Started my blog!

[birdwatcher]

wonderful entry-Im a follower

 

[HighMountainLodge]

With keeping up with the Vets B & Bs, phone calls, and City stuff plus DH (another doc appt today took 4 hours out of my day), I have not had the time nor inclination to blog for weeks. Have to force myself to get back to it. Have a horrendous week coming up with City stuff with 3 days next week with me out of the office.
Birdwatcher, you do VERY well with the English language considering it is not your first language..

LOLOLO. When I was teaching college English, it frequently occurred to me that English was rarely the native language of many of my students.
I have a different attitude toward blogging (Oh, BTW, the High Mountain Lodge's blog is http://innkeepingataltitude.blogspot.com/.) Setting a fixed number of posts in a particular period is not my style.
It seems to me that, when the B&B marketing gurus tell you to "write a blog," they never really give you a justification for doing so--except the generic "you'll get more business." It's one of those things that we're expected to do to be successful, but they never get around to telling us WHY?
I'm pretty sure that writing a blog is an extension of *being nice* to guests who stay at your inn. You chat in the late afternoons, give them crackers, cheese, chips, salsa, glasses of cheap box wine, and offer advice on places to eat, while you make jokes and tell stories. In short, you connect with them and do your best to make their stay at your inn a memorable and unique one.
You also can give them insights into your innkeeping struggles to the extent you would confess the same to a nosy neighbor (i.e.: not much).
But you would never admit to a couple watching you replace the exhaust duct work from the pool boiler who asked you "how's it going?" that it wasn't going very well and you weren't planning on opening the pool because you still hadn't isolated the carbon monoxide leak and you didn't want to suffocate them in their sleep--at least before their credit card cleared.
And you certainly wouldn't blog about your tribulations to the world in general.
Blogging is about bringing people in, it's about making them loyal to your place. It's about telling stories and cracking jokes. It's about telling them about your triumphs so they can celebrate them with you. You don't want to be self-absorbed when you blog, because nobody cares.
It's all about making people feel part of the family.
When I was teaching college writing, I made my students keep journals. This was in the days before blogs, and lordy, reading all that ungrammatical self-absorption was like pulling out my nose-hairs one by one with needle-nose pliers. Julie had to hide the ice pick when I was grading those things, out of fear that I would either stalk my students the next day or turn the point on myself.
Your blog is a marketing tool that reveals and extends your personality--it's a way of making people aware of what they'll find when they show up at your place as well extending the experience they had while staying with you.
If you're not comfortable with writing, then don't bother with a blog. A Bad Blog is worse than No Blog At All.
Blogs shouldn't be a marketing chore, they should be fun, like sitting down with your guests over a glass of wine. If they're work, then don't bother.

 

[gillumhouse]

With keeping up with the Vets B & Bs, phone calls, and City stuff plus DH (another doc appt today took 4 hours out of my day), I have not had the time nor inclination to blog for weeks. Have to force myself to get back to it. Have a horrendous week coming up with City stuff with 3 days next week with me out of the office.
Birdwatcher, you do VERY well with the English language considering it is not your first language..

LOLOLO. When I was teaching college English, it frequently occurred to me that English was rarely the native language of many of my students.
I have a different attitude toward blogging (Oh, BTW, the High Mountain Lodge's blog is http://innkeepingataltitude.blogspot.com/.) Setting a fixed number of posts in a particular period is not my style.
It seems to me that, when the B&B marketing gurus tell you to "write a blog," they never really give you a justification for doing so--except the generic "you'll get more business." It's one of those things that we're expected to do to be successful, but they never get around to telling us WHY?
I'm pretty sure that writing a blog is an extension of *being nice* to guests who stay at your inn. You chat in the late afternoons, give them crackers, cheese, chips, salsa, glasses of cheap box wine, and offer advice on places to eat, while you make jokes and tell stories. In short, you connect with them and do your best to make their stay at your inn a memorable and unique one.
You also can give them insights into your innkeeping struggles to the extent you would confess the same to a nosy neighbor (i.e.: not much).
But you would never admit to a couple watching you replace the exhaust duct work from the pool boiler who asked you "how's it going?" that it wasn't going very well and you weren't planning on opening the pool because you still hadn't isolated the carbon monoxide leak and you didn't want to suffocate them in their sleep--at least before their credit card cleared.
And you certainly wouldn't blog about your tribulations to the world in general.
Blogging is about bringing people in, it's about making them loyal to your place. It's about telling stories and cracking jokes. It's about telling them about your triumphs so they can celebrate them with you. You don't want to be self-absorbed when you blog, because nobody cares.
It's all about making people feel part of the family.
When I was teaching college writing, I made my students keep journals. This was in the days before blogs, and lordy, reading all that ungrammatical self-absorption was like pulling out my nose-hairs one by one with needle-nose pliers. Julie had to hide the ice pick when I was grading those things, out of fear that I would either stalk my students the next day or turn the point on myself.
Your blog is a marketing tool that reveals and extends your personality--it's a way of making people aware of what they'll find when they show up at your place as well extending the experience they had while staying with you.
If you're not comfortable with writing, then don't bother with a blog. A Bad Blog is worse than No Blog At All.
Blogs shouldn't be a marketing chore, they should be fun, like sitting down with your guests over a glass of wine. If they're work, then don't bother.
.

