Why should you consider a Feeder Site for your brand?
- Make sure your brand dominates the Google organic search results page
- Avoid potential customers becoming distracted and diluted
- Work with a top quality affiliate partner who will represent your brand 100%
- Only ever pay by CPA on results
First - understand how your potential customers search & find your hotel on the web
Most people search for a hotel using the internet and the majority will use Google as their default search engine. On a standard Google results page, Google returns typically between 8-10 results, including both sponsored and organic search. For a typical hotel chain you would expect one or two sponsored search results (normally from the parent brand) in the top 1-2 slots and then at least 6 organic results, followed by another few sponsored results at the bottom of the page. If the search device is geo-location enabled then the results may also show local hotels.
Fact: Customers trust organic results more than adverts. Research across multiple sectors agrees that well over 50% of people trust organic search results more than sponsored ads and will actively avoid clicking on a sponsored advert.
The ideal first page of google results for your hotel chain:
The ideal results page should show the parent hotel chain at the top (probably sponsored search) followed by another 1 or 2 organic placements of the parent brand (including social media). Following on into the organic results you should have top quality affiliate sites which are only selling your brand, with a well designed website using official high quality images of your hotels and unique copy, all of which adds value to the brand. The customer journey to convert to a sale should involve a single click through to the booking engine on the parent site.
This format ensures that whichever website they click onto, the customer will remain focused only on the parent brand, resulting in a much better conversion rate to booking.
Most people search for a hotel using the internet and the majority will use Google as their default search engine. On a standard Google results page, Google returns typically between 8-10 results, including both sponsored and organic search. For a typical hotel chain you would expect one or two sponsored search results (normally from the parent brand) in the top 1-2 slots and then at least 6 organic results, followed by another few sponsored results at the bottom of the page. If the search device is geo-location enabled then the results may also show local hotels.
Fact: Customers trust organic results more than adverts. Research across multiple sectors agrees that well over 50% of people trust organic search results more than sponsored ads and will actively avoid clicking on a sponsored advert.
The ideal first page of google results for your hotel chain:
The ideal results page should show the parent hotel chain at the top (probably sponsored search) followed by another 1 or 2 organic placements of the parent brand (including social media). Following on into the organic results you should have top quality affiliate sites which are only selling your brand, with a well designed website using official high quality images of your hotels and unique copy, all of which adds value to the brand. The customer journey to convert to a sale should involve a single click through to the booking engine on the parent site.
This format ensures that whichever website they click onto, the customer will remain focused only on the parent brand, resulting in a much better conversion rate to booking.
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What actually happens: distraction and dilution
This is what really happens...the first two results sponsored by parent brand (often another sponsored search result by affiliate if allowed). Then one or two placements from the parent brand appearing in the organic search (for example Premier Inn has one of the largest and best optimised websites in the UK, and at most they manage a couple of organic listings), then at least 3 - 5 affiliate sites of varying quality. In the image to the right the green results are the parent brand, the red results are the affiliates, and google's own paid adverts from rival brands. Typically, TripAdvisor, Hotels.com and Booking.com will appear, and this is where the problem really starts. This is because as well as featuring your hotel on the clicked page, they will invariably be displaying various alternative hotel brands, usually at cheaper prices. This can have a negative effect on the parent hotel brand, immediately distracting the customer and diluting your hotel brand with alternative choices. |
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The affiliate site owners have no particular vested interest in making the conversion for your brand, because so long as the customer books at any of the promoted hotels they show, they will still make a commission.
See the image below for the result when a customer clicks on the first affiliate result from TripAdvisor. All the hotels contained within the red box are alternative competitor brands.
See the image below for the result when a customer clicks on the first affiliate result from TripAdvisor. All the hotels contained within the red box are alternative competitor brands.
In Summary:
The problem is simple
Because a typical google search returns on average 10 results per page, it is virtually impossible for any brand to dominate the top ten positions of the organic result with clean, quality, 100% brand loyal web content using the principal brand website alone.
...fortunately, so is the solution
We can help you plug the gap by building you a far superior affiliate site. Complementing your brand 100%, and driving the traffic you currently lose to your competitors... directly to your parent site for booking.
- Well over 50% of your potential customers on the web will be clicking on an organic search result
- Many of these will be from large American affiliate sites which will be presenting them with cheaper alternative hotel options for their chosen destination as soon as the page opens up
The problem is simple
Because a typical google search returns on average 10 results per page, it is virtually impossible for any brand to dominate the top ten positions of the organic result with clean, quality, 100% brand loyal web content using the principal brand website alone.
...fortunately, so is the solution
We can help you plug the gap by building you a far superior affiliate site. Complementing your brand 100%, and driving the traffic you currently lose to your competitors... directly to your parent site for booking.
The City Hotel Expert Solution
- We build top quality 100% brand affiliated websites
- The sites run under a related domain to the parent brand promoting trust in the customer
- The sites are built to the latest web standards and responsive design (mobile / tablet friendly)
- Site design complements the parent brand, while being very clearly marked as an affiliate site
- The sites carry no advertising of any type
- The sites never feature any other hotel brand
- The sites accurately represent the parent brand, with official imagery and up to date brand information
- The customer booking journey is smooth with a single click through to parent site for checkout
- We use pure organic search placement so never compete on sponsored search
- We guarantee that our site will have no detrimental effect on the parent site SEO positioning
- There is no cost to the brand - we stand all the costs of site build, hosting and maintenance
- We develop long term relationships ensuring years of added value to the parent brand
- We make sure the site is always up to date
- Our only payment is via CPA - if we don't deliver extra bookings we don't receive a penny