Next week begins the travel season for the InsideOut Road Warriors.  This year, Silas Fuller, Sales and Business Development will join Patricia McCauley at all Conferences and Trade Shows.

First stop, January 18th–20th, Cody Wyoming for the annual Dude Ranch Association Convention. Patricia and Silas will jointly be giving an interactive presentation on, Critical Elements of Effective Websites, Social Media, Trying to Stay on Top of the Continual Changes, Smartphone Websites, Do You Need One?  We love the Dude Ranchers, they really know their stuff when it comes to the value of the Internet and the conference is always really well attended and FUN! Yahoo!

Next stop, January 23-25th, Little Rock, Arkansas for the Professional Association of Innkeepers conference.

We will be at Booth 523, so come by and say hello. We will also be taking appointments to review your Internet marketing and branding strategies.  These appointments are with both Pat and Silas, double the expertise, register online at  insideout.com/paii.  Looking forward to seeing so many of friends who are also clients.  See you in Little Rock!

Many other trips are planned for this year including Montana in April, PAII New England,  and the South East PAII conference in South Carolina just to name a few. If we miss you this trip hope to catch you down the road at one of the other shows.

Happy New Year, and let’s keep traveling!

InsideOut Roadtrip! Making our way to PAII NW

It isn’t very often that we get to drive to a conference without first getting on a plane. How delightful to spend time with colleagues wending our way from the northern edge of Washington State in a 4+ hour drive through small towns, misty forests, hugging salty inland waterways replete with oyster beds and fishing boats on our way to the 2011 Northwest Innkeeping Conference and Trade Show held just south of Portland, Oregon in Clackamas.

With the conference located in such close proximity to the offices of InsideOut Solutions in Sequim, WA, it’s become possible for a good number of the staff to travel to the conference to meet innkeepers from all over the Northwest, including Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia.

Having clients in each of these states and BC, means we’ll have the opportunity to meet many of them face to face, some for the first time. Representing the Web Department at PAII NW this year is Beth Logan, Lisa Lidback and Corey Edwards. Shawn Kerr is attending his first conference as the Online Marketing Manager. Skyla Grimes offers technical support and is the New Client Point-of-contact person, also attending her first conference as a Representative of InsideOut. Pat McCauley, President of InsideOut Soultions, along with Beth Logan, Lead Designer, will be giving a presentation during the conference on Best Website Design Practices for Today’s Market.

As for the rest of the InsideOut Team, we’re back at home base, taking care of servers, coding new sites, designing print materials, and improving Search Engine visibility for our clients.

We spent our first night visiting at the opening party. Christian Giannelli snapped a picture of us with many of the individuals we work with for our state association sites. It was fun to see all of them!

From left to right, Beth Logan, Pat Detwiler of Florida association, Jeff Logan, Sara of New Mexico and Adobe Nido, Steven, Jeanna of Nebraska, Pat Fischbeck from Wisconsin Association and Speckled Hen Inn, and our Pat.

Steven, Jeff and Katie did a joint presentation on Beginning and Advanced Blogging, broken into two sessions over two days. The sessions were well attended, and we were able to share some of our favorite techniques on how innkeepers can make a blog successful.

We enjoyed the “night on the town” where we toured the BedandBreakfast.com offices while enjoying margaritas and cold Lone Star beer. There was a BBQ dinner and dancing at the spectacular Long Center, which was just across the river and had one heck of a view of the city! As Northwesterners, it was fun and refreshing to be out in the warm night air – compared to home where you can never go outside at night without your sweater.

We shot off to the famed 6th Street for some local culture after the dinner with Niles and Annie Deneen of Deneen Pottery, along with some of the PAII staff and David Hiler of Hiler Hospitality. We had a hilarious evening watching “live band karaoke”. David was even brave enough to go up onstage and for a couple songs. Way to go David!

Overall, it was a great trip and a wonderful show. We look forward to next year in Charleston South Carolina!

We have been busy, busy bees here at InsideOut lately – or should I say not here lately! There has been quite a bit of travel in the last two months.

