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Are you getting the results you want from your website? Every website has the ability to earn money and if you're not happy with your website's performance, it could be time for an audit. We're offering free website audits & consultation session to get your website back on track. For a full day or half day, we'll come to your office and go through your website with you step by step in plain English, to make sure your website is running at 100% performance level. For all enquiries, please ring 01 6792212.

A booking engine is like a shopping cart for Rooms ?

What is the difference between a shopping cart and a booking engine? Both are designed to sell products from a pre-defined inventory and plugged into the business own website. The feature-sets of these systems are quite similar, but when it comes to pricing, they are worlds apart. Shopping carts are supplied for a flat fee while booking engines charge a commission.

Why is it that so many hotels still pay commission for their booking engine ? If a hotel was asked by its' Epos supplier for a cut of each transaction going the tills, they would never agree, so why share your online revenue with your booking engine? Afterall your website is marketed by you, paid for by you and much of the business through the site is nothing to do with the booking engine.

In the early days direct sales through a hotel's website were low and many hotels were led to believe the booking engine helped to generate sales rather than just processing them. in 2009 with direct online bookings accounting for as much as 30% of a hotel's total revenue, paying commission benefits the booking engine far more than the hotel. As a result many hospitality businesses pay thousands in revenue every year for software, which in other sectors is sold for a flat fee.

Cutting commission will save a medium sized hotel tens of thousands so why not take the lead from online retailers and cut out the commission because in today's market every penny counts. www.visrez.com/rooms

Online Advertising To Rise By 18% In 2009

In a survey of its membership, the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA) found that online advertising spending in Europe is increasing. The marketers expected digital ad spending across Europe to rise by an average of 18% in 2009, 21% in 2010 and 15% in 2011.

• Seventy percent of the marketers said they will be increasing their digital spend in 2009.
• Sixty-four percent said they will increase their use of search in 2009. Somewhat less than one-half expected to use more e-mail, and 41% more display.

• Video advertising, affiliate marketing, behaviourally targeted advertising, ad networks, demographic targeting, direct response, paid sponsorships and classified advertising rounded out the field.

• For most marketers, the goal of digital advertising was a combination of direct marketing and brand advertising.

In conclusion, the EIAA report found that advertisers across Europe planned to continue increasing investment in online advertising—despite the current economic climate—and that online will continue to divert spending from traditional advertising budgets.

Taken from: http://tinyurl.com/d5yutp

Layout to increase web page visits

Although published in 2006, this article taken from the Journal of Information Technology and Tourism article is as relevant today is it was when published. The research focuses on consumer behaviour to investigate how location and copy on a web page influence the rate of clicks on a link.

The Primacy – Recency Effect

• Taking their cue from restaurant menus the study looks at the primacy and recency effect which concludes that we remember best that which comes first, second best that which come last, and least that which come just past the middle. In relation to websites it was found that links near the top and bottom of lists harvested more clicks than links in other positions. It was also found that in two row lists the links at the bottom of the right hand list performed better than those at the bottom of the left hand list.
• The study concluded that website content providers “should strive for short copy and bulleted lists on their web pages, as well as leveraging primacy and recency effects whereby the top and bottom positions in a list should yield more clicks.”
• They also stress “the necessity for management to crystallize the site’s goal and draw upon traditional menu engineering principles. If the site’s priority is providing content, then management should use the page design that yields the most clicks.”
• If the site’s goal is drawing visitors to a certain section for example special offers etc. “management should forego overall clicks and position that section’s link in the top left position.”
• To read the article in full click here...

Ref: Murphy, Jamie; Hofacker, Charles F.; Racine, Yves; Testing Position Effects and Copy to Increase Web Page Visits, Journal of Information Technology and Tourism, Volume 8 Number 1, 2006