How to promote your Hotel, Guest House or B&B

CONFIDENTIAL - This is paid-for material

 

This guide contains the following Sections:

Legal

Preparation

Existing Marketing Agencies and "Official" Rating Organisations

Socially Rating Websites

Local Marketing Agencies

Booking Websites

Accommodation Listings Websites

Your Website and How to make your website

Promoting Your Website & Search Engines (SEO)

China (NEW)

Social Media - Twitter, Facebook and Google+

Email Lists and Mailshots, Competitions

Adwords and Advertising

Spam & Viruses (NEW)

 

LEGAL

Legal Alert. The following information isnt legal advice - its our simply our many years of experience on-line and ONLY our opinion. Please treat it as such and ask your lawyer to clarify ANY and ALL legal aspects.

Preparing your Business and Infrastructure

Here are few pointers. The list is only examples of advice, procedures and problems and is not complete by any stretch of the imagination.

How to take pictures of your business

Its important to make sure everything in your business is at its absolute best before taking the pictures or having pictures taken by a professional photographer.

If you take pictures yourself use a a good quality camera (not an iphone or similar UNLESS it is of good quality. Samsung 7 or iphone 6 are fine as are many others. However a suitable camera would cost just 99 pounds or less from amazon. You will use it often (social media - brochures - scans of documents etc) so its worth the "investment". Use a tripod to steady the camera or just some Blu-Tac on something fixed (like a table or bedpost). Steadying the camera is THE single most important rule in modern photography. Make sure the camera and thus the image is level - a jaunty angle isn't usually cool. Take lots of pictures as digital pictures are effectively free; and choose the best ones. Take pictures of bedrooms and public areas in any weather conditions but don't point the camera at the window in a bright day. Use a mirror to bounce light into shaded areas of the room. Take pictures outside of the property on a good weather day - not dull or overcast. If your hotel or B&B is white, wait till the sun has gone/going behind a cloud; this prevents burn-out of the image.

Images on your website should be plentiful and easy to navigate. They should also be small in file-size, typically 800pixels along the longest side. Aim for less than 100kb file size per image max. This will give a beautiful experience on a PC or tablet, but also load efficiently on a phone on a 3G connection. Your web person can "optimise" your images for you. If your page loads slowly it will put potential customers off.

VIDEO
Marketing on YouTube is a great idea if you have the skills - but if you dont; forget it! Shooting good video is an art and editing even more so. Uploading can take hours ... So unless you are in a market Segment that requires video (ie you are an actor) just wait til you have time, skills and money before embarking on this particular medium.

If your business is a new build avoid showing skips, bins and unfinished lawns. If the Hotel is partly completed or expanding; tell people. However you should also point out via recent TripAdvisor visitor comments etc that the building work wont affect their holiday. If building work of any kind IS impinging on visitor experience; offer a discount and a truthful explanation/description of the problem.

Do not leave OLD information on your website or imagery that can be dated by visitors and perceived as old. If the owners can be bothered about their website / brochure; they can't be bothered about guests either.

Make sure all the rooms have all the described facilities and gadgets as described in your literature. Hair dryers,

Make sure the rooms and public areas are super clean. Toilets and showers are common areas for concern. Grout can be cleaned or bleached. Behind the toilet IS easy to see and good house staff should adhere to the cleaning lists without supervision. Cracked items in the toilet area harbour germs and are a complete "no-no"

Make sure the driveway and grounds are free of weeds and litter. Parking should be described and any costs outlined.

Lastly ... if taking over an existing business :-

Make sure you tell people its under new management; especially if the pervious owners "had a bad reputation"

Make sure the stock you buy with the business is not past its sell by date

Make sure there is adequate bed linen, cutlery, staff etc.

Is licensing up to date for alcohol, music and TVs etc?

Is your guests' broadband of good quality and working properly. Broadband. (also called ADSL or WiFi) is an essential facility. The lack of broadband can cause potential visitors NOT to book.

Hire all new staff. This can be the existing staff but on new contracts and a trial month. Good chefs/cooks however can be hard to come by.

Haggle with suppliers for best prices. They need your business.

Do you like the smell of vinegar on your laundry? Many people don't and its common to find laundry companies that use it as part of their chemical cleaning mix.

If you get a complaint in the early days ... its like a nugget of gold! Its fee advice and the complaint(s) should be used to identify areas of your business that need to be addressed. DO NOT MAKE EXCUSES TO YOURSELF about the complaint - fix it.

A good customer feedback mechanism is essential. A small form in the room is the norm. Make it simple. YES /NO tick boxes, a big box for the "comments" and privacy explained. Personally I prefer to use a form that doesn't require the visitor's name.

Make sure you get the visitor's email address so you can build your email newsletter mailing list.

Terms and conditions must be published and checked regularly. A Cookie Policy must also be present on the website.

Lastly ... all businesses CAN be a success. It "just" takes hard work and dedication.

 

Existing Marketing Agencies and "Official" Rating Organisations

Accreditation companies such as the AA or Visit Scotland / Visit England are important. They send out INSPECTORS who will grade your establishment. The list they use for doing this is comprehensive and worth having as it can be used as a checklist by you and the staff to ensure your business if "up to scratch"

AA Logo

The AA

As well as the entry in their database you can pay for upgraded listings such as inclusion in the AA Hotel Guide. There is also the AA app which phone users will increasingly use to find accommodation "on the road".

Sign up for the AA and use their logo and rating on your website and literature. The AA now use the same grading standards as Visit Scotland/ England etc.

The main portal for guests finding out about a property is here.

The main portal for registering your property if you are the owner is here

Benefits. There are a few good benefits apart form the obvious one that Google regularly checks their (the AA) listings. They (the AA) also offer Eviivo’s market-leading property management and online booking solution, to improve the profitability of independent hotels, B&Bs and guesthouses, save up to £295+VAT on training and set up fees and get your property and rooms marketed on the world’s leading travel websites including Expedia, Hotels.com, LateRooms, Lastminute. com and scores of specialised local tourism websites. Call: 0800 422 0088 Email: enquiries@eviivo.com Web: http://www.eviivo.com

 

SAT NAVs and POI (Points Of Interest)

Its possible that in the near future cars will integrate POI formation into their in car displays. For example Garmin and TomTom (and the car company's non branded versions) already use POIs or Points Of Interest to represent Hotels and other forms of accommodation. In Garmin go to POI and select LODGINGS. There the categories are Hotel, B&B or Camping + RV. Same idea for TomTom, but they may be limited to Hotels and Motels. No worries though as users will probably download an app or extra data from third part sources. I dont know how to get data ON to the Garmin database for all users, but GARMINPOI seem to have part of the problem covered.