Jeff Logan and Katie Pate were in Louisville KY for the Tri-State bed and breakfast Association in mid January. Unfortunately, there was no Ohio representation at the show, but it was still a wonderful chance to see some of our Kentucky Bed and Breakfast clients, as well as Indiana B&B clients.

Katie and Jeff spoke on Google search engine marketing and blogging. Despite suffering the loss of their projector, it was a success and enjoyed by all. InsideOut was honored that day by the Kentucky Bed and Breakfast Association as the vendor of the year.

The conference was held in a wonderful historic home in Old Louisville. The Conrad-Caldwell House is a magnificent Richardsonian Mansion on St. James Court. We enjoyed having dinner with innkeepers and hearing their stories about the neighborhood that many have worked to save by purchasing these elegant old homes. We were happy to again be a sponsor for this show.

Not but a week or so later, we were off again to the California Association of Bed and Breakfast Innkeepers (CABBI) show. It was in held at the Meritage resort in Napa. A beautiful facility, we enjoyed tasting fine California wines, eating the renowned California cuisine and meeting California innkeepers. Pat and Jim McCauley as well as Beth Logan were in attendance. Steven Dunston was a speaker, presenting his “15 Minute Marketing Makeover”. It was well received.

We got the chance to meet with Trent Blizzard from Blizzard Internet Marketing while in Napa. He was a presenting as well, and we enjoyed having dinner with him and talking SEO.

After two days in California, Jeff and Katie jumped back on the plane to Billings Montana for the Dude Rancher’s Association Convention. This is such a fun show (although not quite as warm as last year in Tucson), and it was good to catch up with our DRA clients and talk about our newest ideas for their sites and online marketing. Katie and Jeff lead a round table discussion on SEO basics for your site. It was quite the whirlwind event – only about 20 mins for each group and then you were off to the next table.

It has been a busy beginning to 2010! We love the chance to see our clients face to face, and it is a great time for us to educate clients and association members on new things that are changing about web marketing.

I hope we come to your region soon!

Steven Dunston, our SEO Manager, will present “15 Minute Marketing Makeover: Refocus your Revenue Goals with the help of Web Statistics”. This is a great presentation on how to read your web site stats and use them to help your online marketing. We have given this presentation at past B&B conferences and have had standing room only, so show up early to grab a seat.

We hope to see you at the conference and go here to sign up for your one-on-one meeting.

The Home of Paul Revere

On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere.
Now he patted his horse’s side,
Now he gazed at the landscape far and near,
Then, impetuous, stamped the earth,
And turned and tightened his saddle girth;
But mostly he watched with eager search
The belfry tower of the Old North Church,
As it rose above the graves on the hill,
Lonely and spectral and sombre and still.
And lo! as he looks, on the belfry’s height
A glimmer, and then a gleam of light!
He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns,
But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight
A second lamp in the belfry burns.”

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

We were excited to attend and participate in the first New England regional PAII trade show and conference earlier this month in Nashua New Hampshire.

The Three Musketeers of InsideOut Solutions in Boston Commons

Flying into Boston on a Sunday evening, Jeff Logan, Pat McCauley, Katie Pate and Steven Dunston took some time on Monday to learn about the history of American Revolution activities that took place in Boston and the surrounding area. We saw Paul Revere’s home in Boston, now surrounding by a bustling Italian neighborhood, and the Old North Church. Outside the city, we explored the “Battle Road”, the infamous trek that Revere made to warn the future American citizens that “the Redcoats are coming!”  We took a small detour to see the famous Waldon Pond from Throeau’s “On Waldon Pond” and also saw the home where Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women.

Katie & Pat at Waldon Pond

We arrived in Nashua Monday afternoon and began setting up our trade show and getting ready to see innkeepers. Fortunately for us, we were across the aisle from some very talented coffee roasters from Vermont. It was great to have Mocha Joe’s fresh coffee and aromatic presence throughout the trade show!

About 10 minutes before the opening reception in the trade show, the internet went out. And it didn’t come back until Tuesday afternoon. Wow! This was a big surprise for us, but we had planned ahead. Handing out reports for all the attending innkeepers with their search engine ranking ended up being a great conversation starter, and we were able to make due without the web.

