination of words an pictures.  

I'm also a web developer.  Previous post said you should try Wordpress or Joomla.  I use exclusively Joomla.  Both are legit (as one of your concerns were) and both are free.  And with your level of technical knowledge, both would be very easy to learn.  

Here's some SEO tips.
Generate quality content about your topic.  Write about your town, tourist attractions, business happenings, anything of possible interest to some of your clients.  Publish these articles on your own website as well as outside websites.  Share the link to these articles on LinkedIn, Facebook and other social media sites.  
Do some keyword research. You're familiar with Google's Adwords Keyword tool.  Use it to get alternative search terms.  Use these terms while writing your content.  
Here's a secret (that's not widely known even in my industry).  With your list of keywords, see what the competition is on those keywords.  Start writing content around the keywords with the highest search volume and lowest competition volume.  My mentor dr. Hannes Dreyer perfected this secret.  He taught it to me in a course called Control Centre marketing.  

Here's how to determine the high search volume and low competition:
In the keyword tool, do your search, using the broad search.  Click on local search traffic.  Now your keywords are sorted from highest search volume to the lowest.  
Save the keyword ideas on your pc.
Go to Google.co.za.  Lets say the top keyword is 'guesthouse in north west'. In the search bar put your keyword in quotation marks - "guesthouse in north west".  Now you get results with only that keyword or keyword phrase in it.  Make sure you are only getting pages from South Africa.  Copy the number of results and paste it in your spreadsheet next to the keyword phrase.  (This number is found relatively close to the top of the page and looks like this 'About 54,200,000 results (0.21 seconds)')
When you populated your keyword ideas spreadsheet, start to evaluate it.  Categorize it in the following order:
SV = Search Volume;  CR = Competition Results
0.  SV > 1000 searches/ month.  CR 0 - 9999
1.  SV > 1000 searches/m.  CR 10 000 - 19 999.  And SV 500 - 1000; CR 0 - 9999
2.  SV > 1000;  CR 20 000 - 49 999.  And SV 500 - 1000; CR 10 000 - 19 999.  And SV 0 - 499; CR 0 - 9999
3.  SV 50 000 +;  CR >1000. And  SV 500 - 1000; CR 20 000 - 49 999. And SV 0 - 499; CR 10 000 - 19 999.
Keywords that fall outside of these criteria is plain a waste of time.

Start your content creation with the class 0 keywords.  Work through it.  Once done, take the class 1 keywords.  Continue like that.  

Three tips that made my first website appear on the search engines in the nr 1 spot for my main keywords:
1.  Build a large website.  Write lots of user friendly content.  In that industry with huge online competition, my starting point was more than 25 pages.
2.  Around 3% of the content should be your keyword.  In other words, for every 100 words you write, your keywords should appear about 3 times.
3.  Build lots of backlinks (links showing from other websites to your own.)  Directory submissions, forum posts, LinkedIn Updates, YouTube Videos, etc.  Your keyword must be in your link.  Read more about 'guesthouse in north west'.  

Sorry if this sounded like a lecture.  I hope this can help you to get more traffic, more interest and ultimately, more clients.

Regards,
Francois

----------

Dave A (02-Aug-12)

----------


## IMHO

Thanks Francois

Will study this.

----------


## IMHO

Wow, six months later and only now can I present my website! I first got Afrihost as my hosting company. Scared to carry on, this account was dormant for a few months. hehe. Eventually I got myself to learn about Joomla. I quickly realized that I should get a decent template if I want to do anything nice and I decided on IceTheme. Bought the template and then the hard work started. If you know nothing about Joomla, the template is very complicated. I worked hard and slowly came to grips with it over the last two months. The site is not finished, but at a stage where I can invite you guys to look at it and give me feedback. Hope I can handle it... :Stick Out Tongue: 

So, there it is. Much easier to pay someone else to do it, but less rewarding. 

The marketing have not really started. I purposely did not list with AddWords yet, as I first want to get the basic SEO right and good results on Google without it. Must say, that is taking way longer than I expected. I must still do what Fracois told me in his post.

http://www.mascarene.co.za/

----------


## IanF

IMHO
Wow a nice responsive site. Looks great. A long term goal may be to have booking on the website.

----------


## IMHO

> IMHO
> Wow a nice responsive site. Looks great. A long term goal may be to have booking on the website.


Thanks Ian. You are making my day. "Responsive" with good looks was my aim.  :Smile: 

Online booking was never on my priority list. Something about it puts me off. I think I am against the loss of personal contact and knowledge who you are dealing with on the one hand and the complications administratively on the other. But never say never hey! So yes, a long term goal it will be. It actually seems very easy to do, programmatic-ally.

----------


## Dave A

Very presentable - well done.