 

Visit Scotland Logo

Visit Scotland / Visit England et al.

There are 4 regional agencies in the Visit Britain Group. Like the AA they grade businesses using a simple star rating. They are the official Tourist Board for each country. Again use their logo and any rating you have been given on your website and literature.

In the past the as representatives of the national Tourist Board the 4 Visit Britain sites were seen essential component in your company's marketing strategy. However many smaller businesses are no longer members or have never signed up; cost and having your own website being cited as the main reasons for not signing up.

There is a also a BREAKFAST AWARD offered by the above agencies for those businesses who excel at the quality of Breakfast.

Second tier Assessment and Green / Eco Tourism

Visit Scotland Accreditations

These are useful accreditations that verify specific markets or your "green" credentials. In the UK the most common are the WELCOME stickers which costs money to join.

SCOTLAND and therefore VISIT SCOTLAND the official tourist authority ... is better set up than most with around 14 different AWARD categories. These are based on the provision of facilities and services are given/awarded by Visit Scotland in recognition of the special efforts made by operators to provide for visitors.

The specialised awards have been developed in consultation with a lead training body in the field they represent e.g. Mountaineering Club for Scotland, Scottish Cyclists Union, Scotland by Bike and St Andrews Links Trust

All the following must have an intimate knowledge of their subject or at least the needs of their specialist visitors.

Ancestral Tourism
Catering to the needs of the ancestral tourists are eligible to display and use the promotional material.

Anglers Welcome
Facilities should include: storage boxes for rods; a daily weather forecast; a freezer facility for bait or catch; facilities for gutting or preparing catches, or facilities for washing fishing tackle.

Arts Welcome (Edinburgh and the Lothians only)
Specific provision for guests attending cultural events or venues.

Bikers Welcome (Motorbikes)
Safe and secure parking. Good facilities for maintaining the motorbikes in top condition.

Children Welcome
Establishments need to demonstrate that they dont just tolerate children but also provide opportunities for play and are able to anticipate their needs in general.

Classic Cars Welcome
Safe and secure parking. Good facilities for maintaining the cars / vehicles in top condition.

Cyclists Welcome
Clothes drying facilities and flexible eating arrangements to accommodate unpredictable journeys.

Field Sports Welcome
Shooting requires special arrangements such as secure, legal storage boxes for guns and ammunition; a hanging facility for birds or storage facility for larger game; kennelling facilities for the dogs, and local knowledge on shooting opportunities. The days weather forecast;

Film Crews Welcome
Considerable flexibility required to work with this industry - eating arrangements and a back-up plan when the crew don't get back til late. Additional parking facilities (and turning area) should be provided - think ..trucks and lorries. Secure storage facilities for equipment.

Golfers Welcome
Lockable storage for golf clubs; a daily weather forecast; or details of local transport, golf shops, or tee-off times.
Not essential but ... Arrange rounds with the club on behalf of your visitors. You should also try to get a discount for your visitors from the local club if possible.

Visiting Golfers Welcome
Much the same as the above accreditation.

Groups Welcome
You should have additional facilities to meet the needs of larger organised groups staying in hostels. This will include the availability of bulk catering equipment and sufficient space and crockery for the entire group to cook and eat together as well as appropriately ‘group sized’ drying and equipment storage facilities.

Horses Welcome
Is the first quality-assured accommodation scheme for horses in the UK. A comprehensive set of recommendations for grazing, stabling and facilities while the dedicated Horses Welcome website will help you plan your route and book your riding holiday. (A British Horse Society welcome scheme and badge)

Walkers Welcome
Additional facilities for hill-walking visitors, such as clothes-drying facilities and flexible eating arrangements.

ENGLAND

Fees in ENGLAND can be seen here:-

The specifications and criteria for membership can be seen by clicking the links above (PDF file in new window)

 

SOCIALLY RATING WEBSITES

 

Tripadvisor

First open an account with Tripadvisor (see below). If you are a daily operation (Hotel, Bed and Breakfast etc) you probably want link 2. If you are a weekly rental or let then you probably should try link 3 first.

All links below (1-3) are external links to Tripadvisor website )

1. How to get listed on Tripadvisor

2. List a Hotel, Bed and Breakfast (B&B), Inn, Guest House, Daily Rental with multiple rooms and staff on-site.

3. List a holiday Let, Self Catering Units etc (weekly rental)

Once you have set up your account you can promote your property and Tripadvisor page by putting a Tripadvisor BADGE on your website. People can see your rating or head to the Tripadvisor website read your ratings or give their own review. There is a link for these little badges on your personal OWNERS PAGE. Your ultimate objective is to get a Certificate of Excellence badge meaning you are an exceptional accommodation resource and almost guaranteed trade.

Dealing with negative Trip Advisor comments:-

It's very tempting when you have just read a negative comment on Tripadvisor about your accommodation to immediately blast off a reply stating how stupid the guest was, how mean and mean spirited they are and how there's nothing wrong with your establishment offering excuse after excuse after excuse ... You may laugh but this IS how most people respond to negative criticism.

A complaint is a hidden jewel - it is marketing feedback that can be actioned immediately that in the end will make YOUR product better than your neighbour's offering. It's probably best only to read TripAdvisor comments in the morning - that way you wont lie awake all night seething or worrying about it. Start by taking a break of at least 24 hours. Then look at the exact points of criticism and write them down.

Start the reply by recognising the customer did not enjoy their stay/meal etc. Then address each point in turn by saying what you will be doing for future visitors so this doesn't happen or the service will be improved.

This shows you CARE about your customers and VALUE their opinion. Even if the customer feedback comments are horrid, unjustified and a personal attack - your reply will be a calm and professional response.

End by thanking them help make your establishment better with their constructive critique and how you always welcome this.

A good example of dealing with feedback can be viewed here where McDonalds the burger chain deal with a "question"

 

Google Plus ( g+ )

.. could probably be described as the Google version of Tripadvisor. Most marketeers do not consider it to be as important as Tripadvisor but our advice is ... Ignore g+ at your peril. Google owns Google Places and Google Maps - both connected to Google Plus. We have a written a Calco Guide to setting up a Google Plus Page

You may want to link your page to "BUSINESS VIEW" by Google. This the latest service from Google Streetview (the maps that let you walk down streets in the UK and other countries). Now Google offer the facility for a photographer to come round to your B&B or Hotel or Shop etc and take 360 degree panoramic images which they send to Google who integrate them into Streetview maps. This lets potential customers wander down your street and right into your Hotel or B&B seeing the rooms, gardens and facilities they will be using. Same applies to Gyms, Theatres and other public spaces. See here for the Google Presentation

If you are interested in this call Calco UK on 01599 534964 OPTION 8 or email sales@calcouk.com and will organise everything for you.

