Your bed and breakfast’s website is one of your most valuable assets. Like all of our assets, we wish to grow their value. But how can we do this, even in a down economy? Your website and the traffic it brings is an asset you can grow anytime.
One of the most important value “drivers” of your website is search engine ranking. Obtaining quality inbound links to your website from 3rd party sources is a major component of your search engine rankings. Most search engines consider a link to your website as a “vote” for the importance of your website. The more links that point to your homepage, the more important your site becomes when people search on major search engines.
Reciprocal linking is not the way to go, although it can be used sparingly. Major search engines today are able to figure out what links are reciprocal or not, and reciprocal links are heavily discounted, along with you website if you employ them. Reciprocal links should be used sparingly, and only with websites of actual bed and breakfasts. It’s fine to trade links with other B&Bs.
The highest-quality links are one-way links to your website that come from related, relevant, and quality websites. Building links can take a lot of time, but is worth the effort.
For another form of link that can drive qualified traffic to your website, BedBreakfastTraveler.com offers free links to your webpage with any free listing on our service. There are over 100 websites in BedBreakfastTraveler.com’s network (Instant World Booking), and an average bed and breakfast may have listings on up to 15-25 sites, all with one free listing. This means that on any of these SEO-optimized listing pages, a link to your homepage will appear. Free links on our network display your website in a shadowbox on the listing page, and do not re-direct the user to your webpage. Your entire website is visible however. Free links also do not appear on premium sites like BedBreakfastTraveler.com and InstantWorldBooking.com
Introducing Paid Links
For a small cost, paid (sponsored) links are available to gain even more traffic to your website. Paid links will re-direct the user right to your website, and paid links appear on our premium sites. Note that all our links are constructed in strict agreement with Google’s guidelines.
Again, all you need to do is have a free listing on BedBreakfastTraveler.com, and then you can access either the free links which are automatically provided to you. Or, purchase paid links by signing in to your listing at BedBreakfastTraveler.com.
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If you’ve been reading our Intelligence for B&Bblog, you know that BedBreakfastTraveler.com believes in transparency, especially when it comes to pricing of services for your B&B. Occasionally, we profile other services which compete with ours. We don’t care so much that mentioning competing services basically amounts to free advertising for those services. We’re more interested in transparency for you, our consumers and clients. So, when selecting services for publishing, marketing, and booking your bed & breakfast, please remember to compare prices. And, don’t overpay!
Rezovation offers services for property management and online reservations. As a business manager, if price is important to you, please do compare. According to the Rezovation.com website, the minimum cost for Rezovation GT Online is $50 per month. But, that’s for just the smallest B&Bs of 1-4 rooms. If you have at least 10 rooms, the price more than doubles to $110, and for large properties (50+ rooms), may be at least $300 per month, with an added setup fee of $999.00! Yes, Rezovation GT is a great property management tool for those who want to lay out the cash, but there are many cheaper alternatives for small inn businesses. Again, the prices quoted here are directly from the Rezovation website
BedBreakfastTraveler.com (by Instant World Booking) offers a premier online booking service, including credit card acceptance. Booking engines for your website is a particular specialty of ours. If you have the cash to pay for the competing Rezovation GT service, and want online bookings, there is an additional per-reservation fee up to 30%. For more on the additional fees see our separate article at:
http://www.bedbreakfasttraveler.com/blog_bb/2009/12/bedandbreakfastcom-pricing/
Now, compare with BedBreakfastTraveler.com (by Instant World Booking). If you want a fully integrated booking engine for your website, you can choose from many custom options starting at our lowest cost of just 1.9% of total reservation volume. This is the absolute industry low for a booking engine on your website.
What about credit card processing? Rezovation GT offers optional credit card processing for an additional monthly service fee and per-transaction fees. Note that this is above and beyond the fees you are paying to maintain your own merchant account. BedBreakfastTraveler.com on the other hand offers integrated credit card collection for your online bookings, and you do not even need your own merchant account.
Finally, if you want to connect to the Global Distribution System (GDS), Rezovation GT offers a premium option, allowing you to connect for just $649 + $15.50 per reservation + $250 / yr maintenance after first year.
For an unlimited budget, there are many services out there that can maximize your online exposure. At BedBreakfastTraveler.com (Instant World Booking), we offer the maximum cost-effectiveness for online exposure. Don’t pay the high prices unless you’ve tried Instant World Booking first. If you don’t like your experience, you can always try the others and pay higher prices later.
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A while back we published an article on how “Fake” reviews can impact your bed and breakfast’s online business. Read it again here:
Now, there’s some new evidence posted at BedandBreakfast.com on how negative reviews can actually help your business. For more about bed and breakfasts and reviews, see the following links:
If you’re afraid of negative reviews, and whether they can hurt your B&B, or any small business for that matter, read:
http://www.smallbusinesssem.com/negative-reviews-good-for-business/2075/
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To check out what B&Bs around North America have to say, please check out some of our friends at their blogs below:
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B&B Trends B&B Videos by .
