Top & Best Hotels in the World

No. 1 Triple Creek Ranch, Darby, MT

A luxurious mountain retreat, Triple Creek Ranch knows how to pamper its guests (adults only). Itineraries are tailored to fit your preference of activities, among them, scenic hikes, wildlife spotting, wine tastings, cattle drives, and helicopter tours above Glacier or Yellowstone National Parks.

When you’re ready to come indoors, upscale log cabins set a romantic mood with wood-burning fireplaces, hot tubs, and locally woven woolens. And staffers are on hand to welcome you with fresh-baked cookies—or recommend a bottle from the 2,000-strong wine cellar. Don’t be surprised if you feel one stay wasn’t enough; approximately half of all visitors are repeat guests.

No. 2 Nayara Springs, La Fortuna, Costa Rica

At Nayara Springs, each of the 16 villas comes with its own plunge pool, drawing on mineral-rich spring waters from Arenal Volcano next door. Venetian mirrors, hand-loomed rugs, and hammocks add to the easy-breezy vibe at this secluded jungle retreat, complete with a spa and yoga or Pilates offered daily.

Get to know your neighbors—namely howler monkeys and blue morpho butterflies—on a tour with one of the local guides. It’s just one of the experiences that your personal host can coordinate.

No. 3 Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace Budapest

Once an apartment complex during Hungarian Communist rule, this 179-room hotel is now one of the Four Seasons’ grandest properties. The luxury brand gave new life to the 1906 Art Nouveau structure with a $125 million restoration, and ever since, the hotel lobby has wowed visitors with its stained-glass windows, mosaic tiles, and custom-made crystal chandelier.

Opt for a Danube-facing room, and plan your visit during summer to check out the nearby Festival of Folk Arts at Buda Castle.

No. 4 Southern Ocean Lodge, Kangaroo Island, Australia

At Southern Ocean Lodge, each of the 21 suites is outfitted with limestone floors, works by local artists, and an outdoor terrace. Don’t look for an AC switch—it’s unnecessary here: the lodge was built to take advantage of natural weather patterns on Kangaroo Island.

Book the glass-walled Osprey Pavilion suite for a private plunge pool and hand-carved granite bath, or try your luck fishing Hanson Bay. Chef Tim Bourke will incorporate your catch into a dish along with local produce

No. 5 Ocean House, Watch Hill, RI

A Victorian oceanfront hotel renovated to the tune of $146 million, this 1868 property is as grand as ever. Croquet lawns nod to old-world glamour, while 49 light-filled guest rooms and 22 private villas feature modern bathrooms and custom-made furnishings.

Consider visiting in the off season—moody skies, long walks on the private beach, and cozy treatments at the hotel spa make for a romantic stay. We recommend requesting the Grand Deluxe Room 301 for its ocean views, freestanding tub, and blue-tiled fireplace.

No. 6 The Langham, Chicago

Located in the landmark Mies van der Rohe IBM building, The Langham, Chicago offers guests expansive views of the Chicago River and city skyline from floor-to-ceiling windows.

Opened in July 2013, it’s already a local favorite thanks to detail-oriented service—everyone from the receptionist to the porter gets to know guests by name. And don’t forget to pack your bathing suit: the pool at the Chuan Spa is a welcome oasis in the Windy City.

No. 7 Singita Sabi Sand, Kruger National Park Area, South Africa

Singita Sabi Sand game reserve comprises two lodges with interiors by emerging African designers: Boulders, a stylish rustic property built into the landscape, and Ebony, a lodge that puts more of a vintage spin on safari.

Spend an indulgent night indoors—well-stocked wine cellars and private outdoor showers come standard—or embrace your adventurous side with a mountain-bike ride through the bush or a photography-focused safari. For once-in-a-lifetime views of elephants bathing in the Sand River, book Ebony Lodge’s Suite 1.

No. 8 Londolozi Game Reserve, Kruger National Park Area, South Africa

Five family-run lodges on 42,000 acres of South African wilderness make up this Kruger camp known for its frequent leopard sightings. All 32 rooms and 12 spacious suites have access to the destination’s five restaurants and bars, but we recommend booking Villa No. 1 in the newly built Pioneer Camp.

