Tag Archives: pictures

Healthy Breakfasts: Berries

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Healthy breakfasts: berries may be small in size, but blackberries, blueberries, boysenberries, cranberries, raspberries, and strawberries are big on taste as well as rich in three areas: antioxidants, fiber, and folate. Eating berries can help improve your health, wellness, and weight. Better yet, berries can be enjoyed all year long.

All fruits and vegetables contain antioxidants, but nutrient-rich berries are some of the absolute best choices. There are powerful antioxidants found in berries, including Vitamin C, may help:

  • Prevent and manage arthritis
  • Slow age-related memory-loss
  • Decrease inflammation in joints of people with rheumatoid arthritis
  • Reduce the risk of cataracts and macular degeneration
  • Make skin more radiant
  • Make hair more healthy

Berries also contain fiber and folate. Fiber aids in weight loss and helps lower cholesterol and blood pressure. Folate may protect against cardiovascular disease and age-related memory loss, and since folate contributes to the production of serotonin, it may also help avoid depression and improve one’s mood.

In addition to antioxidants, fiber, and folate, berries are “juicy foods,” which means they contain mostly water. Juicy foods are great for losing weight because they fill people up quickly, since their high water content bumps up the volume while driving down the calories.

Remember, if fresh berries cannot be found, frozen (unsweetened) berries are a great substitute during the off-season months — and just as nutritious! Delicious serving ideas include:

  • Adding berries to a bowl of warm oatmeal during breakfast.
  • Putting berries on top of pancake batter as it cooks for berry delicious pancakes.
  • Drizzling chocolate to cover strawberries as a romantic snack for couples.
  • Stirring fresh raspberries into Greek yogurt to amplify its deliciousness.
  • Combining frozen berries with bananas and low-fat milk to make an afternoon smoothie for guests.

    • Offering berries to your guests is a healthy and delicious way to fuel their bodies. Guests love the taste of berries and innkeepers love their smiles and return visits!   Be sure to put pictures of your breakfasts on social media! People can “like” your posts on Facebook, “re-tweet” your tweets on Twitter, and pin your pictures on Pinterest!

 

Image by Marcus Berg of Unique Angles Photography

Posted in Food, Guests, Promotion

5 Ways to Attract More Attention Online

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What can we do to grab the attention of the online world and become more visible to our internet audience?  These are five ways we can attract more attention online.

1) Words–The words we use really help determine our online visibility.  In the online world, fresh content is everything.  We need to make a list of keywords we want associated with us and our brand.  We should consistently use those keywords in our content.

2) Actions–Ever hear the phrase, “What we do speaks louder than what we say“?  People observe others. Whether we want them to or not, people see actions as well as lack of taking action.  For example, if we consistently receive the same negative comments online, then we know we need to take action.  This is not the time for us to ignore it and hope it goes away! We should appreciate comments and respond to both positive and negative feedback.

3) Formatting–People like easy to read content.  Most people don’t read word for word online. They like to scan the page.

  • Use bullet points
  • Add numbers
  • Offer descriptive subheadings
  • Make important text bold
  • etc.

4) Links–We should provide links to other places in our website/blog as well as outside resources. This goes a long way in showing others that we like to be helpful and provide useful information. We are more likely to be seen as leaders on our subjects.

5) Get visual–Images and videos attract eyeballs.  People notice meaningful pictures.  Pinterest is a great visual social media platform that literally has billions of pins.

We should ask ourselves, “What does my target audience like to see online?”  When we see things from their perspective, we can be more creative.  Are we using the right keywords?  Are we taking appropriate action? Does our formatting make our content easy to read?  Have we provided great links?  Have we featured attention-getting images or video? When we can say yes to all five questions, we will attract more attention online!

