BedandBreakfast.com Review Widget launched

[JBanczak]

John,
I placed your widget on my homepage thinking "oh, this is great". Then I acted like a prospective guest and clicked on "more" to read the rest of the review. Here's where the problem comes in. It take the prospective guest AWAY from my website because there is no option to have it open on a new window or target page. There is no way I want to display it when it will take away prospective guests that I've worked hard to get onto my website and bring them directly to bandb.com.
How can I get it to open onto a new page and not leave my homepage sometimes to never find me again?!?!?!.

John,
I placed your widget on my homepage thinking "oh, this is great". Then I acted like a prospective guest and clicked on "more" to read the rest of the review. Here's where the problem comes in. It take the prospective guest AWAY from my website because there is no option to have it open on a new window or target page. There is no way I want to display it when it will take away prospective guests that I've worked hard to get onto my website and bring them directly to bandb.com.
How can I get it to open onto a new page and not leave my homepage sometimes to never find me again?!?!?!

That would be incredibly difficult to do actually. We would need to feed you the entire content feed, then you would need to have either a page, or pages setup to handle it, and then you would need to go in and write your own html to point the links to whatever page you were hosting them on.
The large version has a lot more info on it - you could do a full-page. There are still links though. Right now only about 1 in 100 people who see the widget click on it. I get the sense that folks see the rating, see a few words of the review, and think "they get unbiased reviews on a major website - good enough for me..." without needing to click through.
Part of having them click through to BB.com is that folks can then verify that indeed the reviews are for real and came from the website.
If you really didn't want to do this, you could just cut and paste the entire text of the review and put it on your website - nothing wrong with that as long as somewhere you say it came from bb.com. Probably be easier than building out a complicated link structure in any case.
.

Maybe I'm missing something as I haven't played with the feeds yet, but couldn't the "read more" link just have target="somename" specified so it opens in a new window?
.

Maybe I'm missing something as I haven't played with the feeds yet, but couldn't the "read more" link just have target="somename" specified so it opens in a new window?

On who's site?
.

On whoever's site has the widget.
.

On whoever's site has the widget.

If it spawns a pop-up though, and it is on someone else's site - they would have to build it. Believe me - I'm more than happy to feed all the review data - we do it with Google/Uptake/Vast.com/Nileguide and a bunch other.
.

No I mean the new window would still go to your site to see the entire review, but when they close the window, they would still be at the original B&B's website.
.

No I mean the new window would still go to your site to see the entire review, but when they close the window, they would still be at the original B&B's website.

Ah - I see - just have it spawn a pop-up. Obviously any website can code it that way themselves - do you think it would make sense for us to have that be the default vs. the default being in-line? I really don't care either way - typically best practice is keep it in-line, but if the feedback is that folks would rather spawn a pop-up window, and we can code it that way - it will be done next week.
.

I should probably see an example before I go shooting my mouth off suggesting a change to something I've never seen. Do you have one in place that I can look at?
.

I should probably see an example before I go shooting my mouth off suggesting a change to something I've never seen. Do you have one in place that I can look at?

You can see a bunch of examples on our demo property site here. http://www.thehillcountryinn.com/.
On the rooms rate page there is the large horizontal which seems to be the most common. At last check, there were 120 properties live already, but I don't have access to the list from home.
.

Yes after looking at the sample and NW BB's I would suggest that at least all links within the widget contain a target destination like target="bandb" so that it opens in a new window but doesn't spawn multiple windows like target="_blank" would do. A better approach would be a nice javascript controlled popup window. There is no risk of it not working due to people having javascript turned off, because the widget already requires javascript.
.

Yes after looking at the sample and NW BB's I would suggest that at least all links within the widget contain a target destination like target="bandb" so that it opens in a new window but doesn't spawn multiple windows like target="_blank" would do. A better approach would be a nice javascript controlled popup window. There is no risk of it not working due to people having javascript turned off, because the widget already requires javascript.

I don't think that will be a problem - just talked to Eric and Sandy and they agree. We'll do it this week and get new code out there providing the tech guys don't find something we miss, which I doubt. Thanks for the feedback everyone!
.

Thanks John for fixing this. And thank you Swirt for being able to translate for us! What a great resource you are!
.

Thanks John for fixing this. And thank you Swirt for being able to translate for us! What a great resource you are!

