Showing posts with label Attracting Customers. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Package Deals

Everyone Loves a Good Deal

Get Good at Packaging your Services

Running a seasonal business can be tricky. We have to make the most of a short number of weeks in order to keep our business profitable. At Block Island Family Vacation, the most visited pages are currently about package deals.

Offer Something

Subscribe:Click to be a Member
Once you are joined up you will receive a free landing page that tells our visitors who you are and what you have to offer. Retail, restaurant, accommodations, activities, services and artists can participate.

Here are some Ideas on Packaging your Products

Start by simply aligning your products and services with your favorites

Let's say you own an inn. You can help sell your mid week nights by partnering with any number of activities on island. Start with your friend's businesses. They will promote you and you will promote them. You can make a simple agreement that includes a protocol for taking reservations and collecting and distributing the payments. Keep it very simple.
Give your "Package" a fancy name. 'Stay & Play' or 'Mid-Week Getaway' or 'Festival Package' or 'Girls Weekend' and combine services that go together
Start Small. Decide on one offering and get the word out. Rack Cards, Social Media, Chamber or your destination websites such as Block Island Family Vacation.
Be Creative. Use incentives such as commissions to motivate others to sell your package. Have a contest for your employees to sell your products. Talk to bartenders and cab drivers and ask them to refer customers. Reward them with an off season package for them or their family to enjoy.

Offer your special package on Block-Island-Family-Vacation.Com

Share your deals on the "Specials" page.

Share your deals on the Facebook Page.

Use our dynamic links to add value to your website.

Be Prosperous,
Kelly

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Block Island Artists


T. Finn Photography

Our Artists color our community with amazing creations. Inspired by the sea and salt air, many residents have launched small businesses based upon their art.

Love that.

I've spoken to many fellow community members who sell their art. Being a creative sometimes makes it a challenge to be a business person. The Farmer's Market provides a great outlet for artists, but opportunities to sell are limited to a few hours twice a week. Retail store square footage is pricy on BI, it's hard for artists to rent retail space. Many of our retailers sponsor local artisans by selling their wares for them.

Taking advantage of the opportunities for exposure available online is a great idea. Visitors plan their vacation online and seek out the things they want to do or see. Artists can showcase their creations as and promote art shows, stores that carry their stuff, or sell online using a shopping cart.

One of the reasons I started BIFV was so my friends and I could promote our businesses. With my skills as a web designer I was able to provide a way to promote our beautiful island as a travel destination. People who visit want to get info on everything, including our artists.

BIFV supports and promotes the love for island inspired art by helping artists create their web presence. It's one thing to get a website up and running, but how do you get people to see it? You have to link to an existing website that already has good ratings with the search engines.

If you already have a site, link it. If you you need a site, let me know, I can help. Membership is free. Contact me with any questions or for advice on promoting your business online. Together we can come up with a simple plan to accomplish your goal.

And please subscribe to this blog and be a part of the Block Island Online Business Alliance. We share our business ideas.

Be Prosperous,
Kelly

Friday, December 14, 2012

A Block Island Business Alliance

It's All About Our Visitors, Isn't It?

Since 2005 Block-Island-Family-Vacation.Com has been fulfilling its promise of providing the most comprehensive info to visitors on the web who are researching Block Island. For the last 8 years we have been showcasing Block Island's best businesses and referring our visitors for free.

For 2013 We've updated our look and added new sections of content. 'Our' visitors are 'your' potential customers. We are getting better and better at finding ways to connect you to a wider audience. It helps to keep up with technology and we want to help.

Get A Better Web Presence.

We should Stick Together.

You benefit from your affiliation with us. Optimize that affiliation even more. There is a common web term called "link building." Websites that link to other websites for the purpose of providing good information do better in the search engines. Google, Yahoo, and Bing, for example, have "spiders" that crawl around looking for great and relevant content. If your website has it or is linked to a website that has it, you will come up higher in the search categories.

Get This.

Add Valuable Content to Your Website.

Grab any one of these stunning icons to add content your website. It's free. Each one clicks to a section on Block-Island-Family-Vacation.Com with great info. To see the pages they click to to Click on the and it will take you to a page with easy directions for adding these to your website.

Get this Link