Scaling New Altitudes Through Hotel SEO and Hotel SMO
One of the first industries to be impacted by the internet, the travel and hospitality industry today leads the path to social media marketing. In today’s times, when anything and everything finds a foothold on the internet, it becomes but imperative that your hotel gets an enhanced visibility through the internet. Advertising one’s hotel brand can be equally necessary and especially with the revolutionizing of the online marketing industry, the competition of roping in as many clients as possible has got even more intense.Social media is all about getting people involved and engaged in your activities. It lets you build, connect, communicate and interact with your current and prospective customer base. Aiding in etching lasting relationships with customers, social media provides an open platform where you listen to, interact and converse with people who have something to say about you.Technological developments today have also changed the manner in which a traveler makes decisions regarding hotel patronage and bookings. Social media interactions, guest reviews, opinions, and experiences are trusted more over just hotel promotions and advertisements and are closely monitored by potential customers. As mobile devices have become the norm for communication and obtaining information, today’s traveler wants quick access to relevant information and seeks to connect with a hotel representative in real time. A survey states that as many as 33% people are traveling to various destinations across the globe and travel planning is a part of the social interaction they have on Facebook!With growing competition and an escalating travel demand, the significance of hotel SEO to drive in potential customers mounts tremendously. The right hotel SEO helps in getting and staying connected to customers, leading to business growth. Integrating booking engine links on the website, defined content and impressive visuals all form a part of hotel SEO. Often, tourists avail travel deals and packages based on appealing visuals and informative and eye-catching content. The content must incorporate relevant keywords that place your brand on the search engine’s first page. Hence, hotel SEO gives a kick start to the campaign and lets your website gain maximum hits.Along with SEO, social networking also helps to drive potential traffic to the website. In today’s date and time, the initials clearly are SMO – Social Media Optimization. This involves efforts to create exciting, interesting and engaging marketing campaigns. In other words, a website must strive to develop content that not only informs but also entertains and engages in order for it to be picked up by blogs, get re-tweeted, commented on, liked and shared and result in the formation of natural links back to the site!Hotel SMO is helpful in building trust of tourists looking for travel accommodation. It involves creativity and investment where people are connected to your business. Variety is the spice of life; this adage holds true while executing Hotel SMO as you have an opportunity to broaden your business verticals. The brand’s Facebook page or a Twitter account can do wonders where you can announce special offers and deals, run contests and polls and ask questions in order to increase engagement and drive in more and more user traffic. It needs special mention that social posts need to be related to your business so that it helps in creating brand awareness. Sharing reviews on travel social networks like Expedia and TripAdvisor with social bookmark sites is the best method for promotion.
Payday Loans – Get The Real Facts
If you have already taken out a payday loan, paying it off is probably a priority. It is likely you want to avoid taking out another one if at all possible. Maybe you are new to the world of payday loans and simply need to do a bit of research in advance. Either way, checking out the below article will help you make the best possible decisions you can when it comes to payday loans.When considering a short term loan facility, do thorough research on the lending company. There are many options when it comes to this field and you would want to be dealing with a trusted company that would handle your loan the right way. Check online to see reviews that other borrowers have written for more information.If you find yourself needing a payday loan, remember to pay it back before the due date. Always pay off your loan and don’t extend the terms or roll it over, no matter how attractive it sounds to do so. Paying it off quickly will guarantee that you pay the lowest amount of interest.Typically, short term loans need to be paid back in two weeks. You may find yourself stressing when the due date deadline arrives because something has come up and you’re unable to fully repay the money back on time. A lot of lenders give you the option to subscribe to a ‘roll over’ feature, which usually includes fees.If you routinely use short term loans to make ends meet, you may need to seek additional financial help or education. Payday loans can cost a lot of money if used improperly.Find out what state your payday loan company is based in. On the subject of lending caps, there is wide variation in state laws. A lot of the time payday companies will operate from another country. Whenever you learn which state the lender works in, you should learn all the state laws for these lending practices.Many times a more affordable option to taking a short term loan is to get a cash advance at your job. Some employers will give you an advance, saving you the hassle of paying interest. Know your alternatives before considering payday loans.Your payday loan application may be denied if you don’t have enough income to cover the payments. In this instance, you are going to have consider other alternatives. You should be able to find another lender who will let you borrow a smaller amount of money.Come up with a plan to get the loan paid back. With most lending institutions, you will be required to pay your loan back within a few weeks or you will charged late fees and your interest rates will quickly add up. Take the time to figure out how much of your income you can afford to use to pay back your loan at the end of the month.Exhaust other options before applying for a payday loan. See if you can borrow money from your bank, from friends or family, etc. If any of these are an option for you, then applying for a quick payday loan is not in your best interest. A loan like this needs to be your last option, and even then only for an emergency.Use payday loans carefully. Read the short term loan company’s contract very carefully, before signing and ask about all fees and interest rates, how they work and in what circumstances they apply. You should pass over any lender that has been in business for fewer than five years, as well as any lender who has accumulated an extensive record of consumer complaints. This is a good way to steer clear of payday loan scammers.With what you learned today you should feel less confused about payday loans. Applying these tips will help you avoid any issues you would have otherwise gotten yourself into. Keep these tips in mind the next time you consider a payday loan.
