A range of hoteliers from both larger established properties as well as the smaller boutique and locally owned hotels, in addition to a banking institution, food and drink purveyor, event planning firm and local web design and website hosting company were provided with details on website development, the impact of search engines like Google and Yahoo on business profitability, and opportunities to exploit new media such as Facebook, MySpace and YouTube to promote your business. Presenters also outlined the benefits of email marketing and the ease of establishing a profitable client database, the importance of using online public relations strategies and other methods to manage your online reputation, and how to make your website deliver revenue through the use of booking engines designed specifically for small hotels. Actual case studies were also provided demonstrating the steps taken to transform an independent hotel in Florida from a traditional marketing and commerce entity to a highly leveraged digital savvy company which increased online revenue from US$10,000 in 2003 to US$2 million in 2007.

Marvin Dejean, Vice President of Media Strategies at POWERi Technologies told participants “Your website is no longer just an extension of your business, your website is your business. If your website is not actually making money for your business, it is an expensive piece of Internet real estate that is not optimizing its value”.

Murray Owen, Vice President of Sales and Marketing of Metamend a Search Engine Management and Optimization company and strategic partner of POWERi Technologies, suggested a number of tools such as a blog page, online press room, customer testimonials as podcasts and video clips, and registering appropriate domain names related to your market that can help people find your website and information on your company, among a maze of millions of competing websites on the hundreds of search engines used by consumers today. “The best thing about these Internet tools is that you can track the results in real time using Google Analytics or our proprietary tool, Enquisite, to know immediately how much traffic you are getting and how relevant that traffic is, that is whether these people are searching for products or services that your company delivers. Thus, the Return on Investment is tremendous, especially if you allow customers to purchase your products and services directly from website. The Return on Investment and the ability to know the results of investing your limited money and time is of the utmost importance for smaller establishments.”

The POWERi Technologies and Metamend partnership has a strong portfolio of clients in the hotel industry including Regent Hotels and Resorts, Marriott, JW Marriott, Doral Golf Resort and Spa, and the Shelborne Miami Beach Hotel, as well as Regent Seven Seas Cruises, the Bahamas, Greater Fort Lauderdale and Broward County Convention Centre and the Fort Lauderdale – Hollywood International Airport, with Metamend servicing clients on every continent in over 60 countries and helping small and large companies with web marketing and communication strategies.

One participant praised the content and delivery of the seminar, “Internet marketing tools could prove to be the hotels and destinations in the Caribbean’s method of leveling the playing field against larger, bigger budget competitors. I can’t wait to incorporate these ideas into my business.”

For more information and news on the seminar, visit http://poweri.com/caribbeanseminar2 

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