Yes thanks Swirt - appreciate it!
btw - I get asked all the time about how to generate more reviews. Here is an email we got on Thursday. (I got their permission to quote them just so you know)
After the HAT meeting in Aug, I decided that I had procrastinated long enough about implementing a thank you letter that included the review link. I drafted a letter and called support to help me set up the auto delivery function in RezGT. So simple, what was I worried about? The results: At the end of August, we had 24 BandB.com reviews. My lofty goal was to have 50 reviews by Dec 1. Well, the response has been tremendous! I reached my 50 reviews goal by November 1 and yesterday hit the century mark with 102 reviews. Fabulous! - Amy - Inn Above Onion Creek

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

John,
I placed your widget on my homepage thinking "oh, this is great". Then I acted like a prospective guest and clicked on "more" to read the rest of the review. Here's where the problem comes in. It take the prospective guest AWAY from my website because there is no option to have it open on a new window or target page. There is no way I want to display it when it will take away prospective guests that I've worked hard to get onto my website and bring them directly to bandb.com.
How can I get it to open onto a new page and not leave my homepage sometimes to never find me again?!?!?!.

John,
I placed your widget on my homepage thinking "oh, this is great". Then I acted like a prospective guest and clicked on "more" to read the rest of the review. Here's where the problem comes in. It take the prospective guest AWAY from my website because there is no option to have it open on a new window or target page. There is no way I want to display it when it will take away prospective guests that I've worked hard to get onto my website and bring them directly to bandb.com.
How can I get it to open onto a new page and not leave my homepage sometimes to never find me again?!?!?!

That would be incredibly difficult to do actually. We would need to feed you the entire content feed, then you would need to have either a page, or pages setup to handle it, and then you would need to go in and write your own html to point the links to whatever page you were hosting them on.
The large version has a lot more info on it - you could do a full-page. There are still links though. Right now only about 1 in 100 people who see the widget click on it. I get the sense that folks see the rating, see a few words of the review, and think "they get unbiased reviews on a major website - good enough for me..." without needing to click through.
Part of having them click through to BB.com is that folks can then verify that indeed the reviews are for real and came from the website.
If you really didn't want to do this, you could just cut and paste the entire text of the review and put it on your website - nothing wrong with that as long as somewhere you say it came from bb.com. Probably be easier than building out a complicated link structure in any case.
.

Maybe I'm missing something as I haven't played with the feeds yet, but couldn't the "read more" link just have target="somename" specified so it opens in a new window?
.

Maybe I'm missing something as I haven't played with the feeds yet, but couldn't the "read more" link just have target="somename" specified so it opens in a new window?

On who's site?
.

On whoever's site has the widget.
.

On whoever's site has the widget.

If it spawns a pop-up though, and it is on someone else's site - they would have to build it. Believe me - I'm more than happy to feed all the review data - we do it with Google/Uptake/Vast.com/Nileguide and a bunch other.
.

No I mean the new window would still go to your site to see the entire review, but when they close the window, they would still be at the original B&B's website.
.

No I mean the new window would still go to your site to see the entire review, but when they close the window, they would still be at the original B&B's website.

Ah - I see - just have it spawn a pop-up. Obviously any website can code it that way themselves - do you think it would make sense for us to have that be the default vs. the default being in-line? I really don't care either way - typically best practice is keep it in-line, but if the feedback is that folks would rather spawn a pop-up window, and we can code it that way - it will be done next week.
.

I should probably see an example before I go shooting my mouth off suggesting a change to something I've never seen. Do you have one in place that I can look at?
.

I should probably see an example before I go shooting my mouth off suggesting a change to something I've never seen. Do you have one in place that I can look at?

You can see a bunch of examples on our demo property site here. http://www.thehillcountryinn.com/.
On the rooms rate page there is the large horizontal which seems to be the most common. At last check, there were 120 properties live already, but I don't have access to the list from home.
.

Yes after looking at the sample and NW BB's I would suggest that at least all links within the widget contain a target destination like target="bandb" so that it opens in a new window but doesn't spawn multiple windows like target="_blank" would do. A better approach would be a nice javascript controlled popup window. There is no risk of it not working due to people having javascript turned off, because the widget already requires javascript.
.

Yes after looking at the sample and NW BB's I would suggest that at least all links within the widget contain a target destination like target="bandb" so that it opens in a new window but doesn't spawn multiple windows like target="_blank" would do. A better approach would be a nice javascript controlled popup window. There is no risk of it not working due to people having javascript turned off, because the widget already requires javascript.

I don't think that will be a problem - just talked to Eric and Sandy and they agree. We'll do it this week and get new code out there providing the tech guys don't find something we miss, which I doubt. Thanks for the feedback everyone!
.