Set among 500-year-old ebony trees along the Sand River, it’s the perfect secluded spot to get away from it all. After you’ve had your fill of traditional game drives, visit a local village, women’s cooperative, and school on the property’s Four Pillars of Hope tour.

This information has been collected from Travel & Leisure website by Dustin N Salzano .

You can view full content here

Learning How to Score a Job Using Social Media, for Beginners

With 92% of companies using social media in their hiring efforts, job seekers can’t afford to overlook social as a vital resource in the job search. While you're busy job searching, employers are leveraging online resources to find candidates just like you.

That's why Mashable is collaborating with The Muse to bring you a free, email-based class series called How to Get a Job Using Social Media. The series features five different lessons with actionable tips on how to boost your job search strategy. Once you subscribe, content for the class will be delivered to your inbox each day.

These beginner-level classes will teach you how to establish your social brand, network with people online, identify career opportunities through social media, and turn leads into job offers. The classes include homework assignments to give you a head start in the process. Links to advanced readings will direct you to additional resources.

Content Source - Social Media 

5 Selfie contests that truly flashed on Social Media?

‘Selfie‘ was dubbed as the word of the year by oxford dictionary in 2013. Well it just doesn’t end there, your social networks are swarmed by selfies of friends, relatives and admit it; even you have taken a selfie and posted it on your social channels. Brands are not too far behind they have tapped in this craze and incorporated it in their campaigning efforts. Love them or hate them, selfies are here for now!

Marketers have started to cash in on this trend. To highlight the importance of this pop culture trend, below is the list of selfie contests which will hopefully inspire you with some selfie marketing ideas for your next campaign. Like we did the best twitter campaigns article sometime back. But first, let me take a selfie

1. AXE

Axe just launched AXE peace, a new range of their products. Thus, they kept the launch of their new product as the core idea when they ran their selfie contest on social media #KissForPeace – Twitter, Instagram & Facebook. The contest began on February 2014 and ended in June 2014, wherein they had 4 sub-contests (themes) i.e. – Kiss your loved one, kiss your rival, Pucker up and Kiss your AXE.

To qualify in these contests, for example in ‘Kiss your AXE’ step 1 – Kiss your favourite AXE product, step 2 – take a selfie when your kissing your product, step 3 – upload it on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram with the #KissForPeace and stand a chance to win a trip to Berlin. The central idea of this contest was to draw awareness about the new product, and the themes arose from the variant name itself – in a world filled with war, the greatest weapon is love. Make love, not war with new AXE Peace.

2. Turkish Airline

Selfies are great way to get your customers involved, but roping in celebrities is a great way to increase participation and awareness of the contest. Turkish Airlines took its #SelfieShootout contest one step further by hiring Kobe Bryant and Lionel Messi to market the campaign via a YouTube video.

The #SelfieShootout contest lasted for 3 months. 2 winners were announced on the basis of most likes they received on social platforms and they were rewarded a Turkish Airlines roundtrip flight ticket. The YouTube video received more than 130 million views within two weeks of its release. It just shows incorporating selfie + celebrities = Viral campaign!

3. Kenneth Cole

Kenneth Cole launched their selfie contest on January 31st 2014 and it ended on 31st March 2014. To participate the contestants had to follow their Instagram account, take a selfie with the message strip and post it with the hashtag #DressForYourSelfie. Winners stood a chance to win free shoes a year!

With this contest, the brand is trying to showcase the perfect example of leveraging user-generated content through the means of those message strips, it increases visibility of the brand, and helps gain more followers & credibility. Great way to get the word out, by inducing selfies and mind-numbingly amazing perk!

4. T-Mobile

T-Mobile has launched its back-to-school selfie contest #GradeUp wherein the contest consist of 5 entry periods and each entry period is divided into 2 parts – voting day & selfie day. To qualify participants have to follow T-mobile on their Instagram account, then they need to vote daily for their favourites and lastly have to post their selfie on the designated day on Instagram mentioned with the hashtags #GradeUp and #Sweeps. At end of contest 5 winners will be announced for each entry period and they will be rewarded with a prize package.