The show was a huge success, we met with over 50 innkeepers, including some of our current clients like Pat & Vince Toreno from the Ashley Manor, Frank Wilson from Ten Acres Lodge, and Judi & Johanna Hauer from the Maine Stay Inn. We are so far away from these clients on a day to day basis, seeing them at the show was a real privilege.

Jeannine of On Cranberry Pond Bed & Breakfast won our iPod touch giveaway

On Tuesday morning Katie, Jeff and Steven presented panel-style on “Blogging 2.0: Finding Great New England Content”. As you can imagine, it was a little more difficult than we expected to talk about finding content on the web without and web access! Again, the InsideOut team was prepared with many screen shots and windows that had been left open from early morning internet sessions at Starbucks and Panera Bread (by the way, in case you were wondering, ’cause we were, “Panera” means “Bread Box” in Spanish). The presentation was great; there were about 70 attending innkeepers, and their questions were informative, well-targeted and engaging.

We hope that PAII will continue the New England Show; it was a fun time and also a great experience for us from the West Coast. We loved learning about our American History, and seeing the charming and lovely New England countryside.

Just can’t wait to get on the road again.

Goin’ places I’ve never been,

Seein’ things I may never see again,

And I can’t wait to get on the road again.”

– Willie Nelson

As the off-season rolls around for many of our clients, we set out to make contact with the innkeepers we know and love, as well as meet new members of our industry.

Steven Dunston's 15 Minute Marketing Makeover Presentation packed the room.

Going back to Wisconsin was a great treat for us. It was everyone’s second visit, at least, to the dairyland, and we were happy to see old-time clients like the Inn at Lonesome Hollow’s Nora Knapik, Honeybee Inn’s Barb Ruka, Westby House’s Marie and Mike Cimino and Naeset-Roe’s Carl Povlick, to name a few.

The Wisconsin Dells was a fun place for the conference to be held, and the whole Logan family attended to partake in the entertainment. Glacier Lodge, where the conference and trade show was held, was also home to several massive indoor water parks. It was a fun place for the kids as well as the adults. Katie made a mad dash for the watersides as soon as she had a spare hour!

Katie Pate with Innkeepers from Wissahickon Farms

There wasn’t much time to spare in the Dells, however, the InsideOut crew was quite busy. Steven Dunston, Katie Pate and Jeff  Logan were all speakers at the conference. Katie and Jeff presented on Facebook and Twitter marketing, while the three worked in tandem to cover “Blogging 2.0: Finding Great Content” and share some of our favorite methods for keeping your web site and your blog an engaging and interesting location on the web.

Jeff also presented the Association’s new web site. It is our fifteenth state lodging association web site, and we love what has come together for them. Featured inns, an interactive map and other unique features have made the site a great tool for internet users and an asset for members of the Association. Features include a section of the site dedicated to searching for lodging based on specials offered, and changing content on itineraries based on artisan cheese, hiking, cross country skiing and other activities that are perfect for enjoying in Wisconsin.

There will be more photos and stories of travel around the nation to come!

The British Columbia Bed and Breakfast Guild held their annual Conference and Trade Show last week on Vancouver Island. Pat McCauley and Katie Pate were there for day one, the trade show, and Jeff Logan took the second shift.

Pat and Katie enjoyed meeting the BC innkeepers – this was the first time InsideOut had attended their conference.  There were distinct differences in the Innkeepers that we met and many of those we work with here. Smaller, more residential-based inns seemed to be the typical style, versus large historic homes turned into lodging like so many bed and breakfasts in the states.

Jeff was very busy at this conference, presenting on three different marketing subjects and presenting the Guild with their new site design that InsideOut has created. The Guild knew our great reputation for Association designs, and were excited to work with us and our great designers and programmers. Getting British Columbia’s business was compliment for us. They are our Northern neighbors. I can see Victoria from my house! This is InsideOut’s first international association web site.