Other Social Reviews.

There is Facebook of course which most business owners will be familiar with. Visitors to your Fan or Business Page can usually leave comments. But we will deal with Facebook in its own section because it is so important in the social media arena.

There are a couple of other smaller websites that could be useful:

Holiday Watchdog
Zoover

 

ACCOMMODATION LISTING WEBSITES

There are two kinds of site :-

A) Sites that gather data and rate it and allow booking.

B) Those that "just" compare other people's data and skim a percentage from evey booking.

Its the A) category you want to submit to and get your accommodation listed. It's these people you offer the late sell or short sell deals to.

The difference blurs slightly however as most LISTINGS websites offer services other than accommodation such as Flights and Travel Insurance.

To start with:-

Expedia : A USA based company with several other brands - Hotels.com, Hotwire.com, trivago, Egencia, Venere, Expedia Local Expert, Classic Vacations, Expedia CruiseShipCenters and eLong

Late Rooms : A UK based company which leverages the "some money is better than no money" principle. A room is THE most perishable item in the hospitality trade - You can put food in a fridge and sell it another day - but once a bed-night is not sold in its 24 hr slot there is nothing you can do .... other than put your rooms on at the last minute with a low, low price.

 

Smaller Businesses

Book Direct Rooms and Top Rooms Are UK based companies which is a division of eviivo Limited (who provide booking charts) - each website has a slightly differing SEO focus and market targeting.

Free to Book are a Scottish based company who offer booking charts, however they have their own websites and syndicate YOUR LISTING round Booking.com, Venere, Late Rooms, Expedia (and subsidiaries), Agoda etc.

Hostel World : and Hostels.com Based in Dublin specialise in smaller proeprties and ... Hostels

 

Holiday Rentals

Home Away : USA company part of HomeAway, Inc.in Texas - Features 1 million holiday home listings although the figures for the UK in Summer 2014 are England (14,452), Scotland (2,033). The company advertises on UK national TV.

 

Holiday Offers & Deals

Travel Zoo Lets make a deal! If you are wanting to sell on a short price or superb value package try travel zoo. The better the deal the more likely to get into their wide-reaching newsletter or other channels.

Curated / Selected Listings

  • SecretEscapes
  • Sawday's
  • Best Loved

 

ACCOMMODATION LISTING WEBSITES

SELF CATERING & HOSTELS

Then all the mainly comparison sites and multi-sell (hotel+flight etc) just a few listed as examples so you know who they are

http://www.kayak.co.uk/
http://www.travelrepublic.co.uk/
http://www.ebookers.com/
http://www.lastminute.com/
http://www.hotelpricescanner.com/
http://www.hotelbooking.co.uk

 

LOCAL MARKETING AGENCIES

Once essential to your success and now often overlooked are the little (and larger) agencies in defined geographic locations. They generally have an intimate knowledge of their area and the people in charge will usually have an in-depth knowledge of the Tourist Trade in their defined area.

Local TICs or Local Tourist Centres can vary from being an official busy urban building full of brochures, information people and a local booking system ... to what is basically a cabin with one part time person in a little village. However these people are connected to the local tourist infrastructure and there is absolutely no harm in giving them your literature and business cards etc - a well constructed Press Package is best. You may also feel inclined to offer (or be required) to offer commission on each booking.

RECIPROCITY

Other local business will probably take your literature too; think Boat Trips, Taxis, Restaurants etc. The general idea is to give these people something in return for their kindness like .. "I will tell my customers about your boat trip, why not give me your leaflet or card for my guest house."
You may also wish to set up reciprocal deals with other accommodation and offer two centre holidays. In any case reciprocity is the name of the game.

ONLINE GUIDES

A good example of this would be Visit Glasgow Each area tends to have at least one of these websites and its a good idea to at least see what they can offer you as an accommodation or service provider. Generally speaking they cost money; so work out whether its worth the money or not. In a rural setting a few bookings could offset their annual fee, in an urban location you may have to pay more and be "lost" in a plethora of listings. Maybe an enhanced listing would be preferred?

NICHE OR SPECIALIST LOCALITY SITES

Some towns or villages are too small to sustain a visit-mytown style website, however its likely that there will be one that covers a larger area. A typical example is Highland Holiday Cottages. Based on the Isle of Skye this company specialises in Weekly rentals and short breaks in The Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Typically the sites run curated lists of properties that fit their niche. They will promote their site (usually very well) and your cottage or rental along with all the others, A commission is usually required for their marketing effort so add a little to your seasonal rates to compensate. One advantage is you are likely to get availability and booking charts as well as on-line payments along with the basic website service. The disadvantage is that you may have to sell all your best weeks through the agency on short margin and get stuck with 24 weeks of winter dross they cant sell. ASK FOR STATS.

To find your local site go to Google begin by typing "accommodation nameofyourtown" where name of yourtown is the name of your city, town or village. If that doesn't work well try expanding the area to the county or regional name.

Finally although its not entirely "local" ... try the product name "cottages Highlands website" or "log cabins Scotland" or "London boutique hotels"

 

ADVERTISING

Yes, there is the National Press, usually in supplements or the pull out magazine feature, however they tend to be expensive and require at least a bold effort on your part with 4 weekly ads. I have never seen payback from this although it does expose your brand to a large audience.
Try to think of yourself as a visitor to another area you have never been to. Write down the process you go through to get the information you need to book your holiday. Then place your advertising in places where you think it will be effective and don't just use the scattergun method and "hope for the best". You can also ask other people in your neighbourhood or business club which advertisers return real bookings.

Its important to have a way of measuring the effectiveness of each and every one of your ad campaigns. I tend to use a KEYWORDED approach where the ad responders have to quote a keyword to get a small discount. Because I know which keyword relates to which campaign, I can easily measure effectiveness.

I have also used LANDING PAGES and QR CODES. A landing page is a specially created informational web page on your website that can only be accessed by typing in the address included in your ad. You can embed this in a QR code if you want to spare your customers typing in long URLs. At the end of each month you can look at your Google Stats (or similar) to see which landing pages returned the most visitors to your site.

