Want to gain a major boost in internet exposure and traffic for your bed and breakfast?  Instant World Booking has introduced a major service for our B&B partners worldwide.  Now, when you list your property with us, we translate the information you submit into 14 different languages.  We then publish your property on 14 individual multi-lingual webpages, each featuring only your property.

This is a major level of service that only Instant World Booking provides for free to B&B partners.  In fact, it’s a must-have service for any lodging who wishes to gain serious exposure on the internet.  As always, Instant World Booking’s services are free for bed and breakfasts to use.

Consider that your B&B or inn can quickly and easily have 14 new pages, dedicated specifically to your property, in the most used languages on the internet.  Unlike other services, these pages are not simply duplicates with your comments translated.  Each page is a full translation uniquely search-optimized to rank high on multi-lingual search engines.

If you haven’t listed yet with BedBreakfastTraveler.com and the Instant World Booking network, this new level of service is yet another reason why no competing service offers more to bed and breakfasts around the globe.  We invite you to compare competing services, then check us out.

New also is the ability for you to submit your listing information in the language of your choice.  If English is not your first language, not to worry.  You can submit your property information in any language you wish, whether it’s Spanish, Italian, Greek, Arabic, etc.,  Instant World Booking will then take the information you wrote, and translate it into 14 of the most widely used languages on the internet.

To increase bookings, you need to increase your exposure.  Get 14 translated listing pages for your property up and running on the web now.  List with Instant World Booking today.

For more information, and to list your property, please see:

http://www.bedbreakfasttraveler.com/listings/add_listing.php

A recent letter that crossed my desk suggested that online advertisers should forget Google.  Consider search engine advertising for cheapskates, the ad proclaimed, suggesting that Google was overpriced.  The advertisement made me stop and think, when advertising our bed and breakfast or small inn on the internet, are we getting the value we need?

So, do we sidestep Google, and move in a new direction towards budget advertisers?  We can’t answer that question for you.  What we can say is that, when considering what search providers to target, you need to carefully consider your goals, and who you’re trying to reach.  Many budget search providers can’t be matched in value or performance, considering the target audience you’re trying to reach.  Their flat rate plans can offer an excellent way of controlling costs, considering Google PPC type advertising can quickly run up large bills if you’re inexperienced.

So, when considering paid search advertising, know your audience and who your customer base is.  Consider that Google accounts for roughly 60% of online searches worldwide, and Yahoo accounts for about 20%.  If you want to try some budget search providers you can definitely gain some value for the amount you pay.  But, if reaching the largest possible online audience is one of your goals, then Google and Yahoo cannot be ignored.

If your bed and breakfast targets customers in a particular geographic region, the large providers offer excellent ways to target the placement of your ads geographically, so you don’t have to worry about wasting money on ads displaying in regions where you never expect to gain customers.

To recap, the lesson to learn when considering online search providers is to know your target audience and select the provider that offers the best and most economical method of reaching that audience.  If your goal is to reach the largest and most geographically diverse audience quickly, then Google is pretty hard to match.

It never ceases to amaze me how online services continue to require hefty membership fees.  The internet is the most efficient information distribution tool ever invented.  In today’s lean economic environment, bed and breakfasts are seeking value in their marketing and advertising budgets.  With the wide array of services available to inn managers for free, why do we continue to pay year after year those annual membership fees for services.  This is the perfect time to re-evaluate our spending on those annual memberships that we sometimes blindly pay year after year.

One example I can highlight is a recent advertising email sent by PAII, the Professional Association of Innkeepers International.  The email is targeted at bed and breakfast innkeepers like you, and professes how the PAII is advocating on your behalf.  Specifically addressing problems the PAII sees with TripAdvisor, they indicate how some of the operations and policies of the Tripadvisor site have flaws that can cause significant financial hardship to your business.  They say that this the message innkeepers all across the country have been letting PAII know loud and clear. They ask what the individual innkeeper can do to address this most critical area?  After citing that PAII’s President & CEO has been tirelessly meeting and negotiating with the management team of TripAdvisor advocating for you, the rest of the email basically amounts to an advertising pitch to sell memberships in their organization at a reduced rate (for 6 months as opposed to a full annual membership).

Let me be clear that the PAII is a reputable organization which adds value to bed and breakfasts and inns in the U.S.  However, know that membership in one or more of these types of organizations can cost between $100 and $300 EACH per year.  When you start looking at how these memberships hit your bottom line, what you need to focus on are services “support services” that bring in business, not “support groups”.  Also, beware of organizations that claim to be international, but boast a membership of predominantly North American companies.

