New developments for Holiday in Your Pocket

18th August 2008 Current Position Holiday in Your Pocket is in a strong position presently with a steady flow of visitors building day after day and a substantial database of subscribers which are sent a marketing email at least once a fortnight. The number of this database currently stands at 2000, all of which are “opt in” customers. As with all websites, natural ranking for key terms is a lengthy process which is in place. The website content is being continually tweaked and added to in order to make it more obvious to the search engines (primarily Google as over 70% of the searches on the web are through this engine). New content is added daily in the form of news, property updates and new pages/offers. There is also a substantial link-building and article submission campaign to boost rankings in place. It is anticipated that for the following keywords, Holiday in Your Pocket will move to the front page of Google (and, by association, the other major engines such as MSN, Yahoo and Ask) during 2009. Targeted KeywordsHoliday RentalsVilla RentalsHoliday AccommodationVillas to RentHoliday FlatHoliday Apartments  There are currently 82 properties on the site, all from word-of-mouth marketing with no spend. There is now a substantial marketing campaign in place to grow this rapidly. It is anticipated that this number will exceed 1000 in early 2009 and then subsequently grow at around 200-250 per month thereafter. The visitors to the site are interested in what is available, as shown by the latest Google Analytics. On average, each visitor spends 5:24 minutes on the site, viewing 5.87 pages, which are excellent figures for a site of this nature. However, 54.49% of visitors are new to the site and the aim is to reduce this percentage by building brand loyalty. If the number of new visitors is maintained but 50% more customers return on a regular basis, the traffic will very quickly grow to an extremely substantial level. NB All figures are taken from Google Analytics on 15^th August 2008, they are for illustration purposes only and will vary. Developments There are some major changes taking place to the site to enhance the following areas:- 

1. Usability
2. Data capture/marketing

 These are the result of customer feedback and site reviews by external agencies. These are currently being coded and will be in place by the end of August 2008. The following improvements are being made:- 

1. Search Function: the search fields will be further enhanced to allow customers to be more specific in their requirements. Currently, there is the facility to search on destination and price. Two new fields are to be added - “Pool facilities” (no preference, private pool, communal pool or no pool) and  “Accommodation for how many?” (no preference, up to 2, 2-4,4-6,6-8, 8+). This process will make the user feel more in control of the experience and encourage repeat use.
2. Login Function: in order to streamline the enquiry process, and make it much more user-friendly, the existing enquiry form will be replaced by a system where the user will register with basic details and log in to the site. When the user finds a property he or she is interested in, it will simply require a click to send the enquiry to the owner. This will encourage more enquiries as well as further building the opt-in database.
3. Monthly Competition: to further encourage registration on the site and build brand loyalty and trust, each person that registers will be entered in a free prize draw to win an iPod. This will generate publicity and, when combined with a Pay Per Click (PPC) and SEO campaign, drive additional traffic to the site.

 Marketing The Online Marketing focus going forward on HIYP is to emphasise specific regions within countries. This will allow a targeted adword and SEO campaign at a much reduced price point. The trial region will be Paphos in Southern Cyprus as it has the largest concentration of properties (courtesy of Lisa Roads at Lifestyle Assets). Following that, France will be regionalised and the specific areas marketed towards one-by-one. Offline Marketing will continue in the same vein with an awareness campaign across various printed media, comprising of PR, advertorials, competitions and sponsorship.

 

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