Category Archives: Conferences

How To Ask for a Link Request

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Do you wonder how to ask for a link request?  I am going to sum up the main points in the awesome book published by Entrepreneur Press called Ultimate Guide to Link Building: Build Backlinks, Earn a Higher Search Engine Rank, Increase the Authority and Popularity of Your Site by Eric Ward and Garrett French.

Steps:

  • Look over the website you want to have your link on to make sure it is relevant
  • Do not put the words “link request” in the email subject line
  • Start the e-mail off addressing the website owner by name
  • Introduce yourself, your website, and why you would like to the link
  • Identify the exact URL on their site where you think the link is a fit
  • List the exact URL from your site that you want them to link to
  • Give a valid email address and respond to any email requests they send
  • Provide your phone number–something a spammer would not do
  • Follow any link request instructions they give
  • If a reciprocal link, confirm that you have linked to their site and provide the URL
  • Be attentive, professional, courteous, and to the point

This book also lists Link Building Strategies written by Jon Cooper of Point Blank SEO:

  • Start blogging on your website
  • Have internal links to other content on your website
  • List resources and outside links
  • Build relationships with others
  • Find niche-specific directories
  • Write guest posts or have guests write posts for your blog
  • Provide educational content
  • Write compelling testimonials
  • Provide useful lists–there is power in making lists!
  • Be interviewed or interview someone in your industry
  • Offer timely/seasonal content
  • Use humor
  • Provide printable resources
  • Host contests
  • Cover news first
  • Give helpful infographics
  • Host online webinars
  • Promote National Days and Events
  • Survey people and post results
  • Debunk popular myths
  • Comment on relevant blogs
  • Do question and answer blog post
  • Ask customers what they want to see more of
  • Connect with industry associations and organizations
  • Attend relevant conferences
  • Call people
  • Host local group meetings
  • Retweet Twitter tweets
  • Provide email signature listing website & ways to connect with you via social media
  • and much more!

There are always things you can do to draw bigger audiences to your website. By taking the steps to ask for link requests and implementing the link building strategies, you will be well on your way to developing more a popular website.

Readers, I welcome your responses to this post as well as other ideas related to the topic of link requests and link building.  I read every comment and respond when appropriate. Thanks! Kristi

Posted in Associations and Ratings, Blog and Social Media, Conferences, Events, Promotion

B&B Guests: Business Travelers

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You may host business travelers who decide that they would like the bed and breakfast experience rather than an impersonal hotel. There may be a business conference in your area or a large corporation nearby.  You can cater to their unique business needs by providing things such as a roomy desk with a comfortable office chair and wi-fi internet access as well as a coffeepot with freshly brewed coffee in their own room.  You can find out the most convenient time for them to eat their breakfast. When you go out of your way to be hospitable, they will remember your extra consideration and be a regularly returning guest!

Posted in Conferences, Guests

PAII Conference January 16, 2014

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We have been looking at the Professional Association of Innkeepers International conference being held from Monday January 13 through Thursday January 16.  From 8 am to 9:30 am on Thursday ten different innkeepers will each have five minutes to present fifteen different informative slides as they share encouraging and uplifting stories.

The final trade show hours are from 9:30 am to noon on Thursday.  This is also the last chance to get your silent auction bids in.

The Innkeeping Industry Awards lunch will present various awards to different innkeepers, reveal the winners of the silent auction items, and raffle winners will be picked.

From 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm will be various learning opportunities, including:

  • Live Website Reviews- “Your website must showcase the emotional experience by accurately portraying how your guests will be taken on a journey of relaxation, romance, and adventure. The primary communication tool to impart this experience for a guest is your website. Does your website entice visitors to part with their hard-earned cash or are they booking with your competitor?”
  • All-Star Panel in the Art of Mastering Hospitality-”Brilliant minds unite spreading innovation, creativity, and time-tested strategies for innkeepers. Take a journey down a fellow innkeeper’s path- one of pain, laughter, and implausible success. Discover the secret strategies that catapulted other innkeepers into surpassing unreachable goals. Bring your tough questions to our experienced panel – a group who will candidly share their expertise. Join us as the most sought after industry experts reveal all for the first time together.”
  • A Day in the Life of an Innkeeper-”Find out from experienced successful innkeepers what goes on behind the scenes and how the most successful innkeepers spend their days. Learn about everything from menu planning to staffing, from social media marketing to local high touch business to business networking, from check-in to check-out and everything in between. Get valuable tips that only an experienced innkeeper can give. Learn how to spend your time and what jobs you need to take on vs. those that you need to hire out. Ask your questions and get answers tested in the innkeeping trenches. “
  • Cooking Classes B&B Style-”Offering cooking classes in your inn using the local ingredients and even, in some cases, local chefs will enhance your reputation with local business and with your guests.  Learn to create a farm-to-table experience that you can cash in on along the journey.”
  • A Taste of Vegetarian and Vegan Cooking-”Vegetarian cuisine is now more popular than ever. Increasing health and ethical concerns, and an appetite for adventure, have sparked a growing demand for attractive, appetizing, and creative vegetarian dishes that hold their own against any meat choice on the menu. Chef Bergeron will show how to harness traditional cooking methods and techniques to produce exciting and elegant meatless creations bursting with freshness and flavor. Moving from appetizers and side dishes to delicious entrees, breads, and desserts.”

You will not want to miss this last day of fun and camaraderie with your peers. Your enthusiasm for innkeeping and your love of entertaining guests in your own bed and breakfast will all be renewed as you make important contacts.  This is a great opportunity that happens only once per year and it is being held in Charleston, South Carolina!

