Blue Tent Marketing

2011 In Review
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As we jump into 2012, its always good to look back at what 2011 brought us. This past year was a game changer for SEO in many ways! Let’s look at some of the changes, announcements, and new developments that we saw this past year in the SEO World:
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1. Google’s Panda Update – First released in February, Google surprised us all with the Panda Update, an algorithm change that has drastically altered the search landscape. Intended to target low quality “link farm” sites such as eHow, many other sites ended up being affected by the change—specifically, those sites that contained low quality in-bound links as well as poor quality and duplicate content. Google’s Panda has received several updates since the original rollout in February 2011, and the effect went global in April 2011. To help the sites that were affected by the updates, Google published an advisory on its blog, giving some direction for self-evaluation of a website’s quality. This algorithm change has forced people to evaluate the quality of their sites, making sure content is relevant, useful, and updated frequently.
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2. Google+ – In July, Google launched their version of a social networking site: Google+. Met with much skepticism after other failed attempts in the social landscape, Google+ seems to be weathering the storm with a sharp increase in the number of users. However, recent reports have shown a sharp drop in actual usage of the site. Time will tell how Google+ will change social networking and search results based on a user’s Google+ interests.
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3. Google “makes search more secure” with their (not provided) organic traffic – In October, Google made an announcement that they would be “making search more secure.” To give a brief recap of the announcement, Google said that they would be excluding organic search data from all “signed-in users,” in an effort to implement stronger security standards. Essentially, if you are a Google user and perform Google searches while signed-in, then the referral keyword data would be excluded from the analytics data of the sites you are visiting. In other words, Google Analytics will be unable to track the keywords that visitors are using to find your site, if the visitor is signed-in while performing a search. Instead, a new “(not provided)” keyword will show up and data for all signed-in users will be lumped into this category.
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4. Google+ Pages – In November, Google launched the much-anticipated Google+ Page, a nice addition to the already quite popular (40 million users and growing) Google+ social network platform. The Google+ Page has allowed businesses and brands to create their own customized page, grow a following, and communicate directly with fans. We continue to see great local SEO value from this new platform, and as it continues to grow, we think it is very smart for businesses to create their own Google+ Page to secure brand identity and interact with customers and clients.

5. New & Improved SEO Assessments – As the landscape of SEO and the Internet is constantly changing, the way we assess a site’s needs has also shifted. Taking a more technical approach, we revamped our SEO assessment halfway through 2011 to reflect some of these changes. One of the most exciting changes is our On-Page SEO analysis. By reviewing all the parts of on-page SEO, such as proper keyword targeting throughout Title Tags, META data, URLs, and content, we can quickly identify areas of need. We also review off-site SEO in the form of Link Network Metrics, and the newly added Domain Brand Metrics. These key pieces of analysis give us insight into how Google could be viewing not only your domain, but also your brand.

On October 18th, 2011, Google made an announcement that they would be “making search more secure.” To give a brief recap of the announcement, Google said that they would be excluding organic search data from all “signed-in users,” in an effort to implement stronger security standards. Essentially, if you are a Google user and perform Google searches while signed-in, then the referral keyword data would be excluded from the analytics data of the sites you are visiting. In other words, Google Analytics will be unable to track the keywords that visitors are using to find your site, if the visitor is signed-in while performing a search. Instead, a new “(not provided)” keyword will show up and all signed-in users’ data will be lumped into this category. Obviously from an SEO standpoint this is troubling and will soon affect your organic search data results.

Let’s take a look at a Breckenridge client’s Analytics data to show an example of exactly how many searches this will affect. Looking at the organic traffic first, change the date range so that you are analyzing a time span from the 18th of October to today’s date, like in the example above. Next, identify that you have received data from signed-in users. Now take the amount of “(not provided)” users, and divide that by the total of organic visitors. This will give you a very crude percentage. In this example, this particular client saw a change of 1.6% in their organic search traffic. This is just the beginning. As more people sign up for Gmail and other Google services, we will likely see this number increase. While we’re not thrilled with this announcement from an SEO perspective, all indications are that this will improve privacy for signed-in Google users, while sacrificing a bit in terms of measurement of keyword referrals.

