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