In a fascinating article that was found online and published in August 2006, recent online trends came into light with respect to how hospitality and travel firms are putting web marketing to good use. The organziation that conducted this study, A Couple of Chicks Marketing, surveyed over 250 hospitality industry professionals to gain a benchmark on tourism marketing and search web trends in 2007. A complete report can be found by going to the following website:

http://rss.coupleofchicks.com/item.php?id=45

With respect to search engine efforts, it appears that the hospitality professionals surveyed indicated that Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing is where it’s at right now. However, it appears that most professionals aren’t happy with their efforts or with the results. 44% of the respondents indicated that their websites were at least five years old. 30% indicated their sites were less than 1 year old. Based on trends observed in the survey conducted by A Couple of Chicks Marketing, a majority of people believed that they would redesign their websites within six months and leads them to believe that websites are becoming expendable and are generating a short lifespan.

Search Engine Advertising/Pay-per-click seems to run into some better results with 73% of respondents indicatin that they’re found 5-10 keywords for organic or paid search results and that 89% knew that their 3 closest competitors were also using those keywords.

Interesting news were in regards to Online Marketing budgets and that 14% indicated that they didn’t even have an online marketing budget. 49.1% responded that between 1-10% of their marketing budget were reserved for online efforts. According to the article:

“The challenge in this is we hear clients saying they are frustrated that they have no money or very little to invest in their online efforts. They need guidance on where to spend those coveted dollars in order to see the most bang for their buck. It’s discouraging to see clients spend an enormous amount of money on a print ad in a local paper that is a perishable investment and immediately disappears. The investments you make in marketing your tourism product online can stay on the web forever.”

Basic necessities that the article advises that should be included with online marketing budgets are banner ads, paid listings, and pay-per-click advertising. Check back to this website to read the next part where they mention their findings in benchmarketing web trends.

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Ken Yeung is an web marketer experienced in helping companies build great projects leveraging Internet technologies to better engage their customers. From website builds to email marketing campaigns, online advertising & even social media, Ken understands how to make the web work for YOU. Read more about him on TheLetterTwo.com, Network Solutions' "Solutions Are Power" blog or even on Bub.blicio.us.