Search engine rankings boost

When it comes to search engine rankings there are a variety of things you can do to boost results. As the saying goes in the www. world ‘content is King’.

Toward the end of the year we have added a number of keyword targeted pages to our website to boost our SEO (search engine optimisation). We will continue with this throughout the year and will also be adding more articles to our blog and social media posts as well.

A great informative addition to our site, adding value for visitors to the site, and a welcome helping hand to boost our Google keyword positions.

Some of the new pages –

Wintertime in the Highlands

Whisky trail

Castles and Historic sites across the Highlands

Outdoor Activities

Lochs, Rivers & Firths

Hillwalking & Munro bagging

Scottish Wildlife

Bird watching in Scotland

Fishing in Scotland

Self Catering in Scotland

Let us know if there are any subjects that you think would be informative and helpful to guests…

Gael guest prize draw winner

Well done and congratulations to Mr Simpson from Paisley who is the winner of the Gael Holiday Homes grand prize draw winning a £250 evoucher. Following a recent stay in Inverness through Gael Mr Simpson returned one of our guest satisfaction surveys and was automatically entered into the draw …. read the full story on our website.

Some great new additions

With the strong growth in smartphones and now also with tablet devices such as the iPad there has been an increasing number of visits to our website using these portable devices. In August so far there have been over 500 unique visitors to our website who were using a mobile device. Although our website is Web 2.0 (fully compatible with mobile devices and smartphones) we need to offer something extra to ensure we maximise the opportunities available. We will be developing our Facebook page over the next few months and have started this by adding some new apps to our page.

New Apps added to our Facebook  page

We have now added Supercontrol booking system apps to our Facebook page so potential guests can view our website special offers, carry out availability searches, make enquiries and view a map of all Gael Holiday Homes with direct linking. This is a great addition to our marketing toolbox as many people use Facebook on smartphones and portable devices rather than on the traditional format PC’s or laptops. We can now bring marketing directly to these devices wherever the potential guest is and will be rolling out Facebook e-marketing using our current guest database in the early part of the new year.

Availability checker - http://www.facebook.com/GaelHH?sk=app_230047290349396

For these tools to be as effective as possible we need to build our Facebook presence and have as many people like our Facebook page as possible – so if you have a Facebook account visit our page via the link below and ‘like us’, let as many of your Facebook friends as possible know we need their ‘likes’ too and ask them to ask their friends to help us along as well.

Gael Holiday Homes – http://www.facebook.com/gaelhh

 

Postcode Anywhere

A recent survey conducted by the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG) in partnership with Postcode Anywhere revealed that inaccurate addressing costs the e-retail industry £146 million in 2009. The main loss is due to customers not having the time or wanting to spend time filling out online forms or inaccurate delivery addresses.

We have now added Postcode anywhere software to our booking system, providing guests another hidden tool that makes our website easier to use and during the booking process allows them to complete an entire address from a UK postcode up to 30% faster, reducing shopping cart abandonment rates.

As we run a credit/debit card security checking system through Sagepay, checking that the name and address given by the guest as part of the booking process matches the registered name and address of the payment card given, Postcode anywhere will minimise mismatch address details due to the different ways some addresses can be formatted. This should help keep security failures to minimum.

 

Refuse collection info

We have often been asked about refuse collection for holiday homes and whether the Highland Council (THC) include this service as part of the non domestic rate scheme. The simple answer is that THC apply an additonal charge for collection of refuse as this is not included in any non domestic rate charges.

There are a few changes in general for holiday homes waste collection (those on non domestic rates) so I thought it may be useful to publish this info on our blog.

Waste and the Law

Under part II of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 the Highland Council can only collect Commercial, and certain types of Household waste if a REQUEST for the Service has been made and reasonable cost recovery charges are paid. A Service Request form, which also incorporates the Duty of Care waste transfer note, must be completed by all customers requesting a collection service.

The Council may also permit businesses to dispose of waste at it’s waste transfer stations / landfill sites subject to payment of a reasonable cost recovery charge.

The waste producer (i.e. the customer) has a responsibility to fully comply with the Duty of Care Regulations which involves

• Taking care with waste handling and containment
• Describing and quantifying the waste
• Passing this waste only to a registered waste carrier
• or taking the waste directly to a suitably licenced transfer or disposal site

Recycling

From April 2012 all commercial collection services must also include recycling by using either the kerbside recycling collection or recycling permit system outlined above. If any refuse bin contains any cardboard, paper, plastic bottles, food tins and drink cans it will not be collected. The time-scale for this starting in each area is outlined under Kerbside Recylcing Collections.

Kerbside Recycling Collections
From April 2012 all commercial customers in The Highland Council area will be entitled to a separate  Recycling collection enabling them to recycle paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, food tins and drink cans. Standard fefuse bins will not be uplifted if they contain the materials specified above. Customers have the opportunity to use the Recycling Permit detailed above to recycle these materials rather than have a recycling collection.
The planned time scale for recycling collections to be rolled out in Highland are as follows:

• April 2011 – Caithness and Lochaber
• July 2011 – Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey
• October 2011 – Ross and Cromarty and parts of West Ross
• January 2012 – Inverness (Provisional)
• April 2012 – The remainder of West Ross, North, East and Central Sutherland (Provisional)

Until the Recycling Collection service is available in your area please make use of the Free Recycling Permit detailed above.

