Strategies one can adopt for the travel industry

Hi,

Today’s blog post will share our experience of yet another meeting, this time with an Travel consultant, hope you have read our earlier blogs on travel at http://sankalptechnology.weebly.com/blog/marketing-to-capture-the-online-travel-market where in we have shared the strategies one can adopt for the travel industry.

However this customer is unique is geographically located on an island nation far away from India and has a business website for his Hotels on the island. The yearly tourists were as much as 3 times the total population of the island and thus hundreds of hotels were present and doing business.

As usual before the discussion can get started they showed us their website and asked us for feedback, as deep down they also knew that something or the other is wrong with their site. 

A day was fixed for a video call with the client, with an agenda to discuss all the shortfalls in the existing website and how should they move ahead with their plans on online marketing.

Sankalp: - hi, We have audited your website in details and our observations are that your sites design is too old to target the customers, the site was last modified 6 years ago, the design is not responsive and most important part the site Load time is too high and that is the main reason why you are unable to hold visitors and convert them.

Client: - I see, can we redesign this site and do little changes to make it fit again.

Sankalp:- Yes of course we can, but we have checked the code it’s using multiple languages and redesigning of this will be time consuming and costlier affair for you, if at all you are interested in revamping your site, we recommend you to redesign again using PHP and dumping your existing site which is in ASP.net and Java.

Client: - Ok, In what time can we expect the new site to be up and running? And once the site is ready in how much time can we expect the queries to start come via our website.

Sankalp: - Well looking at the details for this website a min of 30 to 45 days are required to make it Go live with new responsive design, and we also need to perform changes in the database, and once the site is running you can expect to get queries with in the first quarter of our working towards the online marketing of your brand.

Client: - Have you seen our keywords on the existing website ? Can we consider them?

Sankalp: - Yes we checked them, not all but yes we can consider 50% of them, for rest we will be doing competitor and keyword analysis to pick and choose best keywords for your business.

Client: - Alright, do you have any previous experience of working with any travel company?

Sankalp:- Yes we were working with a UK based Travel Consultant , we have designed and developed their site and now working for the online marketing, they have started generating 15 leads per week.

Client: - ok, I think we can join hands and initiate the work. Thanks for the insight.

Sankalp: - Thanks.

Conclusion: - Educating client is more important than pushing him to close a deal, and the online marketing is a mixture of Art and science which needs to be balanced out for best results and achieve deliverables.

Thanks

                                                                                                                                                         

SANKALP TECHNOLOGY

Mobile: +91-8432429929; +91-8740061779 |
Web: www.sankalptechnology.com

E-mail:info@sankalptechnology.com
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Online Marketing For Product And Services

Hello,

In today’s blog we will be sharing about how marketing for product and services differ and in what regard should we plan and implement online marketing strategies for them.

Before we go further into understanding the marketing for products and services, let us try to differentiate between them and understand on what parameters they differ.

Tangibility:- A product is tangible, which means we can touch and feels its physical attributes before making a decision. Tangible attributes like Product design, packaging etc make a huge impact buying behaviour of a customer. On the other hand services are intangible as they can’t be seen, touched or felt but are experienced, and thus are harder to sell and market as compared to products.

Value and Relationship: - let us understand this by an example a Bike as a product has its own utility, and fulfils certain need and requirement of a products and on the other hand maintenance service for the same bike can’t be seen or felt but can be experience based on the quality of service done to the bike, a client may experience the service done to the products but can’t touch it, its intangible.

Comparing Quality: - If a customer buys a cleaning product to wash and clean stains out of clothes and if it doesn’t remove the stains, the customer knows it’s of poor quality, on the other hand it is hard to compare the quality of services offered.

Return Factor: - If a customer doesn’t like the product he can return the product, however in case of services

A product has its own identity and gives physical appeal to its consumers, as he can touch, feel, and hold a product before making a decision, however services business is more on experience.

My experience to SPA (I) is much better than my experience to SPA (II), inspire of both using same products is because of the services delivered by the employees. The difference in experience can further be decided on various factors like, ambience, gestures, and the way in which the service is delivered to the clients.

Thus it is the experience which will encourage the user to share and refer SPA II to others like friends and family and the same user discourage others to visit SPA (I) because of his bad services experience.

Hope by now by large we are clear about products and services and how a consumer access both before he recommends it or reuse it.

As the products and services are selected differently by the consumer, the same way the marketing for both is done differently.

Let us understand how to do Online marketing:-

1.   Website: - Most important of all is to have a well designed website which has all the details of your products and services, now a product selling website has details like features, benefits, how to use or install, its Value proposition, demonstration on a mannequin etc. However on the other hand services can be projected by sharing more on the processes, standard operating procedures, incident management methodology, certified employees, total clients served, client’s testimonials etc. and all this will educate the prospect visitor about the quality of services a company can deliver in details and will help him make a decision.

