If you own a bed and breakfast, then this guide to online marketing and website promotion is just for you. We’ve put together a list of our top 10 tips and ideas on how to make the most out of your web presence and get those phones ringing.

Tip 1: Get listed on the Bed and Breakfast Directories

List your bed and breakfast with the national and regional bed and breakfast web directories, as these sites often rank highly in the search engines. Most printed bed and breakfast guidebooks will also have an online version that you’ll be added to. If it’s a web-only bed and breakfast guide, then you may have to pay a small annual fee to be listed on the website.

A listing on these types of directories has the dual benefit of exposure on a niche travel website (with highly ‘qualified’ website visitors) and a link to your website, which will help with your search engine rankings in Google.

Tip 2: Get listed on the National and Regional Travel Directories

Take advantage of a free listing on the official New Zealand tourism website, and get onto your local RTO website. Also get listed on New Zealand travel guide websites such as www.destination-nz.com.

Tip 3: Make the most out of Traveladvisor.com

If you’re in the travel business you’ll eventually end up on Travel Advisor even if you haven’t registered your property. We highly recommend that you do register your bed & breakfast as you can add more content to your listing and get the latest reviews sent directly to your email. You can also respond to reviews and add a TripAdvisor badge to your site.

Tip 4: Keep track of your Google rankings

Every few weeks, run a Google search for bed and breakfasts in your area. If you are in a main centre, it’s not going to be easy to get a top 10 ranking for a phrase like ‘Wellington bed and breakfast’. Often the first ten results in Google will be dominated by large tourism directory websites as well as the specialist B & B guide websites. But you should still make an effort to rank for your main keyword phrases and think about other phrases that apply to your situation. For example, if your bed and breakfast is by the sea then you’ll want to optimise for terms like ‘Christchurch seaside bed and breakfast’ as this will greatly increase your chances of attracting the right type of visitors via search.

Tip 5. Optimise your Google map listing

Most searches in Google.co.nz now show Google map results. The image below is a Google search showing the results for ‘Wellington bed and breakfast’.

To get into Google Maps go to http://maps.google.co.nz/maps and click on the ‘your business on Google maps’ link at the side of the screen. You will need to sign up for a Google account to do this. But once you’ve got a Google account you can also take advantage of other Google web services such as Google Analytics and Google Webmaster tools. When you create your listing, add in as much content as permitted, as it’s quite likely that the words you write in this listing will help to determine if you show up for a particular keyword search.

Tip 6. Pay Per Click advertising in Google

If top rankings in the search engines are proving elusive, you can sign up to Google AdWords and pay to be listed in Google (with the results shown on the right side of Google). You specify how much you are prepared to pay for each click, setting a daily budget for a total spend. The more you pay for a click the higher your campaign advert will be displayed in Google.

See http://adwords.google.com/ for more information.

Tip 7. Start blogging

American inn keepers have taken to blogging in a big way. They’ve realised that it is a great way to ‘soft sell’ their bed and breakfast. Blogs also rank very well in the search engines so are an excellent way of driving more traffic to your website.  Blogging is simply writing articles about something you know about. It’s not for everyone, as you really need to like writing and be disciplined about it (publishing at least one blog post a week). But if you think you could come up with new and interesting content, then we highly recommend you start a blog. Write about things that have some longevity, such as annual festivals and events that are happening in your city and great places to shop and dine out, and be sure to put your personality into your writing.

Tip 8. Link out to other websites to get links back

If you have a local attractions page on your website, add links to relevant businesses in your area such as cafes, restaurants and tourism operators. Let them know you’ve added the link and provide them with a short description to use if they would like to link back to you. It’s always best to get your link up first as people will be more inclined to reciprocate.

Tip 9. Consider using Social Media and Micro Blogging

Micro blogging is publishing short status updates on sites like Twitter (www.twitter.com). Twitter is very popular at the moment, but like blogging it requires a commitment to actually updating your account. The power in Twitter is that Twitterers can link to your profile in their ‘tweets’ so people following them may click on the link and read your updates. It’s essentially an online word of mouth marketing channel. Social media marketing is also a form of word of mouth marketing, but instead of someone telling two people about the great bed and breakfast they stayed at, they announce it to all of their ‘friends’ via their status update, and this could mean hundreds of people learning about your business.

Tip 10. How to put it all together!

Be proactive and check your rankings in Google. If you find B & B guides are ranking well for your phrase, request a listing on their site. Get as many free listings as you can on travel directories. Swap links with other businesses in your area. Make sure you can be found in Google maps and add in as many images and text as you can (using relevant keywords). Consider paying for clicks if you can’t rank for your phrases (but the ultimate goal is to get your site ranking without having to pay). Get a blog so visitors can subscribe to your most recent posts via RSS. Set up Twitter and have your blog send updates to Twitter about your latest blog posts. Create a Facebook page and link it to your blog so your blog posts are displayed as ‘notes’ on Facebook. You may also like to set up a Facebook group so you can email all of your group members (a nice and inexpensive way to do email marketing!).

If you’d like help promoting your website or if you’d like to re-develop your website, please give us a call on 03 366 33 40 or email info@tmlwebdesign.co.nz. We are happy to discuss your requirements with you.