So, as the new year approaches, look for some new opportunities to build your online footprint with some truly global services.  Pay special attention to services that do not charge a membership fee.  There are many such valuable services easily available.  And, think about eliminating some of the more expensive annual memberships that are not really critical to the operation of your business.

Collective Marketing is a new concept gaining a lot of attention these days in the online marketing and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) world.  And, it’s a term that is very relevant to marketing your bed and breakfast inn or small hotel on the internet.

So what is Collective Marketing?  The concept is that the more relevant websites and online services that your bed and breakfast or hotel is listed with, the more exposure and brand recognition you gain.  This is true even if some of the individual sites or service yield no direct return.  This is actually not a new concept per se.  It is the theory of synergies in marketing, the idea that 1 + 1 equals more than 2 when it comes to advertising your small business.

As a consultant in the online marketing world for hotels, I have frequently heard lodgings question why they should keep a listing with services that don’t return any reservations, or that don’t have an immediately apparent direct benefit.  The answer is quite simple.  As long as a website offers free advertising, links, articles, or other mention of your hotel business, then it definitely makes sense to maintain the relationship.  Even if you don’t see any direct revenue stream from the website in question, know that the exposure your property’s name receives on the internet will multiply. 

How many times have I searched for a lodging on the internet only to find no more than one page listed.  If you have the benefit of having your hotel’s name listed on multiple pages on different websites on the internet, consider yourself lucky.  This name recognition ultimately has an influence on search engine rankings, and translates into brand recognition.  When prospective guests search for your bed and breakfast on the internet and your name appears in several or more listings, there is a perceived reputation gain.

So remember, next time you consider removing your hotel from an advertising listing simply because of ROI concerns, think again.  If you have a free listing on a web service like an online booking service, don’t give it up.  Beyond the collective marketing advantage, online travel services are growing rapidly.  In these lean economic times, you too can ride the growth that they experience.

How secure are online bookings these days?  Everyone knows how online booking works.  A small deposit is collected from the traveler at the time of booking.  Our advice is that the optimal deposit amount to collect for a booking on your own website is 35%.  Why 35%?  Research shows that one-third of the booking amount is the best deposit level to secure bookings, ensure that bookings are not fraudulent, and ensure you do not have a loss if the guest changes their plans.  Since one-third is 33.3%, and is an awkward amount to collect, our advice is that 35% is the most efficient amount.  If you prefer a range, then our recommendation is 35% - 75%.

Before we get into the details about collecting deposits, let’s talk about some basics.  First of all, don’t use services that require you to manually confirm bookings, contact your guests directly, and obtain deposit monies yourself.  These services are still in the 20th Century.  There are still quite a few of this type of reservation service that claims “instant booking”, but cannot deliver.  Beyond this, if your online booking method involves a Paypal interface, know that this method still does not work for guests in many regions around the world.  Also, for bed and breakfasts in North America or Europe, using a service like this is like putting a sign on your front porch saying “We’re Un-Professional Amateurs!”  This is not exactly the reputation you want to develop for your website.

You certainly need a professional third party service that is able to collect more than just Visa and Mastercard.  You need a service that is able to collect at least 4 major global card types.  If you feature online booking on your own website, know that almost all major booking services are able to collect 5-10% deposit for your bookings.  But is this enough?  No.  You should be collecting from 30% to 75% deposit for every booking taken on your own website.  There are 2 reasons for this.  One, guests who have found your website, and are interested in booking with you, are serious about staying with you.  They know that if they’re paying on your website, they’re going to have some personal interaction with you, and their reputation is on the line.  Fraud transactions on a hotel’s own website are infrequent.  Second, since you know the guest is serious, you want to collect a reasonably high deposit to secure their booking, and eliminate any possibility of problems in the event of a cancellation or no-show.  BedBreakfastTraveler.com (Instant World Booking) recommends collecting either 35% or 50% as the optimal deposit for most bed & breakfasts and small hotels.

Instant World Booking is one of the only services that enables you to collect more than 10% deposit at time of booking.  In fact, they can enable collection of up to 100% of your bookings at reservation time, effectively enabling you to collect credit cards right online from your own website.  Instant World Booking takes this service one step further, offering full no-show and cancellation protection.  With this service, you are guaranteed to receive your deposits, even in the event that a guest cancels late or does not show up.

