Many hostels are blogging and experimenting with Twitter. Twitter is a "micro-blogging" service that lets you post short updates to a group of followers.
Here are 10 tips for hostel websites:
HTML "frames" is an older technique that was often for building websites. Search engines don't like HTML frames. Google says:
There are many ways to analyze a competitor's website. Here are three simple and free methods for getting some interesting data on another website:
Search engines see websites much differently than humans. As mentioned in my free hostel marketing ebook earch engine crawlers can't effectively see Flash content, JavaScript, or text that is embedded within images.
Many people have heard of search engine optimization or "SEO". SEO is a set of techniques to increase traffic to a website through search engine referrals.
Skype is a free program that many travelers use to make free or cheap phone calls over the Internet. If you want backpackers to be able to call your front desk for free from Skype at Internet cafes, you can put a Skype button on your Web site.
This is the first post in what is going to be a blog about travel industry marketing. Even though most of the content will specifically be about hostels, the tips and techniques will be applicable to marketing hotels, tours, or any segment of the travel industry.
NOTE: This article was written in 2007 and may be out of date. For information about AdWords, please post questions in the Hostel Forum.
Search engines are investing a lot of effort into promoting their local search results. Google has recently take their local search to new levels, and this has implications for hostels with Web sites.
Tracking your Web traffic can be highly useful in your marketing efforts. If you are using a good hosting company, they will provide server-side statistics programs like AWstats.
