Best Practices
Just getting started with affiliate programs? Use this section to find helpful tips on search-engine marketing (SEM), site design and much more.
- Beginners' Tips and General Best Practices
- SEM Best Practices
- SEM Quick Tips
- Site Design Best Practices
Beginners' Tips and General Best Practices
Stay current
Relevant content is the best way to increase conversions on your site. If you make sure visitors have all of the information they need, chances are good they will complete their booking. The easiest way to accomplish this is through Dynamic Rich Media links, available in the Create Links section of LinkShare. These links automatically update when Hotwire changes their content. We recommend featuring banners or links from the promotional section of Dynamic Rich Media; these are updated most often.
Communicate the advantages
Make sure your visitors know that top hotels, airlines and other brand-name travel companies use Hotwire to reduce their unsold inventory... at specially negotiated prices. Smart travelers use Hotwire to find incredible deals on hotels, flights, cars, cruises and vacation packages.
Put Hotwire at the top
Always place Hotwire links or banners above the fold (i.e., above the point at which a visitor must scroll down to view more content). Studies have shown that visitors pay most attention to the content that they see when they first arrive at a page.
Add search boxes for more conversions
Put a search box on your site to make it easier for visitors to complete bookings, eliminating an unnecessary step from the shopping process. Visit the Create Links section to see a wide variety of Hotwire search boxes.
Make it big
Bigger is better when it comes to banners. Studies have shown that large, dynamic banners convert better than small ones. Don't overwhelm your visitors with too many large banners, though. Integrate them into your site for best success.
Test, test and test some more
Keep trying new things to see what helps your clicks and conversions the most. Move a banner around, buy some search-engine keywords or even create a new page.
SEM Best Practices
Know the basics
SEM is one of the best ways to drive traffic to your site. Effective SEM includes bidding on keywords, so your site will appear higher on results when someone searches on sites like Google or Yahoo. You may bid on any term, as long as it's not trademarked or branded by Hotwire. Bidding on misspellings of trademarks or brand names is also prohibited. Visit our Affiliate Agreement for full details.
For more information regarding SEM, we also recommend visiting the following pages:
SEM Quick Tips
Understand what to track and measure
In addition to clicks and impressions, focus on your price per click (PPC) and earnings per click (EPC). You can get a good idea of your profits by subtracting the PPC from the EPC.
Test new ideas
Once you know what to measure, it's a good idea to test new situations to find out what's most profitable for you. Test the position of your ads, the time of day they appear, the words you use and the layout of the landing pages visitors are sent to.
Know the competition
SEM can be a competitive environment. It's important to know who you are bidding against. Sometimes it can be difficult to keep up with larger companies that bid on thousands of popular keywords. Some keywords also have expensive price tags and may not be worth your SEM efforts. Instead, focus on little-known keywords that cost less, but provide a higher click-through rate. Yahoo offers a tool to track the popularity of keywords in their resource center.
Stay in touch with the environment
SEM rules and guidelines change often, and it's important to keep informed of any major changes that may affect your campaigns. Industry resources like Search Engine Watch are great places to find the latest information.
Partner with smaller engines
Internet searches usually originate from one of the four major search engines, but there's still a large portion of searchers on second-tier engines. Include these second-tier engines in your SEM campaign. Visit Search Engine Watch for an updated list of engines to consider.
Site Design Best Practices
Be original
Offer unique content to entice visitors to your site. The first step to a well-designed site is creating or acquiring unique content.
Make it easy to navigate
Once you have great content in place, the next step is helping people find it. A good site will allow a visitor to find what they need in three clicks or less. A great site will do it in two clicks or less -- or through a search box. Create several scenarios for how a visitor might navigate your site and see if you can complete each in three steps or less.
Define each section clearly
If you manage a travel site, divide it into logical sections (e.g., air, hotel, vacation packages, etc). You can make it even easier to navigate by subdividing each section (e.g., specific destinations, deals, etc).
Code each page effectively
Each page should be coded correctly and contain the following:
- Title tags: A unique 5- to 10-word description that lets search engines know what content will be found on the page. Use relevant keywords from the body of the page in your title.
- Meta tags: Keywords and descriptions stored in the code of your page, but not visible to the user. Search engines look at meta tags to get information on your site. However, avoid "keyword stuffing" (i.e., placing unnecessary or irrelevant information in your meta tags). Search engines may penalize you for keyword stuffing by ignoring your pages completely.
- Site map: An index that allows a search engine to find every page of your site. Arrange this map by groups with brief descriptions of each section. Take a look at Hotwire's site map for a good example.
- No dead ends: On each page, especially error pages, place links directing visitors back to your homepage or other important sections of your site. It's never a good idea to provide visitors with a dead-end experience.
- Robots.txt: A text file that tells search engines which pages to search and which to ignore. Visit Robots.txt for information on how to add this important file to your site.
Submit your site(s)
It may sound like common sense, but make sure to submit your site to popular search engines for inclusion in their listings. These are some of the engines you'll want to register with:
- The Open Directory Project: You categorize your site(s), then ODP distributes your information to the major search engines.
- Yahoo
- MSN