This contest is a great way to get an understanding of which product the users prefer as they are made of vote daily between two products, thus giving a better understanding of their consumer’s choices!

5. Ponds

Ponds tapped into the selfie craze as well and ran the selfie contest on Twitter wherein followers had to upload selfies with the hashtag #PondsSelfieReady. They promoted this contest on their Facebook page as well to increase awareness and participation. The contest begun on 18th April – 12th June 2014, the contest had 2 phases.

Simply click your selfie and upload it on the microsite to stand a chance to be showcased on a billboard across 6 cities. 3 winners were announced on 12th June and the ones who were shortlisted, were presented with a Ponds hamper. Ponds ran a very well executed contest, it being such a long duration created enormous buzz around it and in-turn increased participation.

Get inspired with these contest ideas and think how you can tap this to create next Selfie contest. All you need to do is carve your own niche, and use the medium to engage users with your brand and let them talk about your brand. To ease out your process of planning & implementing make use of various contest tools to boost your results.

Have you seen any other brand leveraging the power of selfie in their social media campaigns? Plus a little insight into what did you like about the campaign? Share your thoughts below!

Content Source -  http://blog.digitalinsights.in/selfie-contests-on-social-media

Social Media 2014 Statistics

How fast Social Media is expanding in 2014? Do you know how many active users Facebook has? How fast Google+ is evolving? How many users have never tweeted after opening their account on Twitter? Do these numbers matter to you? Let me give you a quick example-

A friend of mine who has been struggling to hire a PHP developer was chatting with me and I suggested him to try Facebook ads to reach out good developers based on his desirable location and other preferences. He wasn’t ready to try this at all. I took the liberty and started some Facebook ads on my own, fixed a budget of $20 for a day for a pilot project. He was stunned to see the results, more than 23K people reached, 300+ visited the site and 43 forwarded their resume or called him. All this, just for $20.

If you’re managing social media for your businesses, it is important to keep track of statistics so it keeps your strategy in-line. Last year we received an overwhelming response with our social media statistics of 2013. This year again we have taken upon ourselves to answer all your questions about various social networks and their active/total users in 2014!

The infographic below covers all the latest Social Media facts, figures, numbers and statistics of 2014. Some of the mind-blowing facts are mentioned here:

• 75% of the engagement on a Facebook post happens in the first 5 hours.
• 53% of interaction between Google+ user and a brand is positive.
• 44% of users on Twitter have never sent a tweet!
• 84% of women and 50% of men stay active on Pinterest.
• More than 2 users sign-up for LinkedIn every second.
• 23% of teens consider Instagram as their favourite social network.
• Weekends are the most popular time to share Vines.
• Number of snaps sent per day on SnapChat is 400 Million. (Yeah! that’s true)
• 40% of YouTube traffic comes from mobile.
• B2B marketers using blogs generate 67% more leads. Check out more about lead generation through Social Media.

Content Source - Social Media 2014 Statistics

Communicating SEO’s Value To Clients And C-Level Execs

When it comes to marketing activities, SEO is often the first thing on the chopping block when budget cuts come around.

As an SEO professional, you understand the value of your work. You also understand that not all of your clients or prospects (or C-level execs if you’re working in house) fully appreciate what is required to really make SEO work.

This can be due in part to the fact that proving return on investment for dollars spent on SEO can be challenging. That does not mean, however, that it is impossible.

It is important to track ROI on SEO efforts. You need to do this to justify your worth to your clients and your clients need it to justify continued expenditures to themselves or their management.

Sadly, SEO is one of the first things that many businesses let go in favor of activities that more readily present themselves with hard ROI statistics. How do you combat this?

Let The Numbers Do The Talking

When proving the value of SEO, utilizing hard data is a must. The following steps can streamline this process:

1. Measure leads
2. Measure revenue
3. Measure revenue per leads

You can calculate revenue per leads by simply dividing the total amount of revenue by the total number of leads.

A Word (Or Two) About Leads

Perhaps the first thing that must be said here is that page visits are not necessarily leads. They can be, but they do not have to be. Tracking page visits can provide a snapshot of overall activity, but the data most important to track here when mapping it back to revenue are events or goals.

