For years we have been teaching that the best long term sustainable strategy is organic optimization and promotion. Those who have heeded that advice are in the best position to get through these turbulent times without needing large short term investments.
Through organic optimization, you are able to build equity with your website and drive traffic without any ongoing cost per click or action.Exclusive dependence on paid search makes it more challenging to sustain that level of spending in today's economy.
Paid search is a great compliment to organic promotion, and can be used during strategic need times. Those times include the launch of a new URL, seasonality, targeting a very specific date or niche market, etc. Many hotels are currently running PPC to compliment the organic efforts to get through this tough economic environment. It should not be, however, the only strategy deployed.
Despite the challenges which we are seeing in the economy, a study by eMarketer shows an online advertising growth rate
of 17.4% this year. If your hotel doesn't already have a solid long term organic strategy, now is the right time to invest in it. If you need short term traffic to sustain the hotel in today's economy, consider a strategic PPC campaign.
By Kimberly Ehrlich. Milestone Internet Marketing, Inc. is a full-service internet marketing solutions provider and an educator for the travel and hospitality industry. We provide solutions for developing powerful internet presence and driving revenue on the internet. Our portfolio of services include developing and promoting independent and brand.com websites, blogs, podcasts, RSS, email marketing, etc. We currently work with over 600 hotels nationwide and are a preferred vendor for several major lodging brands. Milestone is also a leading internet marketing educator for the lodging industry and offers its popular and widely acclaimed internet marketing training workshop and book – Hotels to HTMLs for several lodging associations, brands, and management groups. www.milestoneinternet.com 