Thanks John for fixing this. And thank you Swirt for being able to translate for us! What a great resource you are!
.

Thanks John for fixing this. And thank you Swirt for being able to translate for us! What a great resource you are!

Yes thanks Swirt - appreciate it!
btw - I get asked all the time about how to generate more reviews. Here is an email we got on Thursday. (I got their permission to quote them just so you know)
After the HAT meeting in Aug, I decided that I had procrastinated long enough about implementing a thank you letter that included the review link. I drafted a letter and called support to help me set up the auto delivery function in RezGT. So simple, what was I worried about? The results: At the end of August, we had 24 BandB.com reviews. My lofty goal was to have 50 reviews by Dec 1. Well, the response has been tremendous! I reached my 50 reviews goal by November 1 and yesterday hit the century mark with 102 reviews. Fabulous! - Amy - Inn Above Onion Creek
.

Thanks John for fixing this. And thank you Swirt for being able to translate for us! What a great resource you are!

Yes thanks Swirt - appreciate it!
btw - I get asked all the time about how to generate more reviews. Here is an email we got on Thursday. (I got their permission to quote them just so you know)
After the HAT meeting in Aug, I decided that I had procrastinated long enough about implementing a thank you letter that included the review link. I drafted a letter and called support to help me set up the auto delivery function in RezGT. So simple, what was I worried about? The results: At the end of August, we had 24 BandB.com reviews. My lofty goal was to have 50 reviews by Dec 1. Well, the response has been tremendous! I reached my 50 reviews goal by November 1 and yesterday hit the century mark with 102 reviews. Fabulous! - Amy - Inn Above Onion Creek

I have been sending out thank you's from the very first guest 5 years ago. Part and parcel to the problem is I need to specify where they review us as you aren't the only bull in this rodeo. So I alternate links to you all, TA and a couple others that actually count for me in my location (regionally).

 

[JBanczak]

John,
I placed your widget on my homepage thinking "oh, this is great". Then I acted like a prospective guest and clicked on "more" to read the rest of the review. Here's where the problem comes in. It take the prospective guest AWAY from my website because there is no option to have it open on a new window or target page. There is no way I want to display it when it will take away prospective guests that I've worked hard to get onto my website and bring them directly to bandb.com.
How can I get it to open onto a new page and not leave my homepage sometimes to never find me again?!?!?!.

John,
I placed your widget on my homepage thinking "oh, this is great". Then I acted like a prospective guest and clicked on "more" to read the rest of the review. Here's where the problem comes in. It take the prospective guest AWAY from my website because there is no option to have it open on a new window or target page. There is no way I want to display it when it will take away prospective guests that I've worked hard to get onto my website and bring them directly to bandb.com.
How can I get it to open onto a new page and not leave my homepage sometimes to never find me again?!?!?!

That would be incredibly difficult to do actually. We would need to feed you the entire content feed, then you would need to have either a page, or pages setup to handle it, and then you would need to go in and write your own html to point the links to whatever page you were hosting them on.
The large version has a lot more info on it - you could do a full-page. There are still links though. Right now only about 1 in 100 people who see the widget click on it. I get the sense that folks see the rating, see a few words of the review, and think "they get unbiased reviews on a major website - good enough for me..." without needing to click through.
Part of having them click through to BB.com is that folks can then verify that indeed the reviews are for real and came from the website.
If you really didn't want to do this, you could just cut and paste the entire text of the review and put it on your website - nothing wrong with that as long as somewhere you say it came from bb.com. Probably be easier than building out a complicated link structure in any case.
.

Maybe I'm missing something as I haven't played with the feeds yet, but couldn't the "read more" link just have target="somename" specified so it opens in a new window?
.

Maybe I'm missing something as I haven't played with the feeds yet, but couldn't the "read more" link just have target="somename" specified so it opens in a new window?

On who's site?
.

On whoever's site has the widget.
.

On whoever's site has the widget.

If it spawns a pop-up though, and it is on someone else's site - they would have to build it. Believe me - I'm more than happy to feed all the review data - we do it with Google/Uptake/Vast.com/Nileguide and a bunch other.
.

No I mean the new window would still go to your site to see the entire review, but when they close the window, they would still be at the original B&B's website.
.

No I mean the new window would still go to your site to see the entire review, but when they close the window, they would still be at the original B&B's website.

Ah - I see - just have it spawn a pop-up. Obviously any website can code it that way themselves - do you think it would make sense for us to have that be the default vs. the default being in-line? I really don't care either way - typically best practice is keep it in-line, but if the feedback is that folks would rather spawn a pop-up window, and we can code it that way - it will be done next week.
.