Posted in Associations and Ratings, Conferences

PAII Conference January 15, 2014

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The Professional Association of Innkeepers International is holding a four-day conference starting Monday January 13.  This post will focus on day 3, Wednesday January 15.  The opportunities to learn abound. Speakers will be discussing topics including:

  • Tips for Running an Efficient Bed and Breakfast
  • The Basic Gourmet
  • Inn Property Valuation
  • Video Marketing 101
  • Insurance Strategies to Maximize Coverage and Minimize Cost
  • Capture Your Guest in Under 30 Seconds
  • Panel of Marketing Experts To Answer Questions
  • Google: Get Your Geek On!
  • Trends in Bed Linens
  • Back Office Secrets: Making Your Business Work When You are Not There
  • Trade Show Open with Lunch and Dessert
  • Inns and Outs of Serving Gluten-Free Desserts
  • Understanding Your Finances
  • Major Forces Transforming Travel in Today’s Market
  • Creating Your Niche for More Profits
  • Innkeeping Can Make a Difference: retreats, classes, support groups, outreach, etc.
  • Create a Winning Purchasing Agreement
  • Hands-On Public Relations
  • Elements of Hospitality Marketing
  • More Than a Bed and Breakfast: Innovative Programs and Partnerships to Increase Income and Publicity

This will be followed by a 25th anniversary celebration of the Professional Association of Innkeepers International.  The dress will be casual and there will be barbecue, bluegrass music, and dancing.  This is the last evening of the conference. Another opportunity to make more connections with other important people in this industry.

Posted in Associations and Ratings, Conferences

PAII Conference January 14, 2014

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We are focusing on the yearly conference held by the Professional Association of Innkeepers International.  Their annual conference is in January.  The following includes some talks and events that occur on Day 2 of the conference:

  • The Magic of Content Marketing to Build Your Brand, Business, and Bottom Line
  • Fresh Ways to Get Your Guests Buzzing About their Experience
  • Personal and Professional Success Strategies
  • Innkeepers and the Innkeeping Industry
  • Trade Show Grand Opening with Vendors (from all over North America), lunch and dessert served
  • B&B Technology Product Demo
  • E-Commerce Management
  • The Well-Dressed Plate
  • Eco-Friendly Low-Cost Housekeeping Solutions
  • Beyond Burnout: Rekindling the Fire
  • DIY Public Relations: How to Get Noticed By the Media
  • Build vs. Buy Decision
  • Do You Have Digital Baggage?: Search Engine Marketing
  • Entrepreneurial Marriage
  • The Family Business
  • 2013 Taxes: What It Means for You and Your Inn
  • Creative Side Dishes
  • Acquisition of a Bed and Breakfast
  • Website Strategy: Responsive Design
  • Your Own Gift Shop and Packaging
  • Stop Wasting Time and Start Making Money
  • Essentials to Financial Record Keeping
  • One Page Marketing Plan Guaranteed to Increase Your Bookings
  • How to Cash in On the Barter System
  • Food Truck Rodeo Dinner in the Trade Show

Another day of learning profitable strategies for your bed and breakfast, networking, meeting vendors, learning about products, and being inn-spired!

Posted in Associations and Ratings, Conferences

PAII Conference January 13, 2014

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The Professional Association of Innkeepers International provides a yearly conference to Bed and Breakfast Innkeepers across the country.  This year it is being held in North Charleston, South Carolina.  It starts on Monday January 13, 2014.

The day’s events include the following:

  • Online Marketing and Lodging Reservations
  • The need for your website to have engaging content, enhanced usability, responsive designs, and strategically placed calls to active.
  • Having a superior online presence involving design, search engine optimization, tracking your website, and not getting in trouble with Google.
  • Insight into finding the best places to eat, play, shop, and explore in your area–including hidden (or hard to find) destinations.
  • Selling Your Bed and Breakfast
  • Select Registry Members Gathering
  • BedandBreakfast.com talks about planning your social media strategy, tracking return on your investment, working with online travel agencies, understanding search engine optimization, and perfecting your photos.
  • Rezovation.com will discuss the benefits of their software solutions for innkeepers.
  • There will be a reception with jazz band in the evening with light hors d’oeuvres.

This is a great opportunity for bed and breakfast owners of any kind–potential, new, and experienced.  There are lots of B&B industry vendors and it is an opportunity to network with other innkeepers while you gain a tremendous wealth of information.

Posted in Associations and Ratings, Conferences

Professional Association of Innkeepers Conference

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2014 Innkeeping Show


Join PAII and hundreds of innkeepers and industry vendors in PAII’s hometown of Charleston, South Carolina, January 13-16 for the 2014 Innkeeping Conference & Trade Show. This is your destination to build relationships, check out the latest goods and services and learn new ways to be successful in your profession.

Our focus for these amazing annual conferences has always been to bring each innkeeper in attendance the best array of cutting edge education and tools as well as to help you to gain important insight and ideas to help you succeed in meeting and exceeding your business goals.  They want to provide you with that much needed time and space to swap ideas with your peers, and meet personally with the vendors who supply you and your inn with much needed products and services.

The 2014 Innkeeping Show is the ultimate experience.  Developed to allow you to spend a few days away from your inn in order to focus and get connected, or reconnected to the passion that drove you into this business.  With over 50 classes to choose from, you can tailor this experience to meet your personal needs and wants.

Additionally, you can save a bundle as you shop and chat with vendors in the trade show, last year they had 65+ vendors and this year they’re aiming for more!

http://www.innkeepingshow.com/conference/2014-annual-innkeeping-conference-trade-show

 

Posted in Associations and Ratings, Conferences