Lay My Hat

Hello,

Does anyone have any experience with Google Adwords?

If so, is it working for you?

I've just launched about a week ago and trying to do as much as possible to generate some interest, although - budget is tight due to looming refurbishment costs. So, I'd rather choose the right advertising strategies! I'm not using an agent, only referral / listing sites and my own site with booking system.

Thanks!

Katie

You have to have something unique/special that people will search for if using Adwords otherwise it will be a waste of money. You cannot compete with the listing sites for generic terms like holiday cottage.
If you are advertising a single property, it'll be a waste of time; if you have a complex with lots of properties, then it may be worthwhile.

Hi Katie

I have thought about Adwords in the past but have shied away from it as it is reputedly very expensive and difficult to get right.

A Google My Business/Google Maps listing is helpful though, and free. A few guests have found me through this. Facebook is also a good way to get exposure by having a page for your property, and there are a number of FB groups where you can advertise your property. I have experimented with a few paid 'boosted posts' which have resulted in at least a couple of bookings that I am aware of and have significantly increased website traffic and FB page 'likes'. It takes time though to figure out what works on FB and what type of posts will be most popular and worth boosting.

When I first started the majority of my bookings came from OD but now it's about half OD and half direct, found either via Facebook or Google Maps listing. I am hoping to reduce listing site bookings even more over the next couple of years through the above strategies. Different things work for different people so it's hard to say what will work for you - a bit of trial and error is involved at first. Good luck!

Hello Katie,
You might be better concentrating on getting the key words in your domain name and website. At least half of my bookings come from my own website, and I don't use listing sites, just referral sites.
T here is a lot of good advice on the stickys on this forum. I don't know how you are building your website but Promote my Place is a good template site and again, comes with a lot of support. I can let you have a referral code if you need one.

It's working quite good for the low season. I have not too much concurrence and can keep low price for the clicks

Newtimber is dead right. The more niche you get, the better. We use Adwords just seasonally and whenever we find that the calendar looks sparse.

Instead of aiming for all guests, we aim for the French because we like them so much. So for our Scottish properties, we use the phrases 'gite ecosse', 'gite scotland' etc. The strange concept of a gite in scotland means that we don't compete against much, so we get lower cost per click.

Still, it's only marginally effective though.

Most of the enquiries through our website arise through Google Maps. If you have a MyBusiness entry, then you get a pin on the map, and many people use Maps either before or during searching and thus they stumble upon our website. That works better than Adwords for us and it's free!

Good advice from people here.

Its also useful to discover negative key words. These can radically reduce the advertising cost per sale.

For instance, as our business is inland. we include words like: sea, seaside, beach and so on. For the same reason, lacking snow or mountains, we include words like Skiing and Climbing. Being regional we have a long list of place names not in our area which means the chance of anyone stumbling on our ad who really wants to stay in Cumbria won't happen.

It is a way of compromising between exact match and approximate match. Adwords can work for small operators but you need to pick highly specific words and it can be an idea to habitually include a geographic element.

For instance, we use Hereford Cottages or Shropshire Cottages. The cost per click tends to be between 50p and £1.00 depending on where in the top 3 or 4 you want to be, and click bids. The ideal is to always be 3 or 4 and leave the expensive top place for others. Women nearly always do the buying, usually more thorough than men and will work down the list.

In addition with a lower cost per click with geographic indicators (it does not always work) you will get a higher conversion. In extreme if you just use the word Cottages the cost per click can easily be £5 while the conversion for all but national booking agencies is appallingly low.

Instead, with Hereford Cottages, the cost per click can be ten times lower while the conversion to sales, for us, is radically higher.

I hope this helps. If I have duplicated any stuff already written, I apologize.