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JBloggs

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Uh just wondering how many stinking "free" widgets are we supposed to have on our websites? How many OUT links should we have sending guests away from our website and how many stinkin' review sites do we need to send guests to now? THE YEAR OF SIMPLE INNKEEPING RIGHT? I am thinking we need proof of a microsoft degree to operate the "online" aspect of this business!
Add the New Free Review Widget to Convert Your Site Visitors to Guests!!!
Now your great reviews with all their "heart and soul" can be highlighted on your site, in the same colors and style of your website.
Why do you need the review widget?
1. The comments are dialog from guests that a browsing guest will definitely read and trust
2. The design has been created so that it can be carefully integrated into your site
3. 41% of leisure travelers make their decision [FONT=&quot]based completely on guest reviews[/FONT]* not photos, personal recommendations, but by reviews!
 
I think it depends on who else you are listed with. If you don't use bedandbreakfast.com and their widget, then it would make sense to use iloveinns widget if you have reviews with them. In general I would say no more than 2 widgets .... but if you are listed with multiple directories and each offers their own widget, then you could have a different widget on each page.
Of course the ideal situation is if each of the companies offering a widget just offered their own rss feed and you could decide which ones to aggregate and display. If they don't come to their senses and offer it, then I have a feeling Google will offer it with their local reviews and beat them to the punch since Google already aggregates a number of review sources.
 
I don't know. Obviously we're going to end up with even more asking us to put them on our websites. And I suppose the guest has to register for them too.
I don't have any on mine because one is for tours (Trip Advisor will list the tour company but not the evals so I have to send people to Yahoo! Travel for them.) and one website is for the B&B.
RIght now I give them the links in my "thank you " emails when I send them their pictures from the tours.
RIki
 
"Thank you for your stay... to help us stay alive can you now go and register with Trip Advisor, BedandBreakfast.com, iloveinns, BnBfinder, Yahoo, Yelp, Belch Toot and the rest of them and give us a good review, thanks so much."
wow.gif
 
One thing I suggest if you are sending people links to ask for reviews is to send them to a variety of places. Example: send some to TA and some to Google Local and some to whatever directory you are in.
There are two reasons I suggest this:
  1. If all your eggs are in one directory, then you have basically locked yourself into having to use that directory for the life of your inn. If you spread the wealth a little bit, it wouldn't sting so badly if you wanted to drop a directory later on. (There is a caveat to this, if you spread them around a bit, then you have fewer in one place...and review numbers (quantity) is meaningful in places like TripAdvisor).
  2. Google Local/Business aggregates reviews from multiple sources and in the way google sees the world (google goggles) multiple trusted sources are better than one trusted source. So if it had 75 reviews from one source that would not be as powerful as the same number of reviews spread over 3 or 4 sources. So in the case of iloveinns reviews....if they start showing up in Google local then their may be some value in obtaining some reviews through them.
 
"Thank you for your stay... to help us stay alive can you now go and register with Trip Advisor, BedandBreakfast.com, iloveinns, BnBfinder, Yahoo, Yelp, Belch Toot and the rest of them and give us a good review, thanks so much."
wow.gif
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Joe Bloggs said:
"Thank you for your stay... to help us stay alive can you now go and register with Trip Advisor, BedandBreakfast.com, iloveinns, BnBfinder, Yahoo, Yelp, Belch Toot and the rest of them and give us a good review, thanks so much."
wow.gif
LOL Its funny the way you say it. I'd do it in a little more controlled way. I would do it via a redirect, so that the link you send them for the review is something like www,mysite.com/review
But then the redirect you control. For a while it may take them to directoryA.com then when you start getting a significant number there you change it to direct them to directoryB.com and then later you may change it to direct them to TA.com .....
This gives you the control without having to change the letter each time. You simply change the redirect when you want to. It also makes it less likely that the url for the review is going to get mangled/broken by their email client. Some of the review links get pretty long and when they wrap to the next line, the link often gets broken.
 