Ahhh, but when I blog, it is about what is happening in my area and the joys of finding out I can still march with the band at half-time and my body telling me the next say why I was an idjit and why I should NEVER try to march again - but probably will if it comes up next year.
I need sleep.....

 

[JBloggs]

I differ somewhat in my opinion to the purpose for blogging to what High Mountain Lodge said, and agree with quite a few points he made.
For innkeeping purposes, a blog is an extension of your website.
Events happen and you cannot update the website constantly with every event, nor give enough detail. A blog is a place to showcase the many events, things to see and do (even if it is the "art of doing nothing" at your inn). Maybe share a little bit more about a certain room "Featured room of the month" where you can specifically highlight what your guests innjoy about this room.
It is a place to provide a bit of personality, your personality. Many inns have hired webmasters who create and update their sites, a blog is a more personal place to add bits and pieces of yourself, if you are humorous it will show in your blog, if you love your area it will show in your blog. Maybe, like Kathleen mentioned, your spouse is a painter, you may want to show some of his latest work - on the blog. Should it be on the B&B website? Maybe, maybe not - that is up to interpretation. For a blog there are no rules, so go for it and have fun!
I do not believe a blog should be a place to dribble on and on and philosophize. Unless it is a personal blog, not a B&B blog.
If you have recipes, show photos or don't bother. If you are doing reno's show photos or don't bother. This is my thing, this is what I look for in other blogs, so I do what I like to see in other blogs. Things that are interesting, not boring. If I came to visit you, I want to see your blog and see some of the off-the-beaten-track things that may not be in a tourist brochure, but I would surely enjoy.
I saw Innkeep's blog from this forum where she showed this image that absolutely intrigued the gutts out of me! MADE ME WANT TO JUMP ON A PLANE AND GET OUT THERE! Amongst so many other articles, on Amish country, old barns, chicken pulls, etc. Learning about that area with her innside innformation is a boon! I
t's not all about marketing. I agree with High Mountain if you do not like to write, then stay away from it altogether.

 

[EmptyNest]

I differ somewhat in my opinion to the purpose for blogging to what High Mountain Lodge said, and agree with quite a few points he made.
For innkeeping purposes, a blog is an extension of your website.
Events happen and you cannot update the website constantly with every event, nor give enough detail. A blog is a place to showcase the many events, things to see and do (even if it is the "art of doing nothing" at your inn). Maybe share a little bit more about a certain room "Featured room of the month" where you can specifically highlight what your guests innjoy about this room.
It is a place to provide a bit of personality, your personality. Many inns have hired webmasters who create and update their sites, a blog is a more personal place to add bits and pieces of yourself, if you are humorous it will show in your blog, if you love your area it will show in your blog. Maybe, like Kathleen mentioned, your spouse is a painter, you may want to show some of his latest work - on the blog. Should it be on the B&B website? Maybe, maybe not - that is up to interpretation. For a blog there are no rules, so go for it and have fun!
I do not believe a blog should be a place to dribble on and on and philosophize. Unless it is a personal blog, not a B&B blog.
If you have recipes, show photos or don't bother. If you are doing reno's show photos or don't bother. This is my thing, this is what I look for in other blogs, so I do what I like to see in other blogs. Things that are interesting, not boring. If I came to visit you, I want to see your blog and see some of the off-the-beaten-track things that may not be in a tourist brochure, but I would surely enjoy.
I saw Innkeep's blog from this forum where she showed this image that absolutely intrigued the gutts out of me! MADE ME WANT TO JUMP ON A PLANE AND GET OUT THERE! Amongst so many other articles, on Amish country, old barns, chicken pulls, etc. Learning about that area with her innside innformation is a boon! I
t's not all about marketing. I agree with High Mountain if you do not like to write, then stay away from it altogether.

