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Proud Texan

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I hear complaints from our guests that other B&B sites don't have enough pictures or information and compliments that our website is what drew them to us.
However, examining the traffic flow to various pages on my website, I noticed that several pages get zero clickthroughs. It doesn't monetarily cost me anything to have this extra information available, but it now has me wondering if my website might be a little top heavy and/or overwhelming to visitors.
I'm a firm believer in the KISS principle, but I also have OCD, which sometimes causes be to take details to the extreme. The pages in question are: Area Attractions, Our B&B In the Press (featuring news and magazine article in which we were featured). Coming in second with very low numbers ....drum roll please......Our Policies.
There are others that only get minor hits. Primarily they visit the page concerning our Rooms and Rates, then my guess is they check availability (offsite) without ever bothering to read anything else.
So, is this a case of TMI or just how people surf the web?
 
NO! Content is king. For those who like to plan they will check out the other pages...
 
Maybe its worth thinking about page order though? ie most popular pages first? I would leave the stuff on as we have a green ideas page that virtually no one looks at but won us an award its just something to think about.
 
Maybe its worth thinking about page order though? ie most popular pages first? I would leave the stuff on as we have a green ideas page that virtually no one looks at but won us an award its just something to think about..
Maybe its worth thinking about page order though? ie most popular pages first? I would leave the stuff on as we have a green ideas page that virtually no one looks at but won us an award its just something to think about.
That's pretty much the way I have it set up. You can pretty much find anything on my site within two clicks.
 
Having had a lot of ecoomerce sites, I can say the KISS technique creates more sales. But the big G likes big sites so what can you do?
 
Same here. Top pages are the breakfasts, the rooms, go make a rez. About 2% look at the policies. OTOH, I have about 70 pages on my website devoted to 'other stuff'. As long as guests can find what they need, can get back to the main pages easily, why not leave the rest of it as long as you keep it up to date. You just never know every search term someone might use that you have buried on one of those other pages.
Plus, those other pages have history and internal links to your site. Those are reasonably important factors.
 
Same here. Top pages are the breakfasts, the rooms, go make a rez. About 2% look at the policies. OTOH, I have about 70 pages on my website devoted to 'other stuff'. As long as guests can find what they need, can get back to the main pages easily, why not leave the rest of it as long as you keep it up to date. You just never know every search term someone might use that you have buried on one of those other pages.
Plus, those other pages have history and internal links to your site. Those are reasonably important factors..
Madeleine said:
Same here. Top pages are the breakfasts, the rooms, go make a rez. About 2% look at the policies. OTOH, I have about 70 pages on my website devoted to 'other stuff'. As long as guests can find what they need, can get back to the main pages easily, why not leave the rest of it as long as you keep it up to date. You just never know every search term someone might use that you have buried on one of those other pages.
Plus, those other pages have history and internal links to your site. Those are reasonably important factors.
Very good point. I have had guests tell me they've read every bit of my website and others see the phone number on the landing page and call and ask questions that are readily answered if they had just bothered to click one link. The latter group drives me crazy especially when they call late at night for information.
 
