Take a look at some of these sites we have recently put up for establishments and events in Hwange National Park and Victoria Falls.

The Hide - Hwange National Park Accommodation

Ilala Lodge - Victoria Falls Hotel

Vic Falls Accommodation a listing website for the Livingstone and Victoria Falls areas.

Falls Fest - News Years in Victoria Falls.

We have decided to get the website live as quickly as possible and we are still busy with the bug\spell checking ;-). Here is a screenshot.

To take a look around please visit www.capeaccommodation.co.za. If you have any suggestions to help us improve the website we’d love to hear from you!

First…

Lets discuss the Winter Specials Restaurant Guide. The guide contains about 70 specials from as many restaurants in the Cape Town and Cape Winelands areas. A guide like this can be put together by anyone and is useful information for just about anybody living in the Western Cape. That’s an audience of probably around 1 000 000 online users.

As this content is so useful we will talk about it, go through the list with friends, etc. By doing this we make the list/guide/content viral. For example: I heard about the list at a braai and Googled it the very next day. I have sent the link to the blog, to many of my close friends.

So how does this benefit the business that put it together?

• Well for one - like me 100’s of people must’ve googled “Winter Specials Restaurant Guide/List/ETC” which will drive them targeted traffic (most Googlers will live near the business/ might use or recommend its services).
• In my opinon far more importantly it’ll build them links. Links are considered by search engines as votes of confidence. The more votes the better your search engine rankings. The better your rankings the more traffic you website recieves. The more traffic the more enquiries… well you get the picture.

What made this campaign so successful was the value/usefulness of the content.

Well done Whale Cottage see the cape town restaurant winter specials guide.

Secondly…

The next campaign I would like to discuss is a Facebook competition is doing phenomenally well and has had 80 000+ people to join the group and post to the wall. Many of these users also I’m sure have also visited the website and probably bought the product.

I believe the campaign is so successful for two main reasons:

• The prize is valuable enough
• Entering the competition is simple and free

The entire competition feels very authentic, that builds trust and when you trust something you are far more likely to recommend it. This campaign got the business at least 100 000 eyes on the brand - basically for free.

Well done Rosendal Winery & Wellness Retreat enter the facebook competition here.

Hopefully this post will answer some of those questions; at least in part.

A Quick Internet Marketing Overview

Online Advertising - You usually pay a set monthly fee to advertise your company to web users, be it through banner advertising, directory listings or “buying” a page on an existing website.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) - You will need some copywriting and possibly technical web development skills to benefit from SEO. The SEO process is all about editing various elements on your website. This could include making content changes such as adding keywords into your copy, improving your page headings, writing additional articles about your area of expertise or location, or implementing technical changes. The latter may included making sure that your code is W3C compliant, all content is easily accessible by search engine spiders, etc.

Sound search engine optimisation should enable your website to rank well for key phrases that are related to your business. These rankings (Organic or SEO Rankings) are found on the left hand side of the Search Engines Results Pages.

NOTE: If you are a Guesthouse in Camps Bay, key phrases related to your business will include “Camps Bay Accommodation”, “Camps Bay Holidays”, “Guesthouse in Camps Bay” NOT “Africa Travel”, “South Africa Accommodation”, etc.

Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC) - PPC entails bidding on key phrases and, as the name indicates, paying for each click your advert receives. This is the fastest method of getting targeted traffic to your website. Advertisers can manage their adverts, key phrases, bids, countries they would like to target, languages, etc from a central interface. This, in our opinon, is an excellent way for accommodation establishments to market themselves.

In addition to providing a basic overview of online marketing, this post was also inspired by the the below list of accommodation listing websites I had around. As a venue owner, manager or marketer, try your best to get listed on some or all of these. The best way to determine which of the sites listed below will work for you is by typing your “top” search phrase into Google and then getting your venue listed on those sites.

Commission-based accommodation websites:
- www.Safarinow.co.za (15%)
- www.Roomsforafrica.com (15%)
- www.Venues4Africa.com (10%)
- www.Sleepingout.com (12.5%)
- www.Doorway.co.za (12.5%)
- www.holidayweb.co.za (20%).

Yearly subscription Fee websites:
- www.Wheretostay.co.za (R1000 per year)
- www.SA-Venues.com (R1000 per year)
- www.naasa.co.za (R250.00 per year)
- http://www.sabreakaway.co.za/ (R500.00 once off)
- www.SouthAfricanGateway.com (R350 per year)
- www.Capestay.co.za (R2000 reg and R800 per year)
- www.accommodation.co.za (Various Options)
- www.40winks.co.za (R1000 per annum)
- www.capetownaccommodation.org (R800 per annum)
- www.stayinsa.co.za (R420)
- www.uncoverthecape.co.za (R500).

Other Websites to list on:
- www.Places.co.za (must be signed up to Nightsbridge R1000)
- www.AAtravel.co.za (must be part of print book R4000)
- www.Gumtree.com (free).

* Please not the above prices are estimates and may have changed.

Good luck marketing your venue! I hope this post was useful - drop me a mail if you would like to chat or have a question or two in this regard. I apologise if I have left your venue marketing site off the above list; please just add a link to your site in the comments.