Remember marketing gold lies in the less obvious places - who would have thought that German Bikers were numerous and affluent and that they find the quieter roads in rural areas of Scotland and England "wunderbar". I believe they have their own Bike Magazine with 135,000+ readers.

TV : Deep pockets but regional spots (on channels people actually watch) can be cost effective if you need the INSTANT jolt for your forthcoming event.

Radio : Adverts could be cost effective - but production costs can quickly add to the bill. The best spots in Radio are well known and command the best prices.

FREEBIES

Invite journalists to your accommodation. Make sure YOU have done THEIR work for them by having a press pack with all the really important stuff about your accommodation listed and the reasons why its the best in the ares (your USPs). Pictures for Magazines need to be good quality - have them ready or accessible. Its sometimes a good idea to have your web company pop three killer shots of your accommodation or surrounding area on the website. This means journalists can "lift" them from directly from your website - who knows, while they are there, they might spot something interesting else to write about you on your website .

Local journalists need a hook for their story.. so dont just tell them they can stay for free; offer a STORY to go with your promo.

We once held a Bridal Gown Expo at a hotel. This got all the traders (and wives) up to stay at the hotel using the hall for free to display their wears. Room prices were on special (33% of normal rate) and meals were irresistible and at a fixed price. An ad went out in the local papers for girls to act as models for the bridal gowns as well as advertising the event itself. The girls brought mums, dads and boyfriends. Who all bought food and drink. Journalists covered the event and we could even have had the TV there if we had more marketing savvy or contacts. The day was a great success with promises were made for the event to be repeated annually and the locals go to know their hotel in a new light. Even though rooms are sold at 33% this still covers overheads and keeps people in job.

This formula can be repeated throughout the lean months. Car dealers, music festivals, solar panels, electric bicycles, holiday agents are always popular in rural areas - use your imagination...

Look at places like Ullapool in the Highlands - they are switched on as regards events that fill local B&Bs and utilise small local businesses.

WORD OF MOUTH

Its important you are known so make sure everyone in the local community knows WHO you are, WHAT you do and WHERE. This is a "platinum" phrase and we'll come back to it in Google optimisation. The WHO is the brand name e.g.: Granny's Heilan Cottage. The WHAT could be "guest house" or "hotel". The WHERE is your address and your web address. Could be a business card or flyer would be handy here.
Local people have brothers, mothers and family who will all come to visit and will need somewhere to stay - so its best that when they do come, the first place they are recommended is YOU!
If you are seasonal business, then out of season you could well be relying on local trade - so be nice to people and offer discounts.
In season if you are full up (ie a B&B) send ad hoc or "chance" visitors to your friends B&B down the road by phoning first "to see if they have space" - in other words remind them who send trade to their doorstep. They will reciprocate some day and your area will get a reputation for being helpful and amenable.

 

GEOGRAPHICS

More and more people these days are searching using maps. These are available on tablet and PC of course but the main development here is use of the mobile phone or mobile device to find a restaurant, taxi and somewhere to sleep.

Android offer VOICE SEARCH and other phones have their own version of this. SO its a relatively easy task if you have a phone to say .. find me a 4 star place to stay in Fort William. Your phone will then display what it thinks you are looking for. BUT .. where does the phone get its data? The answer is from Search Engines, Yellow Pages and Travel websites.

It therefore makes sense to list your business on all these kind of websites as it WONT generally happen by chance. The following are free.

Google Places
Bing Places
Yahoo! Listing
Yell

 

YOUR OWN WEBSITE

What ever website type you choose make sure you include :-

  • What you do, where you do it and how much you charge.
  • Also include the reason why potential guests would choose you over competitors; in other words your USP or Unique Selling Point.
  • Any awards you have won
  • Any trade organisations you are part of

There are loads of free on-line website creators - Wix, 1 and 1, Weebly, Moonfruit etc etc - just google free website creator.

However unless you are strapped for cash, its best to use an established professional company like us (calco uk) because with their years of experience they can advise you what to include on your website that's cost effective, and what not to bother with because its an expensive waste of time and distracting. They will also have a good knowledge of the regional markets or the global markets. They should be familiar with SEO (search engine optimisation) and SM (social Media) and be able to quote what percentage of your budget should be spent on Marketing vs Design and Implementation. (at least 30 per cent for marketing - although most customers spend most of their money initially on just their website)

Costs

  • Website Design (use the web company's template designs and save this cost entirely)
  • Website Construction
  • Extra Features (shop, data, booking etc)
  • SEO
  • Social Media
  • Domain
  • Hosting + Back-up
  • Changes (changes to initial design may be included in the quote - but three is generally the good will limit)

On-going costs

  • domain(s)
  • hosting + back-up
  • support
  • SEO
  • Social Media
  • Changes
  • Newsletter Marketing (Aweber or Mailchimp etc)

You now have to choose whether you want :-

a CONTENT MANAGED website (Wordpress, Joomla or Drupal etc)

a SHOP website - also called E-COMMERCE

a BROCHURE website - this is a website that tells people who you are, what you do and where you do it. You should also include an indication of what you charge for your services.

 

CONTENT MANAGED WEBSITES

If you cant afford to have a web company design a website, or want to MANAGE CONTENT (ie update your website regularly - at least once a month) you should consider WordPress. There are countless template** designs for WordPress and in fact there are more WordPress websites out there on the web than any other kind. Calco UK can set you up with a 99 pack which costs 99 pounds GBP and includes : -

  • WordPress Hosting
  • Domain Name
  • Template
  • Set-up
  • A control panel

If you decide to make a WordPress website it can take a while to learn so get a book or watch a you-tube video or two BEFORE you begin. Once built the website can of course be updated by you or anyone you designate at any time free of web agency fees. The self-updating aspect or CONTENT MANAGEMENT is usually why people choose Wordpress websites; NOT always because they are a cheaper option.

There are lots of UP-SIDES to WordPress now here is the DOWN-SIDE. If the webserver on which your website is hosted crashes ... you COULD lose your entire website. SO make sure your website is BACKED UP. This generally means PAID back-up which usually comes with a "PLUG-IN" and makes daily WordPress back-ups a breeze.

** The next downside is HACKING - WordPress can be easy to compromise. However you can avoid most problems by NEVER using free templates or plugins unless you check with a pro that they are "clean". Wordpress.org is a good source but might not be perfect by the time you read this. Also change the administrator LOGIN from ADMIN to anything else, something memorable and make a strong password.