Check out more of our controversial topics and advice at our blog.  We’ll lead you to the most effective and low-cost solutions for marketing your property.

In our previous article, we touched upon the surface with some basic tips on how to optimize your website for increased search engine traffic on the internet.  This advice is valuable for any Bed & Breakfast or Hotel website to maximize your search engine potential.

Let’s consider another important attribute of your website, the TITLE tag.  This is the title of your homepage or other web pages.  The TITLE tag should always contain the primary keyword for your page.  Write each page around one primary keyword that relates directly to your property, or the subject or niche of the particular page.

For example, if your bed and breakfast is in California, your niche is “California bed and breakfast”.  Your title tag should include the name of your property and the term “California bed and breakfast.”  Need more specifics, consider a title tag that reads “ABC B&B, a California Bed and Breakfast.”

Each page must have one primary keyword, and it should be included in the Title tag for that page.  The Title tag does not appear in the body of the article, but in the HTML between the two HEAD tags in your html.

For each of your web pages, make sure to use Header tags (<H1>, <H2>, etc.), and use them wisely.  These are heading tags, with <H1> being the most important.  The heading for each main section in your page should be contained within <H1> tags, and often times, each page will only have one set of these tags.  Subheadings, containing secondary keywords, should be contained within <H2> tags, and so on.  So, for example, if you have a page describing Fall Foliage Packages, include a header tag as follows:  <H1>Fall Foliage Packages at ABC B&B</H1>.  After an introduction to your Fall Foliage packages, you may then have subheaders such as <H2>Fall Foliage Weekends</H2>, etc.

Another important feature for your hotel or B&B website is the ALT attribute. Use ‘Alt = ‘ within the Img tags of your images and graphics. This lets the search engines know what the graphic or photo is about.  Search engines do not read graphics, and the Alt attribute presents you with the opportunity to use your graphics meaningfully to enhance your SEO web design.  Remember to use your primary keywords throughout the Header tags and ALT attributes on your page.

That’s not all you have to worry about regarding HTML tags, but if you get these few tags and attributes right, you’ll be 80%-90% on track for your SEO web design.  Beyond this, consider text formatting.  Your text formatting can be used to emphasize to search engines what the important text on your page is. So, if you use bold text, underscoring or italics, these can indicate the important words and phrases on your page.  Use <STRONG> and <U> html tags in your headings and elsewhere where you wish to emphasize certain keywords.

Finally, remember to write naturally.  Don’t worry too much about your keyword density (KD), other than having too much.  Keyword density is the frequency on your page of your important keywords.  Too high a KD could harm you if Google thinks you are making unnecessary use of them.  This is often referred to as search engine spamming.  So, the basic rule is to write naturally, as you would for human readers, and not robots.  If your text reads well and includes a clear message on what your subject is about, then your page should automatically gravitate towards optimum keyword density.  Another way to approach natural writing is to ignore keyword density altogether, and simply include your important keywords in title and header tags, as described above.

Contact BedBreakfastTraveler.com or Instant World Booking for more on how to market your bed and breakfast, inn, or small hotel on the internet.

As owner or manager of a small hotel or B&B, your website is an important part of your marketing strategy.  But if you’re like most small business owners, web design is not your expertise.  Here are a few tips on how you can increase the productivity and traffic of your website, with some minimal effort.  And, you don’t need to turn yourself into a web tech expert.  Search Engine Optimization (or SEO) is a skill that can be learned.  There are many ways for most novice website managers to get improved search engine rankings, and secure a high search engine listing.

Linking is an important part of your SEO strategy.  You want to get as many independent, 3^rd party websites to link to your site as possible.  Sites of any type linking to you are beneficial, but the more authoritative and respected sites are preferred.  While linking is important, good on-site SEO is also necessary.

Obtaining a good listing on Google or any of the other search engines is not as difficult as some consulting firms may tell you. There are rules and standards to follow, and if you play the game properly then the end outcome should be in your favor.  The tips we’ll offer are not really secrets.  Some consultants who offer their services for a price offer to divulge incredible secrets to you.  But, this information is available freely on the internet, and for free.  You might want to spend a little time reading some Web SEO or SEM (Search Engine Marketing) Blogs.  Just type “Web SEO techniques” into your search engine search bar.