Same here. Top pages are the breakfasts, the rooms, go make a rez. About 2% look at the policies. OTOH, I have about 70 pages on my website devoted to 'other stuff'. As long as guests can find what they need, can get back to the main pages easily, why not leave the rest of it as long as you keep it up to date. You just never know every search term someone might use that you have buried on one of those other pages.
Plus, those other pages have history and internal links to your site. Those are reasonably important factors..
Madeleine said:
Same here. Top pages are the breakfasts, the rooms, go make a rez. About 2% look at the policies. OTOH, I have about 70 pages on my website devoted to 'other stuff'. As long as guests can find what they need, can get back to the main pages easily, why not leave the rest of it as long as you keep it up to date. You just never know every search term someone might use that you have buried on one of those other pages.
Plus, those other pages have history and internal links to your site. Those are reasonably important factors.
Very good point. I have had guests tell me they've read every bit of my website and others see the phone number on the landing page and call and ask questions that are readily answered if they had just bothered to click one link. The latter group drives me crazy especially when they call late at night for information.
.
Proud Texan said:
Madeleine said:
Same here. Top pages are the breakfasts, the rooms, go make a rez. About 2% look at the policies. OTOH, I have about 70 pages on my website devoted to 'other stuff'. As long as guests can find what they need, can get back to the main pages easily, why not leave the rest of it as long as you keep it up to date. You just never know every search term someone might use that you have buried on one of those other pages.
Plus, those other pages have history and internal links to your site. Those are reasonably important factors.
Very good point. I have had guests tell me they've read every bit of my website and others see the phone number on the landing page and call and ask questions that are readily answered if they had just bothered to click one link. The latter group drives me crazy especially when they call late at night for information.
Does it say 'Call between # AM and # PM for assistance'? Mine doesn't and, yes, they call from 7 AM to 1 AM. My mistake. I need to make an adjustment there.
Here is what I have heard from guests who call:
  1. There's too much to look at, help me decide;
  2. All the websites are different, I can't find anything;
  3. I've looked at 20 websites in your area and I still don't know where anything else is, can you help me;
  4. My son/daughter did the research and gave me the number, but... ;
  5. We've stayed with you a lot, can we just have our usual room. (This one is so much easier for me if I do it instead of them. Click-click-click, they're reserved.)
Of course there is the 'Do you have any rooms tonight?' caller who got the phone number from their GPS and can't look online to see if there are rooms, so I do have to practice some patience at times.
 
Same here. Top pages are the breakfasts, the rooms, go make a rez. About 2% look at the policies. OTOH, I have about 70 pages on my website devoted to 'other stuff'. As long as guests can find what they need, can get back to the main pages easily, why not leave the rest of it as long as you keep it up to date. You just never know every search term someone might use that you have buried on one of those other pages.
Plus, those other pages have history and internal links to your site. Those are reasonably important factors..
Madeleine said:
Same here. Top pages are the breakfasts, the rooms, go make a rez. About 2% look at the policies. OTOH, I have about 70 pages on my website devoted to 'other stuff'. As long as guests can find what they need, can get back to the main pages easily, why not leave the rest of it as long as you keep it up to date. You just never know every search term someone might use that you have buried on one of those other pages.
Plus, those other pages have history and internal links to your site. Those are reasonably important factors.
Very good point. I have had guests tell me they've read every bit of my website and others see the phone number on the landing page and call and ask questions that are readily answered if they had just bothered to click one link. The latter group drives me crazy especially when they call late at night for information.
.
Proud Texan said:
Madeleine said:
Same here. Top pages are the breakfasts, the rooms, go make a rez. About 2% look at the policies. OTOH, I have about 70 pages on my website devoted to 'other stuff'. As long as guests can find what they need, can get back to the main pages easily, why not leave the rest of it as long as you keep it up to date. You just never know every search term someone might use that you have buried on one of those other pages.
Plus, those other pages have history and internal links to your site. Those are reasonably important factors.
Very good point. I have had guests tell me they've read every bit of my website and others see the phone number on the landing page and call and ask questions that are readily answered if they had just bothered to click one link. The latter group drives me crazy especially when they call late at night for information.
Does it say 'Call between # AM and # PM for assistance'? Mine doesn't and, yes, they call from 7 AM to 1 AM. My mistake. I need to make an adjustment there.
Here is what I have heard from guests who call:
  1. There's too much to look at, help me decide;
  2. All the websites are different, I can't find anything;
  3. I've looked at 20 websites in your area and I still don't know where anything else is, can you help me;
  4. My son/daughter did the research and gave me the number, but... ;
  5. We've stayed with you a lot, can we just have our usual room. (This one is so much easier for me if I do it instead of them. Click-click-click, they're reserved.)
Of course there is the 'Do you have any rooms tonight?' caller who got the phone number from their GPS and can't look online to see if there are rooms, so I do have to practice some patience at times.
.
Madeleine said:
Does it say 'Call between # AM and # PM for assistance'? Mine doesn't and, yes, they call from 7 AM to 1 AM. My mistake. I need to make an adjustment there.
That would imply that people actually read our website. Perhaps it would be a good idea to have hours posted underneath the phone number. Of course, as you suggested, many are finding us on a GPS or some other web directory that has ripped off our information to fill their content.
We have a dad gum answering machine. I just haven't trained myself to use it yet.
 
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