Recycling Permit – Free Recycling Permit
The Council’s commercial customers can apply for a free Recycling Permit using the formal request form which also incorporates the Duty of Care waste transfer note. This permit enables the Council’s customers to use Recycling Centres and Recycling Points to recycle an amount of material equivalent to the volume of waste collected through the commercial collection contract free of charge. This assists them to reduce the amount of residual waste that they produce and to access the Council’s recycling centres and recycling points free of charge. A wide range of recyclable materials can be recycled and diverted from landfill using this permit – i.e. glass, cardboard, paper, green waste, food tins, drink cans, wood, textiles, paper based drink cartons, plastic bottles.

Collection Charges

The 2011/12 collection charges are outlined below. Please note the recycling charges will only apply to an area when the scheduled change takes place. These dates are outlined in the Kerbside Recycling Collections section.

Recycling and refuse collection charges 2011/12

• 140 litre wheeled bin -
• COMMERCIAL REFUSE Per uplift – £3.46
• COMMERCIAL RECYCLING Per uplift – £2.40
• HOUSEHOLD REFUSE Per uplift (See Note A) – £2.29
• HOUSEHOLD RECYCLING Per uplift – £1.23
• 240 litre wheeled bin -
• COMMERCIAL REFUSE Per uplift – £5.37
• COMMERCIAL RECYCLING Per uplift – £3.58
• HOUSEHOLD REFUSE Per uplift (See Note A) – £3.43
• HOUSEHOLD RECYCLING Per uplift – £1.64
• 360 litre wheeled bin -
• COMMERCIAL REFUSE Per uplift – £7.56
• COMMERCIAL RECYCLING Per uplift – £4.88
• HOUSEHOLD REFUSE Per uplift (See Note A) – £4.63
• HOUSEHOLD RECYCLING Per uplift – £1.94
• 660 litre wheeled bin -
• COMMERCIAL REFUSE Per uplift – £12.72
• COMMERCIAL RECYCLING Per uplift – £7.79
• HOUSEHOLD REFUSE Per uplift (See Note A) – £7.33
• HOUSEHOLD RECYCLING Per uplift – £2.40
• 1100 litre wheeled bin -
• COMMERCIAL REFUSE Per uplift – £20.44
• COMMERCIAL RECYCLING Per uplift – £12.21
• HOUSEHOLD REFUSE Per uplift (See Note A) – £11.45

HOUSEHOLD RECYCLING Per uplift – £3.22

Bin Permit
Once the collection request has been processed and the Duty of Care waste transfer note has been completed, the customer will be sent self adhesive permits for displaying on the bins. It is the customer’s responsibility to ensure that these permits are attached to the bins at all times. A service will not be provided without the permits and waste transfer note being in place. Bins which do not have the current permit attached will NOT be collected.

For more information on refuse collection visit THC website at – http://www.highland.gov.uk/yourenvironment/wastemanagement/refuse-collection/commercial-waste.htm

For owners using our changeover services – As you will have seen above we are unable to collect waste and dispose of this without incurring charges. This is not a service we wish to offer as costs would also have to include a time/mileage charge to transport this to a refuse point making this not commercially viable for our owners. On rare occasions it is necessary for us to remove waste left at a holiday homes, for whatever reason. We are happy to do as an exception but will have to pass charges on if provision has not been made with the Highland Council for appropriate collections. Our charges for this service will be as per THC table above and a flat rate of £0.80 per mile (inclusive of driver’s time) to dispose of this at the nearest council refuse point.

Good Housekeeping Deposits

As we know the vast majority of guests are very respectful and leave a holiday home in good order; damage free and tidy. On the rare occasion when this doesn’t happen and more time than is considered reasonable is required to carry out a changeover you may consider withholding an element (or all) of the Good Housekeeping Deposit (GHD). This may also apply for any breakages or damage.

When you wish to withhold any element of GHD then we have the following process -

Let us know within 3 days of the guest departure date as the contract with the guest states that refund of the GHD will be within 7 days. We usually run this refund schedule on a Wednesday so any Saturday departures are processed on the following Wednesday.

We will write to the guest, usually via email, on your behalf to explain what was found and what fee is to be deducted from the GHD. As it would be reasonable for any guest to be provided reasonable explanation on any claim on the GHD it would be good to have at least a written report from you on what additional work was required and time incurred to bring the property back to the required standard – photographs of any mess or damage would be ideal.

Most guests, if not all, would not consider themselves to be untidy or disrespectful to other people’s property. This being the case then it is likely that any claim on the GHD will initially be disputed. In most cases this is resolved quickly but sometimes not – this is where the photographs come in! As an agent we facilitate bookings and mediate in any dispute. If however we can’t get agreement from the guests that they accept this charge and they wish to pursue a full refund then we may not be able to take this any further and any dispute continuation would be between you and the guest under Scottish Law.  As said at the beginning it is rare that we have to consider any claim on GHD’s and even when there is disagreement in the majority of instances things don’t need to go this far and agreement is reached.