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The Power of Search: a Case Study

Written by: Peter Sickles

Article Overview: In this real-world case study, we see how a well executed search marketing plan can have significant impact on the bottom line.

The Power of Search: a Case Study

Top of the Hill
Mont Blanc Ski Resort in Quebec is a relatively small operation and one of a handful of similar ski resorts that can be found on the road leading to Quebec's largest and most famous resort Mont Tremblant (actually Mont Tremblant is an entire ski village).

The problem for Mont Blanc then was how to stand out online. The site itself was unremarkable (some would say that's a compliment). Searches for Mont Blanc often brought up Tremblant first; in searches for Tremblant, Quebec skiing, and other central topics, Mont Blanc rarely showed at all.

Within two months, this all changed. Currently Mont Blanc's website receives over 700 visitors a day in peak season, and the site rivals Tremblant (and it's millions of dollars in marketing power) for top search position in all of Quebec ski-resort-dom. In the first year, the changes we put in place brought a documented 30% increase in overall revenues and a 100% increase in new winter hotel guests coming through the website. These first year revenues alone paid for the search optimization as well as a re-branded website (several times over).

Powerful Branding and Positioning
While search engine optimization has little to do directly with brand appearance, it is not useful to drive large amounts of traffic to a website that does not represent the company, product, or service well. Fortunately, Mont Blanc was open to a redesign and new strategic position, and we had the opportunity to help develop a new site and branding position that would maximize the effectiveness of both the optimization, and the related marketing (and specifically the site's ability to convert the traffic we were about to develop into sales). Calling Mont Blanc "The Region's Family-Friendly Ski Resort" we positioned it against the massive Tremblant, and other competitors, focusing also on the value that skiing at Mont Blanc represents (about 40% less than Mont Tremblant), and less crowded. In design, photography and content, we developed online and off-line collateral that established a clear and consistent brand.


Copywriting for Optimization
The development of a new site also provided the opportunity for us to do the copywriting and to help create a site structure that was ideal for search optimization. The development of a new site is a 'best case' situation for search optimizers because it allows us to stack many factors in our favour that may be off limits later (such as page structure, programming methods, and key content and content volume). Copywriting focused on language that would match the searches that our research told us that users were running to find ski resorts in Quebec. At the same time the site was structured to present these terms in patterns that were ideal for promotion to distinct audiences.


Search Engine Optimization
Our Search Engine research showed that certain terms and phrases were far more popular than others. Search Engine Optimization became a driving force behind the structure and content of the site. We targeted 5 key phrases and won high first page rankings for all of them on all major Search Engines. These included phrases that incorporated the word "Tremblant" such as "Ski Mont Tremblant" (first place on Google and other major search engines). (Note: since Tremblant is also the region name, this is permissible. It is not always appropriate to include your competitors name and other language in your search formula.) We also optimized the site for "ski quebec" showing up immediately behind the official skiquebec.org site pages. There is an aspect of momentum in search: as Mont Blanc began winning certain key searches and the traffic grew, other opportunities quickly presented themselves and we developed a network around Mont Blanc that pushed the search results even higher.

Site Tools as Part of Search Strategy
The results of this complete make over of Mont Blanc's online and search position show the strength of online positioning. For several years Mont Blanc has (wisely) tracked where each new hotel guest comes from, which allowed them to document the specific affect of the new optimization on hotel occupancy. We also designed a survey tool so that Mont Blanc could capture email addresses (when the resort is not booked two weeks in advance, they send out an email special to this list and it fills). This tool also incorporates a survey which has provided another measure of the success of the SEO work.

Great Results
The optimization and improved positioning had a huge impact on Mont Blanc. As measured in the first year alone, results were:

New website achieve a high first page ranking on all major Search Engines for a wide variety of key terms
The new site drew up to 850 visitors per day; up from 200 on the old site.
Over 50% of site visitors came through search engines - more than all other means (links, bookmarks, type-ins from print ads, etc.) combined
Mont Blanc saw a documented 30% growth in total revenue
Hotel revenue from the website alone saw 100% growth from the previous year
While Mont Blanc ski resort is an ideal case in some ways, comparable results are possible with most businesses. Mont Blanc showed both interest and the will to make the changes required for success. The more complete the strategy, the better the results.

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Article Tags: compliment, design photography, handful, hill mont, hotel guests, marketing power, mont blanc, mont blanc ski, mont tremblant, new winter, peak season, related marketing, rivals, search engine optimization, search optimization, search position, ski resort in quebec, ski resorts, ski village, top of the hill



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