Now more than ever, your analytics need to be correctly configured to ensure that you are getting the data you need to make critical marketing decisions. As a Google Analytics Certified Partner since 2008, Blue Tent Marketing serves as a resource to ensure you are getting what you need out of Google Analytics. As you prepare for 2012, we would like to offer you the a Comprehensive Google Analytics Assessment for $249. Typically we offer this assessment for $375 and it will include a full evaluation of your filters, events, goals and dashboard. Purchase the comprehensive GA Assessment and we’ll take stock of your current Analytics configuration, ask you a few critical questions about your business goals and offer suggested improvements to make your Analytics data more relevant to your business. This will ensure that you are getting the most out of your data in 2012! As we all know, knowledge is power, and having the ability to harness that power is at your fingertips with Google Analytics!

– Tim Hampton
Director of Search Marketing

In the age of Skype, Email, Smart Phones and Social Media, it is easy to forget the importance of face to face meetings. With that in mind I threw on my “Tommy Boy” clip-on tie and pine scented cologne and hit the road. I covered over 2,000 miles and seven states while visiting current clients and new prospects in their own environment.

Long Island, New York was my first stop and where better to start than The Hamptons. Up at 5am and off to get some of the best bagels around for my breakfast meeting in Southampton with one of the most knowledgeable, honest and straightforward real estate brokers on the East End. With a 2 hour face-to-face meeting, one freshly warm bagel, and a few cups of coffee under my belt, I had compiled more ideas of how we can help real estate clients in The Hamptons than I knew what to do with. One of the biggest pains that Town & Country has is that they just recently spent a significant amount of money to design and develop a great website, but did not do anything to market the site. A good website with no marketing is just a website that is never seen. We discussed how Blue Tent can use our expertise to drive qualified traffic to their website using email marketing, pay-per-click marketing and search engine optimization, helping them to create a real presence on the web. Being able to brain storm in person enabled us to really let our ideas fly. We discussed how we could work together on new internet marketing strategies, but the learning didn’t end there. Since I was in the area, I was able to drive around and see the product that we would be marketing first-hand and also get an idea of the target market.

After a quick drive out to Montauk (quick being completely relative on Long Island in the summer). I made my way back to meet with ADCHEM, an engineering and manufacturing company. We spent most of the afternoon discussing marketing strategies, timelines and goals of how to work together to increase brand awareness and more importantly sales conversions. Since they manage and create their website internally we discussed how we can leverage email marketing to announce the launch of their new website. After that we would work with our SEM team to increase brand awareness through PPC and SEO marketing in order to drive new leads. Being there onsite allowed me to take a tour of the plant, hard hat and all, and really get an understanding of who ADCHEM is. Even though ADCHEM is not a typical Blue Tent client, our services are versatile and can be implemented across any industry.

Next, a visit with the crew at The Winemaker Studio gave me a chance to see the new shop and try some of the best wines coming out of New York. It was then on to Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard to visit with some of the strongest Blue Tent supporters on the shores of the North East.

Oak Bluffs, Martha's Vineyard

A quick 2-hour meeting with the staff at Martha’s Vineyard Vacation Rentals was a great way to learn more about the company – how they have grown and changed over nearly 30 years in business and how Blue Tent has been an integral part of that business for almost six years. With a short ferry ride back to Cape Cod, I made it just in time for a dinner meeting with one of Blue Tent’s newest devotees. The dinner with Martha Murray Vacation Rentals gave us both a chance to learn who it is that’s on the other end of the phone. It also gave this mountain dweller an opportunity to enjoy their locally farmed, 69 cent oysters. The team at MMVR has been significantly impressed with BTM because we came in on short notice to build them a new website before their old site was shut down. This quick turnaround allowed MMVR to enter the busy summer season with little delay in bookings. This informal setting was the perfect venue to spitfire ideas about how we can work with them to implement better internet marketing initiatives and make the strong Martha Murray brand even stronger. We are discussing how BTM can use our email, PPC, SEO and social media marketing teams to grow Martha Murray for next summer.

With Long Island, Cape Cod, and the islands behind me I headed up the coast, stopping along the way to visit customers and see some of the nicest places in the North East – places along the North Shore of Massachusetts, the shores of NH like Seabrook Beach, and places in Southern Maine like Kennebunkport and Ogunquit. Driving east, I covered all of New Hampshire from the lakes to the mountains.

The road to Killington, VT after Hurricane Irene

The Green Mountain State was the final stop along the Blue Tent Marketing highway. Here I visited ski towns from Stowe in the North to Okemo in the south. Along the way I made it a point to visit our long time clients at Wise Vacations in Killington, VT. Meeting with the owner of Wise gave me a great understanding of the business, what has happened over their 30 years and what is going on as the company moves forward. Since I was in the area, I was also able to check out Highridge Condominiums which we recently launched a new VRWeb for. The face-to-face meetings showed their true colors after Hurricane Irene devastated Vermont. The flooding had a truly horrific effect on the small New England towns. I contacted our friends at Wise to make sure that everyone was unharmed. Since I had just been there, and they knew I remembered the area, they shared a picture illustrating why they could not make it to the office. All roads in and out of Killington were impassable!

