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 If you monitor your bed and breakfast's website, then traffic figures are a useful indication of your SEO success. Yet having a large quantity of visitors will not automatically guarantee high booking and occupancy rates for your accommodation. The conversion rate - that is the percentage of people who actually contact your B&B to make an enquiry - should be used hand in hand with traffic statistics.
In this article, we discuss some ideas how to increase the number of site visitors that make bookings...
If you are looking to increase the number of visitors to your bed and breakfast or hotel accommodation then following our SEO analysis framework for on-site factors,
for some tips to improve your search engine rankings is a great place to start. Having done that here are a few ideas we have come up with to
improve the number of bookings your website receives.
A call to action - guiding your users around your bed and breakfast website
Having a complete website, with all the information your guest could
need, neatly organised and navigable is a great start to a successful
online presence. But have you considered how you should be guiding your
users through your site? Each website will have a particular page that
shows off their unique selling point. Ensuring these pages are viewed by your visitors should be a primary concern.
One way to do this is to instruct your users what to do.
Having a menu list of your pages is great, but there is still scope to
include links within your content. Examples might include 'click here
to see our beautiful views from our rooms', 'find out why your should
stay with us' or 'relax in our spacious guest rooms'. These 'call to actions'
instruct your users to click on the links and see your page that has
your USP. Ensuring users see this page increases the likelihood of a
booking.
Focus on your 'goal' of getting a booking
The website, being your text, links and images, should all point towards your 'goal' that
you set for your website. In the case of bed and breakfast, this would
be making a booking enquiry. Does your information encourage users to
come and stay with you? There is a big difference between a 'Local
Attractions' page and a page that is '5 reasons why you should stay in
this area', even though they may have similar content! Care and
attention should be paid to every part of your website.
Be sure to provide enough opportunities for your guest to make a reservation -
strategically placing a link to your booking or enquiry form on each
page is an absolute must. Persuasive anchor text will also increase the
likelihood of a booking. Consider the difference between 'click here to
contact us' and 'click here to escape to this stunning part of the
country' - or 'Email Us' and 'Book your relaxing stay in our beautiful
rooms now'.
Add urgency to your marketing
The use of the imperative also adds a sense of urgency to
the user. With lots of competition available, you want to ensure the
user books while they are on your site, and doesn't look elsewhere.
Ensuring your site contains text such as 'book now to avoid the summer
rush', or 'take advantage of our special promotion now', forces the
user into a decisions whether to book or not. This sense of urgency
will likely increase the number of enquiries you have.
Good images and photos increase bookings!
In another article we discussed the importance of good quality images and photos to promote your bed and breakfast. Images
can't lie! Descriptions are important, but because most users quickly scan
your pages ensuring you have great images to sell you property is
key - guests are also sure of what standard of room they will be
receiving.
Be aware of user's different browsers and monitor resolutions
With an increasing number of browsers available for internet surfers
(IE6, IE7, Camino, Firefox, Safari...), ensuring that your website
displays correctly is crucial to avoid alienating certain users.
Nothing makes someone leave a site quicker than if say the menu systems
does not load correctly, or text is incorrectly displayed or aligned
making the page illegible. The same ideas apply to monitor resolution,
if a page becomes difficult or clumsy to navigate as it too large for
older monitors using lower resolutions, users will quickly leave.
Thoroughly testing your website on different platforms is an essential step in designing your website to maximise its use. W3's CSS validator and HTML validator are a great place to start. Browsershots
is another useful site - it enables you to see what your site looks
like in different browsers and resolutions. You have to wait a few
minutes, but the service is free!
Inspire Trust in your bed and breakfast
Ensuring your visitors trust your company is key to increasing visitor
numbers. Here are a number of ideas that we have come up with to help
inspire trust in your bed and breakfast:
- Invest in an official inspection and obtain a grading, such as enjoyEngland or the AA.
Once you have it, make sure your grading is clearly visible on your
website! Although a pricey investment, having an official grading is a
guarantee to your customers of the quality of the service you provide.
There are a numerous other benefits that come too - such as free advice
on marketing, environmental impact and listings on official tourist
information sites (so you gain links and traffic).
- Ensure
that your B&B is easy to contact. We have found that guests often
use bed and breakfasts as a source of information to help plan their
travels - where to visit, how long they should stay, transport links,
etc... Be sure that your telephone number is visible on every page, as
well as an email address or highly visible contact us page. Knowing
that there is someone to help you with your booking is a great
advantage.
- Encourage guests to review your bed and
breakfast. Increasingly, accommodation directories are adding the
ability to add user feedback to their listings. Asking guests to
provide feedback is a great way to increase your reputation online. Be
sure to make this easy for your guests - maybe send them an email with
a link to the website where they can leave the review and a clear
explanation of what to do.
- Most B&B's have a guestbook
to sign when visitors leave. Using some of the most positive or unique
comments that sell your accommodation is a great way to inspire trust,
by posting them on your website. If others have had a positive
experience staying at your bed and breakfast, then website visitors
believe they will also have a great time...
We hope you find this list useful! Do you have another suggestions to increase occupancy rates for bed and breakfast?
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June 19, 2008
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