 

Image by Marcus Berg of Unique Angles Photography

Posted in Blog and Social Media, Promotion, Success

Your Website Needs Pictures

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Your website needs pictures.  If this web page had no pictures, would it have caught your attention as well?  You need to wow your potential guests with amazing professional photographs showing them the experience they will have if they stay at your bed and breakfast.  Your website needs pictures:

  • Outdoor pictures
  • Gardening & Landscaping
  • Breathtaking Views
  • Guest Bedrooms
  • Guest Bathrooms
  • Gourmet Kitchen
  • Your Breakfasts & other Delights
  • Common Areas
  • Grand Staircases & Fireplaces
  • Porch, Balcony & Deck
  • Your Antiques & Collections
  • Your Events such as Weddings & Concerts
  • Innkeepers/Owners
  • Area Attractions and Area Events

The old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words” is right!  For search engine optimization purposes, be sure to label your images with the relevant keywords. Capture their love of what your inn and local community has to offer with awesome photos!

 

Image by Marcus Berg of Unique Angles Photography

Posted in Decorating, Events, Food, Gardening and Lawns, Guests, Promotion

The Art of Pinning

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The art of pinning on Pinterest is visual in nature.  This works very well for visually oriented businesses like bed and breakfasts.  People want to know what your inn looks like and what your breakfasts look like.  Seeing your pins helps them to imagine themselves at your bed and breakfast inn.

Pictures:

  • Motivate them to plan a vacation to stay at your inn
  • Each picture is worth 1,000 words
  • Are more appealing and stronger than words
  • Pin only images with strong visual content
  • Brighter colors bring more joy
  • Feature just one idea or product in each pin
  • Use descriptive keywords you want to be known for
  • If you resize an image, make sure it is still clear and easy to see

Social media

  • Builds relationships with guests and potential guests
  • Raises the visibility of your bed and breakfast online
  • Gets you ranked higher on Google
  • Finds you business contacts like fellow innkeepers and associations

Remember:

  • Share your story of how you came to be bed and breakfast owners/innkeepers
  • Share information you are interested in and that your followers will find useful (such as travel tips)
  • Educate your audience on the advantages of staying at a bed and breakfast
  • Pin pictures of your bed and breakfast
  • Pin pictures of you amenities such as pool, garden, spa, etc.
  • Pin pictures of your community to give guests reasons to want to stay in your area

Etiquette or “Netiquette”:

  • If you were not the first to pin it, give credit to the original pinner.
  • Share and repin to show you are interested in other things outside your own B&B

Pinterest users become part of a larger community.  When we promote other people’s pins they are more likely to follow us.  That is one of my secrets to how I grew such a quick following on Pinterest.  You can too!

 

Image by Marcus Berg of Unique Angles Photography

Posted in Blog and Social Media, Guests, Promotion

Pinning Means Winning!

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With more than 25 billion pins to explore, you are sure to come up with exciting boards to showcase your bed and breakfast. Pinning means winning! You just click on the plus sign (+) to the left of your user name to create a new board. They will give you the following three options:

  • Upload a pin (you are adding your own image)
  • Add from a website (add pins from another website)
  • Create a board (each board represents a new category of pictures)

When you create a board, they ask you to:

  • Name the board (use keywords or a memorable name that makes sense)
  • Description (description of the kind of pictures on your board so visitors know what to expect)
  • Category of your board (such as Travel or Food and Drink)
  • Gives you the option to add a map (don’t have to do this with each board)
  • Keep it secret? (it you are not ready to unveil your masterpiece)

Each pin goes on a pinboard.  Viewers can like, repin, or comment on your pin.  This is where you can market your bed and breakfast. Even if you don’t have a lot your own pins, you can creatively pin other people’s pins onto memorable boards.  It does not take long to get attention.

I will share with you some of my Pinterest boards in the next series of blog posts.  Till then, just get started–you will be so glad you did!  Getting noticed is exciting–winning more business even more exciting!!