The trip to the North East was both beautiful and worthwhile in gaining new clients and solidifying existing relationships. Most important was the impact a face to face meeting has in an electronic world. Do not take for granted any one-on-one time you get with a prospect or current client. Since there are so many electronic tools to make our work day more productive, there is something to be said for the face-to-face meeting and what it can accomplish.

Brendan T. Fenn

brendan@bluetent.com

Good or not so great? That question has a many different answers depending upon who you talk to and what they hope to achieve from their advertising efforts. Blue Tent has recently started to offer Facebook ad management and through this new adventure we’ve learned that Facebook ads can be successful if done correctly and if thought of in the appropriate light.

One of the benefits of Facebook advertising is the usage of demographics. You can be far more refined in Facebook advertising than traditional PPC by narrowing down the demographics to reach certain states, cities, marital status, education levels, specific interests and in some cases you can actually target your campaigns to a competitor’s fan base.

Another difference in PPC and Facebook ad campaigns is the management of the ads. Unlike traditional PPC campaigns, Facebook ads see the best conversions in the first few days the ad is live on the site. After a week of running an ad (or even sooner) you will see a sharp drop in clicks and connections. Because of this, Facebook ads need to be updated frequently and often require a lot of testing and analysis to assure you are reaching the right results.

When venturing into Facebook advertising it is also important to remember the click through rates are drastically lower than other forms of online advertising. A click though rate of .3% is great in the land of Facebook, but horrible for PPC.

Knowing what to advertise is also important. We’ve tested numerous campaigns and have found those that drive an increase in your fan base are the most successful. Ads that direct potential fans off of Facebook to purchase something often see a drop in conversions.

Perhaps the number one consideration of Facebook ads is being able to think of a portion of your fan base as leads. Sure, some of your fans are employees, friends, past customers or vendors. But some of them are individuals who have a genuine interest in you and your product. Most of the people who click on your Facebook ads will land in this category. For this reason, it is important to think of fans that have been acquired through Facebook advertising as leads. These are individuals who may purchase from you eventually but need to be lead down your sales funnel before initiating a sale. Before beginning your Facebook campaign, it is important to be comfortable with this concept, have a plan of how to convert a lead to a sale on Facebook and have a set amount that you would like to pay for each lead or fan. On average, Facebook ad campaigns generate a cost per fan or lead between $1.50 – $2.00.* One of our clients has been averaging around $.60 per lead, but has seen the cost per lead on certain campaigns closer to $2.00. For this reason it is important to closely manage your campaigns to keep your costs in-line with your goals.

Thought of in the right light and executed properly, Facebook campaigns can be successful. Over the last three months, one of our clients has increased their fan base by 39,000. This is a tremendous number of leads to nurture and convert to a sale. The important factor is having a strategy in place to do so.

For more information about Facebook advertising or how to best utilize Facebook for selling your product contact your SEM account manager.

– Nicole Bigler
SEM Account Manager

* Carter, Brian. Pay Per Fan: What Big Brands Are Paying For Facebook Fans. Search Engine Journal.

We’ve recently developed a custom specials module in concert with our partner, Lucks Digital, for Drupal websites that allows vacation rental managers to create, manage and display specials with real time rates and availability data that is integrated with their property management software (PMS).  Site visitors are able to book special offers online with the discounted rate applied and the reservations data and special offer rate information reflected directly in the client’s PMS.

PMS Integration

The specials module integrates with Instant Software’s WebLink API, providing property management data from either PropertyPlus or V12.  Property management companies can create specials within their PMS using promo codes and discounted rack rates and then create the corresponding special on their website.  When a user books a special on the website, the discounted rate is immediately applied during online checkout and passed directly into WebLink.

Managing Specials

Property management companies manage their specials using the Drupal 6 Content Management System.  There are abundant options to fine tune individual specials, for example: when the special is displayed on the website, when the special is available for online booking, what properties the special is associated with, the tax rate for the special, whether the discount is applied to the sub total or total, etc.

Displaying Specials

Additionally, there are many options for clients to display specials to the end user.  For example, specials can all display on a “Current Specials” page where the user can view all and click through to participating properties to book the special.

