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5 Tips to get more business this Summer
It’s summertime and this is the time your business thrives. Whether you run a kayak or mountain bike rental shop, fishing charter, or have a few rental cabins in the mountains, you are always trying to attract more customers to choose you when making their summer plans. Try these tips to help you not only get more business this summer, but throughout the year.
Be active on Social Media As a business owner, social media is a very important outlet to advertise your services and offerings. If you haven’t already, create a business page on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, then fill it with awesome pictures and information about what you offer. Ask happy customers to like your page, follow you, and post comments/reviews on your pages. You should post interesting things daily including images or something cool in the news related to your business.
It’s important to show potential customers your genuine self, and these social outlets are a great way to do that. Try not to be too ‘salesy’ in your posts and responses. Normal folks want to do business with other normal folks, so don’t be afraid to show who you are mixed in with what you do.
Join In! Join other Facebook groups where potential customers might go, and actively participate in comments. More than likely, you’re in business because you love what you do. It’s easy to find other folks that also love the same thing through Facebook groups. Find those groups, and engage with others. For example, if you own a water sport rental business, join groups geared toward kayakers or paddle boarders. If you have a cabin rental in a popular hiking area, join a hiking group. Then answer questions that come up, and be helpful and encouraging. Don’t use the forum to continually promote yourself, but instead be helpful by answering questions or encouraging others when they post about their experiences with the activity.
Leverage Happy Customers If you’ve been in business for a while, you surely have great customers that return year after year. Use them to your benefit to get more happy customers. Encourage them to take a live video stream of their experience – this is an incredible way for others to see what you offer. Make sure customers know it’s perfectly acceptable to take videos or via Facebook Live. It’s the best kind of testimonial.
Encourage reviews and referrals by offering incentives such as a discount on their next trip. Make sure you include links to your TripAdvisor or Yelp pages, so they can easily share their experience with others. Happy customers are usually thrilled to share their experiences with their friends and family.
Keep in touch with previous customers. Build an email list of all your customers, and send newsletters, helpful tips, or special offers to them. It’s a great way to keep your business in the forefront of their minds, especially when their dear Aunt Sally is looking for recommendations. During your off season, send them information about your upcoming season, and encourage them to book early to get the best spot for their next summer adventure.
Make sure your SEO is at it’s best. Most people use Google or other search engines to find adventure, so ensure that your business is at the top of their search list. Make certain that your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is at the top of its game by adding the best keywords to describe your business. This will lead those “Google searchers” to find you first before your competition.
These are only a few key tips to keep your business rolling this summer. Most importantly, if you LOVE what you do, and are passionate about it, then folks will find you and be thrilled they did.
How to add your WebReserv booking calendar to your Facebook page – Newer and easier method
A few years ago we published a tutorial to explain how to integrate your WebReserv online booking system to your Facebook page. Back then, it was necessary to use a third party app to do the integration. Today Facebook is able to provide a very good solution that will make that integration much easier. In the following article we will describe how.
Why should you use the WebReserv booking system?
The WebReserv booking system is a fantastic tool for your booking needs. WebReserv is ideal for small businesses and has all the features you’re looking for to allow your customers to make instant reservations on your website or your Facebook page. Want to know how to embed WebReserv in your Facebook page? Keep reading…
Add your WebReserv booking system to your Websitebuilder.com website
Building you own professional website is as easy as 1, 2, 3 with Websitebuilder.com. Choose a design from a selection of more than 10 000 templates. Edit your website in a few simple and intuitive steps and get your site online in 1 click. Ideal for small businesses, this fantastic tool will make your life easier.
If you are designing your website in Websitebuilder.com, use this guide to quickly add the WebReserv booking system to your Websitebuilder.com website and start receiving bookings already today.
Why should you use the WebReserv booking system?
The WebReserv booking system is a fantastic tool for your booking needs. WebReserv is ideal for small businesses and has all the features you’re looking for to allow your customers to make instant reservations or bookings directly on your website. Want to know how to embed WebReserv in your Websitebuilder.com website? Keep reading…
Add your WebReserv booking system to your Sitey website
From small business to portfolios, bands to organizations, Sitey has the perfect template for you. Their drag and drop builder means your dream website is minutes away and can include any feature you want, from a up-to-the-minute-blog to an online booking system.
If you are designing your website in Sitey, use this guide to quickly add the WebReserv booking system to your Sitey website and start receiving bookings already today.
Why should you use the WebReserv booking system?
