Warm Up Your Bed and Breakfast Site

As Autumn starts to creep in the interest in taking holidays and breaks decreases as families experience the cost of returning to school and psening some tiem in a B&B is the furthest thing from their mind.  So the onus on you is to start promoting yourself online and show that your B&B has that warm friendly Autumn break feeling.


Many now offer a complimentary bottle of win on arrival.  It is a small but nice touch.  Show your open fire.  If you don't have an open fire show welcoming warm coffee and breakfast image that may appeal to someone who just wants a tow night break

If there are events in your are then call the people organising them and offer an online booking offer for the duration of the event so people who may be having a drink may decide to saty over and not drive.

Do you offer a pick up service from your Bed and Breakfast.  Anotehr small thing that may appeal and attract visitors to make contact and book.

Be constantly thinking and adding news items and offers to your website.  It doesn't take a lot of effort but is worth it over time.

Inspiration Lodge - New Website

We were delighted to get the chance to design and develop the Inspiration Lodge Bed and Breakfast site in Dingle. It is a small simple site and shows the main features of their business. They are keen to add new information and with the WordPress CMS that they now have this is all under their control.

Check out the website http://kerrybedandbreakfast.com/

10 Seconds for Promote Your B&B

you may think that people spend many minutes looking at every page on your website but they don't.  For B&Bs you need to them quickly - in seconds.   Some say less than 10 seconds.  I would say 7 seconds.

Look at your own website - do you think it does.  What is missing?  Are the fonts too small.  Is the phone number easy to find.  Can they email you in seconds?

Time up.

B&B Websites Never Updated

In a recent survey we did with over 50 B&Bs in the Cork area we found out that 92% of them never ever updated their website.  We will be presenting full data on this in a few days but this is a worrying statistic.

We are contacting our respondents to see why this happens and dig deeper into the background to some of the questions.,

Glorious Summer - Pictures?

The weather is amazing in Ireland this summer.  Now is the time to show your bed and breakfast in this beautiful light.Many of you have pictures that were possibly taken by yourself that do not do justice to your business so go now and take some in this wonderful sun.

Professional Photos of Your B&B

As a website design company one of the most ignored tips that businesses take from us is to get a professional photographer.  We always say there are people with cameras and photographers.  For a relatively small fee can get superior photos that will stand out from the competition.  Visuals are critical for the accommodation business.  As I mentioned in my article on people looking for information about your bed and breakfast online,  having a useful professional photo is both reassuring and helps confirm that important booking.

Better no Photo than a Bad Photo

My strong advise to close out this piece is better no photo than a bad photo.  In your haste to get some information on your website you may well put up a badly edited or poorly angled photo.  Don't  do this take time and make sure that the picture is right.  With digital cameras and phones you can take multiple shots and with simple editing software make a difference to the website.

Promoting Your Bed and Breakfast Online

From recent interviews with Bed and Breakfast owners in Ireland many of you still cannot update your website  because of the following reasons.

• The website can only be updated by someone with web expertise and the person who created the website is not always available (sometimes a relative or friend)
• The website company that did create the website want to charge you for every update and you can't afford this expense.
• The website company who created the website basically don't  exist anymore and they used to do it but you have nobody to do it.
• You have someone who might help but because the website company is gone you have no idea how to access the website and you are still advertising items for 1-2-3 years ago.

Editing Your B&B Website

The problem can usually be easily solved.  Most modern websites now have the capacity to allow you edit and add new web pages easily to the site.  Bed and Breakfasts are no exception.  Speaking to owners they bemoan the fact that some music festival, Gathering event or even a price change for off season is required to be added to the site and they cannot do it.

By converting your site to a content management system or signing up for many of he update packages that most companies can offer you can for a relatively modest fee either make the changes yourself or pay a monthly small fee to a company to do it for you and make sure also that your site is secure.

A Google Lesson

Google likes it when you have a regular relevant updates to your website.  It rewards the website with improved search engine placement.  So if your website hasn't been updated in a long time it will suffer (unless of course you have a superb bit of information that has been linked to many times - see my article on the killer article).

It takes a little time to keep things up to date but your menu may change and I assume you adapt prices to the time of year.  If you cannot do this you are also showing any visitors to the website that you aren't customer focused online.

Foreign Visitors

When I was talking to a Wexford B&B owner last week she said her foreign visitors research extensively before calling and booking and like to have as much information as possible before making any reservations.  Some of the questions she said the ask may sound familiar to you.  Do you have this information on your website.  Are you tracking numbers of visitors to your bed and breakfast  website as well?

Special meals for people with special diets

Wheelchair ramps.

Proximity to hospitals and pharmacies for medication

Things to do that are free in the area

Are Pets allowed?

Upcoming festivals

Do you have plugs for European and US devices

Can you access Wifi easily in the bed and breakfast

How big is the room

The Invisible Visitors

From interviewing many bed and breakfast owners we know of course that many of your clients are drive ups.  They arrive to your door and you had no idea they were coming.  They see the vacancy sign and come to the door and of course you then have a new customer. Great.

Of course with your website you get phone and email contacts regularly so this is of course great as you have a better idea of your bookings and during full occupancy you can indicate this on your website also.

However with many websites designed for bed and breakfasts there was no code put in place to  tell you how many visitors to your website itself.  Many B&B owners when I spoke with them said that their website was "doing well",  "was ver yhandy for getting contacts".