Or, specials can display in the search results from a general availability search on the site and subsequently on the individual property’s detail page.  On the property details page, a user can enter or update the dates and or guests search criteria to get live rate quotes that include the special discount.

Blue Tent Marketing has also created searches that query only properties on special which gives users the option to easily “Search Specials” and receive results that only contain properties on special.

Our newly developed specials module has proved invaluable for clients – especially to leverage last minute specials in order to fill lower occupancy times or rentals with lower occupancy. Please don’t hesitate to contact us to learn more about how the specials module can help turn lookers into bookers!

- Laura Turpack
Director of Web Projects

Combine your social media and email marketing efforts for increased exposure and reach!

Social Media is the sassy new marketing channel while Email Marketing is considered the old man on the block. We’ve found that when you unite the two, a beautiful relationship blossoms.

With the emergence of social media, many hailed the new marketing channel and stated that email marketing was past its prime. Despite these dirty rumors, email marketing remains one of the top marketing channels in terms of ROI. Instead of these two marketing mammoths battling it out for supremacy, we’ve found that when they both team up and play nice, amazing things happen. After all, what happens when someone engages you on Facebook or Twitter – you get an email.

• Email Marketing benefitting Social Media
  Last winter we had a client who approached us with the need to take their Facebook business page to the next level. They had a great following already of 1,000 followers but had reached a plateau. After reviewing with the client and establishing some goals, we decided setting up a contest would be a great way to give their campaign a shot in the arm. To promote this contest we used, you guessed it – email marketing. We sent out two emails to their database, one when the contest went live and another a few days before the promotion ended. When the 40 day campaign was all said and done they had 3,106 entries and increased their followers by 277% (4,099) They now have extremely engaged users and with the added exposure, their following has jumped up to almost 8,000. The bonus of combining email and social doesn’t end there, since the contest started, over 10,000 site visits have been referred by Facebook.
• Social Media benefitting Email Marketing
  Our next example is almost the vice versa of what we just covered. While increasing their Facebook reach was a goal, this client’s main reason for creating a contest was to increase their permission-based email marketing list. Upon completing the contest entry form, we included an option to join their mailing list with the entrant actively needing to select that box in order to join. In less than two months they have had over 2,000 contest entries, and have over 1,500 new email subscribers!
• Keep it Consistent
  If a particular email campaign performs well, be sure to bring it over to your social media space. If there’s a particular piece of content that you posted which is all the rage on your Facebook or Twitter account, its obviously interesting and relevant among your brand’s followers so include it in your next email. Keep your messaging consistent, and learn from how your audience is interacting and engaging with your messages.

If your email or social media marketing is falling short of spectacular, let us know. We would love to chat and review your current email marketing and social media initiatives. Contact us today for a complimentary Email & Social Media Marketing Assessment!

– Eric Taylor
Director of Email Marketing

With so many people using Google Places to help them find that new restaurant in town, a cup of coffee, a real estate agent, or a hotel for their next vacation – it’s a big deal when Google makes updates to the platform.

Google’s most recent change means third party reviews from sites like Yelp!, Trip Advisor, or FlipKey will no longer be included on Places pages. With so many of our clients taking advantage of the listings that Places offers, we felt it was very important to discuss how this change can affect your listing.

Since so many users are reliant on the social signal of a review to help them determine where to grab that next cup of joe (or where to book their next vacation rental) – it’s extremely important to formulate a strategy to get reviews back onto to your Google Places listings pages.

We can offer two main strategies for getting reviews back on your Google Places page:

While micro-formatting sounds complicated, it’s really just a structured way of providing data to the search engines. With this format in place, Google can understand the data displayed on your site as a review and show that data in search results!

The micro-formatting solution also offers many more avenues for generating reviews. Such as including a link to a review form on email marketing pieces – a good example would be an email which is sent after a customer completes a stay at your resort, hotel, or rental property.

This has created a much more level playing field in terms of SERP ranking for Places pages. And with that in mind, now is the time to be proactive in sourcing more reviews to help push your Places page to the top of the Google rankings and drive quality traffic to your site!

– Ethan Hinson
Web Developer & SEM Tech

The Online Activity Planner is a new feature that we developed in concert with a couple of our vacation rental clients that expressed an interest in enhancing the user experience and adding more value to their websites. The online activities planner simplifies vacation planning logistics by allowing your guests to book activities, reserve rental equipment, make reservations, and purchase attraction tickets directly on your vacation rental website. For example, a guest visiting Southern California might book a wine tasting tour, reserve kayaks for a day, and purchase tickets to Sea World. They might also plan a few free activities, like hiking and playing a round of disc golf.

