June '08 Hotel Cast 2.0 Is Up

Spring has sprung!  In this edition: 

• BringYourPet.com polls pet owners who travel;
• Wheelchairtravel.us looks at providing accommodations for those with disabilities;
  
• the 12 dimensions of reputation that everyone should monitor;
• Calls-to-Action and conversion—a marketer’s best tools; and
  
• HotelCalendars, the latest innovation in tying your hotel’s promotions, specials, and packages to local events, all fully managed by Lodging Interactive

Click here to listen to the Lodging Interactive HotelCast 2.0 Podcast

Lodging Interactive to Provide Spa Industry with Internet Marketing Services

 Lodging Interactive, one of the industry’s leading hospitality Internet marketing agencies, has announced the launch of Spa Interactive to drive online revenue maximization for Spas and Health Clubs.

Click here to read more: Lodging Interactive to Provide Spa Industry with Internet Marketing Services.

PRSA Digital Impact Conference - Optimizing News Content for Search Engines Online Marketing Blog

The buzz about SEO in the public relations industry has grown tremendously over the past 2-3 years. Press releases in particular, have been the easy target for promotion as candidates for optimization. With the growing use of Google and Yahoo News, optimizing press releases have been an easy way to gain prominent visibility in the short term and in some cases, long term visibility in standard search engines.

Link: PRSA Digital Impact Conference - Optimizing News Content for Search Engines | Online Marketing Blog.

Microsoft Pays Public to Use Its Search Engine - Advertising Age - Digital

It's an unusual move for a search engine -- and one that doesn't make Microsoft any money. But the company hopes the tactic helps fill one of its biggest needs: increasing sampling of Live Search.

Link: Microsoft Pays Public to Use Its Search Engine - Advertising Age - Digital.

Study: Majority Use Social Media to 'Vent' About Customer Care - ClickZ

It's no secret that blogs and social networks have become the preferred sounding board for consumers fed up with poor customer service. Now, a study from Society for New Communications Research has attempted to quantify the impact on brands.

Sponsored by Nuance Care Solutions, a Burlington, MA-based provider of voice-recognition solutions, the online study found that 72 percent of respondents used social media to research a company's reputation for customer care before making a purchase, and 74 percent choose to do business with companies based on the customer care experiences shared by others online.

Link: Study: Majority Use Social Media to 'Vent' About Customer Care - ClickZ.

Link: Online Reputation Management - Chatter Guard

Web 2.0 Expo - Social Media Optimization | Online Marketing Blog

Link: Web 2.0 Expo - Social Media Optimization | Online Marketing Blog.

My first post from the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco is the second half of “Free Traffic: SEO/SMO 101 (Search Engine & Social Media Optimization) with Stephan Spencer of Netconcepts and Muhammad Saleem of Advantage Consulting Services. Unfortunately, I missed the SEO portion and gauging by the crowd around Stephan, it went quite well.

Tech Beat Google's Travel Plans - BusinessWeek

The search giant plans to expand its travel offering, which currently seems to be confined to one-off videos and ads from tourism boards. In the future, the site will have marketer-sponsored pages where would-be vacationers can learn tons about a destination and see related user-generated content. Check out this link to a YouTube New Zealand channel for an idea of the kinds of videos destined for such pages.

Link: Tech Beat Google's Travel Plans - BusinessWeek.

U.S. Lags in Social Media Creation, per Survey

A new global study of social media use reveals that the U.S. severely lags behind Asian and South American countries in participation rates.

Consumers in the U.S. and Western Europe are more likely to be passive social-media participants -- sharing videos and reading blogs -- while those in emerging markets often create content through blogging, social networks and video and photo sharing sites.

Link: U.S. Lags in Social Media Creation, per Survey.

MySpace Launches Beta Version of New Advertising Platform [SearchEngineWatch]

Social media networks have struggled to produce confidence in their advertising options, but MySpace is hoping to change that with the beta launch of Community Builder, the social networks’ new advertising platform. According to Bryce Emo, Senior Vice President of Sales, the new platform, “enables marketers to fulfill long-term communication strategies with consumers who engage in and friend their communities. It’s an opportunity to connect with users faster and easier than ever before.”

Link: MySpace Launches Beta Version of New Advertising Platform [SearchEngineWatch].

Nielsen Releases March 2008 U.S. Search Data [SearchEngineWatch]

Link: Nielsen Releases March 2008 U.S. Search Data [SearchEngineWatch].

We’ve already seen the numbers from Hitwise, Compete, and comScore. Now it’s Nielsen’s turn to serve up its March 2008 data for top U.S. search providers.

Google, of course, took the top spot with 58.7%, up 25.5% year-over-year. Yahoo came in second at 18.1%, a decline of 4.5% year-over-year. MSN rolled into third with 12%, a 36.6% increase while AOL experienced a decrease of 19.4% to get just 4.1% of the market. Ask.com came in at just 2.4% but that’s a 52.4% increase from last year.