2.    SEO-On Page and Onsite: - Doing Competition and keyword research for the product and services offerings will give us clarity on the volume of searches for the respective product & service and tell us about the competition, and helps to fine tune the strategy. Other onsite and on page changes are required for the site like Title, Meta, description, Og description, sitemap, search engine submission robot.txt, optimizing site code and images for speed etc.

Promotion is done through link building process. Link building is done only on relevant websites, which makes sense to what our business does and is relevant to us.

3.    SMO: - It involves selection of social media by understanding our Target audience and which social media they use the most. Once the social media is selected posts are shared which includes articles, blogs, images, videos, one liners etc. Social Media Marketing uses relevant #Hashtags so that we can be among the most relevant audience and whatever we post reached the right audience. Keep your pages on various social media networks updated and with fresh content and things your customer would love to hear about your product.

4.    Email Marketing: - This helps you connect with the audience directly, by sharing emails about the products and services and reaching the right set of people. The success on email campaigns depends on how genuine is the database.

5.    Online Advertising:- Just like traditional paid advertising which involves print media, holding etc, in online marketing the paid advertising is done via Google Ad words or Facebook paid advertisements. In fact Google earns majority of its revenue from Google Ad words. These banners will be seen by millions of interested users online.

6.    Group buying sites:- These sites are growing in popularity as they give you an opportunity to introduce your product to an audience to opt. Some of these websites offer deal of the day features providing products and services from local and international companies.

7.    Blogging:- It is one of my favourite. It gives the marketer to express himself while providing details about his products or services offerings and reach out to the market.

8.    Online Retail sites or Ecommerce sites: - Registering your site with them is another option of selling your products. With millions and billions of users searching, these sites have their own way and a huge marketing budget to sell it from their own stores.

Conclusion: - We all know that online marketing is essential, but only a few adopt it early. Marketing to business is fuel is to car as you stop adding it and you will be stranded. It’s an ongoing affair; remember if you don’t do it your competitor will.

                                                                                                                                     

                                                                                                                                       Thanks

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Siddharth

SANKALP TECHNOLOGY

Mobile: +91-8432429929; +91-8740061779 |
Web: www.sankalptechnology.com

E-mail:info@sankalptechnology.com
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Small Talk About Basics Of SEO

Hello all. In today’s blog post I will be sharing a true story, rather an interaction with a friend who is looking for web development and SEO for his business.

The friends name is Akhil, and he is likely to open a Fast food Restaurant chain starting from 1 to 5 by year end in metros.

We went for a cup of coffee and after discussing about old friends and family for some 10 mins we were right on top of our agenda for the meeting, how to make the marketing for this fast food chain must work and what all needs to be done.

Akhil shared that he had a couple of proposals from the Web development companies in India, and some are from Online Consultants who claim to own a SEO agency in India.

ME: Akhil do you have any plan on how you want to go about it.

Akhil: yes we will start with 1 store in Delhi first and then every 2 to 3 months we will be opening another in Mumbai, Noida, Chandigarh, Gurgaon and so on.

ME: Great how about the marketing part of it , any plan u have in mind, or have you left everything to the consultant.

Akhil: Brother that’s why I am here with you today, I am not sure you suggest me.

ME: Ok, I have some questions for you

Akhil: Sure. Fire them please.

ME: Is it a pack and carry or a sit and dine? Do you have a home delivery service?  What all will you be serving, any idea on your target audience? Any specific variety of food.

Akhil: Yes sit and dine, pack and carry and Free home delivery within 2 km radius. Only Burgers, Pizzas, shakes, Ice Creams. Targeting Youth and office going people- DINK (dual income no kids) who can afford to eat more than twice or even thrice outside. I have a name as well “ABCD…”

ME: Ok then listen to the plan now.

1. Book a Domain for “ABCD…” let say www.abcd....com, we make it dynamic with a fresh design with twitter and Facebook integrated with it. It must also have an option to buy online, with your terms and conditions clearly mentioned above.
2. Keyword Research for best keywords, Keyword Analysis and do the On Page Optimizations for the web site.
3. On the web site we will have links to connect with us on our Social media page. We will create our Social media connect pages on Facebook, Twitter. As these two are more famous in India.
4. On web site also we will have a form whose information will be stored on the data base so that we can wish our customers on festive season, their Birthday’s and anniversary for engagement.
5. We can upload and share images of happy moments on these pages.
6. We will also run a SEO campaign for our site so that it will be on top pages of Google. We will prefer only white hat SEO vendor who will provide good links on high PR sites.
7. Also as the target is youth we can have small games arranges on which they can have discount coupons to start with.
8. Design will matter a lot so we must take help from a good designer who will suggest for the store and on same pattern we will have it for our website.

ME: I know that is long but to conclude we must hire the Best SEO Company in India for your Online marketing activity and a good designer who can work as per plan.