 

SHOP / E-COMMERCE WEBSITES

There are four main approaches to e-commerce

Simply use the Ebay and Amazon framework. They get commission but you get their massive reach and a bullet-proof security system. Payment and money in general is handled by the company's (Ebay and Amazon) systems.

A managed environment where you add products to your shop using the e-commerce company's framework. The e-commerce company HOST the platform so you pay them by the number of products you have on their system. Typical companies are Volusion, Actinic and Shopify. Usually these companies employ PAYMENT GATEWAYS to handle the money side of things. Most now work on mobiles (small screens) and integrate with Social Media and Ebay, Amazon.

Scratch website. You install, build and maintain an e-commerce platform on your own hosting (server) and integrate a payment gateway. Typical solutions are OS Commerce, Agora, Zen Cart, Presta, Tomato Cart. These are all free frameworks and are very popular with budget operations - however if the shop breaks or stops working you will need to fix it in a hurry. All these shops are available from Calco UK on the 1-click install platform free* of charge. (individual companies may charge for advanced features).

Established E-Commerce software such as Sellerdeck and WooCommerce can look expensive when compared to free alternatives, however they have a support infrastructure which YOU WILL EVENTUALLY CALL UPON! Its good to know there is a safety net out there to get your shop up and running again in as short a time as possible.

Questions to ask yourself and the software vendor :-

Does the software handle well... coupons, shipping, tax, ad hoc discounts, laser scanners & point of sale electronics, printing, stock management, QR Codes, Payment Gateway Integration.

 

TYPICAL OR BROCHURE WEBSITES

A website INFORMS and if you have products ... SELLS. Its should do this to the maximum number of people possible in your particular SEGMENT or MARKET SECTOR.

Its important to realise that if you build a website ... no matter how beautiful it looks, if no one can find it then its useless. So it's worth thinking about this BEFORE you begin. At Calco UK Website Design we have been building websites for so long that we always think about site positioning in the current market (and up to three years from now) before final content and design is decided upon.

 

 

AVAILABILITY, BOOKING CHARTS & BOOKING SYSTEMS

Online availability can be provided by Wordpress Plugins or a simple Google Calendar.

Companies providing Booking charts with full or partial service are

eviivo Ltd

Freetobook

InnStyle (teaming up with Booking.com)

... just make sure they have channel partner management (LateRooms, Expedia etc) so you have a wider "reach" for selling your rooms.

 

DIY HOLIDAY COMPANY

Freetobook offer the option to amalgamate more than one property into a Two Centre, Three Centre, Multi Centre website. They will build the framework and run the bookings for you. You could even run your own Area Holiday Group

Simply call Freetobook and ask them to host a GROUP WEBSITE. For an example of what can be done have a look at Ayrshire B&B

 

CREDIT CARDS, DEBIT CARDS & MERCHANT ACCOUNTS

There is a package and deal to suit most accommodation vendors; small or not so small. Just remember that the credit card people are providing a service and as such you have to pay them. However you don't need to get ripped off with monthly charges and high transaction percentages / costs.

The cost you end up paying for the next maybe 20 years ... WILL depend on negotiation. The more turnover you have, the better your rate should be. NEVER accept the first number you bank offers, even if its your first Merchant Account. Point out your figures and the business plan (you did make one - right?) that refers to "taking credit card payments" If the card payments are all on the Bank's Gateway (and not on your own server) point out that their server is obviously secure and losses because of security will therefore be minimal.

How Payment Card Costs Work

When you apply to take cards you will be vetted for what is called a Merchant Account. If successful you can then get an on-line payments facility which will be charged at

  1. A monthly Rate
  2. Per item sold commission usually (transaction charges)

Support

Its handy to have someone to speak to when things go wrong, so make sure there is good support from the Bank you choose.

PayPal

PAYPAL are garnering customer respectability and are not perceived as something only ebay home-shops use. PayPal offer a simple version of a merchant account and gateway without any Monthly Fee but the charges per transaction are higher than average. 3.4% on Credit Cards and 20 pence on Debit Cards etc.

The PayPal chip n pin card reader (if you need one) is 49 pounds when on special offer or 99 pounds on general terms. It is genuinely handy if you are a more mobile business as the Card Reader (it looks like a small calculator) works with a smartphone app. Both can easily be carried about in your pocket.

Federation of Small Businesses (FSB)

The FSB is a good thing to join for any small business. There are discounts on Insurance and Card Services. Give them a call and ask about card payments and Merchant Services. 0808 20 20 888

 

Off-setting the Card Costs

You can always INCREASE THE VALUE of your product to off-set the cost of card companies. This means making the rooms more comfortable or giving guests better service. (Example : nice towels, better free broadband* - digital TV channels) So when you add a pound or two to the prices you still look like good value for money when compared with other accommodation in the area. In other words ... That don't mean your room rates should go up to such a degree that you make yourself uncompetitive. *Notice with free Broadband it is a one-off cost. If you offered nicer top brand soap, this would be an on-going extra cost for every room cleaning or bed change.

PCI DSS

 

Legal Alert. (the following is not legal advice - its our experience on-line and ONLY our opinion . Please treat it as such and ask your lawyer to clarify ANY and ALL legal aspects.

PCI DSS stands for : Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard ... so it pretty much does or is what it says in its title. Its an international standard that ALL users of credit card data and debit card data MUST adhere to. You too! So if you HOST your own payment form and therefore collect card numbers and personal data; you need to know this PCI DSS stuff inside and out and comply. However ...

To avoid all the hassle of personally dealing with PCI DSS you can get your Payments company to handle all the transactions so you never see the card numbers ... just the money going into your bank. A common example will be SAGEPAY. When a customer buys an item on YOUR website he stays on the website until CHECKOUT. Just before the card details are requested the browser / page skips over to the SAGEPAY SERVER and the line is secured. Your customer then enters the card details, the transaction is logged at SAGEPAY and the system then returns to YOUR website. All the secure stuff is handled by the Payment Provider which in this instance is SAGEPAY.

DATA PROTECTION

Remembering of course if you retain personal information about individual people you may have to also sign up to the Data Protection Act and register as a Data Controller at the ICO or Information Commissioner's Office. If you are not sure if you need to be registered (it currently costs 35 pounds GBP) you can take the Data Protection Registration : Self Assessment Test

 

GOOGLE and HTTPS - SECURE WEBSITES

Google announced in August 2014 that they want to encourage all websites to use secure browsing. At present this means acquiring an SSL certificate, installing it on your server and then referencing all pages by https (secure) rather than http (not secured). However this may not be the case in the future. We think that if HTTPS becomes universal, the security will be built into all servers and all browsers by default, obviating the necessity to buy SSL (secure server certificates) and eventually just using the web address without any http:// or https://
ref : https as ranking signal

 

YOUR NEWSLETTER, EMAIL MARKETING and BLOG

There are at least TWO excellent ways to get your "news" to people using a PUSH paradigm - that is you SEND information to a customer or potential customer, as opposed to them searching and PULLING information from the internet or phone / brochure themselves.

