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InsideOut Solutions is pleased to announce the launch of a new website and blog for Hoyt House, an Amelia Island bed and breakfast inn in Fernandina Beach, Florida.

This beautiful new website was designed and developed by InsideOut Solutions in WordPress and features the photography of Christian Gianelli.

With the new WordPress platform, Hoyt House hosts Deborah and Myrta will be able to:

• Manage their entire website with a single login.
• Find everything easily with the very friendly WordPress user interface.
• Make quality blog posts with the #1 blogging platform on the web.
• Easily add, modify and delete website pages, page copy, blog posts, images and photos galleries & albums.
• Enjoy easy Search Engine Optimization control.
• Access InsideOut’s stock images and custom WordPress photos, recipes & specials plug-ins.

InsideOut Solutions is migrating many of our clients to the WordPress platform so that they may take advantage of the ease and flexibility of control it offers.  Please contact us if you’re interested in having your website upgraded to WordPress!

The Voss Inn, Bozeman MT

New Web Site Design for Voss Inn

The Voss Inn, a Montana Bed and Breakfast in Bozeman, had a site that was begging for a face lift. They had been a promotion client of ours for over a year, and we were excited to merge their great Search Engine Optimization from the last year with a modern web site that was current with web standards and reflected the unique and beautiful Victorian that Frankee and Bruce so lovingly maintain. As they continue with their promotions, it will be that much easier to increase the Voss Inn’s visibility online for both their primary and secondary key phrases.

Already we have seen these improvements in Google Search:

• Average visit up from 2 minutes to 5 minutes
• Bounce rate down from 46% to 29%
• Average pages per visit up from ~2 to ~6

Congratulations Frankee and Bruce!

Pinecrest Bed & Breakfast, Asheville NC

New Pinecrest Inn Bed and Site

The Pinecrest Bed and Breakfast came to us desperate to see improvements on their organic placement on Google. Several years earlier, owner Stacy Shelly enjoyed first page placement for most of her primary key phrases in the competitive region of Asheville North Carolina. But, as her site aged and new developments were made in web viewing and web site design, she saw her site slip off page one.

Like so many of our clients, Stacy’s North Carolina Bed and Breakfast is a stunning Tudor-style home that has been maintained with love and dedication for over 100 years. So the first thing to make her site more appealing was to take some new photos of her property. She hired Christian Giannelli, one of our favorite photographers, to capture the beauty and elegance of her inn. We then used his photos and our skills to make Stacy a site that will allow her to climb back onto page one for her desired search terms. Stacy told us that after looking at about 100 bed and breakfast web sites online, she enjoyed the designs by Beth Logan the best.

Improvements in Google Search thus far:

• Bounce Rate down from 37% to 20%
• Average visit up from 2 minutes to 4 minutes
• Visits up 40% in first week!

Congratulations Stacy!

Bridgeford House, Eureka Springs AR

Bridgeford House Bed Breakfast New Web Site

The Bridgeford House came to us looking for a refresh of their aging site. Seeing the quality work we had done for others in the industry, as well as in their region, they trusted us to give them a site that would reflect the ambiance of their inn, as well as be a powerful online marketing tool.

Because we designed the web site for the Arkansas Bed and Breakfast Association, they knew what we were capable of, and felt confident making this investment with us.

We hope to continue working with the Eureka Springs Bed and Breakfast. Often after a site design we are able to help clients develop a logo which can be used for other marketing materials such as clothing, print materials or rack card design. Once you work with InsideOut on your web site or print materials, we are always here to support the product we created for you. In other words, no more logo fuss. The design isn’t just one pretty image to paste in the corner of your web site. We include multiple file types and alternate versions to suit various technical limitations and space requirements. After we do a logo design, we’re always available to help you, your vendors and publications with any technical problems related to your logo. It’s all part of our logo design service.

Please contact us today if you would like to get a quote for web site design, print or logo development.

Homespun Country Inn is located is pastoral Nappanee Indiana. A diverse community that is known for automobile manufacturing (formerly Rvs, now flat-bed electric trucks) and, on the other end of the scale, a large Amish population, makes this area a draw for both tourism and business travel alike.

Nappanee has a modest population of just under 7000, so it was important the Homespun Country Inn was able to establish themselves not only as a bed and breakfast for leisure travel, but also as a lodging property that would appeal to travelers that would normally look for a hotel in Nappanee.

The Homespun Country Inn New Website

The former website was far from achieving this goal. Dated, and rather unappealing, they were suffering from a high bounce rate of about 37%, with users spending an average of less than 3 minutes on the site, looking at less than 3 pages. Rooms photos we tiny, and unclear. The web site made the inn seem small, stuffy and unattractive.

What a difference a few hi-resolution photos and a great destination marketing team can do! The site now reflects the charm and beauty of the inn. The Homespun Country Inn has seen it’s bounce rate drop 25%, visits have increased by 16%, pageviews are up 156% and time on site is up 28%, just in the few days since the new site has been live. Wow! This is why our clients love our site designs: they are beautiful, effective marketing tools that allow the user to have a positive experience and the innkeeper to watch their ranking and reservations increase.

