Travel companies should now be using web content to generate bookings, not just to attract customers to their website.
This was the advice from Giles Longhurst, director EMEA of Frommers’ Unlimited, who sat on a panel of web content experts at TravelMole’s Travel Industry Question Time yesterday, sponsored by Microsoft.
“Before, it was all about search engine optimisation and driving natural search, but in the last 18 to 14 months it’s been about conversion,” he said,
“It has to take the customer deeper into the content and allow them to book.”
Longhurst said Frommers was now using technology to package content more carefully to make it more relevant for the target audience.
But he warned that content should not distract from the booking process.
“Take the content away once the customer is in that booking cycle. Make sure there are still links to useful content, but don’t let the content get in the way once they have made their decision,” he said.
According to the Question Time panel, good web content should be fresh, unique, up to date, and useful.
Holiday Extras CEO Matthew Pack said all of the company’s staff are now trained to generate web content for its website.
“All our staff can now take a call from a customer, understand something isn’t clear on our site and can get onto that site and change it," he said.
"If a customer tells us they want more information about the parking at an airport, we will provide that information. If we can get hold of a hotel menu, we will put it on our site."
By Bev Fearis