I should probably see an example before I go shooting my mouth off suggesting a change to something I've never seen. Do you have one in place that I can look at?
.

I should probably see an example before I go shooting my mouth off suggesting a change to something I've never seen. Do you have one in place that I can look at?

You can see a bunch of examples on our demo property site here. http://www.thehillcountryinn.com/.
On the rooms rate page there is the large horizontal which seems to be the most common. At last check, there were 120 properties live already, but I don't have access to the list from home.
.

Yes after looking at the sample and NW BB's I would suggest that at least all links within the widget contain a target destination like target="bandb" so that it opens in a new window but doesn't spawn multiple windows like target="_blank" would do. A better approach would be a nice javascript controlled popup window. There is no risk of it not working due to people having javascript turned off, because the widget already requires javascript.
.

Yes after looking at the sample and NW BB's I would suggest that at least all links within the widget contain a target destination like target="bandb" so that it opens in a new window but doesn't spawn multiple windows like target="_blank" would do. A better approach would be a nice javascript controlled popup window. There is no risk of it not working due to people having javascript turned off, because the widget already requires javascript.

I don't think that will be a problem - just talked to Eric and Sandy and they agree. We'll do it this week and get new code out there providing the tech guys don't find something we miss, which I doubt. Thanks for the feedback everyone!
.

Thanks John for fixing this. And thank you Swirt for being able to translate for us! What a great resource you are!
.

Thanks John for fixing this. And thank you Swirt for being able to translate for us! What a great resource you are!

Yes thanks Swirt - appreciate it!
btw - I get asked all the time about how to generate more reviews. Here is an email we got on Thursday. (I got their permission to quote them just so you know)
After the HAT meeting in Aug, I decided that I had procrastinated long enough about implementing a thank you letter that included the review link. I drafted a letter and called support to help me set up the auto delivery function in RezGT. So simple, what was I worried about? The results: At the end of August, we had 24 BandB.com reviews. My lofty goal was to have 50 reviews by Dec 1. Well, the response has been tremendous! I reached my 50 reviews goal by November 1 and yesterday hit the century mark with 102 reviews. Fabulous! - Amy - Inn Above Onion Creek
.

Thanks John for fixing this. And thank you Swirt for being able to translate for us! What a great resource you are!

Yes thanks Swirt - appreciate it!
btw - I get asked all the time about how to generate more reviews. Here is an email we got on Thursday. (I got their permission to quote them just so you know)
After the HAT meeting in Aug, I decided that I had procrastinated long enough about implementing a thank you letter that included the review link. I drafted a letter and called support to help me set up the auto delivery function in RezGT. So simple, what was I worried about? The results: At the end of August, we had 24 BandB.com reviews. My lofty goal was to have 50 reviews by Dec 1. Well, the response has been tremendous! I reached my 50 reviews goal by November 1 and yesterday hit the century mark with 102 reviews. Fabulous! - Amy - Inn Above Onion Creek

I have been sending out thank you's from the very first guest 5 years ago. Part and parcel to the problem is I need to specify where they review us as you aren't the only bull in this rodeo. So I alternate links to you all, TA and a couple others that actually count for me in my location (regionally).
.

I have been sending out thank you's from the very first guest 5 years ago. Part and parcel to the problem is I need to specify where they review us as you aren't the only bull in this rodeo. So I alternate links to you all, TA and a couple others that actually count for me in my location (regionally).

That sounds like a pretty good plan - are you seeing results?
Something I am going to have put together is a comprehensive file of word doc templates for confirmations, directions, thank-you's, pre-arrivals, etc. along with graphics we see used like clip art header/footer/borders/etc. We have quite a bit of it already. With GT - you can just take any word doc that we create, upload it, and it prints with your customers info on it.

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

John,
I placed your widget on my homepage thinking "oh, this is great". Then I acted like a prospective guest and clicked on "more" to read the rest of the review. Here's where the problem comes in. It take the prospective guest AWAY from my website because there is no option to have it open on a new window or target page. There is no way I want to display it when it will take away prospective guests that I've worked hard to get onto my website and bring them directly to bandb.com.
How can I get it to open onto a new page and not leave my homepage sometimes to never find me again?!?!?!.

