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I have interconnected one of my client’s Websites into 17 Global Travel and Food Nightlife Websites. That is massive online exposure!
Is it worth the cost where Fee’s range from 20 – 25% of the transaction?
Potential customers trust and use the convenient Apps from major brands. Is it possible to generate enough direct Website traffic through paid and organic search to execute a successful business and avoid massive Online Web Traffic affiliates?
“Today, Expedia Group and business strategy Firm Magid released the Online Travel Friction Index1, finding travelers want suppliers to offer a seamless travel experience, and to quickly and effectively handle any challenge during their travels.” https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4095858.html
Interconnecting to large Online Web Traffic providers is mostly accomplished through written affiliate contracts with the Expedia, Booking.com and TripAdvisor (acquired by Expedia) brands.
* Why connect your online business through Expedia or Booking.com:
- Increase exposure across multiple channels
- Marketing emails to over 80 million subscribers
- Placement on Expedia Group promotional pages
- Visibility to high value travelers worldwide
- Reach shoppers in 75 countries on over 200 websites
International travelers tend to spend more money on-property and stay longer
Drive urgency and boost business!
Leverage short-term discounts with limited risk
Motivate customers to buy or book now … or miss out
The benefits of doing this are:
- These large affiliates book over 80% of the Global Travel, Adventure Tours and Food Nightlife business through there brands.
- For a booking commission, these large Traffic aggregators advertise your Website all over the World to boost commerce!
- These portals offer additional powerful advertising platforms to customize and boost your exposure with trusted brands.
- The booking commission offers financial protection that the credit card is not fraudulent; versus processing direct.
There sheer size and prominence of these Global Brands will offer a better Organic Google Search Result position and possible meta data exposure through Google Knowledge Graph into Knowledge Panel presentation and/or local 3 Pack Ad Block.
Google Disrupts the Online Travel Market
But “as the threat of Google monopolization looms, there will likely be a bidding war between Expedia, TripAdvisor, Booking.com and direct channels. The higher everyone bids, the more money Google will generate.”
“Google´s recent move to cram the top of its search results with ads is driving competition for that real estate. Ad pricing is up, creating customer acquisition cost problems for the online travel industry.
Google as both Search Engine, advertising auction bidding house AND direct business competitor. With more than 60% of Travel discovery/search conducted on Mobile; the whole transaction package can be booked right on Google Travel & Maps … without the Online Travel Affiliate (OTA) involved like Expedia or Booking.com.
https://www.hospitalitynet.org/opinion/4096419.html
Hoteliers and other competitors can now set up their own destination packages on Google, including flights, hotels, and attractions for any given destination.
Initially my thinking that all of this type of Web Traffic was too costly.
- The commissions can reach 20 – 25%of the total booking fee.
Wrong thinking! The cost of developing the constant flow of paid and organic Traffic to an independent business to sustain a successful business would be more costly than a mix of Affiliate, paid and organic. Consumers trust the large Apps and ease of transacting with limited hassle.
Expedia has a very powerful Advertising solution inside their platform for their affiliate partners to customize Ads.
Developing and launching ads into their global audiences with one of their 12 brands is very powerful and credible. For example we offer Business deals to boost weekday customer interest on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
I assure you these large Traffic aggregators all pay attention to their affiliates business metrics and help drive business results!
Customers know that you were vetted by these platforms and that you are trustworthy.
Expedia also offers extensive location based competitive analysis within their platform to fine tune positioning.
The 20% – 25% Booking Commision is Steep; yet the total value is worth the expenditure to accomplish the business objectives through the increase in relevant online Traffic and conversions. Some platforms pass on the Booking Fee to the customer; which will cause people to bail out of the transaction and shop around for a different product or service. Be aware of your pricing strategy across marketing channels and manage your cart to be prepared in advance for click offs!
Further development of Website(s) content quality and depth, active social media, growing online ratings providing social proof and using the tools offered via the Affiliate relationships all together deliver the Google Organic Search Result prominence to compete to earn the business!
