Lots of hits and click throughs but why aren't they calling?

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Sunshine

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Our website is averaging 20 hits a day (18-35) and most of them click through several pages and even some come back to my website the next day or several days later..... but we are not getting many bookings.... What gives?????
Folks can book on line, or call and make reservations, we are competitively priced, And most people say we have the best wesite, and the best B&B in the area, even won "Best B&B in the (area)"
We come up first or near first on all the search engines..... And we have been in business for two years.
How do I get them to call and more bookings? ideas???
 
Maybe it is neighboring B & B's clicking on your site to check your availability and see how busy you are. I do that all the time.
 
When I tried your site (just now) I got a pop up message that I need other plug ins in order to properly view your site. Not going to do that so I don't know what I might be missing.) I'm also shown, almost immediately, that if I am a member of a select group I can get a discount. Well, if I'm not a member of that select group, or if I think a lot of people from that select group are going to be there, I am not going to book. That's my take on it anyway.
I love your inn, love the look of it (the photos are a little odd, tho, they look almost 3-D), but am not interested in possibly spending my vacation time with that particular group of people. And I would hesitate because you state that was also your profession prior to the inn. (Yes, I have issues, but that's a whole other story.)
I wouldn't want to be greeted by the pooches. Love my dog, probably would love your dogs, too, but do not want to be greeted by them.
Last, which is something that is me and may not be other guests, I like a bigger place. 2 rooms is more like being in someone else's home.
(And, good golly, if I have toatlly forgotten who you are and have described someone else's inn, my apologies.)
 
if i am looking at the right place
my opinion is this ...
there is no actual online booking with an availability calendar.
i only see an option to pay for the room with paypal and a note to call and make sure a room is available for the night i want ... after i pay you. or i can call, or email, check on availability, and then pay? even though you only have two rooms, you need online booking and an availability calendar right there on your website. if it's there, i don't see it. 'reserve now' takes me to paypal.
give guests the option to book now for the room and night(s) they want. otherwise, they may just move on to the next b&b. you must make it easier for your guests to reserve those rooms. while they are on your site ... 'capture the sale'
ps ... it wants me to install apple quicktime. do you have a video that can only play using that? i just ignore notices like that and maybe i'm missing something nice by ignoring that popup.
 
Maybe it is neighboring B & B's clicking on your site to check your availability and see how busy you are. I do that all the time..
LOL! I do that too. But they would have to have multiple IP address's. usually I can see where they are from.
 
When I tried your site (just now) I got a pop up message that I need other plug ins in order to properly view your site. Not going to do that so I don't know what I might be missing.) I'm also shown, almost immediately, that if I am a member of a select group I can get a discount. Well, if I'm not a member of that select group, or if I think a lot of people from that select group are going to be there, I am not going to book. That's my take on it anyway.
I love your inn, love the look of it (the photos are a little odd, tho, they look almost 3-D), but am not interested in possibly spending my vacation time with that particular group of people. And I would hesitate because you state that was also your profession prior to the inn. (Yes, I have issues, but that's a whole other story.)
I wouldn't want to be greeted by the pooches. Love my dog, probably would love your dogs, too, but do not want to be greeted by them.
Last, which is something that is me and may not be other guests, I like a bigger place. 2 rooms is more like being in someone else's home.
(And, good golly, if I have toatlly forgotten who you are and have described someone else's inn, my apologies.).
It's me! You got me right! I appreciate your honesty. I wondered about posting that message on my site. I only put it there this week though. I went ahead and removed it because I didn't think about it from your perspective.
As far as the pop up goes... I don't have a clue what that is about! what "plug ins"? I'll have to check into that.
My dogs don't greet guests. They are always in our private quarters and are only allowed out if a guest asks to see them ( and so many do! I'm really surprised by that). But I changed the wording on that too.
We only have had two rooms up till now. We are just finishing up a third room and it will open August 1st. I know two rooms makes us sound really small, but our place is 3500 sqft. I don't know.... maybe thats small for a B&B! I thought it was a good size. :) But I went ahead and put on the home page that we are opening the third room.
Oh, yeah... the pictures... they are supposed to look 3D.
Let me know if you see anything else! Thanks.
 
