July 17, 2007
It’s all about the Journey
Blizzard has just rolled out a project that I worked extensively on and I’m really proud of the outcome. If you have a travel or tourism website, maps are a piece of the puzzle that you just cant overlook. What amazes me is the lack of inventiveness out there when it comes to hotel/inn/resort owners using maps to really push their potential guests to book. Part of getting paying guests in the door is getting them there - and giving them options about what to do once they are there.
With our mapping program, we’re offering clients maps that are embedded in the site, but built on the CommunityWalk platform. I know I know - on-site content is best, right?? Not necessarily. Theoretically, for semi-competitive terms I’m going to rank ONE page (maybe 2 w/ a site link) for my keyword. By building and optimizing our map and map points offsite, you’re increasing your Search Engine Result Saturation (I like to call it SERS.) So feasibly I can have from 1 to 4 results in the top 10 that will lead a potential guest right to my site. Here’s an example:
DestinDays.com recently implemented an optimized map of their local attractions. The page they’ve embedded the map on is optimized for “attractions in destin, fl” Now - at this time DestinDays is ranking about 19th in Google for that term. We expect that to increase to first page presence, and the best part is that the page at communityWalk where the map has been built is very likely to rank on that first page.
These maps are really interactive and informative. Here is an example of how they work. This map was built for a client I have that runs a not-for-profit B&B in Mendocino, CA. The Lighthouse Inn at Pt. Cabrillo is located on a 300 acre nature preserve that is run by the State of California. The inn is, quite honestly, a little bit of a drive from town, so things aren’t within walking distance. Part of our goal was to be honest about the location, while giving information and directions to all of the area restaurants, attractions, etc. that the Innkeepers recommend. This map is on their Fine Dining page - along with some great text to feed the spiders.
The bottom line is this - adding a map is a relatively simple undertaking, that can provide huge rewards in the realm of usability and guest satisfaction.
