Tag Archives: ideas

How To Ask for a Link Request

Posted on by Leave a comment

Internet search bar Stock PhotosSEO Stock ImagesNetwork abstract Royalty Free Stock Photos

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

What Makes A Blog Post Go Viral?

Posted on by Leave a comment

Like Royalty Free Stock PhotoSocial Media Background Royalty Free Stock ImagesColorful speech bubbles Stock Photos

Every blogger dreams of a bigger audience.  It is human nature to want to be recognized and to receive attention and praise.  So just what makes a blog post go viral?

1) Have you grabbed their attention with your title?  Opening lines should pique interest and curiosity, show a benefit, highlight a need, promise to entertain/inform/teach, or offer something of value.  Work hard early on at hooking your reader into your post.

2) Have you made it easy to read?  Readers scan pages online looking for keywords, phrases, and visual clues like numbers and bullet points. Use lists or other formatting techniques to emphasize points.  Your content must be appealing, entertaining, engaging, and interactive.

3) Does anybody really care about your topic? No one wants to know what you had for breakfast–unless maybe you had breakfast with a celebrity.  Giving people the “inside scoop” on a famous person’s thoughts and secrets will make your blog incredibly popular.

4) Have you had personal experience involving your blog topic?  Accomplishments speak volumes to your readers.  This does not mean you have to be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company or featured on the cover of People magazine.  What lessons have you learned along the way? People tend to respect you more if you share past obstacles or mistakes and how you overcame them.

5) Is this a brand new topic?  If you are in the fields of medicine, science, or technology you may very well have cutting edge information to share with the world.  We are listening!

6) Is your perspective different and maybe even controversial?  Sometimes blunt opinions can get people in trouble, but they can also get passed along.  Do you have a hot topic that will lure comments?  Be sure to respond to your comments.  This is what makes your blog interactive.

7) Is there something fascinating about your topic or are people sick of reading about it because everybody in the world has been covering it?  There is only so many times people can take hearing about the celebrities that tend to get all the media attention.  It can be annoying when they compare two celebrities who wore the same thing and then make comments on “who wore it better?”  Most people don’t care!

8) Is there something hilarious, quirky, or unbelievable about it?  There is a large dog in my neighborhood who, from behind his fence, will jump up and down like he is on a pogo stick all across his backyard when he sees my dog and I walking together.  I need to get that on video! Speaking of…

9) Do you have a good graphic, photo, or video available?  Humans are very visual creatures. That is part of the reason why Pinterest other image sharing social media sites like Instagram have done so well.  Did you know Pinterest has over 70 millions users?

10) Have you shared your blog post on every relevant social media channel?  You may want to describe the post differently depending upon the platform.  Since Linked In is for business and career-minded people, you may have a different way of promoting your blog post to your Linked In connections than to your Facebook fans and friends.

How will you know if your blog post was successful?

  • Number of unique visitors to your blog post
  • Re-tweets, shared links, social network mentions
  • Quality of the blogs and websites where your blog post is referenced
  • Frequency of approaches by people interested in working with you
  • Quantity of traffic where sales take place
  • Amount of paid opportunities that result from your blog
  • Blog subscriber numbers
  • E-mail sign ups
  • If people who have powerful influence refer to your blog
  • The number and quality of comments from your readers

Trust me, you will know!  Do you have any ideas about what makes a blog post go viral? Please share below.  I read all comments and respond when appropriate.

Posted in Blog and Social Media, Promotion, Success

Bed and Breakfast Gardens

Posted on by Leave a comment

Decorative Bicycle In Garden Stock ImagesReflection of a waterlily Stock PhotoBirds Royalty Free Stock Photography

Bed and breakfasts have been very creative with the way they design and develop their gardens.  There are so many terrific ideas to make it a breathtaking, peaceful, and romantic place for your guests.  Your garden may have or can include:

  • benches
  • bird baths
  • bicycle or boot used as a planter
  • conifers
  • curving paths
  • fish ponds
  • hosta plants
  • magnolia bushes
  • ornamental grasses
  • perennials
  • pines
  • planters
  • pottery
  • reflecting pond
  • rock garden
  • roses
  • shrubs
  • terraced wall garden
  • tulips
  • waterfall
  • water lilies
  • woods

Your garden will attract the beauty of gorgeous butterflies and hopping bunnies as well as the pleasant chirping of birds and sound of babbling brooks.  You can make it informative by placing little signs throughout to label what you planted.  You can make it as personal as you want by naming your garden and inscribing its benches.  If it is a historical bed and breakfast, you can use the names of former residents.

There is no limit to the joyous possibilities of your ever changing and growing garden.   By planting things that bloom at different times in the year, it can look great all year round.

Posted in Amenities, Blog and Social Media, Gardening and Lawns, Guests

Why You Need to Use Pinterest

Posted on by

Pinterest may be the perfect tool for letting potential guests know about your bed and breakfast.  Ben Silbermann, Evan Sharp, and Paul Sciarra co-founded this website in March 2010. Millions of people use the website to pick up new hobbies, find their style, and plan life’s important projects.

Pinterest has pins that are like handsome little bookmarks. Whenever you find something on the web that you want to keep, add it to Pinterest. Your newly minted Pin will be here whenever you need it, and will always link back to the site it came from.

