The rainmaker Tourism and Hospitality Marketing Academy keeps you up to date with the most recent developments in Digital Presence, Optimization, Reputation and Distribution Management. Every month we publish a dedicated marketing tip or highlight certain travel and consumer trends for the Tourism and Hospitality in Africa.
Rainmaker is the brainchild of some of the most experienced hospitality, tourism and digital marketing veterans in the industry. We bring 50 years of experience in the hotel, tourism, sales and marketing fields, 35 years of experience in IT as well as more than 15 years digital marketing experience to your project. This is enhanced by over 8 years of in-depth research and involvement in the Southern African hospitality and tourism industry, giving us peerless insight into the various source markets, market segments, value chains and market dynamics.
Rainmaker creates competitive advantages for the local In-destination Hospitality and Tourism business in Africa.
Tip #2 | Why it is important to be found in the local search
Local searches make up around 60% of Google searches. People are generally looking for restaurants, the nearest pharmacy, a service station, a bank to exchange money or a hotel, lodge or hostel for the coming overnight stay.
But what does all of this mean for businesses, restaurants, Hotels, Lodges and other tourism suppliers?
It means you have to be visible. In fact you have to be one of the first 3 results on the first page of Google. 90% of searchers click on one of the first three search results. All others fall under the radar and are seldom considered.
But how do you become one of these three?
First, your business needs to be registered with Google Business. Then it has to be officially verified and all of the pertinent information about your business, such as location, contact details, opening hours, Photos and a Google Street View Trusted 360° Virtual Tour and so on, need to be entered, correctly and consistently. For Hotels and Lodges, you need to get connected to Google Hotel and receive direct bookings straight from the Search Engine or Google Maps Pages.
You website must also be mobile responsive according to the Google guidelines. If it isn’t, Google will not even show you in their search results on mobile devices. This is a huge disadvantage and results in client and loss of business.
Rainmaker as an Agency and Partner of Google is specialized to get your Google Universe in order to gain you some 20-30% more quality traffic from Google.