Events and goals in Google Analytics can be confusing to many companies. Turn this confusion into an opportunity for you by educating clients about them — what they are and why they are important to businesses.

Start by clearly explaining what events and goals are, as follows:

• Events: An event is a particular action that a user engages in while on a website. Examples include clicking on links or downloading information or assets. Each event indicates some form of engagement by a visitor, indicating that particular prospect is more qualified than one who simply visits a page. Hence, the importance of tracking events versus just page views.
• Goals: A goal, as the name suggests, is something that you want to happen. In terms of web visits, there are four important goals a business may want to track. The first is visits to a particular URL, such as a confirmation page. The second is the length of time that a person spends on a site. The third is the number of pages on a site viewed in a single visit. The fourth is actually an event as noted above.

Tracking events and goals gives you and your clients far more insight into their prospect and customer behavior that simply tracking the number of people who came to their sites ever could. These metrics can also tie directly into revenue stream data.

Set Yourself – And Your Clients – Up For Success

Perhaps one of the most important elements of accurately measuring the ROI of your SEO work is to set the stage from the get-go. Ensuring that you and your clients are on the same page can go a long way toward avoiding some unpleasant (and unnecessary) experiences.

Once again, you are presented with an opportunity to shine by showcasing your expertise and sharing it with your clients. The more you teach your clients, the more you empower them and the more you increase their loyalty to you.

The three most important points to establish with new clients are:

1. SEO Is A Long-Term Proposition

Instant gratification is great but that is not at all what SEO is about. This may not be what clients want to hear but it is exactly what you need to tell them. The upside to this is that SEO can return benefits for the long haul, boosting its value tremendously.

Even when search result positions improve, revenue increases may not yet be apparent for some time. It is vital that clients understand this and be willing to wait more than just a few months to get what they really want.

2. How To Measure ROI

It is not just the revenue per lead or even the number of events or goals that indicate success with an SEO program.

Because SEO can take some time to realize its full potential, there are many things along the way that should be measured to track progress such as the removal of Google penalties. Additionally, some metrics are simply not directly trackable to revenue, like a click to driving directions.

3. How To Set Up Analytics

If your clients’ analytics are not set up to track conversions properly, the analytics themselves may paint an incorrect picture. Work closely with your clients to make sure all analytics are setup to capture and show what you need to know.

Establishing these concepts when you first begin working with a client goes a long way toward a healthy — and profitable— relationship between you and that client.

SEO Is Not About Getting Leads

SEO is about getting the right leads. It is also about accurately tracking those leads so that you can make adjustments to your activities as need be but also so that you can accurately help your clients calculate their ROI for SEO.

Content Source - http://nuzzel.com/sharedstory/09012014/searchengineland/communicating_seos_value_to_clients_and_clevel_execs

The 6 Best SEO Strategies for 2014

We entered into New Year – 2014 with full of excitement and with full of Hope. The old has gone, The new has come. We have seen many changes in Google algorithm in 2013 with mixed results of good and bad for your online businesses. And now The New Year – 2014, What is your goal? What is your strategy? What is your future prediction? How you are going to face these Google Algorithm changes? What is your SEO strategy for 2014?

Here I’m going to discuss some basic strategies that works for you in 2014…

Semantic Search:

Google rolled out Hummingbird algorithm for providing a better user experience through precise and fast search results. When you’re searching information, Google shows relative and other useful searches for better conversational search.

Many websites are penalised due to new Google algorithm “Hummingbird”. So, we need to focus on how semantic search algorithm works for you and how you can get benefit from this new algorithm changes. Google want to understand what you are searching for before you type it. The new algorithm changes are for giving most relevant information to the visitors with human needs and wants.

Tip: Focus on natural human queries And Focus on the long-tail keywords as searches are going more conversational

Structured Content

Content is the King, but Content without a good structure is a King without a crown. Create rich content for the visitors not for search engines. Visitors are looking for a clear and exact information from their search. And  search engines are acting like normal visitors on your website by improving their algorithms. Search Engines wants to properly understand your data to present the best search results.

