We had an amazingly busy time at the 2014 Innkeeping Show in Charleston this year. It’s been touted as one of the biggest shows in the last decade, and from the many patient Innkeepers waiting in line at our booth to visit with us, I can attest that indeed it was a busy, busy show! We enjoyed teaching a variety of classes this year, beginning with a jam packed Exhibitor Intensive on Monday.
Do You Know What You Don’t Know?
Hour 1: Uncovering the Secrets of a Superior Online Presence!
Want to know the secret of what you need to know to have the best possible online presence for your inn? It’s a 10-step process that involves design, SEO, editing, schema, social, speed, tracking, tools, server, and transfer knowledge so you don’t make a misstep that gets you into hot water with Google, damages your placement and potentially your business. You’ll leave knowing “what you don’t know” about things you didn’t even know to ask about!
Hour 2: Why Go-Trippin?
Go-Trippin was developed to allow innkeepers a way to provide their knowledge and insight to the best places to eat, play, shop, explore, and more! Part of the fun your guests have when traveling to your area is discovering hidden gems along the way. Those little-known but awesome places that make a destination unique. If they really want to experience the true flavor of any city, then they need an expert. Someone who can let them in on the “best-kept secrets” of the area! And who better to ask than you, the local innkeeper? Go-Trippin’ contributors have the added benefit of being published in Google’s Niantic Labs Field Trip App and strengthening their online authority.
We also had the opportunity to teach Master Level Courses this year. Something a bit different for us, but also quite a bit different for Innkeepers. The topics and content provided were truly at a Masters level.
Do You Have A Digital Baggage Dilemma?
The first step to recovery is identifying that you have a problem! Have you been enjoying high placement in the search engines for the past few years, possibly even the last decade, but you’ve noticed a drop in your search engine placement? It very well may be that your business’s Digital Baggage is causing your placement issues. In the past decade, many SEM (Search Engine Marketing) strategies worked quite well for gaining high placement. We will identify during this session strategies that Google not only evaluated as part of their past algorithms, but in some cases actually recommended that today can and will cause issues with your online placement. We will span the gamut from NAP issues to Proper G+ setup to help you determine if you do indeed have a “Digital Baggage Dilemma!”
Google – Get Your Geek On!
Google’s guidelines, algorithms, and your online placement continues to change at an unbelievably rapid rate of speed! This session will review all the latest changes – though what those changes might be — only time will tell! Looking into Google’s Crystal Ball today, they “MIGHT” include topics such as Places, Maps, Local Carousel, Reviews, Google + (Business and Personal), Google + 1’s, Mobile Changes, Speed, Authority, or possibly something totally new and exciting! We promise you, if you attend this session, you will hear the latest and greatest Google news and how it applies to your online placement!
Innkeepers were delighted with the most current information regarding their Web sites, Search Engine Placement, Google changes, Responsive Design and Rich Snippet Testing tools, and other various Masters level content.
PAII’s 2014 Award of Merit
Also this year, Lisa Kolb, President and Co-Founder of Acorn Internet Services, Inc. was nominated to receive PAII’s 2014 Award of Merit for long term and significant contributions to the industry, and the business of Innkeeping.
“I am both honored and proud to have been chosen as PAII’s 2014 Award of Merit recipient and humbly thank all those in the industry for this recognition. I and our team of Acornites have been supporting Innkeepers for over a decade providing ongoing education, Web site design, marketing and all facets needed for a healthy online presence. We are simply delighted to be recognized by PAII and the Innkeeping Industry for our contribution to Innkeeper’s success.”
PAII 2015
I’ve never been to New Orleans! We have clients there, and have always wanted to visit, and now we have the perfect opportunity! I hope you are planning to join the party, because rumor has it, New Orleans is the place for awesomely great show!
PAII into the Future
And I would be amiss if I didn’t mention that this year’s conference was quite a different one, with the resignation of Jay Karen. There were many levels of emotion that spanned throughout the conference and on the PAII Forum.
As a combat survivor of many a corporate buyout in my previous life, I understand the level of passion, concern and worry about what is going to happen next. I also know that our Innkeeping Industry is a strong one. We all know that the challenges that go along with these changes will ultimately be resolved, one way or another, and in the mean time I’d like to offer the following bit of advice during this time of transition, and it follows closely along with what PAII stands for.
Keep in mind that this is the very same advice we give to all our clients in regards to what is shared online. Once it’s online, it never goes away. The comments made today will resonate for months and years to come. Let's all work to make them positive and professional ones.
“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget how you made them feel.” -- Maya Angelou