1) Mailshot : You design an engaging email with a message and compelling imagery

2) Twitter : Usually a short message broadcasting a single item, or offer. You can add an image or video (using Twitter's own image service Twitpic) which would be viewed separately.

As Twitter is discussed elsewhere we will concentrate on MAILSHOTSs.
You should use an EMAIL SERVICE to send your carefully STRUCTURED and REGULAR newsletter. DO NOT try to just send lots of emails from Outlook to everyone in your address book. For one thing your mail host probably wont let you, also its likely you will eventually get blacklisted for SPAMMING. Lastly, unless you are very clever, you will have no means of measuring your delivery, open rates and click rates; all essential in good marketing.

As the regularity of a newsletter is essential you may as well pay the companies below annually its cheaper. Customers will get used to receiving their newsletter on the first Monday of the month etc.

SERVICES

There are many email marketing companies on-line. Many do mixed marketing (email lists, facebook + twitter)

However These two send emails with easy to use templates and list management. Mailchimp is free as long as you keep your subscription list small.

Mailchimp : Great service - superb design features - statistics - easy to learn - can be FREE (12000 emails / 2000 subscribers / no autoresponder on freebie version) - cryptic click links possibly putting off click throughs - email support.

Aweber : Great Service - template based designs - statistics - good click through links - great support - good for affiliate marketing - 1 dollar trial period - 500 subscribers for "free" then 19 dollars per mo. for 500 subscribers.

Neither service tolerates spam or shady subject matter. Both services are great on email delivered to small screens like phones i.e. responsive design templates.

Both services offer the ability to prune contacts that dont open their email or bounce back. Its essential you keep your mailing lists fresh and accurate.

 

BUILDING YOUR EMAIL LIST

NOTE: YOU CANNOT BUY A LIST OF ALL UK BUSINESSES FROM THE WEB AND JUST SEND THEM EMAIL!

You must ask people you know or do business with to subscribe (ie sign up on-line) to your newsletter and then curate your lists responsibly. You can however offer something in return for Newsletter sign-up. Usually this will be a :- special offer, competition or a coupon code for money off.

The best way to entice people to sign up for your Newsletter is to put good content in it. If people read a good Newsletter they will WANT another one. The test is "Would I pay for this?"

Any one who you have BUSINESS contact with is a prospect and should go on your email list or one of your email lists. If someone stays at your accommodation you should make a note of their email address and ask them if they would like to be kept informed about SPECIAL DEALS like Autumn Breaks, Spring Weekends, Hogmanay Packages etc.

 

SEO and SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION

Calco have produced numerous articles on SEO - you can find the basics : Calco UK Guide to SEO

Calco have also written a very good guide on What NOT to do in SEO

CHINA

At last count there were, well a LOT of people in China (1.35 billion) and even a small percentage of Chinese people represents a LOT of visitors to Scotland. The bad news is that Chinese visitors like to stick to SE Asia. The good news is that they represent the highest spend per head while on holiday of ALL countries. It therefore makes sense to be at least prepared for Chinese visitors and have some basic Chinese marketing.

Ref: China: Market Statistics - 1.1 mb pdf (Visit Scotland Nov 2013)

Ref : China: Consumer Research - 1.3 mb pdf (Visit Scotland Oct 2013)

You can of course rely on Google for your SEO when marketing to China and some people correctly point out that those Chinese people coming to Scotland will almost invariably speak some English however ...

One of the the biggest search engines used regularly in China is Baidu 百度- it has 500 million users, It makes sense to present your website to this engine too. It is in Chinese with all those attendant difficulties if you dont speak the language.


SOCIAL MEDIA ( "look at me" websites)

There are loads of social media websites and will probably be more in the very near future. However by far and away the two most popular (and therefore effective) are Facebook and Twitter. We will ignore YouTube.com for the time being as making GOOD video demands skill and time.

Because Twitter and Facebook are SO different in set-up and operation we have described them below individually. However essentially they are for broadcasting information so the question at some point is going to arise ... What do I say on Facebook or "tweet" on Twitter. Remembering that the objective is to SELL we have to write down as simply as possible .. Your Product Description and why people should "buy" into it rather than someone else's offering. In marketing speak ... A VALUE PROPOSITION.

So if you have a bed and breakfast that is near to a golf course, it makes sense to post a message on Social Media that the "British Open" is only a few miles from your accommodation this year. (and put the price up for the period of the championship).

If there is a local festival like Up Helly AA or an especially low tide, a magical sunset or just some new lambs in a field next door; why not take a picture with your phone / camera and pop that on Facebook with some keyword rich text to accompany the picture and a link to your website. You have to remember that what you find commonplace could be a selling point to a visitor.

You should also be aware that an image is worth a 1000 words. They grab attention and if the visitor is interested in the topic of the photo they are immediately engaged without having to read through paragraphs of text. On Facebook at least ... ALWAYS go for the visual rather than words

If you are not sure what to "POST" to Twitter or on Facebook then why not look at what the competition is doing and emulate the good parts of their on-line marketing strategy. We usually advise our clients to pretend to be going on holiday to a destination that is similar in location (rural, urban, seaside, mountains, theme, cruise etc) but in another country or part of the country. That way you put yourself in the shoes of someone who wants to come to YOUR village or town and you will encounter both good and bad aspects of what other people think is important to post on Social Media webs sites. A lot of which you will hopefully reject as irrelevant; but some little jewels of ideas that you can utilise in your own posts.

Twitter - www.twitter.com (free sign up)

Twitter is a PUSH PARADIGM that is... people sign up to your channel and get information (special offers and the like) PUSHED to them automatically as and when you broadcast the information. This makes it IMMEDIATE and why it is so beloved of NEWS people and the media in general.

For your accommodation unit (hotel, B&B Self Catering etc.) you should set up a TWITTER ACCOUNT at Twitter.com and try to get a user name that reflects the title of your business or the type of business. For example our business is called "Calco UK Ltd" and out Twitter handle is @UKCalco - the @ sign (or AT SIGN) denotes a twitter address or name. Remember that your Twitter Name has "juice" when it comes to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) so using your business sector as a Twitter Name can sometimes help. Twitter Messages or Tweets are only 140 characters so don't use a LONG Twitter name as it counts towards your 140 character quota in replies. Twitter limits your name to 15 characters anyway.