John,
I placed your widget on my homepage thinking "oh, this is great". Then I acted like a prospective guest and clicked on "more" to read the rest of the review. Here's where the problem comes in. It take the prospective guest AWAY from my website because there is no option to have it open on a new window or target page. There is no way I want to display it when it will take away prospective guests that I've worked hard to get onto my website and bring them directly to bandb.com.
How can I get it to open onto a new page and not leave my homepage sometimes to never find me again?!?!?!

That would be incredibly difficult to do actually. We would need to feed you the entire content feed, then you would need to have either a page, or pages setup to handle it, and then you would need to go in and write your own html to point the links to whatever page you were hosting them on.
The large version has a lot more info on it - you could do a full-page. There are still links though. Right now only about 1 in 100 people who see the widget click on it. I get the sense that folks see the rating, see a few words of the review, and think "they get unbiased reviews on a major website - good enough for me..." without needing to click through.
Part of having them click through to BB.com is that folks can then verify that indeed the reviews are for real and came from the website.
If you really didn't want to do this, you could just cut and paste the entire text of the review and put it on your website - nothing wrong with that as long as somewhere you say it came from bb.com. Probably be easier than building out a complicated link structure in any case.
.

Maybe I'm missing something as I haven't played with the feeds yet, but couldn't the "read more" link just have target="somename" specified so it opens in a new window?
.

Maybe I'm missing something as I haven't played with the feeds yet, but couldn't the "read more" link just have target="somename" specified so it opens in a new window?

On who's site?
.

On whoever's site has the widget.
.

On whoever's site has the widget.

If it spawns a pop-up though, and it is on someone else's site - they would have to build it. Believe me - I'm more than happy to feed all the review data - we do it with Google/Uptake/Vast.com/Nileguide and a bunch other.
.

No I mean the new window would still go to your site to see the entire review, but when they close the window, they would still be at the original B&B's website.
.

No I mean the new window would still go to your site to see the entire review, but when they close the window, they would still be at the original B&B's website.

Ah - I see - just have it spawn a pop-up. Obviously any website can code it that way themselves - do you think it would make sense for us to have that be the default vs. the default being in-line? I really don't care either way - typically best practice is keep it in-line, but if the feedback is that folks would rather spawn a pop-up window, and we can code it that way - it will be done next week.
.

I should probably see an example before I go shooting my mouth off suggesting a change to something I've never seen. Do you have one in place that I can look at?
.

I should probably see an example before I go shooting my mouth off suggesting a change to something I've never seen. Do you have one in place that I can look at?

You can see a bunch of examples on our demo property site here. http://www.thehillcountryinn.com/.
On the rooms rate page there is the large horizontal which seems to be the most common. At last check, there were 120 properties live already, but I don't have access to the list from home.
.

Yes after looking at the sample and NW BB's I would suggest that at least all links within the widget contain a target destination like target="bandb" so that it opens in a new window but doesn't spawn multiple windows like target="_blank" would do. A better approach would be a nice javascript controlled popup window. There is no risk of it not working due to people having javascript turned off, because the widget already requires javascript.
.

Yes after looking at the sample and NW BB's I would suggest that at least all links within the widget contain a target destination like target="bandb" so that it opens in a new window but doesn't spawn multiple windows like target="_blank" would do. A better approach would be a nice javascript controlled popup window. There is no risk of it not working due to people having javascript turned off, because the widget already requires javascript.

I don't think that will be a problem - just talked to Eric and Sandy and they agree. We'll do it this week and get new code out there providing the tech guys don't find something we miss, which I doubt. Thanks for the feedback everyone!
.

Thanks John for fixing this. And thank you Swirt for being able to translate for us! What a great resource you are!
.

Thanks John for fixing this. And thank you Swirt for being able to translate for us! What a great resource you are!

Yes thanks Swirt - appreciate it!
btw - I get asked all the time about how to generate more reviews. Here is an email we got on Thursday. (I got their permission to quote them just so you know)
After the HAT meeting in Aug, I decided that I had procrastinated long enough about implementing a thank you letter that included the review link. I drafted a letter and called support to help me set up the auto delivery function in RezGT. So simple, what was I worried about? The results: At the end of August, we had 24 BandB.com reviews. My lofty goal was to have 50 reviews by Dec 1. Well, the response has been tremendous! I reached my 50 reviews goal by November 1 and yesterday hit the century mark with 102 reviews. Fabulous! - Amy - Inn Above Onion Creek
.

Thanks John for fixing this. And thank you Swirt for being able to translate for us! What a great resource you are!