How it works:

Website visitors and guests can do the following:

• Browse activities/attractions/equipment rentals that are recommended by you, the local expert.
• Choose dates, options/packages, and add to their shopping cart.
• Choose payment options and book. (Ask us what payment options are available to you).
• Receive an e-mail confirmation with order details.
• Receive account information that allows them to reuse their address information and view orders.
• Pick up their tickets & activity reservation information when they check-in.

Website administrators have the following capabilities:

• Enter detailed information on each activity/attraction/equipment rental including pricing, descriptions, multiple photographs, and addresses that appear on Google Maps.
• Use a professional shopping cart interface to manage and track orders.

Check out an example of the Online Activities Planner on the SoCal Vacations website.

The Activity Planner gives your guests a great reason to book their vacation with you by offering a simple, thorough vacation planning experience through a single website. It gives independent vacation rental management companies a great way to add value to their websites and enables them to offer additional services and expertise where the big portal sites can’t compete.

Please don’t hesistate to contact us if you’d like to learn more.

- Lauren Keller
Senior Graphic Designer

We’ve all had our friends suggest websites to us, and more often than not, I know I usually end up visiting based on little more than the suggestion of a friend. As social creatures, we put so much stock in the opinion of our friends; why not let them help us comb through search results? Google has recently decided that this type of social suggestion should be more like a seal of approval, and with the advent of the +1 button, has become a reality in search results.

What is the +1 button?

We’ve all seen the Facebook Like button, and this iteration is really no different in theory. But, the scope of the +1 button and it’s impact could, and probably will, exceed the impact of the Like button in terms of internet marketing. Google has already reported that it will use this when determining the relevancy of search results. (http://www.google.com/webmasters/+1/button/)

Why Casting Votes is Important?

This type of vote casting is extremely powerful, and in my opinion will also have a dynamic impact on organic click through rates. I know that I am more likely to click on content which I can visibly tell has been deemed relevant by users, not just an algorithm. This type of human interaction lends to a more engaging search workflow, with users not just following results, but also telling other people what they thought. The take away here is that we all know that black hat SEO tactics can be used to game an algorithm into thinking that a search result is highly relevant, humans will not be so easily tricked.

Enough already, SOLD, how do I add it to my site?

Adding the +1 button is really easy; simply copy and paste the code snippet provided by Google into the place you wish for it to appear on your site and you’re done! (you can get the code here: http://www.google.com/webmasters/+1/button/). With something this easy to install, and foreseeably having a huge impact on search results, we can definitely find a place for it on your site.

In order to create a more substantial foundation for their web presence, we set about a complete redesign of the aesthetics, navigation and functionality of their website. We created a crisp, visually-stunning design with exceptional photography as the focal point of the homepage–making visitors feel as if they’re already standing on the beach. We also completely overhauled the navigation to make it more user-friendly with the addition of dropdown menus that quickly guide site visitors straight to specific pages. We built the site on the Drupal content management system: an open source, intuitive, secure and scalable platform that will serve our client well for years to come.

While large photos and stunning imagery capture the visitors’ attention, what’s really important is that the search results and property information is powered by ISI’s Property Plus property management system. This approach provides site visitors with the most up-to-date property and availability information possible, as well as a seamless transition to true online booking. In addition, we’ve integrated the NAVIS Narrowcast solution into the site for a complete 360-degree view of how well their site is converting and which marketing initiatives are the most effective.

If you’re out browsing the new site, pay special attention to the Property Details pages and some of the features within the Online Booking process. The property details pages consist of terrific lightbox slide presentations, accurate calendars, maps and SEO optimized property descriptions. Once a user is engaged in the online booking process, they will find a 1 page booking form, ACH options, promo codes and specials tied back into Property Plus.

On the real estate side of things, in Blue Tent’s true style, we took the extra step of integrating the available MLS/IDX data feed. This allows us to automatically pull data and display it however we want, without the client having to manually manipulate or load their own listings.

Dynamic web projects are as reliant on the client’s performance, leadership, and engagement, as they are on us–the team you’ve hired to build it. The primary reason why this vacation rental redesign was so successful was due to the diligent participation from the client. Congratulations to the Midgett team for their enthusiasm and engagement in the project!

Andrew Vick