It goes without saying that you can only have a Twitter Name that no one else has already chosen.

To reference your Twitter PAGE in an article use www.twitter.com/ and then add your Twittername without the @ sign. For example Calco UK's Twitter page is at www.twitter.com/UKCalco

 

Facebook - www.facebook.com (free sign up)

YOU NEED TO HAVE A PERSONAL FACEBOOK ACCOUNT FOR MOST FACEBOOK MARKETING AND AVERTISING SO SIGN UP FIRST BEFORE SETTING UP ADS AND BUSINESS PAGES.

Facebook is an essential tool for the modern accommodation provider (and most other businesses).

STATS : You should read this because Facebook marketing can be aimed at specific age groups and even if you dont run Facebook Adverts, knowing the age make-up of your audience or potential audience is important.

You may not be aware that Facebook is a primary resource for many people when it comes to "checking out" people or "stuff" on the web. However ... the demographic profile of facebook is changing and 6 million teen aged people left Facebook int he past three years (this was written in 2014). Many of whom went to Twitter, Instagram and SnapChat. In the same period Facebook added 10.8 million adults in the 25 to 34 demographic, a growth of 32.6 percent. In the 35 to 54-year-old demographic, Facebook experienced a 41.4 percent growth, adding 16.4 million new users. The biggest growth came among adults over the age of 55. Facebook added 12.4 million new users.

This means that if you have a guest house in a rural area miles from a town - you might benefit from knowing that Facebook has a lot of people regularly visiting it who are over the age of 55.

We already have an in depth guide to Setting up a Facebook Business Page - At the time of writing most people use the PROPERTY TYPE "HOTEL" when signing up as there is no specific designation B&B, Guest House etc.

 

YOUR CUSTOMERS' FACEBOOK PAGES

Some of the best photos you can get will be taken by your customers so keep in touch with them once they have left and ask them if its okay to "lift" photos from THEIR Facebook page to put into your website or SHARE on YOUR Facebook page. You can also ask them to put a link to your website if they enjoyed themselves so their friends can find out more about your accommodation without hassling anyone.

 

FACEBOOK ADVERTISING

This is the page where Facebook explain their Pricing Model and types of "BIDDING" There are several really good videos on here. These are worth watching as the first time advertiser is usually confused by the Bid / ad type / Pricing Model setup on Facebook.

TERMS USED:

IMPRESSIONS : The advert is SHOWN on a page - its does NOT need to be clicked for you to have to pay! Sold in 1000s

ACTIONS : When a visitor to a website sees your ad and makes an action like downloading an app, Adds a LIKE, clicks a special offer link etc.

CONVERSIONS : Someone who clicks on an ad and BUYS something or does something. ie Your ad converts a click to a purchase.

CLICKS : The advert must be CLICKED ON for you to have to pay. You pay nothing if its shown (ie an impression) 1000s of times - only each time someone clicks on it. Sold per click.

BID : To maximise profit and also help you optimise your budget for advertising Facebook (like Google) run a BID SYSTEM where you set the highest price you are willing to pay (ie bid) against anyone else advertising in the same sector(s).

Facebook (Like Google Adwords) offer advertising. Facebook Advertising Set-up Its important to choose your target audience carefully and Facebook offer a fair bit of advice in this area. Facebooks advert GRANULARITY of PLACEMENT (Facebook call this micro-targeting) can be much finer than Google, however the Facebook ads are paid for in one of FOUR ways:-

  1. Cost per mille or cost per 1000 (CPM): Best for getting people to view your ad or establishing a new brand
  2. Cost per click (CPC): Best for getting people to click your ad
  3. Optimised cost per mille (oCPM): Best for showing your ad to the people who are most likely to take action on your ad. For example, liking your Page or clicking a link
  4. Cost per action (CPA): When available, this bid type is best for getting people to take action on your ad. For example, liking your Page or clicking a link

Facebook Bid Types
Click the image to watch the Facebook Bid Explanation Video

 

COUPON and SPECIAL OFFER SITES

These sites offer two tried and tested methods of using INCENTIVES to sell products:-

  • Coupon-Money-Off Deal
  • Special Offers

Go online to each of the websites sign up and create special offers, remembering that you may get an overwhelming response to your coupon or offer so make sure the numbers remain profitable and that you can handle the bookings / purchases etc

These websites are good for YOU as a TRADER to promote your business However as a VISITOR they tend not to give you the discount until you sign up to the website. They then grab your email address if you are signing up for the offer and then sometimes and mysteriously that email is used for other "offers" that you did not request. It makes sense then to use a secondary email address (aka disposable email address) There are loads of these sites springing up but here is Wowcher and Groupon and a few others to get started.

Wowcher -
Groupon -
Deal Monster -
Living Social -
GoGroopie - `
KGB Deals -

GOOGLE PAY PER CLICK - ADWORDS - PPC

Adwords by Google Page

Adwords Adverts should be placed AHEAD OF when bookings are low. This suggests you will require a crystal ball to see into the future to a time when bookings a slipping off, however if you have been trading for a few years, checking the bank statements, Sage, or just the bookings charts will all tell you ROUGHLY when the tourist seasons peak and ebb. There are 12 weeks peak with 6 weeks either side that could be 100% occupancy. Then Easter, Christmas and New Year. Also Spring Breaks (April) on short sell and similarly Autumn Gold mini breaks. Outside of these well established EASY times are the more difficult sells and you will need a "sharp" price or large incentive to get people to book. Once you have established what to offer to get people to come (skiing, whisky festival, jazz weekend, taichi and yoga weekend, book festival, golf, kayaking, gay weekends etc) you can think about constructing your adword advert and HOW MUCH you want to allocate as a budget.

For those who are unfamiliar with Adwords and PPC here is how Wikipedia describes it ...

Google AdWords is an online advertising service that places advertising copy at the top or bottom of, or beside, the list of results Google displays for a particular search query. The choice and placement of the ads is based in part on a proprietary determination of the relevance of the search query to the advertising copy.

AdWords offers pay-per-click, that is, cost-per-click (CPC) advertising, cost-per-thousand-impressions or cost-per-mille (CPM) advertising, and site-targeted advertising for text, banner, and rich-media ads.

The AdWords program includes local, national, and international distribution.

