As a hotel marketer, you’re serious about growing your hotel business. So are we! Unfortunately, the internet today is crammed with information, and it can be hard to separate the gold from the gilt.
There’s an abundance of blogs, videos, reports and studies out there, and only some of them are going to have useful information. Even fewer are going to have information that’s useful to you, the smart hotelier. That can make it hard to find authentic sources that actually help.
So, in today’s post, we’ll cut through the clutter and share with you 5 essential blogs for the modern hotel marketer. Specifically, we’ll focus on conversion rate optimisation (CRO) blogs that’ll make you a smarter hotelier. Conversion optimisation is the art and science of tweaking each element of your site and marketing to drive up the percentage of visitors to your site that convert into real bookings.
With conversion rate optimisation techniques applied to your marketing efforts and website, you’ll be able to refine your strategy to drive direct bookings.
Let’s get started!
1. Conversion XL
ConversionXL is one of the strongest CRO blogs out there. It never fails to provide rigorous, data-driven content that you can put to use right away. You won’t find fluff-filled or generic content that’s been plastered everywhere else. Instead, you’ll be greeted with meaty articles that tackle topics like UX design, research, analytics, copy, testing, and more.
These topics are incredibly valuable for creating guest personas, creating content for your website and marketing materials, and finding out what works and what doesn’t for your hotel site.
Must Read Post For Hoteliers:
11 Things That Work More Often Than Not in A/B Tests
Split testing is essential for better conversions. However, what works for one website may not work for another. There are no guarantees in conversion optimization. This post takes you by the hand and shows you 11 tactics for improving your split tests and raising conversions.
It also features advice from leading conversion rate optimizers who are at the front lines of CRO. If you’re looking to quickly find tactics for improving conversions on your hotel website, this post is a must read.
2. Conversion Rate Experts
Conversion Rate Experts is a unique CRO blog. The writing team is made up of consultants from all around the globe, all with their own expertise in specific industries and topics. They have also been the “go to” guys for worldwide brands like Facebook, Amazon and Google.
With that kind of experience and expertise behind it, their blog contains extremely insightful content on a number of conversion rate-related subjects. Take a look, and find out how their articles can be turned to powering up your hotel’s marketing strategy.
Must Read Post For Hoteliers:
How We Made $1 million for SEOMoz With One Landing Page and A Few Emails
This fantastic article breaks down how Conversion Rate Experts boosted SEOMoz’s revenue by $1million a year. You’ll gain a ton of marketing and conversion insights from this article that can be used to improve your hotel business, and you’ll be a step closer to thinking like a true conversion rate optimizer.
3. Unbounce
The Unbounce blog exclusively focuses on landing page optimization. That may seem a little specific, but an incredible amount expertise has gone into the advice they give. Created by Oli Gardner, a man who has “probably seen and critiqued more landing pages than anyone on the Internet”, the blog is packed with high-quality, well-written content designed to help power up your landing pages.
Must Read Post For Hoteliers:
29 Landing Page Reviews That Show Why Clarity is the Key to Conversion
Thinking of building a landing page for your next special offer? You should! Your landing page is where potential guests will either take action, or leave. It’s an extremely important part of your hotel website. This post drills into the gritty details behind stellar landing pages. It reviews 29 real life landing pages, providing detailed feedback on how they can be improved.
4. Visual Web Optimizer
Visual Website Optimizer (VWO) is a testing platform with an awesome blog. The great thing about VWO is that it gives you digestible articles with real life case studies and test results. If you’re about to start conducting tests on your hotel website, be sure to give their blog a read – it might give you some insight into some helpful dos and don’ts!
Must Read Post For Hoteliers:
How To Boost Travel Website Bookings Using Funnel Optimization
This post exclusively focuses on improving conversions for travel websites. It covers different conversion boosting tactics like cross-selling, streamlining navigation, and personalization. What makes this a must read for hoteliers is the fact that the advice in this post is tailored for travel and hospitality websites.
5. Baymard
Usability and conversion go hand in hand. You can’t have one without the other. If your guests can’t get around your site, or can’t find essential information, there’s no chance they’ll book. To convert users into guests, they need to be able to use the site! The Baymard Institute blog focuses on in-depth, research backed articles that will help skyrocket your usability. You’ll find volumes of case studies dealing with specific usability subjects that can be used to improve the guest experience on your hotel website. As a natural result, this will also improve your conversion rates.
Must Read Post For Hoteliers:
6 Mobile Checkout Usability Consideration
Mobile is becoming increasingly important. According to Google, hotel mobile queries have gone up 49% year over year. It’s time and past for hoteliers to think ahead and maximize conversions with mobile. In this post, you’ll learn how to boost conversions by enhancing mobile checkout usability. Is your mobile site up to date?
Your Turn
What are your “go to” blogs for learning about how to snag more guests and raise conversions on your site? Is it a straightforward conversion blog, one on web design, one on hospitality trends, or something else? Please share with us in the comments below.