.

I am with High MT. Lodge and JB both. I want to see pics and read interesting stories...not the day to day goings on in the inn. Photos really pull folks into the blog. Just think how many times your mouth has watered this week looking at those recipe blogs JB shared with us.

YUMMM O!

 

[birdwatcher]

I've tried to put other pics in my blog, but they seem to shrik too much, wanted to put a picture of a river in my blog, but they turned out to be so small that it did not look right. I will try to put things on the blog that go on here, but truthfully not much goes on right here in this little town; however I will try to make it interesting because we are Innkepers that don't own their own Inn-so this gives someone a different prospective.

 

[EmptyNest]

I've tried to put other pics in my blog, but they seem to shrik too much, wanted to put a picture of a river in my blog, but they turned out to be so small that it did not look right. I will try to put things on the blog that go on here, but truthfully not much goes on right here in this little town; however I will try to make it interesting because we are Innkepers that don't own their own Inn-so this gives someone a different prospective..

There are ways to edit and size your photos in blogger. Once you post your image, click on it. Below the image it allows you to select small, med, large, etc and wrap style.

 

[domsmom]

I was hesitant to start a blog. I feel that everyone "thinks" they can write in 2010 and I certainly did not want to publish something if it is not worth reading.
When I gave my intern the assignment of putting together a newsletter, she highly suggested that I begin blogging. Ideally about what is happening in the area or life as a single mom running a b&b. I have yet to hit those topics and so far have tried to write about questions I get asked or what inspires me to keep going.
Future blogs will have details of local events, in fact we are having a Blues House Party here on Nov 27-that will be the topic of my next blog.

 

[JBloggs]

Everyone CAN write in 2010. A blog is a web-log, everyone can write and should write. Hone the skills by jumping in with both feet.

 

[domsmom]

JB,
We shall agree to disagree on that. I have read a handful of blogs with really poor grammar, sometimes even bad spelling, and occassionally someone spouting facts without doing research. It put me off reading blogs for a long time. Little experience, no editing and a somewhat unconcerned view of what is being spewed to a reader. Not to mention it is out there, for literally the whole world to see, forever.
I love reading real experiences, information and opinions. A good blog is a good read a poorly written one is a waste of cyber space- simply my opinion

 

[JBloggs]

We do disagree. That is what it is all about. Do what YOU enjoy and read what YOU enjoy reading, plenty of folks have different ideas on what makes an interesting blog article. For those on this forum who wish to begin blogging, I say go for it. Don't be intimidated by the PC police, nor the grammar police or anyone else, let your creative juices flow. Sometimes it is the crap that fertilizes the garden.

 

[HighMountainLodge]

Let's face it, when you're running a business, the only reason to do *anything* in the context of running your business is to, well, get more business.
That being said, I can't trace even one booking directly to my blog. However, guests at the Lodge have mentioned things about us at breakfast that they couldn't have know unless they had read the blog.
Blogs are a part of a constellation of marketing tools that you use to distinguish yourself from your competition. They are perhaps one of the most personal things you can do. They are about personality, not room rates. They are about exciting things happening in your area--that you are excited about (pace, gillumhouse).
But they are, above all, about making you seem human and vulnerable and a real person, and not a corporation. They are also about, well, voyeurism: telling secrets. People want to know about secret stuff, about what worked and didn't work on a particular project. Note: we're not talking about the *real* secret stuff that you would have to kill somebody if they knew, we're talking about the secret stuff that reveal your personality, what is important to you,what makes you an excellent innkeeper.
Blogs are about play, about having fun talking about your Inn, its strengths and weaknesses (better your guests know about the blemishes *before* they arrive than they disclose them on Trip Advisor after they depart).

 

[wendydk]

We do disagree. That is what it is all about. Do what YOU enjoy and read what YOU enjoy reading, plenty of folks have different ideas on what makes an interesting blog article. For those on this forum who wish to begin blogging, I say go for it. Don't be intimidated by the PC police, nor the grammar police or anyone else, let your creative juices flow. Sometimes it is the crap that fertilizes the garden..

We do disagree. That is what it is all about. Do what YOU enjoy and read what YOU enjoy reading, plenty of folks have different ideas on what makes an interesting blog article. For those on this forum who wish to begin blogging, I say go for it. Don't be intimidated by the PC police, nor the grammar police or anyone else, let your creative juices flow. Sometimes it is the crap that fertilizes the garden.

Amen sister. If you run upon a blog you don't like, DON'T read it! No one is going to tell me that I shouldn't or can't do something.