Google's text advertisements are short, consisting of one headline of 25 characters and two additional text lines of 35 characters each. Image ads can be one of several different Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) standard sizes.

Use KEYWORDS in the advert and avoid BEST, CHEAPEST etc in the ad as Google wont place it unless under exceptional circumstances. Using popular keywords will get your ad placed lots of times, however because these keywords are sought after by all the other accommodation advertisers, they are VERY costly per click in low bookings times of the year.

Your ad should grab attention and give a reason to click.

Your adwords campaign should be measured and clicks on specific ads counted to see which ones work and which ones dont. The results when analysed should reveal which ads are worth money and generate bookings - and which ones are just time costly time-wasters.

Adwords design and the placing thereof is an art and as such you may wish to get help the first time or two you place ads.

Note well .. that EVERYONE else is placing ads in the low seasons to boost bookings so competition for the best slots and keywords will be touch (expensive)

ADWORDS is a large and complex subject so you should try it out on a small scale and then read about it on-line and watch a few videos. Google themselves provide some of the best learning materials as of course they WANT you to learn how to do Adwords and generate revenue for them. Adwords by Google Link

PPC by Bing

Microsoft's Search Engine BING also offer a system similar to Google's Adwords called Bing Ads.

Hackers, Spam & Viruses

FREE ANTI SPAM SOFTWARE is Desktop One. Its effective and simple to use. Multiple accounts requires the paid-for version.

FREE ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE is Microsoft Security Essentials. Great basic Anti-Virus Package and Firewall. You MUST update this software daily .

HACKERS
It is VERY important to make sure your computer and therefore your business is protected from Hackers, Spam and Viruses. Make no mistake if your email password is the name of your football team or a combination of your name and a date of birth - you WILL get hacked and if you use the latter you have also given away your date of birth.

If you are setting up Wordpress DONT use the word ADMIN as the user. Simply use another name and set the role or privilege to admin. This will stop 99 per cent of WP Hacks.

DATE OF BIRTH
Facebook, Social Media and Insurance Comparison sites: Sites that ask for your date of birth (DOB) need to be considered carefully. On the one hand its lovely on Facebook that everyone says Happy Birthday once a year, on the other hand its not so lovely when you are giving away KEY DATA in the form of you DOB to hackers and criminals. Perhaps one should have TWO birthdays like the Queen .. one for Social Media and another (real one) for legal documents.

You may wish to note that Insurance companies however would frown on FAKE dates of birth and in fact I would think it's Fraud. So if you use a fake DOB on an Insurance comparison website, ultimately your insurance would be void if you buy from this website as you have provided your insurer with fake information - you can also expect a call from the police. So be careful about who you give information to and to what purposes these websites use your "Mother's Maiden Name" or "Favourite Pet".

SPAM
If you send out lots of advertising emails about your product or service to people you don't know - its spam. It is an offence and it is frowned upon by internet providers. If you get caught you will be blacklisted and all you email spam or otherwise will be rejected by anyone using anti-spam software.

DO NOT purchase a spreadsheet of all the business email addresses of Managers and Directors in the UK.

If you do need to send out email in bulk

a) use a disposable email address set up specifically for the purpose from a large company that offers free email addresses.

b) use a paid service like Aweber or Mailchimp

You getting Spam.
If you sign up for a competition of a special deal or money off coupon - its NOT a good idea to use you real email address. The people running these competitions are probably harvesting email addresses along with your address (for the prize delivery) and your name. Try to use a disposable one. Mailinator does this very well.

Monitor the Spammers
Some people use a unique email address for EVERY sign-up. That way when the spam starts flowing you know EXACTLY who started it and who they sold your data on to. So you might have product-tester99@hotmail.com when signing up for Product-Tester-Guys.com The you know when the spam starts flowing into this account it was Product-Tester-Guys that did it to you.

Calco Pages about Spam

Avoid being a Spammer

How to get off a spam list

 

VIRUSES - Don't click on a link in an email!

Usually the way these things work is that the virus sends out emails when no one is looking to around 50 people in the host address book.

The email will be from a well know company like a BANK or a SHIPPING COMPANY and will request you click the link to "SIGN IN" If you sign in not only do you get infected with the virus; it will scan your hard drive for passwords and store your "log-in" credentials to whatever Bank or Shipping Service you clicked.

 

The virus then sends out 50 more emails of a similar form when no one is looking to people in your ADDRESS BOOK.

These people in turn open the emails (unless they are security aware and know about such things) and become infected. Sometimes it can take three months for the virus to activate, thus making the source of the infection difficult.

Normally you would NEVER open an attachment in an email you

  1. Don’t expect i.e. from the tax man, amazon, UPS or BT etc.
  2. Open an email from obvious fraudsters or prize offers
  3. Click on ANY link within ANY email unless you just registered for something or its from an expected source.

If you DO need to click on a link .. DON’T!

Stop and think about how best to react. Usually you would go to Amazon or BT or whatever and log in manually using a browser that you started yourself and NOT from a link in an email.  You would then navigate to the required part of the website and perform any actions requested by the company.
Generally large companies (Amazon, Ebay etc) will have an email address called abuse@ then the name of the company to which you can send emails asking if something is genuine.
However the fraud gangs are clever and getting cleverer. Just be vigilant.

Modern criminals may already have been to your Facebook page to check out your habits and personal details and then create a tailor made have ... just for you!


We can do it for you!

If after reading the above you feel somewhat overwhelmed you can call Calco on 01599 534964 and simply tell us to do it all for you. We do all the above, all day, every day for customers world-wide.

TOP

 

Why SEO?

Do I need Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Marketing? YES! Without it a new website will NOT be found. Making a beautiful new website without bothering about SEO is like having 10,000 brochures printed and keeping them under your bed instead of distributing them. The goad of SEO is to make Google and Bing place YOUR website at the top of the listings for the relevant KEYWORDS of your choice. It can take upwards of 18 months for a new website to be fully integrated into Google's Search Database.

WEBSITE

A good website will contain high quality pictures of the rooms and exterior of the property in its "setting". The text should be concise, honest and relevant. Pricing should be easy to find and on-line booking is preferred for hotels. The website should be "responsive" to all sizes of screens and be optimised for Google. Navigatiion should be simple and again "responsive"

DISPOSABLE EMAIL ACCOUNTS

Its sometimes a very good idea NOT to use your Primary Email Address when signing up to marketing websites. In such cases you would use a SECONDARY email account. My favourites are Google's GMAIL and Yahoo Mail

 

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