Your Web Site is Your Number One Marketing Tool!

Your web site is your first impression, and according to recent web search surveys and a webinar from marketing guru Trent Blizzard, the higher and more often you are found on the Internet, the better the perception of your business (source). So don’t let your web site give the impression that your business is old, dated, somewhat broken, messy, cluttered, or, heaven forbid, ugly. A new site design is the first step in making sure you are ahead of the curve in todays’ travel and destination marketing environment. Don’t get left in the dust!

Holly Buchanan opens a post at the FutureNow blog with a pair of seemingly contradictory ideas: that testimonials work very well and that they don’t work at all. Both are true, she argues, because customer praise can be a two-edged sword: If it appears inauthentic or doesn’t offer true insight, it can actually have a negative impact.

According to Buchanan, effective testimonials:

1. Are specific in their commendation. A generic testimonial like “I enjoyed my time at your hotel” won’t grab the attention of a business traveler in the same way as, “I was impressed by the 24-hour concierge service, especially when they found an all-night printer at 3 am.”
2. Address possible objections. You gain credibility when a happy customer explains how her initial skepticism was unfounded. “By addressing and voicing what many perspective customers may be feeling,” says Buchanan, “these testimonials are powerful persuaders.”
3. Are shown in a proper context. The testimonials on your website’s landing page, for instance, will be different from those on product pages or order forms; each should be appropriate for where a customer might be in the sales process.

The Po!nt: Not all testimonials are created equal. “Testimonials hurt you when people don’t think they’re real,” says Buchanan. “Anything that sounds vague or cliché can smack of insincerity.”

Again, this gives greater importance to the authentic reviews that are so important to all the hospitlaity industry. Encourge your guest and customers to write reviews on inn or product because their review will carry more crediability weight than an out of context testimonial.

There are 10 homes on the ranch, as well as homes on the nearby Oasis property, which has a orchid nursery house as well. Carol Davis, the innkeeper, is a very busy person and not only runs the B&B, but also her evening restaurant, Carol’s at Cat Spring. There was so much information to include about what one can look forward to when taking a Texas Weekend Getaway at Blisswood, like what’s for dinner, that we integrated the use of PDFs to make information sharing easier. For example, Carol likes to report what the current menu is at her restaurant. So that the menu would be easy to update, we made it into a PDF that potential diners can look over ahead of time, without it crowding the site itself.

Of course we also included our Specials page for the many pre-packaged deals and vacation add-ons that Carol features at the ranch. Along with beautiful scenery and animals, guests at Blisswood can ride, fish, shoot skeet, have spa services or simply stroll through the magnificent Hill Country of Texas.

Lastly, Blisswood is a stunning wedding destination on Texas. There is so much space many convenient accommodations for wedding guests. There is the picture-perfect Enchanted Lake where two dramatic bridges make stunning locations for photography. The Gazebo at the lake is perfect for ceremonies. Plus, Carol’s at Cat Spring is just down the street to handle catering, or reserve the reception room at the restaurant for smaller ceremonies.We worked to express clearly the different wedding packages that Blisswood offers, and what is included with them in a straight-forward manner for potential brides.

Blisswood is an amazing property that really seems to have a little of something for everyone. Only an hour from Houston, it is an easy to get to and get out of, when you have to.

The John F. Craig House, a Cape May Inn in one of the most
historic towns on the Eastern seaboard, has stiff competition in the very popular tourist destination of Cape May New Jersey. Innkeeper Barbara wanted a site that would reflect not only the look of the inn, but the energy and atmosphere of her very unique bed and breakfast. Through new pictures of the site, specialty photos of specific items in her inn and a very collaborative design process between the innkeeper and our designer Beth Logan, we arrived at the lovely final product.

Barbara shared with us how much her guests rave about the new large photos of her inn and the Cape May area. We think that having great photos can really help the visitors to your site get a sense for your property and your location. The old adage “A picture is worth a thousand words” still holds true! So, if you are wondering why the phone isn’t ringing in your inn as often as you like, you may want to take a look at your site and ask yourself; “Is it engaging, intriguing and attractive?” After all, your web site is the gateway to your inn & the very part of the guests’ experience. Your web site will be there first impression of your business, so make sure it’s a good one!

InsideOut knows that associations are made of small B&B owners. We strive to create great Bed and Breakfast marketing for all of our clients, regardless of the size of the inn. River Haus in the Pines, a Bed and Breakfast in Leavenworth WA, is one of our most recent custom site designs.

The innkeepers, Mike & Cindy, say: “We like the way the web site looks and operates, the colors & the clarity of the pictures. We are still working on a new logo and the art work is being prepared now. The team we worked with in creating the changes was very responsive and other than a few things relating to search engine requirements we were basically happy with the experience and result.”

Our custom site for River Haus in the Pines maintained some of the old artwork from the original site, and incorporated the all-important photography of their location in the Cascade Mountains. Their site includes several InsideOut features, including a web cam, a photo gallery and a gift certificates page.

As we continue on in our efforts to build better and more beautiful web sites, we will keep you informed of our newest tools and techniques.