The WebReserv booking system is a fantastic tool for your booking needs. WebReserv is ideal for small businesses and has all the features you’re looking for to allow your customers to make instant reservations or bookings directly on your website. Want to know how to embed WebReserv in your Sitey website? Keep reading…
How to get people to book on your own webpage and pay less commission to travel site
Things are going well for businesses in the tourism industry. Businesses are reporting record revenue numbers as people are traveling more. Why? One big reason is due to many of the travel sites, such as Booking.com, TripAdvisor, and Expedia, are making it easy for people to find and book what they want. You can find a place to stay or various activities and tours in the destination you are traveling to. On one hand, these sites are beneficial for both the customer and the business to ‘find’ each other, but on the other hand, it doesn’t come cheap to the business as it has to pay commission to these big travel sites for any bookings received through their portal. This is why, smart businesses in the lodging or tour industry will always be looking for way to get more traffic and bookings on their own through their website.
It is not an easy thing to compete with those billion dollars companies, and ignoring them may not be the best strategy either. These travel sites can certainly help your sales, but it is also essential for your businesses to maintain a certain independence in order to reduce risks, be in control, and make more money with each reservation. You may have a very professional website, but if it is lying dormant out there on the web you will not make it on your own. Spread your voice, reach out to the world, and take back control with the following tips.
Adding a booking calendar to Weebly websites
Weebly recently launched a new version of its website builder with a completely new design and several new features as well. This new version is converting Weebly in one of the most used webuilder worldwide and it will allow you to create a website in a record time. If you are designing your website in Weebly, use this guide to quickly add the WebReserv booking calendar to your Weebly website.
1. Copy HTML code from your WebReserv account
If you don’t have a WebReserv, create a free account here. If you already have a WebReserv account login and select Website from the top menu.
Select the version of the calendar, the calendar options and the appearance. Click here for more information about calendar options and colors.
5 tips to save time each day by making your website more efficient
Your website is where most of your customers find out about your business. You are pleased to have a great website that attracts people to your business, but is this website helping you in your day to day work? Did you know that a good website can save you numerous hours of unnecessary work?
Time is running out! Follow these 5 tips below to help save time for both you and your customers.
1. Make your website straightforward
When it comes to designing your website, the old adage KISS is a good advice: “Keep It Simple, Sweetie”.
If you think your customers call you because they want to talk to you, think again! Customers want to find the important information as quickly as possible without the hassle of calling or sending an email. If it is difficult to find the key information on your website, then often people will get frustrated and call you and waste some of your precious time. Read the rest of this entry »
Keeping in touch with your Customers
As a business, keeping in touch with your customers is a great way to get repeat business year after year. Sending emails about special offers or newsletters by email or regular mail are wonderful ways to let your customers know about what is going on with your business. This is great if you are a seasonal business, such as a vacation rental, tour business, or watersports rental, to communicate with customers as your season is ending or during the off season. You can easily extract your customer’s contact information in the WebReserv System by running a Customer Report.
Creating the report to use for an email marketing campaign can be completed in a few easy steps.
1. Gather the data and select the options
Go to Frontdesk – Reports. Choose Customer Report from the list. On this page, you have different options for the report.
6 Tips to Make Your Webpage More Valuable
A company’s webpage is a reflection of the business itself. That is most certainly what a customer may think since it is often his/her first introduction to a business. With this in mind, creating an excellent website is vital to the success of your business. Before you consider design and marketing, you will first want to make sure your site provides visitors the right information at the right time. If you are just getting started with your website or are updating an existing one, here are a few important tips you need to follow to create a valuable webpage.
Tip 1: Make it simple
When it comes to designing your website, the old adage KISS is good advice: “Keep It Simple, Sweetie”. Here is why:
For your visitors understanding
You don’t want your customers to leave your webpage because they can’t find what they are looking for. Think about what information is important for someone to buy your service or product, and organize this information in an easy structure, such as a simple main menu. Make sure the important information is available from the main page and that it is not necessary to scroll down to access it. Also, do not overload the page with unrelated information. Read the rest of this entry »
Hourly Reservations Made Easy
The WebReserv booking system can be set up for many types of applications, including bed & breakfast booking system and tour booking system. This article explains how to set up different time rules for hourly reservations. Hourly reservation rules are often used for boat rentals, bike rentals, paddleboard rentals, jetski/waverunner rentals and similar.
The hourly rental is designed to be used for rentals where the customer can select a start time and a variable amount of time for the rental, such as 1, 2 or 4 hours or a full day.
When the customer books an hourly rental, they will see an hourly calendar that shows availability for each hour during opening hours.
Here’s some examples of what the booking calendar can look like, depending on your configuration.
Multi-day/overnight rentals
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