So, you’re having success with venue bookings as a result of word of mouth, recommendations, and direct mail marketing, but the website for your venue is occupied with nothing but tumbleweeds, leaving you asking “why am I not being found online?”.
If you’re finding yourself in a similar situation to the above scenario, fear not, we’re here to help! We’ve compiled some simple and easy to implement tips you can start using within your business strategy to take your venue from struggling to get in the spotlight, to shining in it.
Reason 1) You’re not offering customers incentives to visit your website
Think about the last time you frequented a website in order to buy something, what drew you to that website, and what was your motivation to go there?
Often, the difference between visiting one website over another is familiarity – you’ve dealt with a certain business/site before, so you return to it.
However, incentives can be excellent for drawing in new prospective customers and breaking their typical online shopping and browsing traditions, motivating them to visit your site over pre-known/pre-visited sites.
Having eye-catching introductory offers like “get 10% off your first booking” or “book now and claim two free drinks” can go a long way in providing the motive for that all-important decision to click the link to your site over another, however, if you’re not providing that as on option, you’re missing out on a big opportunity to attract new bookers who may become repeat customers.
Reason 2) You’re not getting reviews
Reviews can go an extremely long way, both in terms of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and for prospective customers considering the purchase of your services.
Reviews provide customers with immediate feedback on whether they’re making the right decision to click through and learn more about your venue or not.
Having lots of poor reviews, or too few/none at all leads to depreciated trust and curbs desire to learn more about your venue and the services they offer, often resulting in prospective customers bypassing you and choosing an alternative.
Reason 3) You’re not implementing SEO
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of increasing the traffic and visibility of a website through implementing various strategies, from uploading user-generated content, (reviews and comments for example) to producing fresh, organic content like blogs and updated information, to Linkbuilding and adequately organising website information and much, much more.
There’s a lot to be covered with SEO, so if you’re not making an active effort to implement any its aspects, you’re sure to get left behind and minimising the visibility online for your venue.
Reason 4) You’re not being consistent with social media
Social media is a great free platform for businesses and venues that can help them stay relevant and build/retain the awareness of their customers. The key to maximising social media and getting it to work for you is through posting creative, informative and engaging content and posting consistently.
Posting about a new blog, an interview or highlighting a new venue facility (as well as other interesting content) can really help build awareness of your site and help drive traffic to certain sections you want to focus on for your online venue.
When venues and businesses post sporadically, (when and if they post at all) it tends to result in decreased engagement.
Additionally, not posting new content to your site and communicating something new via social channels can lead to people unsubscribing to them, making the chances someone will come across your venue online even slimmer.
Reason 5) Your site isn’t mobile-friendly
Technically, making your site mobile-friendly falls under the remit of SEO, but it’s so important in 2020 and the digital age we live in, it deserves its own point of focus.
Studies show an increase in mobile users and mobile commerce, greatly increasing year on year spanning over a decade. In 2019, mobile internet usage within the UK reached over 45 million users.
So, if your website isn’t optimised for mobile, you’re missing out on a huge audience of potential venue bookers and general internet browsers who are browsing on the go looking for services like yours.
The takeaway
As can be seen from the ways above, there are various methods you can use to give your venue the spotlight and attention it deserves online.
Whether you decide to try just a few of these approaches or all of them, making the decision to make some changes to your current approach will certainly lead to more eyes being drawn to the direction of your online venue and bring in the bookings.