Yes thanks Swirt - appreciate it!
btw - I get asked all the time about how to generate more reviews. Here is an email we got on Thursday. (I got their permission to quote them just so you know)
After the HAT meeting in Aug, I decided that I had procrastinated long enough about implementing a thank you letter that included the review link. I drafted a letter and called support to help me set up the auto delivery function in RezGT. So simple, what was I worried about? The results: At the end of August, we had 24 BandB.com reviews. My lofty goal was to have 50 reviews by Dec 1. Well, the response has been tremendous! I reached my 50 reviews goal by November 1 and yesterday hit the century mark with 102 reviews. Fabulous! - Amy - Inn Above Onion Creek

I have been sending out thank you's from the very first guest 5 years ago. Part and parcel to the problem is I need to specify where they review us as you aren't the only bull in this rodeo. So I alternate links to you all, TA and a couple others that actually count for me in my location (regionally).
.

I have been sending out thank you's from the very first guest 5 years ago. Part and parcel to the problem is I need to specify where they review us as you aren't the only bull in this rodeo. So I alternate links to you all, TA and a couple others that actually count for me in my location (regionally).

That sounds like a pretty good plan - are you seeing results?
Something I am going to have put together is a comprehensive file of word doc templates for confirmations, directions, thank-you's, pre-arrivals, etc. along with graphics we see used like clip art header/footer/borders/etc. We have quite a bit of it already. With GT - you can just take any word doc that we create, upload it, and it prints with your customers info on it.
.

I have been sending out thank you's from the very first guest 5 years ago. Part and parcel to the problem is I need to specify where they review us as you aren't the only bull in this rodeo. So I alternate links to you all, TA and a couple others that actually count for me in my location (regionally).

That sounds like a pretty good plan - are you seeing results?
Something I am going to have put together is a comprehensive file of word doc templates for confirmations, directions, thank-you's, pre-arrivals, etc. along with graphics we see used like clip art header/footer/borders/etc. We have quite a bit of it already. With GT - you can just take any word doc that we create, upload it, and it prints with your customers info on it.

I actually customize the email - like this week a couple on a birthday getaway enroute to the Great Smokey Mountains. I put bits and pieces of what we discuss in the email - like my recommending a book we talked about, or another Inn they might like...
The answer to your question is NO. I am not seeing great results, or I would have a ton more reviews than I do. I will get THANK YOU CARDS in the mail, but not online. I feel GUILT that they went way out of their way to post a card when I expect a review. It is a hard line to tow sometimes.
But this year, if you recall my statement, is the year of simple innkeeping. I am not going to stress over the reviews and all of that, I am going to put my energy into other things.

 

[egoodell]

Okay this looks like something I can work with. I am very uncomfotable with pushing my guests to write reviews. I have included the links under my signature in thank you emails with no results.
They write wonderful essays in the room books for us, so we know they are having great stays.
We have some reviews, but the last ones were in the fall I think.
But with the link right on the website that might help. I have links for them to read them on my website to tripadvisor and yahoo.
**whew** I'll have to get on this as soon as we are over our Valentine weekend rush. But the tours are still booking like crazy right now.
Riki

 

[JBanczak]

I have confirmed that the new method of spawning a window will go live on Tuesday. It also looks like properties will not have to change out the code since the "more" links are dynamic - they can be changed at our location.
Thanks again for the feedback!

 

[swirt]

I have confirmed that the new method of spawning a window will go live on Tuesday. It also looks like properties will not have to change out the code since the "more" links are dynamic - they can be changed at our location.
Thanks again for the feedback!.

That's great John. Thanks.

 

[Copperhead]

I have confirmed that the new method of spawning a window will go live on Tuesday. It also looks like properties will not have to change out the code since the "more" links are dynamic - they can be changed at our location.
Thanks again for the feedback!.

John, thanks a bunch.

 

[Samster]

John, I had my wonderful webmaster put it on my site and it's pretty cool. I don't know how to say this, but I guess you have to keep updating the widget to get the most current reviews? I was not a fan that it took folks away from my site either, but felt that most would look at the brief note & be satisfied. People are always in a rush! Thank YOU though for fixing it so that doesn't happen...I'll have it changed when the new widget goes live.
Dang, we are lucky we have the Grand Poobah Swirt here!!!

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

What is the most common layout everyone is using? ie Vertical with 3 reviews?

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

What has been the general feedback as to best location on our websites? Without creating a new BUTTON, should it be on its own page or near the rooms page or?