Boards are where you organize your Pins, and you get to decide what your boards will be all about. This is a great way for bed and breakfast owners to get ideas about cooking, decorating, gardening, hospitality, and more! Plus this is your chance to post pictures of your bed and breakfast, including:

  • The outside of your B&B
  • Your rooms and bathrooms
  • Your delicious breakfasts and recipes
  • Your garden, pool, hot tub, or any other amenity
  • Events such as weddings and music performances
  • Your library of books, DVD collection, etc.

Really the sky is the limit as far as how many pins you want to post. The point is that potential guests will see your bed and breakfast and click to find out more about you from your website.

This is a huge and free marketing opportunity!  All it costs is the time it takes to share the pictures (your own and the millions of other pictures already on the Pinterest website)! Be sure to check out Bed and Breakfast Blogging’s very own Pinterest website!

Posted in Blog and Social Media

Professional Association of Innkeepers Conference

Posted on by

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

Creative and Fun Decorating Ideas

Posted on by

You want your bed and breakfast to stand out to your guests and make a great impression.  The following is a list of decorating tips:

  • Keep in mind the geographical location of your bed and breakfast when you choose your color theme.  So if it is near water, you can use a them based on light brown sand, pink seashells and corals, ocean blues, and sunny yellows.  If you are in the mountains or a forested area, you can use colors found in the woods, such as deep greens and cranberry reds.

Island location Stock PhotosReal estate is all about the location Stock ImageColorado Rocky Mountains and Pine Trees Royalty Free Stock Photography

  • There are many different approaches to decorating your inns’ bedrooms.  For a traditional bed-and-breakfast look, use Victorian-style furniture.  For a cottage-style B&B, put handmade quilts on the bed with matching shams.
  • In order for your decor to flow, keep a consistent period or style decor throughout, varying in color themes only from room to room.
  •  Put natural-finish or painted wicker chairs near the bedroom windows.  Put floral fabric cushions in the chairs and add a matching ottoman.  If your B&B has wicker furniture, it is best to use the same style of wicker seating in the main living area as on the front porch.
  •  Decorate the main living area according to its size.  For an extra large living room, arrange several small groups of chairs.  For a smaller room, place a large couch in front of a fireplace, with a chair on each side.  For a relaxed cottage-style look, put loose-fitting canvas slipcovers on the furniture.
  • Accessorize with wall art that reflects nature in the area or local artists and artisans. Fill a large empty vase with rocks or shells that you or your guests have collected from the beach, woods or a neighboring lake.

You can get even more helpful ideas for home decorating from Better Homes and Gardens and at Pinterest.

Posted in Decorating

Let Your Guests Evaluate You

Posted on by

In order to receive feedback for the bed and breakfast experience you offer, why not have your guests fill out a short evaluation form?  This gives you valuable information and provides them with an opportunity to give you a great testimonial and maybe point out some things they noticed.

Evaluation Report Card Clipboard Assessment Grades Royalty Free Stock Photography

Your evaluation form only needs to ask a few questions:

1) What did you like the most about staying at our bed and breakfast? (things they thought were great)

2) Any disappointments? (things they think you can improve)

3) If you could change one thing about our bed and breakfast, what would it be? (this does not necessarily mean you will get negative comments–they may offer great suggestions for you to think about)

4) Do you have any additional comments you wish to share? (this way they feel that they have had every opportunity to share their concerns or ideas)

This evaluation form lets them know you cared about their experience and hope that they will return.  It also allows them to reflect on their stay.

Take any negative comments with a grain of salt.  There may be some truth to them or you may have had a picky guest who is hard to please.

If you want to use any of their glowing statements as positive testimonials, ask permission before quoting them in marketing materials or on your website.

Overall, having your guests evaluate you gives you important information so you can be a better innkeeper.

 

Posted in Guests

5 Sources of Good Ideas

Posted on by Leave a comment

We all love good ideas and we want to know where and how to find them.  Good ideas come from many different sources.  Here is a list of five:

Media Signpost Stock PhotoAlbert Einstein Wax Figure Stock PhotographyGenius at work sign Royalty Free Stock Photography

1. Conversations with others–you never know what someone will say that will spark a light bulb to shine in your head. This could even happen when you overhear others talking in a public place. They could be discussing the latest news story or anything that triggers you to think of a good idea.

2. What you read–this could be from a book, a magazine, a newspaper, an online article, a chat room discussion, a web page, etc. You would be amazed where people find sources of inspiration. It could even be from an advertisement!  You just never know!

3. What you watch–on the television or in the movies.  On the television, you could be watching the news, a documentary, or a funny sitcom.  It could be any kind of movie, too.  It could be a concept that is being discussed or watching the plot of a story that gives you an idea.  Even watching people you know interact in person and do things can help you come up with an idea.

4.What you do–when you are working or exercising or having fun, your body can focus on a new way to go about solving your problem or answering a need.  There is something to be said for concentration, whether it is from organizing or looking for information, taking a leisurely walk, or even singing the lyrics in a karaoke song.

5.When you sleep–Albert Einstein kept a pencil and notepad next to him so that, if his dream gave him an idea, he would write it down before he forgot the idea.  Some times your brain works on a problem for you overnight (or during a nap) and you wake up with new insight.

The important thing is to keep an awareness of your goals in the back of your mind, so that your brain can be working on a solution or answer.  Ideas can come from anywhere.  It does not matter how you thought of the idea or the source that sparked the idea, it just matters that the idea be something that will help you reach your goals.

Posted in Success
« Older Entries