And the page titles and description metas look appropriate too.

I'm resisting the urge to find an excuse to go to Klerksdorp so that I can stay there  :Stick Out Tongue:

----------


## Blurock

Good job. Looks inviting. No wonder Dave wants to go there... :Wink:

----------


## IMHO

Thanks guys. I must actually still pay attention to the page titles and meta tags. Too many duplications.

And Dave, the place is in the market, if I can not find the right management pair. So, come visit! I took a panorama tonight from the koppie on the left, that is the highest point in the area, with the best view in Klerksdorp. I am looking for a way to work it into the site, but you can have a look at it in the meantime on my Google Drive. The round pic (little planet view) is to give you a perception of what the straitened out panorama is about.

https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B7...it?usp=sharing

Hope it is accessible.

----------


## Rod

Well done IMHO. It looks good. Just remember that your website design and layout will influence SEO and usability so don't leave the marketing setup to last. Also I see your Vacancy page is in Afrikaans but your home page is in English. I would suggest an English version (Good for SEO) and then a link to an afrikaans version. 

Something you also might want to look into is your primary call to action. What do you want your visitors to do? If you want them to book from the home page, then that needs to be your primary call to action. A big "Book Now" button or menu item will do the trick. Or if you want to take them to your gallery first, then that needs to be the main focus. I would suggest creating a framework of how you want your website to work. 

I wish you all the best with your website.

EDIT: Sorry if I sound like a know-it-all... It's my marketing OCD I swear

----------

IMHO (04-Mar-13)

----------


## IMHO

> EDIT: Sorry if I sound like a know-it-all... It's my marketing OCD I swear


Not at all! Thanks for your input. It is the smaller things now that will make the difference. Thanks for the tips. The vacancy article bothered me as well. But I hoped for it to be up for such a short period, that it will be gone in no time. Things don't always turn out like we plan! So I guess I will have to do it in English as well.

Call to action - I like that. Any sites as examples?

----------


## IMHO

Rod, about social links.

First, I see your G+ page comes up blank for me? It flashed your profile, went blank and stays blank on all subsequent clicks?

Second, no Facebook?

----------


## IMHO

> Something you also might want to look into is your primary call to action. What do you want your visitors to do? If you want them to book from the home page, then that needs to be your primary call to action. A big "Book Now" button or menu item will do the trick. Or if you want to take them to your gallery first, then that needs to be the main focus. I would suggest creating a framework of how you want your website to work.


Rod, I have taken the social Icons off, top right, and replaced it with a call to action. Please have a look and tell me if that is what you had in mind. I do not particularly like the look of it and will still play around. Maybe something more flashy?

As far as the framework goes, can you elaborate? All I want to achieve is getting the guest to make a booking. I will find another place for the social network part.

----------


## Rod

> Rod, about social links.
> 
> First, I see your G+ page comes up blank for me? It flashed your profile, went blank and stays blank on all subsequent clicks?
> 
> Second, no Facebook?


Not sure why it's not working for you. I use my Facebook on a private scale.




> Rod, I have taken the social Icons off, top right, and replaced it with a call to action. Please have a look and tell me if that is what you had in mind. I do not particularly like the look of it and will still play around. Maybe something more flashy?
> 
> As far as the framework goes, can you elaborate? All I want to achieve is getting the guest to make a booking. I will find another place for the social network part.


Your call to action will depend on your industry and audience. Different calls to action affect different consumers. Here is a great article on call to action buttons. Very interesting. Smashing Magazine CTA Best Practices

With regards to the framework, you need to figure out the steps your visitor needs to take in order to make a booking (Preferably in the fewest possible steps). Lets say you want your visitors to see photos of the accommodation and then they will convert. So you make your home page very visual with content talking about the accommodation (not your brand). You will implement calls to action encouraging your visitors to book. Find out what your unique selling point is and then market the hell out of it. 

It's a lot more complicated than I'm making it out to be but that's the general idea. You don't have to take my work for it. Go do research and see what you can find.

----------


## B-Marketing

IMHO, do you have an active Facebook account? A useful strategy that you can adopt to get like on your Facebook page, as well as visitors on your website is to do the following:

-Pick a magazine that is relevant to your target market
-Find the Facebook page of that particular magazine
-Contact the administrator or marketing person of the page and request that you would like to run a competition where you will give free subscriptions of their magazine to people who like your Facebook page before a certain date
-Ask the administrator or marketing person to make a post about the competition you are running on the magazine's Facebook page

This strategy has worked for many of our clients and is by far the most inexpensive way to build an initial Facebook following for a very low cost. The cost of the campaign is basically the cost of the magazine subscriptions. Many magazines like the idea so much that they give the subscriptions away for free leaving you with no cost.

----------

IMHO (04-May-13)

----------