 

[JBanczak]

John, I had my wonderful webmaster put it on my site and it's pretty cool. I don't know how to say this, but I guess you have to keep updating the widget to get the most current reviews? I was not a fan that it took folks away from my site either, but felt that most would look at the brief note & be satisfied. People are always in a rush! Thank YOU though for fixing it so that doesn't happen...I'll have it changed when the new widget goes live.
Dang, we are lucky we have the Grand Poobah Swirt here!!!.

John, I had my wonderful webmaster put it on my site and it's pretty cool. I don't know how to say this, but I guess you have to keep updating the widget to get the most current reviews? I was not a fan that it took folks away from my site either, but felt that most would look at the brief note & be satisfied. People are always in a rush! Thank YOU though for fixing it so that doesn't happen...I'll have it changed when the new widget goes live.
Dang, we are lucky we have the Grand Poobah Swirt here!!!

No problem - as far as updating it, it updates itself - so no worry about doing that. Once you have it live on your site it checks for new reviews. Just don't forget that if you see a review you do not like, you can go into IKA and check the box to make sure it does not show on your site.
Swirt has been an invaluable resource to us at BB.com as well - a number of our latest Rezo GT updates were based on his feedback, as was a good deal of the design of our availability calendar.
He also had a big part in convincing us a ways back to go to direct links from bb.com and get rid of any redirect tracking, among other things on the site.
Greatly appreciate it!

 

[JBanczak]

What is the most common layout everyone is using? ie Vertical with 3 reviews?.

What is the most common layout everyone is using? ie Vertical with 3 reviews?

So far the two most common have been the horizontal with 4 reviews, and the full page. The horizontal with 4 tends to be the right width for most sites, and it is easy to add to the bottom of any page. I'm guessing that is why it is popular. Full page is just that - adding a button or tab, and then just putting the full-page content in.
I think the others are great, but it seems like the vertical is only being used when folks have room in a left or right hand column. It is being used plenty - but just not as much as the other two.

 

[Samster]

John, I had my wonderful webmaster put it on my site and it's pretty cool. I don't know how to say this, but I guess you have to keep updating the widget to get the most current reviews? I was not a fan that it took folks away from my site either, but felt that most would look at the brief note & be satisfied. People are always in a rush! Thank YOU though for fixing it so that doesn't happen...I'll have it changed when the new widget goes live.
Dang, we are lucky we have the Grand Poobah Swirt here!!!.

John, I had my wonderful webmaster put it on my site and it's pretty cool. I don't know how to say this, but I guess you have to keep updating the widget to get the most current reviews? I was not a fan that it took folks away from my site either, but felt that most would look at the brief note & be satisfied. People are always in a rush! Thank YOU though for fixing it so that doesn't happen...I'll have it changed when the new widget goes live.
Dang, we are lucky we have the Grand Poobah Swirt here!!!

No problem - as far as updating it, it updates itself - so no worry about doing that. Once you have it live on your site it checks for new reviews. Just don't forget that if you see a review you do not like, you can go into IKA and check the box to make sure it does not show on your site.
Swirt has been an invaluable resource to us at BB.com as well - a number of our latest Rezo GT updates were based on his feedback, as was a good deal of the design of our availability calendar.
He also had a big part in convincing us a ways back to go to direct links from bb.com and get rid of any redirect tracking, among other things on the site.
Greatly appreciate it!
.

Hmmm....nope, I have 2 new reviews. It's still showing the 3 most recent that were there when the widget was put on the site. I'll have my webmaster look into it when she makes sure that the right code is in place for the new fix
Thanks for all your valuable info as well....

 

[Samster]

What has been the general feedback as to best location on our websites? Without creating a new BUTTON, should it be on its own page or near the rooms page or?.

MIne is the 3 vertical because I think that's what I sent to the WM to put on there. I have it on the "About Us" page with the link to TA reviews. I don't have a separate "Kudos" , review, or testimonial page though. Not sure that I want one either. Thoughts?

 

[swirt]

John, I had my wonderful webmaster put it on my site and it's pretty cool. I don't know how to say this, but I guess you have to keep updating the widget to get the most current reviews? I was not a fan that it took folks away from my site either, but felt that most would look at the brief note & be satisfied. People are always in a rush! Thank YOU though for fixing it so that doesn't happen...I'll have it changed when the new widget goes live.
Dang, we are lucky we have the Grand Poobah Swirt here!!!.

John, I had my wonderful webmaster put it on my site and it's pretty cool. I don't know how to say this, but I guess you have to keep updating the widget to get the most current reviews? I was not a fan that it took folks away from my site either, but felt that most would look at the brief note & be satisfied. People are always in a rush! Thank YOU though for fixing it so that doesn't happen...I'll have it changed when the new widget goes live.
Dang, we are lucky we have the Grand Poobah Swirt here!!!

