StayStrategy
12

Module 4 · Everywhere else

Lesson 12 of 12 · 5 min

Know whether it worked

One number that matters, and how to see it.

0 of 12 done

You now have a list of things to do. The last question is whether any of it paid.

The number

How many bookings came through your own site last month, and where those people came from.

Everything else is a stand-in. Visits, positions, impressions, mentions. All interesting, none of them pay anybody.

Direct bookings are the ones you keep the commission on. That is the number.

Why most sites cannot answer it

Your booking engine usually lives on a different web address. A guest starts on your site and finishes on the booking provider’s site, and by default that looks like two unrelated people.

So the booking gets counted somewhere else, or nowhere.

The fix is a setting on both ends. Most booking providers have a page explaining exactly how, and almost no operator has ever found it. Email their support and ask for their analytics setup guide.

If that is out of reach for now, even a simple count of people reaching your confirmation page is enough to see a trend.

Compare against your note

Pull out the baseline from lesson three. Same five numbers, same searches, same questions in the AI tools.

Ask the questions again and see whether you get named now, and who else does.

Give it time, and check twice a year

Search work pays back on a delay, which is why it is a hard thing to trust. Three months is a fair first look.

Then put two dates in the calendar every year and walk back through: prices, hours, seasonal changes, closed businesses in your local pages, new questions from your inbox.

A stale fact is worse than a missing one, because it gets repeated back to a guest as though it were current.

That is the course

You know what these systems read, how to make your facts agree, how to make your pages readable, where else to appear, and how to tell if it worked.

Most of it is free. All of it is dull. That is the reason it is still available to you.

Ask the same question every month and count Being named in an answer may send no click at all, so a traffic chart can stay flat while this is working. Count the naming, not the visits.
The same question, once a month where should we stay in town with a dog Were you named? Month 1 No Month 2 No Month 3 No Month 4 Named, third Month 5 Named, second Month 6 Named first Website visits over the same six months Nearly flat, and nearly meaningless. The answer named you. It did not need a click.

One question, one date in the calendar, one number written down. Twelve weeks of that is worth more than any dashboard, and it costs nothing but the asking.

Your turn

Write the one number you will check, and when

One number and a date. If you cannot name the date you will not check it.

Saved on this device as you type. See your worksheet