"Thank you for your stay... to help us stay alive can you now go and register with Trip Advisor, BedandBreakfast.com, iloveinns, BnBfinder, Yahoo, Yelp, Belch Toot and the rest of them and give us a good review, thanks so much."
wow.gif
.
Joe Bloggs said:
"Thank you for your stay... to help us stay alive can you now go and register with Trip Advisor, BedandBreakfast.com, iloveinns, BnBfinder, Yahoo, Yelp, Belch Toot and the rest of them and give us a good review, thanks so much."
wow.gif
LOL Its funny the way you say it. I'd do it in a little more controlled way. I would do it via a redirect, so that the link you send them for the review is something like www,mysite.com/review
But then the redirect you control. For a while it may take them to directoryA.com then when you start getting a significant number there you change it to direct them to directoryB.com and then later you may change it to direct them to TA.com .....
This gives you the control without having to change the letter each time. You simply change the redirect when you want to. It also makes it less likely that the url for the review is going to get mangled/broken by their email client. Some of the review links get pretty long and when they wrap to the next line, the link often gets broken.
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swirt said:
Joe Bloggs said:
"Thank you for your stay... to help us stay alive can you now go and register with Trip Advisor, BedandBreakfast.com, iloveinns, BnBfinder, Yahoo, Yelp, Belch Toot and the rest of them and give us a good review, thanks so much."
wow.gif
LOL Its funny the way you say it. I'd do it in a little more controlled way. I would do it via a redirect, so that the link you send them for the review is something like www,mysite.com/review
But then the redirect you control. For a while it may take them to directoryA.com then when you start getting a significant number there you change it to direct them to directoryB.com and then later you may change it to direct them to TA.com .....
This gives you the control without having to change the letter each time. You simply change the redirect when you want to. It also makes it less likely that the url for the review is going to get mangled/broken by their email client. Some of the review links get pretty long and when they wrap to the next line, the link often gets broken.
I alternate between the top two that matter most (shall I say which?) as you say they get pulled into google, so that counts double. :)
If a guest specifically mentioned Bed and Breakfast.com or the other I will send that with the thank you email with direct link on the review name straight to my page on that directory or website. I have the link to spawn a new window from the email as well. On occasion I give them a choice and mention the $1000 gc BandB.com are giving away. I don't ask anyone to review on yelp, belch or toot.
 
"Thank you for your stay... to help us stay alive can you now go and register with Trip Advisor, BedandBreakfast.com, iloveinns, BnBfinder, Yahoo, Yelp, Belch Toot and the rest of them and give us a good review, thanks so much."
wow.gif
.
Joe Bloggs said:
"Thank you for your stay... to help us stay alive can you now go and register with Trip Advisor, BedandBreakfast.com, iloveinns, BnBfinder, Yahoo, Yelp, Belch Toot and the rest of them and give us a good review, thanks so much."
wow.gif
LOL Its funny the way you say it. I'd do it in a little more controlled way. I would do it via a redirect, so that the link you send them for the review is something like www,mysite.com/review
But then the redirect you control. For a while it may take them to directoryA.com then when you start getting a significant number there you change it to direct them to directoryB.com and then later you may change it to direct them to TA.com .....
This gives you the control without having to change the letter each time. You simply change the redirect when you want to. It also makes it less likely that the url for the review is going to get mangled/broken by their email client. Some of the review links get pretty long and when they wrap to the next line, the link often gets broken.
.
swirt said:
LOL Its funny the way you say it. I'd do it in a little more controlled way. I would do it via a redirect, so that the link you send them for the review is something like www,mysite.com/review
But then the redirect you control. For a while it may take them to directoryA.com then when you start getting a significant number there you change it to direct them to directoryB.com and then later you may change it to direct them to TA.com .....
This gives you the control without having to change the letter each time. You simply change the redirect when you want to. It also makes it less likely that the url for the review is going to get mangled/broken by their email client. Some of the review links get pretty long and when they wrap to the next line, the link often gets broken.
I already do that by accident. Trip Advisor refuses to bother to allow tours to be reviewed on the web site (can we say, "nothing in it for us since we are in the hotel biz and that's what we care about, not informing the traveling public"?)
But the fact that one of my guests did manage to write a review for Arcady Wine TOURS and post it under Arcady B&B shows you that they do NOT read or inspect all reviews they allow up there, or they would have stopped it.
RIki
 
This widget is similar to the bedand breakfast. com widget. I just can't figure exactly where I want it on the site since I have the other widget and the TA logo link.
I do like I Love Inns little business card sized review cards. It lists the B&B directories and TripAdvisor. I give them to folks with our business card stapled to their statement at checkout and say, "This card is great because it lists the directory sites for finding B&Bs. And btw, if you enjoyed your stay you can also post a review." The guests seem to like the little cards and they're cheap, so I ordered some when I renewed my listing.
 
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