How well does your guest house website sell your beds?

You have invested a fortune to get your prospect to your website. That is the fruit of all your marketing and promotion campaigns.

Now it is time for conversion, the ‘rubber-meets-the-road’ end of marketing.

Picture an 800m race. It takes a world-class athlete under two minutes and that’s about how long your average prospect gives you to make your offer. Around your website they go, looking at pictures and reading your offer until eventually they come around the last bend and into the final straight, the final 100m of the race. The finish line comes into view and they hit the “Book Now” button. They are into the final dash to complete their reservation. All too often it is here that the race is won or lost for both athlete and guest house owner.

It’s not, it is just the start of the final straight, the booking form, with three or four hurdles between them and the finishline.

Here’s what it looks like (click on the image to see the full-size version). Now try it through your own booking process and see for yourself.

By the time your prospect turns into the final straight and hits your “Book Now” button they are being jostled by all sorts of emotions that can trip them up or discourage them before they cross the finish line and pay. “Is this really the best place?” “Shouldn’t I look a bit further?” “What about that other place?”

Every stage of the booking form, every *required field and every click, is an invitation to give up and leave! Find somewhere else that is simpler, easier, quicker. Every time someone quits or gets distracted the race for the bed is lost, in most cases lost forever. That’s a high cost when you count losses in multiples of your room rate.

Ask yourself two important questions,

How easy do I make it for my prospect?
How can I keep them focused on my offer long enough to beat the competition?

That’s the race your prospect must run every time they visit your website and hit the “Book Now” button. And that is the conversion game, plain and simple.

Your two minutes to get them motivated and focused is over, now cheer them on as they run the final 100m to your credit card payment gateway. Do that and you win … in multiples of your room rate.