Akhil: Wow that’s great I have got the complete understanding of what needs to be done. Let us look for a good Web design Company in India who can work for us. Thanks for all the inputs.

And we took the last sip of our coffee to leave the coffee bar.

Hope the blog is informative for you. Till we meet next time, take good care of yourself and your online avatar.
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What’s your moment of truth?

Hello in today’s blog post we will be sharing about how the end customer experiences the moments of truth.

We all remember some one or the other has said this before that they hate Marketing, but if we dig down deeper, it is the push marketing that has made them irritated. It is the age of Pull marketing and cold calling is almost on the verge of extinction.

Customers buy what they perceive, earlier it is while looking at the product or based on a friends experience , which now has converted to the online image and based on the experiences people share online for a product or service.

Coming up in search results is not only based on hiring the best SEO agency, off course they help you the most but you must earn the links. It’s based on the customer experience for your product and services.

The Google Term “Zero Moment of Truth” is the online decision making moment, it is the moment customer searches and experience your website or any review related to your product or service online and creates a perception which is decisive in nature.

The First Moment of Truth is when the customer, physically experiences your product on the shelf. That is the point when your marketing may make or break the deal, it is the point where the sales happen.

The second Moment of Truth is the actual perceived value of the product that the customer or the consumer experience when he uses the product.

So as we are in this digital age, the Zero moment of truth is very import for the entire marketer as it leads to the initiation of your sales cycle for the prospect and can make or break the sales for you. It is the moment when the customer quickly checks for the products and services of your competition and evaluates between the two or three or more.

Thus it is imperative to hire the best web development company in India to get your website in best shape to provide the best Zero moment of truth to your prospects.

This helps you set the right pitch which eventually have higher chances to convert to sales.

Conclusion: Just think before Google whom do we trust for the information, yes the review and reports magazines were there, but we must agree that we trusted the sales person the most, which used to show us the actual product, its benefits, and features and the Value proposition we must perceive from it.

Similarly in today’s scenario, it is the website that the visitor/customer trusts and sees at the first place before interacting with anyone in the Organization. Yes it will be right to say that the website is acting as a Sales person for Organization which share accurate information to the outer world.

Hope you liked the blog post, please share your comments.

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How to optimize content for a Quality Website Cont....

Hello,

In this blog we will complete the last blog which talks about the “How to optimize content for a Quality Website”.

Continuing on the same lines of simplicity, let us understand some more facts.

Redirecting requests from a non-preferred hostn me is essential and important because search engines consider URLs with and without "www" as two different websites that is they consider domain with a www and without a www as two separate domains even when the rest is identical.
So if your site is www.pqr.com but it also opens up when someone types pqr.com, search engines may or may not crawl both domains OR a single domain. This means that sometimes search engines will crawl and index the domain that is not preferred. 

If this happens you may assume that the site has not been indexed by search engines, however the non-preferred URL has been indexed, due to search engines considering the www and the non-www domains as separate web addresses.

It is highly recommended that once your preferred domain is in place; use a 301 redirect for all traffic to the non-preferred domain.

It also avoids duplicate content issues, which may arise, if the search engine crawls both the urls ( www and one without www), they will consider it to be 2 separate pages, but with identical content, this may lead to serious threat to the site.

Another question arises which domain to prefer www or one without www ?

Answer is simple

It depends on ones preference however it is advisable to choose the one which is most often bookmarked by your users, or which one is most commonly used to link to your website.

The crux of the matter is whichever version you use, only use the preferred version and redirect the other version to the preferred domain.

Few highlighted reasons to use www are as below:

• Using www is more search engine friendly due to Canonicalization 
• It differentiates the main site from other subdomains which are used 
• It restricts cookies while using multiple subdomains. Cookies of the main domain are sent to subdomains, so if you are using subdomains for a blog or any other related page it is easier to differentiate the sites with the www prefix. 
• Organizing your folders become easier as the one for the live site is in the www folder at the www.yoursite.com domain, while the development folder is at the dev.yoursite.com for development purposes. 

Popular websites that use www domains are:

• www.wikipedia.org
• www.facebook.com
• www.yahoo.com
• www.google.com

Some reasons to use the non www version as your preferred domain are as follows:

• It shortens length of your website URL. 
• User experience; many users these days type the URL without the www. 
• www sites may look old-fashioned.

Popular websites that do not use www domains are:

• Digg.com 
• Twitter.com 
• Pinterest.com

There is much more to share, but will restrict our self to this.

Last Advice for you all is to keep it simple.

We will share more content, in a simplified manner soon. Till then good bye and take good care of yourself and your Online Avatar.

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Thanks & Regards

Nikesh Upadhyay

Manager Online Marketing

SANKALP TECHNOLOGY

Mobile: +91-8432429929; +91-8740061779 | Web: www.sankalptechnology.com

E-mail:info@sankalptechnology.com

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