Design Tips For Making a Traditional Japanese Garden
Making a garden in the traditional Japanese style may seem easy until you do a little research and find out there is a lot underneath the surface that complicates the issue.If you are the type of personality who simply cares about what things look like, then you may not appreciate knowing about the historical evolution and development of Japanese gardens.In addition, if you prefer balanced, symmetrical European style gardens, then Japanese may not be for you. They are diametrically opposed in design philosophy.Describing what Japanese gardens are not is perhaps a good way to start out. Here is a bullet list to get the basics:Japanese gardens (traditionally) do NOT have:
o Borders or beds of flowers;
o Symmetry: whether bilateral, radial or axial;
o Ornate designs
o Clutter of accessories;
o Potted plants;
o Gaudy, bold “splashes of color”;
o Pink flamingos or other decorative elements;
o Human centered designs;
o Large expanses of recreational grass.What Japanese gardens do have (traditionally speaking) is a reverence for nature. The use of natural materials dominates the elements of the design.o Stone (in the form of boulders, rocks, gravel or sand);
o Water (actual or symbolic), earth, trees and shrubs;
o Manmade elements such as stone lanterns, bridges, water basins;
o Enclosure usually formed by fencing, hedges or the architectural structures;Using mostly natural materials, the design intent of a Japanese garden is to re-create and capture the essence of the natural landscape, whether creating it on site or using techniques like “barrowed scenery”.There are several styles of Japanese garden derived from the historical progression of their development. They are generally the following:
o Hillside garden;
o Tea garden;
o Karesansui (dry landscape);
o Strolling garden.The Hillside gardens began as gardens designed to be viewed from certain vantage points such as the residences, or rooms within palaces of Emperors and the like. These gardens incorporated waterfalls and ponds. Bridges were included to access islands created in the ponds.At one point in history, islands were symbolic of Paradise (Pureland Sect of Buddhism), or the afterlife, and the bridge was symbolic of the path of life, the journey to Heaven.There is a parallel here between the eastern concept of Paradise and the western concept of the Garden of Eden. Both celebrate the virtues of the raw, pure form of the earth, of nature itself. But in the western (biblical) version, that purity was lost through the committing of sin.Eastern thought at its roots especially Taoism, reveres nature in its pure form. Nature is much larger than mankind and in fact dwarfs man in the context of the Cosmos.That relationship is more understood in the east and is reflected in not only gardens, but other cultural endeavors including landscape painting, Ichibana, pottery, etc.Tea Gardens were a style of gardens that originated from the importation of tea from China. As Chan Buddhism was introduced to China through one known as Daruma, he also introduced tea so that the meditating monks would not fall asleep. The popularity of tea as well as this sect of Buddhism was brought to Japan, where it was known as Zen Buddhism.Thus tea became very popular and developed into a ritualized social event utilizing a special tea house. The invited guests would come through the garden before entering the tea house separated by some form of fencing to divide the outer tea garden from the inner space.They would then go through a ritualized practice of cleansing the mouth via the water basin outside the entry and humbling themselves upon entering by crouching down low to enter through the small doorway. At night, the paths were often strategically illuminated using a stone or iron lantern.Karesansui style gardens or “dry landscape” gardens were of a style that developed generally at the same time as the Tea Garden era but were much more austere then and not as interactive as the Tea Gardens.
Dry landscape gardens consisted of stones and gravel. The use of plant material was very sparse if at all. The types and styles varied depending on what the layout of the stones and gravel was supposed to symbolize. However, the idea was that the stones represented mountains, as islands in the ocean or a lake.Gravel represented water as the ocean or lake. Sand was raked to mimic the ripples on the water’s surface or the ocean’s waves. Course gravel was used to represent fast moving water as in a stream, whereas finer gravel represented a calm pond and more tranquil feeling.The fourth major style of Japanese Garden design is the Strolling Garden. They were interactive, in that the use of stepping stones were incorporated so people could wander and meander throughout the garden. This allowed for a much richer experience as design concepts such as “seen and hidden” or progressive realization was utilized.In other words, the paths were purposely irregular and not so easy to navigate. This allowed the designer to manipulate the gait of the walker so that they had to pause at key vantage points or to be made aware of a subtle message, otherwise passed by if the walker was not in a state of mindfulness.As you contemplate designing a Japanese style garden, consider whether adapting to traditional styles and principles are important to you. Often, authenticity adds to appreciation, value and beauty. An art form that is a “reproduction” must honor the traditional style and feel of the piece; otherwise the piece will lose its value. That elusive essential ingredient in traditional form is worth attempting to reproduce for a richer experience.