So here are some so-called “secret” tips on getting an excellent position for your website in Google, and improving your search engine ranking.  You may know about meta tags, and have been informed that most meta tags aren’t used by search engines.  The most important search engines, Google, Yahoo, and MSN Live do not divulge all there search listing methods.  They withhold a lot of their ranking methods as secret.  After all, they don’t want to let each other know how they do their magic.  Nevertheless, don’t let anyone tell you that many top search engines do not use meta tags like the Description tag, because they do.  It is very important for your B&B, inn, or hotel website to have a well written and complete description meta tag.  This tag may not be used in its entirety, however, what you write here will definitely have an impact.

The keyword meta tag is another feature that has been in use since the humble beginnings of the internet 15 or more years ago.  The most authoritative search engines like Google won’t be so impressed by what you tell them your keywords are.  After all, anyone can post a list of their most important keywords.  However, they decide for themselves the relevance of the page from the real content text and “Alt” tags on the page.  Google no longer seeks keyword repetition to understand what you are writing about.  They have an algorithm called LSI, which will determine the meaning of your page from various unique character strings it contains.

To maximize the potential for your hotel or bed & breakfast website to reach top rankings in search engine listings, the Description meta tag is important.  But, there are some other HTML tags you should use.  Although little used, the Keywords meta tag should not be ignored.  It is a trivial matter to enter it, and cannot do any harm. There is evidence that some search engines still use it. The rest of the meta tags are of no consequence.

We’ve only touched upon the surface with some basic tips, including on-site SEO using Meta tags.  Stay tuned for our next article, which will include other important HTML tags you should be focusing on in your B&B Hotel website to maximize your search engine potential.

Contact BedBreakfastTraveler.com or Instant World Booking for more on how to market your bed and breakfast, inn, or small hotel on the internet.

The economy weighs heavily on everyone’s minds.  Many of us are wondering where our businesses will be in a few years, if not in the coming months.  Travel and tourism are closely linked to economic trends.  Travel has grown at a declining rate, and is even down in some areas.  Resort areas are showing declines in business this season.  What about small hotels and bed and breakfasts?  There’s strong demand still in U.S. urban areas, but other less concentrated regions are experiencing a slowdown.

Nevertheless, North American room rates are still rising, bolstered by the weak dollar, which has been attracting more overseas travelers.  What does this mean for small hotels and B&Bs?  Prepare to draw in more international clientele.  Not only is the domestic population growing more culturally diverse, but the international travel population is where the future of tourism is at.  U.S. and Canadian bed and breakfast innkeepers should be prepared to cater less to the home crowd, and attract more culturally diverse guests.

So how do we keep occupancy rates high during a downtrend in travel?  How do we keep the beds filled night after night?  The answer rests in your marketing strategy.  Be prepared to start leveraging the internet as a more important part of your marketing gameplan.  Beef up your website, and be prepared to take calls and bookings from more overseas customers.  Sign up with more than just one online marketing provider.

Today’s online marketing providers for bed and breakfasts, hotels, and small lodgings of all kinds are uniquely suited to take your marketing plan to the next stage.  Not only do you gain online exposure quickly, but online marketers focus on multi-national customers.  If you’re online marketing is limited to the handful of U.S. bed and breakfast marketing sites that focus primarily on the North American market, be prepared to look elsewhere for marketing support.  An increasing number of travelers will be coming from Europe, Central and South America, and even Asia.  You want to make sure you are using one or more online marketing sites that focus on a global audience, not only in their hotel population, but also in guests.

So often I hear from innkeepers and hotel managers that they’re frustrated with one or another online booking/marketing service.  They say, ‘I haven’t received a booking in several months.  Why should I stick with them?’  The answer is that you want to maintain your exposure in more than one online venue.  Even if you’re not getting bookings today, you’re still building web recognition.  Your property’s name is being spread more rapidly with more than one service.  It’s like a geometric equation.  When you double the number of sites you’re exposing your bed and breakfast on, the traffic doesn’t double, it grows at much higher geometric rates.

Look for online booking sites with strong marketing campaigns on Google and Yahoo, which together cover about 80% of global online searches.  Only a few sites, including BedBreakfastTraveler.com will actually advertise your unique property in pay-per-click campaigns.  Also, look for sites that don’t charge you annual membership fees.  Large sites that need to keep charging you for a declining return in their services are going the way of obsoletion.