However when I probed a little further they actually had no idea of the number of visitors to the site on a daily, weekly basis.

Tracking Visitors

By installing a small piece of code on each page *by someone who is technical minded) and creating an account with Google you can tell a lot of information about your visitors,  what country they are coming from, what pages they visit and how long they are spending on the site.

With this information in hand you can improve your site and make the more popular pages more relvant and add more information.

Missing Information on Your Website

With this tool (called Google Analytics) you can also see what Google search terms were used to find your site and see if you actually had the information they were looking for (for example wheelchari access,  special dietary information,  or proximity to beaches local landmarks).

The most effective websites in the catering trade are always adapting.  For example if there is a local levent in your area it makes sense to create a page about it on your bed and breakfast site advertising that you perhaps have special offers and showing how close you are to the event (even showing a map. 

I talk in more detail on this in my article on News and Promoting Your Bed and Breakfast

Invisible Visitors

Online visitors for so many bed and breakfasts are invisible due to the lack of data collection.  You should think of changing this today as although this was a bumper summer for accommodation the winter season is coming on us an you should start analysing this information at least weekly.

Niche Marketing for Your Bed and Breakfast Website

Hundreds of thousands of people come to Ireland every year on holidays and many of them steer clear of hotels due to the fact that they have specific dietary needs or sleeping needs.  Unfortunately many people now are allergic to certain types of bed linen, foods and really find it difficult to find places to stay that cater for their needs.

Many hotels tend to brand these people as difficult but in fact they are the most appreciative guests and great advocates for your B&B when you do cater for them.  This can be the vegan who really has strong feelings about certain foods.

All you have to do is cater for them with the menu or even say that you are happy to take their order a few days in advance or even cook their own food (many do travel with their own).

What about the kosher communities that come to Ireland. You may laugh at this but they have strict dietary requirements also and if you have different fridges and can cater for he non mixed foods requirement then it makes you stand out.

Translate Your Website

Many lazy website owners use Google Translate to translate the text on their website.  It does make a difference but it doesn't often do a good job.  Costs for translating pages can mount up but why not offer one of your travelling guests a free night to translate a few pages for you.  It is good value for them and you.  

If you can edit your website yourself you can then add the localised versions of your more important pages.

Simple is Best

The client base for the bed and breakfast business has changed a lot in the past 20 years as you of course know.

They have travelled more and have seen more with low cost airlines and are much moiré discerning and their needs when they go online are greater and they expect at least the following now from your website.

• An easy to use contact form
• Many pictures (well taken) of the business and the rooms so they can see what is available.
• They do not think Wifi is an extra.  However if you provide a special area with a bigger screen and a high speed printer then you may attract the business man who wants to do a quick hours work in the mornings.
• They want at least access to a wider menu and like to see some pictures.  You should take the best one that you can.
• A reliable map to where you are located and even GPS as many now have these in their rental car and this makes life so much easier.
• Are your pages in their language?  Think about if you were looking for a bed and breakfast in France and your relief if the pages were also in easy to understand English!

Online Details - Tuck the Shower Curtain In

You may not know Tom Peters but in this video he mentions the little details that define excellence. Do you want your website for your bed and breakfast to be the one that people talk about. With the video of you making soda bread, how to make the perfect bed, and some fun stories of times gone by? Or do you want it to be the the most mediocre site around?

Contact Forms for Your B&B - Tips

Many of you don't  have booking engines on your websites (and that is topic for another day) but many make the fatal mistake of adding too many questions to your contact form.  If you try and gather too much information it may take too long for the person filling out your form and they will decide not to make a booking.

this also applies to a booking form bt at least at the end of this process the person will have a reservation.

All you need to do is have a valid email and contact number and then you can make contact and perhaps make a reservation for that person for your B&B.

Think simple./

The Cold Months

January and February care quiet months for the Bed and Breakfasts and it is during this time that you should be preparing for the spring and summer ahead.  Here is what the better planned B&Bs do.

EMail Past Visitors to the B&B

Having an email list for any business now is important.  With your email list you can reach out to past happy customers and say Hi and  tell them what has been happening with you, the business and the locality.  With bed and breakfasts there is a more intimate feel and sharing the new puppies, the extension or even the change of linen gives a touch that hotels cannot achieve.

Of course tell them what is going on in the area to tempt them to visit but you shouldn't sell, sell , sell all the time with an email newsletter as this turns people off.

With a tool like MailChimp (an online tool for managing email newsletters) you can mange a small list for free and easily create one with pre made templates.  

We are often asked how often you should send an email newsletter.  Our advices is once or twice a month is more than enough.  If you have more information to share of course send it more regularly.

Learn About Social Media

Social media is here to stay and in these months reserve 30 minutes per day to learn how to use tools like Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter.  Build up your friends and network over time and interact with people in the business and potential visitors.

Again don't  be hard sell just be yourself.  IT is during these quieter months that you can become more expert and use them more naturally.

Spruce up Your Business Website

Make sure all your offers and prices are up to date and all the information on your business is relevant and not stale.  If there are summer festivals coming put some details there so visitors can use your website not just for the accommodation information but also for useful tourist information.  

Don't  cut and paste from other websites as  this is lazy and more often than not will not fit in with your own website style.  Write simple and with a local feel as that is the case you know the area best.