You can use Schema Markup or hCard microformat for creating structured data. And submit your structured content to Google for getting more CTR from Google and even it improves your rankings.

Tip: Use structured data tool in Webmaster tools & Schema Markup or hCard microformat to Create Structured data and submit to Google.

Social Media:

Social Media is a huge network where you can share and promote your business directly with your friends and customers. The importance of social signals and their role in SEO is drastically increased from last few years. Do smart social media campaigns for generating more leads and even you can build brand awareness too.

Be in touch with your customers through social media and start conversation and encourage them to be part in your brand conversations. Keep increasing your Fans and build and maintain good relationships with them will leave good impact on them about your brand.

Read More on this>> Brand Building Strategy – How Brands Build Trust?

Tip: Build a community and a socialized brand

Websites: Google+, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Vk.com, Pinterest,..etc;

Quality Link Building:

Link building is still a major tactic for improving keyword rankings. Number of backlinks never matters in SEO, but number of quality backlinks always matters for your website.

Hire a good PR agency to get your press release posted on news websites. This is really a good practice and it gives a positive impact to search engines on your website.

Build some .gov and .edu backlinks as they have more weight compared to other backlinks

If you penalized by any Google algorithm, do auditing of your site to find out unnatural and irrelevant backlinks and remove them if possible, Otherwise you can demote those links by using Google demote url tool from Google Webmasters.

Tip: Build quality backlinks(Relative to your Industry). Avoid unnatural Links(Unrelated to your niche)

Websites: Backlinks from News websites and PR sites, quality backlinks from your niche websites with a proper Anchor Text, .edu and .gov backlinks

Local SEO

As internet world is growing everyday, it is a very critical to maintain all the data at once. And targeting international market is not always good for your business when your business is having a good market locally. Target local market to improve your rankings in local search engines as even Google is also having country-wise domain to search local results.

Promote your services and products in all local social networking sites. You can Google them as “list of social networking sites in US” or List social media sites in “YOUR COUNTRY”

Submit your business in all local business listing directories. You can build your brand by allowing your customer reviews here.

Tip: Build Local presence with local listings

Local Directories: Yelp, Google Places, Yahoo Local, Yellow pages and White Pages,..etc

Mobile SEO

According to data available on Wikipedia, there are 6.8 billion mobile devices used by 7 billion people. So, we need to consider this as a good source to get some decent traffic to your website.

Create your websites mobile friendly and use mobile CSS on your website for better user experience.

Read More on this> How Mobile Site Optimization can Promote a Business to Flourish

Develop your mobile business App for better promotional and brand awareness Strategy. A business having a mobile app really makes some difference from other businesses having no mobile App.

Content Source - Best SEO Strategies for 2014

7 Sins of Social Media Marketing

This article is part of SWOT Team, a new series on Mashable that features insights from leaders in marketing, brand-building and public relations.

Remember when social media was a new, unchartered territory for brands? Consumers flocked to platforms like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn overnight and marketers knew that, in order to stay relevant, they had to follow suit. 

Fast forward to today: 97% of marketers use social media to connect with buyers. The problem is, most still haven't figured out how to leverage social to create a personalized, relevant and enjoyable experience for their audience.

Socially awkward brands aren't just pushed to the sidelines, they miss out on building valuable relationships, or in some cases, end up on a viral list of social media blunders. Whether your brand is too boring, too tone-deaf or too promotional, your social media approach can’t be an afterthought. Here are seven deadly sins of social media marketing to avoid at all costs to keep your audience engaged, interested and loyal.

1. Being all talk

Image: Flickr, smkybear

The key to social media content is to show, not tell. Audiences prefer engaging with visual content over text anyday; did you know that tweets with image links get an engagement rate 200% higher than those with just 140 characters? Flooding your feeds with line after line of text could cause you to miss out on a huge opportunity to connect with your buyers. Instead, we should be emulating brands like Oreo, whose Twitter feed is addicting thanks to charming illustrations, clever videos and mouth-watering images.

Lucky for us, it’s easier than ever to share visual content, thanks to free design tools like Canva and seamless embed options on social platforms. For marketers, a picture really is worth a thousand words — act accordingly.