Over the next day and a half Jeff presented “Get Going with Google”, “Facebook Marketing” and “Blogging for Success”. These presentations were so well attended that 30 additional chairs were necessary to accommodate the attendees.

Jeff was excited to be in Nanaimo, a charming port city on the 90 minutes north of Victoria. He was hoping to have a “Nanaimo bar” while in the city, but everywhere he went to find one, they were always sold out. I guess they are even more popular in their hometown than down here!

Jeff arrived in Nanaimo on Tuesday night, quite late, with Jay Karen, the CEO/director of PAII. They had been at the Michigan Lake to Lake Conference over the weekend before heading to Britich Columbia. After their busy stint in Naniamo, Jay and Jeff traveled back to Sequim together.  Jay got a tour of the InsideOut office, and met our staff. After that,  Jeff and his family took Jay to the Seattle/Bainbridge Island ferry dock. He was picked up by Joyce Schulte of Chambered Nautilus, a Seattle B&B where Jay was staying until his flight home the next day.

It was a great conference with friends and new clients. We are excited to get to know our neighboring BC innkeepers better, and spend time exploring this new market.

Because there were five InsideOuters at the event, we had the chance to break up and attend different speakers covering subject matters that most applied to our job descriptions and interests. Katie, Gail and Laura attended Aaron Hockely’s presentation on how to successfully launch a blog, while Kailey and Corey went to hear about WordPress plugin programming.

InsideOut Staff Corey Edwards, Katie Pate, Kailey Lampert & Laura Alisanne, posing with the Fremont Troll in Seattle after WordCamp 2009

Scott Porad of icanhascheezeburger.com was also a speaker, and Mark Jaquith spoke on WordPress’ version of Facebook, BuddyPress. There were also spontaneous sessions on a variety of topics, many of which included Twitter. Gail attended one about the legal repercussions of using others content. She said she broke out in a cold sweat at how easy it is to break copyright laws on the web!

The day ended with some “ignite” sessions: tiny 5-minute presentations on a variety subjects, ranging from self-hosting to various methods for creating WordPress themes. These were fun. Lively, and a great way to cover several subjects quickly. Laura and Katie commented that they would have enjoyed some of these presentations at regular speed in another half hour session.

The last speaker was Liz Strauss. She was almost more like a motivational speaker than someone speaking about effective blogging; she echoed the theme of being yourself on your blog. After all, that is why people come to your blog, to hear what YOU have to say.

Overall, it was a great chance to make some interesting contacts in the Pacific Northwest WordPress Community, and learn some new information from other WordPress users.

On Monday, Katie Pate presented on “Internet Marketing with Facebook”. It was wonderful to see such interest in this new marketing platform, and we had another full audience. There were lots of good questions, like from our client Grover McMains, who owns a North Texas Bed and Breakfast in Fort Worth. He asked us about the important steps to having a modern web site before starting to focus time and energy into Facebook Marketing.

On Tuesday Steven spoke again on using a blog as a powerful marketing tool for your Bed and Breakfast web site. Referencing some of the tips and advice he covered in this Marketing Boot Camp, he explained how a blog can allow you to capture additional traffic for attractions and activities searches by creating content about these on a blog, and expanding what your site can be about, and therefore attract new potential clientele to your site.

Pat generously donated an ipod nano for the giveaway to the innkeepers. Many of the other vendors and speakers have known Pat for years, and as always, they were thrilled to see her again and get an update from her on all the new news from InsideOut.

Along with all of the education, we also got to see some of our current clients, like Carol Davis, the current president of the TBBA, and owner of Blisswood Bed and Breakfast, a stunning Wedding Destinationin Texas; and Jerry & Laurie Pinnix from the Mt. Gainor Inn, a Dripping Springs TX bed and breakfast. It is wonderful to check in with them, and give them some more tools to add to their marketing toolbox.

We also saw Jay Karen from PAII, and discussed with anticipation the next annual PAII convention to be held in Austin, and what the TBBA will be doing to help with PAII be gracious Texans hosts.

We want to thank all of the innkeepers and TBBA staff that made the event a success, and treated us so well as our thoughtful Texan hosts. See you in March!