BedBreakfastTraveler.com is pleased to announce that we now interface with BnB Manager. A special discount is being offered to Instant World Booking clients for trying the BNB Manager service (see details below). BnBManager has created a feature-packed yet simple-to-use small accommodations management system. Offering state of the art security, functionality, and usability, BnBManager makes managing your guest information and reservations simple, while also providing a wealth of features to help you manage your back-office operations. Please visit BNB Manager today for a full list of features … you will be amazed to see what is made possible by using their software:
BedBreakfastTraveler’s integration with BNB Manager means that users can now upload their calendar of availability directly to BedBreakfastTraveler.com and the entire Instant World Booking network.
A special discount is now offered to Instant World Booking (BedBreakfastTraveler.com) clients for tryin the BNB Manager service. BNB Manager will offer 10% off the full first year cost to the first 50 IWB members who join and stay beyond the 90-day free trial period. All you need to do is enter the Promotional Code “IWB123″ on the BnB Manager sign-up page.
For more information about Instant World Booking’s XML feed capabilities, please see:
http://www.instantworldbooking.com/blog_iw/category/xml-feeds/
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St. Augustine is widely regarded as the quaintest and most historic town in Florida. If you’re looking for a little sun as well as a stay in a Victorian or historic bed and breakfast, St. Augustine will not dissapoint. Check B&B reservations in St. Augustine.
For more about bed and breakfasts in St. Augustine, see:
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At BedBreakfastTraveler.com, we frequently get asked how our pricing compares to BedandBreakfast.com. We’re going to answer that question. In this global economy, margins mean everything to B&Bs and inns, and BedBreakfastTraveler.com (operated by Instant World Booking) can really make a difference to your bottom line.
BedandBreakfast.com is a great service, and we would never recommend not using a competitor’s service. However, if as a B&B manager, price is important to you, please do compare prices.
BedandBreakfast.com advertises 2 participation levels for their online reservation program. This is a feature that basically allows booking of your bed and breakfast by guests directly on their website.
Here are BedandBreakfast.com’s costs :
Preferred Participation – 25% Commission
Standard Participation – 30% Commission
These prices also include some limitations. With the Preferred plan you must make available at least one room daily (properties with more than 15 rooms are required to offer two rooms daily) for an entire year. With the Standard participation, you may offer any days of the year and it doesn’t need to be an entire year. They do ask you to maintain at least 180 days of inventory in a year.
If these prices seem high, then please compare to BedBreakfastTraveler.com, which can instantly start improving your bottom line.
Here are BedBreakfastTraveler.com’s costs:
Standard online booking - 8% Commission
Booking Engine with online bookings on YOUR website – 1.9% Commission
Booking Engine with deposit collection of at least 30% from guest - 5% Commission
These are just a few examples of our pricing, and we offer custom solutions to suit your custom needs. But, the numbers basically tell the whole story.
At BedBreakfastTraveler.com, we offer Guaranteed Economics. If you currently use another provider’s service, please contact BedBreakfastTraveler.com. We guarantee that we can offer the same or improved service for better economics. All you need to do is contact us and ask.
We are not affiliated with BedandBreakfast.com, and always try to publish the most accurate information. If any reader has more recent information about BedandBreakfast.com pricing, please feel free to post it or correct us.
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Louise and Joe McShane extend a warm welcome to their Plymouth Bed and Breakfast which is a friendly, relaxed and comfortable family run bed and breakfast Guest House.
Our Bed and Breakfast Guest House is perfectly situated on Plymouth Hoe in the heart of Plymouth with both the excellent shopping facilities of Plymouth City Centre and the historic Barbican just a short walk away.
Train, Coach and Ferry Terminals are also close by.
Tastefully decorated with a warm and pleasant atmosphere, all at the Avalon Guest House in Plymouth with ensure that your stay in Plymouth is a memorable one ensuring your return to us time after time
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Is becoming an Innkeeper right for you? Think about whether you have:
1. A business plan that includes financing prospects
2. Planning, organizational, and management skills
3. The desire to work hard, and sometimes long hours
4. Discipline and business competitiveness
5. Multitasking capability and organizational skills
6. The desire to entertain people from different parts of the country/world
7. Drive to ensure your new small business succeeds
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If you use Paypal to charge your guests’ credit cards, you may have noticed some new reserves that Paypal is introducing to account holders. Reserves amount to increased costs to you, the merchant, and result in delays in receiving your money. Instant World Booking offers alternative and better methods for collecting from your guests that will not result in delays or higher costs in receiving your money.
Here is how Paypal recently described their reserves, which may amount to 20% of your credit card proceeds:
“Why was a reserve placed on my account? Sometimes we need to temporarily set aside some money in your account to make sure that you can cover any potential reversals or chargebacks.
What are the different types of reserves? Rolling reserve: A certain percentage of the money you receive each day is set aside and then released after a certain number of days.
Minimum reserve: The minimum that you need to keep in your account at all times. We’ll hold a percentage of each day’s payments until you reach your minimum reserve.”
Instant World Booking offers the industry’s low-cost solution for booking engines on a bed and breakfast or hotel website. Compare with BedandBreakfast com and others. There are no complicated reserves to contend with. Instant World Booking also now offers IWB Payments, a convenient way to charge your guests by credit card for reservations and other services you offer. For more information, check out IWB Payments.
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