If the bookings don’t come today, don’t worry.  Be patient.  They will come at one point, and may surface in waves.  The internet is like a vast, turbulent ocean, and you need to be persistent with your online marketing.  It’s the persistent presence of your property on the various sites you use that will collectively gain you the exposure you need over time.  Bookings may come one month, and then disappear the next.  But, little by little, you will be growing along with the best online booking sites.  But, you must get in on the game early and stick with it.  As far as online bookings, as they say, if you build it, they will come.  But, patience is the key.

BedBreakfastTraveler.com is one of the few leading online marketing and booking services these days that are offering a free telephone consultation to bed and breakfast and hotel managers.  A little intelligence goes a long way to winning the online marketing game, and BedBreakfastTraveler.com is backed by the know-how and authority of Instant World Booking, a respected global provider of online marketing solutions for B&B’s and hotels.

The Intelligence for Bed and Breakfasts Blog promised to bring you the most valuable online advice for B&Bs and small hotels, as well as controversial intelligence that you won’t find on other websites.  Let’s talk about what matters most to your business: Value.  When you shop support services for your bed and breakfast, what’s the most important factor?  Price.  Let’s face it, we’re all looking to keep costs down and compare for the most valuable services at the lowest price.

There are a number of big online marketing services out there, offering online booking and advertising of your property.  You know who they are.  In the Bed and Breakfast market, they’re charging you an annual fee to list your property.  Do you really need to pay annual service fees for online listings year after year?  Many B&B’s list with multiple services to maximize exposure.  Costs can quickly add up.  These fees are not insignificant.  The biggest player in this online marketing game charges annual fees ranging from $99 to $559.  Then they take up to 25% commission on any online bookings they send your way.  Use their booking engine on your website and pay 30% commission.  Add this to several other online services, then your membership in a professional innkeepers association, and you have a serious online budget to contend with.

Why do they charge so much?  Didn’t they know that the internet is the most efficient value distribution system available today?  Perhaps they’re taking advantage of the fact that the North American B&B population is by and large behind the curve with online technology.  Many of these service providers do not even offer there services outside the US or Canada.  How does one B&B booking engine justify a 30% commission for a booking engine on your website?  To paraphrase, they claim that “70% profit on a booking is better than no booking at all”.

The good news is that you don’t have to be captive to services that charge large fees and commissions.  It’s true that a correctly executed internet marketing strategy can increase your net profit by at least 20% in the first year.  Don’t throw away your profits with high service fees.  You internet spend should only be a fraction of what these companies are charging you.

Let’s remember that we’re in the 21st century now.  Many online booking providers are offering tools adapted from 1980’s style tourism industry technology.  Beware especially of services requiring you to install software on your desktop computers, and pay periodic fees for updates.  None of this should be necessary with today’s online technology.

And what about the big question.  What should I be paying for online bookings and marketing on the internet?  The answer is you should pay nothing at all to sign up for online listings.  The most advanced online booking and marketing services are offering membership for free.  BedBreakfastTraveler.com  is one of the services in this category.  Look for firms that list properties globally, not just in the US and Canada.  Global services are the ones with real experience in offering advanced booking capability.  As for commissions, throw out companies charging more than 15% (including the 25% example above).  The best services today are offering commission rates of only 8 - 10%, providing advanced booking technology and allowing you to increase your profit margin.  Finally, what about booking engines for your own website?  You should be paying no more than 15% (compared with 30% for the provider mentioned above) if the provider is collecting the entire booking amount up front.  If only a small deposit is collected at booking, you can expect to pay only 2-3% commission.   BedBreakfastTraveler.com  offers an industry-low special price of 1.9% for this service.

Don’t be held captive by booking and marketing services with annual membership fees and commissions.  They’re just not worth it, and you can get the same and better service for almost free in today’s advancing marketplace.  If you’re using a service that you like today, but think you may be paying too much, post your arrangement here for comments.  Or, contact Instant World Booking directly.  Instant World Booking stands ready to beat any price for a competing service offering, and will offer superior technology in the process.

One final tip.  If you’re using one of the several major “booking by request” engines for your bed and breakfast website, this is not real online booking.  These are services that pretend to offer online calendars or rudimentary availability to guests, while requiring you to manually confirm every booking.  You may only be paying a small monthly fee for the service, or no commissions at all.  However, with “booking on request” services you are losing business.  There are many B&B owners in North America who desperately hold on to this form of booking.  But, there is no doubt that this form of booking loses you business.  Many guests seeking lodging online today refuse to book with this method because there is no instant confirmation.