if i am looking at the right place
my opinion is this ...
there is no actual online booking with an availability calendar.
i only see an option to pay for the room with paypal and a note to call and make sure a room is available for the night i want ... after i pay you. or i can call, or email, check on availability, and then pay? even though you only have two rooms, you need online booking and an availability calendar right there on your website. if it's there, i don't see it. 'reserve now' takes me to paypal.
give guests the option to book now for the room and night(s) they want. otherwise, they may just move on to the next b&b. you must make it easier for your guests to reserve those rooms. while they are on your site ... 'capture the sale'
ps ... it wants me to install apple quicktime. do you have a video that can only play using that? i just ignore notices like that and maybe i'm missing something nice by ignoring that popup..
You are right. There is no online booking with an availability calendar. I have struggled with doing this. I have read a lot of negative things about this, and a lot of positive things too.
I know I need to 'capture the sale'. DO AVAILABILITY CALENDARS AND 'BOOK NOW' REALLY WORK?? The other B&B in town has that and she is getting less bookings than me.
What is 'apple quicktime? and what is it for? I don't have a clue what that is about! Or why it is popping up on the web site! I'll have to do some investigating.
Thanks for your help everyone!
 
if i am looking at the right place
my opinion is this ...
there is no actual online booking with an availability calendar.
i only see an option to pay for the room with paypal and a note to call and make sure a room is available for the night i want ... after i pay you. or i can call, or email, check on availability, and then pay? even though you only have two rooms, you need online booking and an availability calendar right there on your website. if it's there, i don't see it. 'reserve now' takes me to paypal.
give guests the option to book now for the room and night(s) they want. otherwise, they may just move on to the next b&b. you must make it easier for your guests to reserve those rooms. while they are on your site ... 'capture the sale'
ps ... it wants me to install apple quicktime. do you have a video that can only play using that? i just ignore notices like that and maybe i'm missing something nice by ignoring that popup..
You are right. There is no online booking with an availability calendar. I have struggled with doing this. I have read a lot of negative things about this, and a lot of positive things too.
I know I need to 'capture the sale'. DO AVAILABILITY CALENDARS AND 'BOOK NOW' REALLY WORK?? The other B&B in town has that and she is getting less bookings than me.
What is 'apple quicktime? and what is it for? I don't have a clue what that is about! Or why it is popping up on the web site! I'll have to do some investigating.
Thanks for your help everyone!
.
you read a lot of negative things about online booking? i LOVE online booking ...webervations was my favorite but now there is a new one i think that jb uses and likes better.
i suggest a question, new topic, and ask on the forum here ... especially of those with just a few rooms ... if online booking works well for them.
apple quicktime plays videos i believe.
do you manage your own website?
 
Without having a clue who or where you are I would say number one stop over analyzing your competitions and google analytics and find out what your special niche is that will draw your selected group of people in...then advertise that niche. Ditch Paypal and get a real time online availability and booking engine...I would never book anywhere that didn't have these options in place.
 
you have a homestead site. i suggest you get in touch with them and ask about that plugin and how to get rid of the popup
 
you have a homestead site. i suggest you get in touch with them and ask about that plugin and how to get rid of the popup.
Let me ask about the pop up: when you are on the home page near the top, is there anything about the budwiser clydesdales on there? that might be the pop up! I have a running script about them and tours that they are offering at their breeding facility right now.
When I go to my site I don't get any kind of pop ups.
 
i can see the text that is running across the website ... under the box with the reader's choice award Starts with Now you can see the world famous Budweiser Clydesdales ...
the popup is at the very top of the screen.
 
There is nothing negative about online reservations. Wherever you read that, tell them they are on crack.
Online availability and reservations are AS IMPORTANT as PHOTOs on an inns website.
On the hits, we get, sheesh how many thousands, they are not real people looking for a B&B, they are computers in Asia etc.
 
