GEORGE Posted October 1, 2006 Share Posted October 1, 2006 Hello everyone we have just started up a B&B in Normandy & have a village cottage for summer rentalwe have had a very busy July & August of mainly french guestsWe are now wondering whether having our own website would widen our market & increase business for the following year.I was hoping that fellow gite owners could offer advise as to whether internet advertising on holiday sites is sufficient or whether personnel websites create more business.We have had a very positive response from our guests & it has been suggested that having our own website would promote our accomadation more effectively.If anyone can recommend a good web design company this would be most appreciated plus information on set up costs site maintenance etc thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted October 1, 2006 Share Posted October 1, 2006 As an occasional user of B&Bs, I have to say that I would always choose one that had its own website, that would show me pictures of the accommodation, the setting of the house etc. Nothing fancy; no bells or whistles. Just a few straightforward images, plus of course an up-to-date price list.Angela Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted October 2, 2006 Share Posted October 2, 2006 Where in Normandy are you? We swap our overflow with our neighbouring B&Bs but none of them are English speaking, which is what some of our clients prefer. Anywhere near Alençon? Also, if you are to the north, near the channel ports, we are sometimes asked to recommend places in that direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceni Posted October 2, 2006 Share Posted October 2, 2006 [quote user="GEORGE"]If anyone can recommend a good web design company this would be most appreciated plus information on set up costs site maintenance etc thanks[/quote]Self promotion is not permitted on this forum so have sent you a pm.Johnand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Riff-Raff Element Posted October 2, 2006 Share Posted October 2, 2006 A personal website is a must to provide potential guests with maximuminformation. They are not difficult to build - if a chimpanzee like mecan build and maintain one, anyone can - but a good designer willobviously do a better job.We get a few bookings directly by people finding our site throughsearch engines, though most people find it because someone tells themabout it or via a link from a listing site.Don't get hung up on getting your own website high up on the Google (orwhatever) rankings. There are plenty of companies that "guarantee" toget you a first page ranking. This is very easy provided that thesearcher enters your name, the name of your business and the village itis in, but quite a bit more tricky if they enter "B&B France" forexample. These people are charlatans and should not be encouraged, soon no account give them money. Instead, enter the sort of searchparameters that you would hope your visitors might use and see which listing sites (Visit France, French Connections, whatever) do well and buy some space on one of those. That's what I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GEORGE Posted October 4, 2006 Author Share Posted October 4, 2006 thankyou to posters & to those sending private messages.Some recommendations from other gite or B&B owner would be nice!we are located in South Manche near to Le Mont St Michel & therefore have alot of summer business but alot of competition as well! we feel a website would promote us better as we also run a small farm & our guests have loved seeing our baby goats ducklings & piglets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted October 6, 2006 Share Posted October 6, 2006 I think how much of your business you can expect to get DIRECTLY from your website depends on how well you can optimise your site and target your market with keywords that are unique and relevant to you. This can be very difficult if you are in an area where there is no obvious town or site that people that will put into a search engine to find you or if there are dozens of others using the same hooks. We get 31% of our business from direct hits on our site through search engines, 27% WOM and referrals, 7% GDF, 7% repeat (we are still in our first full year), 14% other specific sources and 15% that I haven't identified. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apero Posted October 7, 2006 Share Posted October 7, 2006 [quote user="GEORGE"] We are now wondering whether having our own website would widen our market & increase business for the following year.[/quote]Without a boubt.George not all marketing costs £££ you obviously are doing ok thus far, but could do better, excuse me please, your own w-site will be the deal breaker for potential guests- who can view your property therein with delightful unlimited photographs and text off your choosing; which highlights your rental above others in the surrounding area. It is your oppourtunity to sell them the holiday of their dreams for the cost off a personal w-site. You get the enquiries from your listings and you + your w-site will convert enquiries into bookings. Best of luck with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GEORGE Posted October 17, 2006 Author Share Posted October 17, 2006 hi everyonewell i have taken your advise and we have just had our website designedwe are really pleased with the results especially as it is in english & french Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 Can we have a look? [:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GEORGE Posted October 18, 2006 Author Share Posted October 18, 2006 Certainly Cassis www.vacationnormandy.