No problem - as far as updating it, it updates itself - so no worry about doing that. Once you have it live on your site it checks for new reviews. Just don't forget that if you see a review you do not like, you can go into IKA and check the box to make sure it does not show on your site.
Swirt has been an invaluable resource to us at BB.com as well - a number of our latest Rezo GT updates were based on his feedback, as was a good deal of the design of our availability calendar.
He also had a big part in convincing us a ways back to go to direct links from bb.com and get rid of any redirect tracking, among other things on the site.
Greatly appreciate it!
.

Hmmm....nope, I have 2 new reviews. It's still showing the 3 most recent that were there when the widget was put on the site. I'll have my webmaster look into it when she makes sure that the right code is in place for the new fix
Thanks for all your valuable info as well....
.

Hmmm....nope, I have 2 new reviews. It's still showing the 3 most recent that were there when the widget was put on the site. I'll have my webmaster look into it when she makes sure that the right code is in place for the new fix

It's possible that your browser cached the page and has not bothered to go get the latest version. Try reloading the page and or hitting ctrl-F5 to tell the browser to look again.
edited: errr scratch that, I just checked your site. Your widget is not showing the most recent results. It is not a cache problem.

 

[NW BB]

I have confirmed that the new method of spawning a window will go live on Tuesday. It also looks like properties will not have to change out the code since the "more" links are dynamic - they can be changed at our location.
Thanks again for the feedback!.

That's great John. Thanks.
.

Thanks John. I appreciate you listening to our concerns and solve the problem!

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

What is the most common layout everyone is using? ie Vertical with 3 reviews?.

What is the most common layout everyone is using? ie Vertical with 3 reviews?

So far the two most common have been the horizontal with 4 reviews, and the full page. The horizontal with 4 tends to be the right width for most sites, and it is easy to add to the bottom of any page. I'm guessing that is why it is popular. Full page is just that - adding a button or tab, and then just putting the full-page content in.
I think the others are great, but it seems like the vertical is only being used when folks have room in a left or right hand column. It is being used plenty - but just not as much as the other two.
.

What is the most common layout everyone is using? ie Vertical with 3 reviews?

So far the two most common have been the horizontal with 4 reviews, and the full page. The horizontal with 4 tends to be the right width for most sites, and it is easy to add to the bottom of any page. I'm guessing that is why it is popular. Full page is just that - adding a button or tab, and then just putting the full-page content in.
I think the others are great, but it seems like the vertical is only being used when folks have room in a left or right hand column. It is being used plenty - but just not as much as the other two.

I might have to go full page as I can't get the script to run within a script as I wanted to add it to an .asp page - I am working it out. Thanks.

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

What has been the general feedback as to best location on our websites? Without creating a new BUTTON, should it be on its own page or near the rooms page or?.

MIne is the 3 vertical because I think that's what I sent to the WM to put on there. I have it on the "About Us" page with the link to TA reviews. I don't have a separate "Kudos" , review, or testimonial page though. Not sure that I want one either. Thoughts?
.

MIne is the 3 vertical because I think that's what I sent to the WM to put on there. I have it on the "About Us" page with the link to TA reviews. I don't have a separate "Kudos" , review, or testimonial page though. Not sure that I want one either. Thoughts?

PS You might ask your webmaster to make sure a new window populates when someone clicks on the review to read it, as it opens up BandB.com (Your page obv) but then your website is gone from the brower.
(I think Steve addressed this earlier in this thread)

 

[swirt]

What has been the general feedback as to best location on our websites? Without creating a new BUTTON, should it be on its own page or near the rooms page or?.

MIne is the 3 vertical because I think that's what I sent to the WM to put on there. I have it on the "About Us" page with the link to TA reviews. I don't have a separate "Kudos" , review, or testimonial page though. Not sure that I want one either. Thoughts?
.

MIne is the 3 vertical because I think that's what I sent to the WM to put on there. I have it on the "About Us" page with the link to TA reviews. I don't have a separate "Kudos" , review, or testimonial page though. Not sure that I want one either. Thoughts?

PS You might ask your webmaster to make sure a new window populates when someone clicks on the review to read it, as it opens up BandB.com (Your page obv) but then your website is gone from the brower.
(I think Steve addressed this earlier in this thread)
.

Her webmaster can't control it ... that's where John comes in. It should open in a new window after tomorrow (2/16)