I am just taking a quick look at your site.
Your inn looks beautiful..but that site is not showing it off properly. You have too much stuff going on with the home page. Your house is a beautiful Victorian..yet the dull brown and grey color scheme and even the font type does nothing to show it off. The big grey border boxes around the photos detract from the photos themselves. I would rather see no border than what you have on it.
You really must have online booking for your guest to take advantage of the moment potential guests are viewing your site.
If not that...you have to have at least a simple on line availability chart. A simple Google calendar would show people what is available without them having to call. What if someone is browsing at 2 AM..do you want them to call you at that time for availability? I don't think so!
You are making it way too difficult and PAYPAL is not the way to go either. You are defeating yourself before you can get a guest in the door. Having to go through the reservation, then an extra person , then a package...it is not user friendly.
I am not seeing any pop ups etc...but I have my blocker on for Firefox. In IE, I get an MIME TYPE configuration box for a Quick TIme Plug in. Then there is a scroll for seeing the Cldyesdales. That is a turn off to me. I want to promote my inn first...not have a scroll hitting me in the face first thing. Sorry.
 
I can't see the website, or a link in the user information. How are you all getting the website info?
 
Maybe she will post a link briefly. It is a gorgeous place with fantastic innkeepers!
 
if i am looking at the right place
my opinion is this ...
there is no actual online booking with an availability calendar.
i only see an option to pay for the room with paypal and a note to call and make sure a room is available for the night i want ... after i pay you. or i can call, or email, check on availability, and then pay? even though you only have two rooms, you need online booking and an availability calendar right there on your website. if it's there, i don't see it. 'reserve now' takes me to paypal.
give guests the option to book now for the room and night(s) they want. otherwise, they may just move on to the next b&b. you must make it easier for your guests to reserve those rooms. while they are on your site ... 'capture the sale'
ps ... it wants me to install apple quicktime. do you have a video that can only play using that? i just ignore notices like that and maybe i'm missing something nice by ignoring that popup..
You are right. There is no online booking with an availability calendar. I have struggled with doing this. I have read a lot of negative things about this, and a lot of positive things too.
I know I need to 'capture the sale'. DO AVAILABILITY CALENDARS AND 'BOOK NOW' REALLY WORK?? The other B&B in town has that and she is getting less bookings than me.
What is 'apple quicktime? and what is it for? I don't have a clue what that is about! Or why it is popping up on the web site! I'll have to do some investigating.
Thanks for your help everyone!
.
Sunshine said:
I know I need to 'capture the sale'. DO AVAILABILITY CALENDARS AND 'BOOK NOW' REALLY WORK?? The other B&B in town has that and she is getting less bookings than me.
40% of my reservations are online bookings. That works out to be around 400 reservations/year. 400 guests I didn't have to talk to, who knew what they wanted and just booked it while I slept or while I served breakfast or while I sat outside and read the paper.
Yes, it works and no, you do not get 'worse' guests from having online bookings. Believe me, you cannot tell a good guest from a bad guest on the phone. Some of the sweetest talkers turn out to be the most obnoxious people you've ever met.
Having online booking is NOT the reason the other B&B has fewer bookings than you do. Seriously.
 
you have a homestead site. i suggest you get in touch with them and ask about that plugin and how to get rid of the popup.
Let me ask about the pop up: when you are on the home page near the top, is there anything about the budwiser clydesdales on there? that might be the pop up! I have a running script about them and tours that they are offering at their breeding facility right now.
When I go to my site I don't get any kind of pop ups.
.
Sunshine said:
Let me ask about the pop up: when you are on the home page near the top, is there anything about the budwiser clydesdales on there? that might be the pop up! I have a running script about them and tours that they are offering at their breeding facility right now.
When I go to my site I don't get any kind of pop ups.
I did see the banner running across the screen. So, not sure what the plug-in message was about.
 
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