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 Very nice George [:D] And you got it done so quickly!!Could I just make a couple of comments about the site? Firstly, you talk about the tarifs for evening meals and give examples (which sound very nice) but you don't actually say anywhere how much they cost.Secondly, one of the reasons that it was felt you should have a website was that people like to see pictures of places before they book - especially the bedrooms. You don't appear to have an external picture of the main house - presumably the two storey photo you have is of the gite as you say that the B&B is a longere. Sometimes people find our B&B on sites where we don't have links to our own website and they always ask me if there is somewhere they can find some more photos of our place before they book. I have a couple of pages showing all our bedrooms, the dining room, the living room an external photo of the house, one of the terrace area and a view from the garden. I'm not saying I've got a perfect site (I built it myself so it's nowhere near perfect [;-)]) However, people do tell me it gives them all the information they wanted before making a reservation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 Well done George (Helen?). The site is very neat and easy to navigate.I particularly like the pictures of your guests at the top of the page.One thing - check the spelling of Loisirs et Activités on your French Links menu bar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 Have you submitted your site to the search engines yet? Quicker way to get noticed. At the minute MSN, Yahoo and Google don't know about your site.Add your URL to GoogleAdd your URL to MSNSubmit your site to YahooOnly takes a few minutes and it's more reliable than waiting for them to stumble across you or find you via a link from another site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GEORGE Posted October 18, 2006 Author Share Posted October 18, 2006 thank you for your comments glad you like 'the guests' Cassissite has only be running for a few days so still a few adjustmants to be made especially on french translation the site was introduced to google on tuesday i have sumbitted to other search engines today ( thanks cassis)we only have 2 pictures on each page so that the pages dont look too busy re tarifs for evening meals these can change ( want to reduce site maintenance costs) plus we do have seasonal offers too most guests tend to book evening meal without asking the price but we always offer this to guests who make a booking & quote tarifs then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 Fair enough! I like your "guests" at the top of the page too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 Looks excellent - good photography makes a big difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GEORGE Posted October 19, 2006 Author Share Posted October 19, 2006 thankyou Dickit is really good to get feed back- friends & family like it but their opinion tends to be biased i must add this was a stressful process working on the text & photos for 10 days but well worth itthe problem i have found on paid listings is that the set up doesnt suit our accomadtion i;e endlass tick boxes for sauna indoor heated poll etc square meterage of rooms!A individual website is more personnal- we will just have to see what potentail guests think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimportequoi Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 It is still worth going with the paid listing sites as most reputable ones have very good search engine ratings for the top search words used by potential customers. Even though you have your own website, it is unlikely that it will be found straight away on google! I think your site looks very nice, but a few more photos would be very useful - people like to see everything (with the possible exception of the toilet) these days![:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 Following from what SusanAH says, if you are looking for a paid listing site, try doing a Google search as if you were looking for a B&B/ guest house/ chambre d'hote in your area and see which sites come up under the natural results. What terms you use depend whether you are going for UK, French, Chinese or whatever markets.We have had 150 bookings directly from our website this year, through people making Google or Yahoo searches and hitting us directly, so it is worth doing what you have done. If possible make sure the paid listing links to your own site, as well. We get a lot through Gites de France that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted October 20, 2006 Share Posted October 20, 2006 Very nice site George! Easy to navigate, and not too memory-hungry. It should bring you lots of customers.Just a couple of things I would like to have known and didn't seem to find:Cost of table-d'hote evening meal, andInformation on heating (could only see something about woodburner in gite, but not sure if that was the only source of heat for out-of-season visitors...)Angela Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWINKLE Posted October 20, 2006 Share Posted October 20, 2006 I think GEORGE is respecting the no advertising policy on here Angela - why don't you pm him for those sort of details otherwise he's going to get into trouble like I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco Posted October 20, 2006 Share Posted October 20, 2006 I think Angela is just offering "constructive criticism" on the site rather than actually needing to know those things Twinkle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GEORGE Posted October 20, 2006 Author Share Posted October 20, 2006 Hi again we do have & will continue to have paid listingsat present we have french & english/american sitesthe french site has brought us 95% of our business ( mainly french & belgium guests) but we would like to attract other nationalities due to different holiday periods Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thebiga Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Hi GeorgeTry Lee at cinqpages.com He has just done on for us and a very good price to.Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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