innkeeping.org » Bronze Medal Winners

Review: Lanierbb.com

Innkeeper — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 05:01:35 +0000

This site, although not particularly eye catching, seems to get decent traffic and create a modest return. A long established directory, Pam Lanier’s is one of the few remaining print directories promoting bed and breakfasts. Membership in the site includes the print listing. Also includes membership via the travelguides.com URL. Recently added “featured” listings seem to be mostly a way of increasing the monetization of the site, especially since their own FAQ page states “Do I have to pay for a better listing, additional placements, etc? - Never! Pamela Lanier insists on a level playing field for all members.”. Interestingly as well, the statistics provided by their innkeeper “check traffic” pages are nearly double those that we collected through our own (multiple) methods.

The Good: Reasonable price for a strong reach. Long time travel guide has great consumer credibility. Search is fast and concise. Most prominent links are to inn website directly.

The Bad: Odd page layout gives a lot of screen real estate to their logo/header. Wordy home page stuffed with keywords. Few internal pages (Inn pages) have pagerank. Bland result pages. Photo gallery is old school and forces open in a new window. Reservation Inquiry form is unnecessary for most inns and confusing for users and innkeepers (emails innkeeper a request).

The Stats:
Age of Domain: 7 years
Main Page Pagerank: 5
Number of Inbound Links: 34,907
AlexaRank: 220,361
Quantcast Monthly Uniques: 45,575
Alternate Domain Names: No
Direct Links to Your Website: Yes
Least Expensive Membership (annual): $159
Most Expensive Membership (annual): $159
Notes about Packages and Membership: Only one package, setup fee of $40. Includes listing in print editions. $89 introductory rate on “Priority Placement” which lists you on a rotating basis on your state, region and city pages for 3 months (for $125).
Quantcast Summary: This site reaches approximately 49,051 U.S. monthly uniques. The site attracts a mostly Caucasian, more female, primarily older, more educated, more affluent audience.The typical visitor books lodging at bedandbreakfast.com, visits cooksrecipes.com, and subscribes to Food & Wine.

The Site:www.lanierbb.com
Review Date: January 27, 2008

Review: theinnkeeper.com

Innkeeper — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 22:30:35 +0000

Direct links are most prominent here. Unlike many other sites, the less prominent “more information” link on your listing is to their own site. Reservations tab takes you to the inn reservations program directly, which is a nice touch.

The Good: 2 Clicks and I am at the link to your page. Thats a nice layout. The most prominent link on your ad takes the visitor to your own website, rather than their internal page. Lists guides and affiliations as QA. Concise details screen is easy to read and well organized.

The Bad: What is with the color scheme? Is this the standard B&B color chart? If you notice, this is the 3rd site I have reviewed with this same color scheme, and second with the bland map on the main page. Of course, map search is a good starting point, but spruce the map up a bit and customize it for your site. Not to mention the giant page waste of the image on the homepage above the map. Feature someone up there at random if you’re not going to sell that space!

My Ratings:

Overall Rating:	[rating:overall/10]
Site Design:	[rating:5/10]
Site Content:	[rating:5/10]
Site Usability:	[rating:6/10]
Site Reach:	[rating:5/10]
Browser:	[rating:8/10]
Clicks to Link:	[rating:9/10]
Internal Pagerank:	[rating:6/10]
Credibility / QA:	[rating:8/10]
Value:	[rating:6/10]

The Stats:
Age of Domain: 10 years
Main Page Pagerank: 6
Number of Inbound Links: 10,659
AlexaRank: 848,790
Alternate Domain Names: Yes
Direct Links to Your Website: Yes - at the $249 package.
Least Expensive Membership (annual): $249
Most Expensive Membership (annual): Only one package offered.
Notes about Packages and Membership: Single membership plan.

The Site: www.theinnkeeper.com
Review Date: January 10, 2008

Review: Pillows and Pancakes

Innkeeper — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:35:50 +0000

A pretty good value at this point in the game. An up and coming site with great recent growth in the reach department. With a solid grouping of pages that have good pagerank and a decent (and growing) number of back links, this site is a great find for its current $99 per year. Ad dollars well spent in my opinion. Of course, YMMV.

My Ratings:

Overall Rating:	[rating:overall/10]
Site Design:	[rating:6/10]
Site Content:	[rating:7/10]
Site Usability:	[rating:6/10]
Site Reach:	[rating:6/10]
Browser:	[rating:7/10]
Clicks to Link:	[rating:4/10]
Internal Pagerank:	[rating:6/10]
Credibility / QA:	[rating:5/10]
Value:	[rating:7/10]

The Stats:
Age of Domain: 3 years
Main Page Pagerank: 5
Number of Inbound Links: 4989
AlexaRank: 511620
Alternate Domain Names: None
Direct Links to Your Website: Yes - Basic 39yr pkg
Least Expensive Membership (annual): 39
Most Expensive Membership (annual): 99
Notes about Packages and Membership: Premium membership gets you featured, bold etc.

The Site:www.pillowsandpancakes.com
Review Date: January 10, 2008