2. Putting on a one-man show

Trying to apply your advertising approach to social is a big mistake. In fact, one of the reasons social media is effective is because so many people tune out traditional media and mass messaging. On social, it’s even easier to mute brands that talk, but don't listen — with a quick click, consumers can unfollow or remove your content from their feed for good. Instead of talking about yourself nonstop,

make your audience the center of attention by highlighting their interests

make your audience the center of attention by highlighting their interests, like Monster Energy on Facebook, or sharing their content on Instagram like Sharpie. Your social following isn’t a captive audience, so take a break from broadcasting and start sharing content they'll actually want to click on.

3. Forgetting to think before you tweet

Staying relevant today isn't easy — trending topics go from viral to ancient history daily. So how can marketers keep up? Cue newsjacking. Instead of trying to generate buzz from scratch, brands piggyback on the popularity of top headlines to amplify their own content. We see clever newsjacks during the Super Bowl and the Oscars, but occasionally, the not-so-savvy attempts end up being headlines themselves.

Last year, AT&T earned serious social backlash for a failed 9/11 tribute, and, Gap crossed the line when it took to Twitter to promote discounts during Hurricane Sandy. It’s true that marketing today is time-sensitive, but you'd rather be late to the game than be perceived as offensive.

4. Thinking all social platforms are created equal

                Image: mkhmarketing

Your social strategy shouldn’t be one size fits all.

Your social strategy shouldn’t be one size fits all. For example, B2B audiences spend most of their time on LinkedIn, while B2C buyers can be found on Facebook, according to Social Media Examiner. Find the channels that best align with your audience's interests, then experiment with the type, cadence and style of content you think will resonate most. Measure what works and what doesn’t and optimize accordingly. Instead of publishing the same content to every channel, the best social media teams create tailored approaches based on the medium and the message.

Need inspiration? Check out GE’s Vine, JetBlue’s Instagram, L.L Bean’s Pinterest or Cap’n Crunch on Twitter. Each has a pitch-perfect approach for the company and the channel.

5. Putting your customers on mute

It used to be that if a customer had a complaint about your product or service, they could tell their friends, family or a 1-800 number. Today, consumers can share negative reviews with their entire network — and the searchable social web — through a simple click. Not surprisingly, 72% of customers who complain about a brand on social expect a response within an hour. But in some cases, they are lucky to get noticed at all. This Facebook post from McDonald’s sparked tons of nasty comments slandering the company's food and service, but last I checked, the Golden Arches hadn’t chimed in to put out the fire. Whether you have a handful of followers or 31 million Facebook fans like McDonald’s, you can’t afford to ignore your audience, period.

6. Forgetting to be a human

Image: Flickr, Henry Schimke

In an age where buyers are constantly bombarded with deals, promos and ‘lowest price’ taglines, your brand’s personality is crucial to stand out from the pack. Corporate jargon and automated replies will send your audience running in the other direction, while brands that aren’t afraid to let loose will be welcomed with open arms. This Twitter conversation between Pizza Hut and one of its followers is a great example of a brand having fun with its personality.

Ultimately, building a community of brand advocates today isn't about what you're selling, it’s about what you're saying. Luckily, the casual nature of social media makes it easier than ever for us to talk to our audience like humans.

7. Assuming your social strategy works

In the Mad Men era, measuring the true impact of your marketing efforts was nearly impossible. Luckily, marketers today have more data than ever to truly understand how our efforts impact the company’s bottom line. Still, of the 88% of brands using social media platforms for marketing, only about 37% are taking the time to measure the ROI of their efforts. It’s easy to tally likes and retweets to get an idea of how engaged your audience is on social, but those numbers don’t tell the whole story. There are myriad metrics to consider to help put a dollar value on your Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn efforts. Having a data-driven handle on your marketing’s impact is something even Don Draper would be envious of.

Today, the customer is in control, and they expect marketers to know where, when and how to connect

Today, the customer is in control, and they expect marketers to know where, when and how to connect with them on social media. Every marketer has a different road map for getting there, but avoiding these seven social mistakes can help us all steer clear of serious potholes.

Content Source - http://mashable.com/2014/08/28/social-marketing-sins/