 

Image by Marcus Berg of Unique Angles Photography

Posted in Blog and Social Media, Guests, Promotion

You Can Succeed With Pinterest

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Bed and Breakfast Blogging
You can succeed with Pinterest.  Did you know that Pinterest is a great way to attract guests to stay at your bed and breakfast?  I am going to be writing a series of blog posts about my journey starting Pinterest.

Pinterest is a social media website that allows you to pin different pictures onto boards. You can use your own pins or pin other people’s pins. It sounds much more complicated than it really is.

Pinterest allows you to be very creative and this is a great marketing tool for your business!  I would like to share some of my tips as well as discuss my Pinterest boards so you can see just how easy and fun it is for you to get started!  The best part is that anyone can use Pinterest because it is FREE!

Posted in Blog and Social Media, Guests, Promotion

Bed and Breakfast Restaurants

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bed-and-breakfast-restaurants

Many bed and breakfasts also have restaurants.  These bed and breakfast restaurants may offer the following important and useful information about their restaurant on their website:

  • If open to the public or just to the guests staying there
  • Pictures of the restaurant, cuisine, beautiful views from restaurant
  • Pictures of guests dining (taken with permission)
  • Awards won, press page, celebrities visited
  • Information about the chefs (including their culinary training and cultural heritage)
  • Hours (may be subject to change)
  • Menu (may vary seasonally)
  • House specialties (could be based on chef’s expertise or location of restaurant)
  • Specials (could be fresh from their own garden or holiday related)
  • Wine list and/or microbrewery
  • Catering options possible
  • Local delivery options
  • Group dining and private party rooms
  • Weddings (may offer a customized menu)
  • Making reservations (especially for large groups or holidays)
  • Cooking classes offered
  • Cookbooks for sale
  • Ways to contact the restaurant

They may even feature written reviews from people who have dined there.  If your bed and breakfast does not have a restaurant, do you have the time and resources to add one?  If you do have a restaurant, consider having blog posts written about different events or restaurant specials or musical guests coming.  Continue to post new pictures to your website and blog throughout the seasons, as you add new menu items, and after you host various events such as weddings.

 

Image by Marcus Berg of Unique Angles Photography

Posted in Blog and Social Media, Events, Food, Promotion

New Year’s Eve Resolutions

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Do you have any 2014 New Year’s Eve resolutions for your bed and breakfast?  Here are some possible improvements or new beginnings with your online presence:

1. Your Website:

  • What are its strengths?
  • What are its weaknesses?
  • What opportunities come about? (business)
  • What threats does it have? (competitors)

2. Your Blog:

  • Do we have one?
  • If so, is it attracting more visitors and more bookings?
  • Do we need to hire someone to blog for us?
  • Can that person blog about a variety of issues related to innkeeping?

3. Your Social Media Presence:

  • Facebook–does our B&B have a Business or Fan page?
  • Twitter–do we regularly tweet?  do we know what to tweet?
  • Pinterest–do we post pictures of our B&B?  pictures of our food?
  • Linked In–do we have a profile as an innkeeper on Linked In?
  • You Tube–do we have videos promoting our B&B?

4. Your Membership in Associations & Organizations Giving Web Presence:

  • Professional Association of Innkeepers International (PAII)
  • BnB Finder
  • BB Online
  • Bed and Breakfast.com
  • Select Registry

5. Your Public Image and Community Outreach:

  • Conferences–do we attend conferences on Innkeeping?
  • Business meetings–do we hold business meetings at our B&B?
  • Weddings–do we offer weddings?  If not, could we?
  • Music–do we host concerts or recitals?

So think about your website, blog, social media presence, associations, and public image & outreach goals for 2014.  Kristi Dement, of Bed and Breakfast Blogging, wishes you a prosperous New Year full of wonderful guests that stay at your bed and breakfast!

 

Image by Marcus Berg of Unique Angles Photography

Posted in Blog and Social Media, Success

Why You Need to Use Pinterest

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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!

 

Image by Marcus Berg of Unique Angles Photography

Posted in Blog and Social Media
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