Recently an innkeeper told me; “I used to blog but I never got any comments back, so I stopped”. That may have been a reason or concern in 2007 but not today. In this blog about blogging (say that three times fast!) I will quote some internet gurus on the subject. As you may know I write most of The B&B Team blogs and have found I really enjoy it, more than I thought I would. I enjoy the research and creative process of writing. But I get my technical advice from techy angels. Those great behind the scenes people who make the show happen. In our case it is Shawn Kerr from Inside Out Solutions.
In a recent ‘blog about blogging’ from Shawn: “Blogging is still the best way for many businesses to generate fresh, quality content for website visibility in organic search.” This is the precise reason to blog today. Comments may come or not.
From another guru Tess Wittler: “Search engines, such as Google, love and reward you for having fresh, original content on your website.”
Another good reason to blog: “Customers get to know you, and because of this, you are setting yourself apart from the competition”, another quote from Tess Wittler. Another bit of advice innkeepers need to understand when they choose a subject to blog about is to hard sell your area and soft sell your Inn.
A great example of a good Inn blog is the Maine Stay Inn & Cottages. Their most recent postings were about the fall weather, food with pumpkin as a main ingredient, and yes there is one about the Inn.
“In honor of National Country Inn and Bed and Breakfast Day, Hotels.com compiled a list of their favorite B&Bs across the nation, and we were so excited to find the Maine Stay Inn on that list! Their article “10 Charming American Bed & Breakfasts Around the US”.
Yeah, it is OK to toot your own horn on occasion. But the rest of the blog talks about why Maine bed and breakfasts in general are special, not just the Maine Stay Inn. Another plus for them is they blog often, already six postings in October and it is only the 17th as I sit here composing. Their SEO engines are hummin’!
To conclude I will quote Shawn again. He says that …’smaller, niche businesses and organizations have a growing opportunity to get their content out to search engine users when they put in the necessary discipline and follow best practices in their effort.’ ‘Best practices’ is the techy part you may need help with. Hopefully your website provider can give you guidance. If not find it someplace else. There are webinars you can sign up for from companies like Inside Out Solutions and Acorn Internet Services.
Small niche businesses like your bed and breakfast need all the visibility you can generate. Bogging is a great tool to get your word out and be heard, and it is fun, really.
Thanks for Listening,
Janet Wolf
