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NOTE: This article was written in 2007 and may be out of date.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.
There are many hosting companies out there and it's hard to know which one to choose.
I've used many Web hosting companies over the years and wanted to offer a few suggestions here.
If you search Google, Yahoo and MSN for a query like "hostels in [your city]" does your hostel Web site come up on the first page?
