Selling the inn

[Madeleine]

Just thinking in advance... With everything being interconnected with Google, when you sell the inn are you also selling all of the photos and stories you have done for your blog?
I can see giving the new owners the room photos, breakfast, outdoor photo s, etc, but I'm not sure I want to hand over, as in SELL to them, all the photos I have taken in 10 years.
I might want the photos and stories to still be mine to use as I see fit. I'm pretty personal on the blog so what do I do about that?
How are others handling this kind of transition?

 

[swirt]

You could license them to them to use but still maintain your right to use them as you see fit.

 

[Generic]

Were you paid by the inn for this? Are you salaried by the inn?

 

[Madeleine]

Were you paid by the inn for this? Are you salaried by the inn?.

As in am I an employee sent out to take photos and write copy? No. Seriously. I don't get a paycheck.
So the photos are mine, they were not sold to the inn. I didn't even write off the travel, hotels, food or admission fees.
But the line gets fuzzy which is why I'm asking. The photos are published on a site belonging to a business.
Everything I do is work.

 

[Madeleine]

Another way to ask the question is, as the buyer, do you expect that all of these photos are yours? That all of the blog articles are part of the business?
What's the perception and the expectation?

 

[Breakfast Diva]

Another way to ask the question is, as the buyer, do you expect that all of these photos are yours? That all of the blog articles are part of the business?
What's the perception and the expectation?.

If I were buying a property now, knowing what I know, I would expect the blog to stay the way it is. Google considers each post (if set up properly) as a page of your website. It's your marketing of the inn, not a personal blog. I would have no problems if you wanted to continue to use the photos you had already posted.
FB I wouldn't care so much about. As long as the page gets transferred and I'm able to keep the 'fans', the previous posts don't have as much value to me. Now, if google starts to give them more weight in searches, then it should go with the business.

 

[Joey Camb]

Im with squirt however you could include them in the sale or not as you see fit
Personally I would keep the right to the photo's and include the blog in the sale

 

[Generic]

Were you paid by the inn for this? Are you salaried by the inn?.

As in am I an employee sent out to take photos and write copy? No. Seriously. I don't get a paycheck.
So the photos are mine, they were not sold to the inn. I didn't even write off the travel, hotels, food or admission fees.
But the line gets fuzzy which is why I'm asking. The photos are published on a site belonging to a business.
Everything I do is work.
.

So legally speaking the B&B doesn't own any of it. You are allowing the B&B to use it, but it is personally owned by you. So the answer is clear, it's yours and you would have to specify that you are selling it or licencing it.
If you were an employee, that's where it would get murky.

 

[white pine]

If you want to keep them specify it in the sale, and make sure they are transferred to your personal acc'ts. I did sell a personal property which had a blog and lots of property/area photos associated. The realtor has since used those photos without even asking/crediting me. I did feel unhappy about that, and in retrospect wish I had done something to protect them. Don't want to pursue it at this point.

 

[JBloggs]

I have written 1355 blog articles and 408,218 unique pageviews of the funky coffee talk blog. Nearly all of those have unique photos I myself have taken, and innumerable links to all things good. and wonderful.
Not to mention all the other blogs and social media (thousands of tweets and photos on G+, Pinterest and more) of which I participate.
I would LOVE to hand them all over to the next keeper of the inn.
Sadly, those who have looked here (and not bought) have had no interest in any of this, just from a few questions I have asked. In fact they know nothing about it, they want to bake muffins and pour coffee.
I want to sell the whole kitten-kaboodle, lock stock and barrell...everything from website to social media marketing. I have always hoped that this would be appealing as part of the sale...No one understands the value in all of this. No one understand the time and dedication to get to this point. They just ask "what can you do to increase the occupancy rate?" Like we know the secret, but don't really want to do it. UGH!

 

[TheBeachHouse]

Just thinking in advance... With everything being interconnected with Google, when you sell the inn are you also selling all of the photos and stories you have done for your blog?
I can see giving the new owners the room photos, breakfast, outdoor photo s, etc, but I'm not sure I want to hand over, as in SELL to them, all the photos I have taken in 10 years.
I might want the photos and stories to still be mine to use as I see fit. I'm pretty personal on the blog so what do I do about that?
How are others handling this kind of transition?

When we bought this inn, we stipulated that we would own the URL for the website and the email address (and phone number.) The webmaster took down the whole site saying she owned it and if we didn't pay her directly, we couldn't have it.
So, if you don't want to sell your blog and pictures, you don't have to. It will be part of the deal.

 

[JBloggs]

Just thinking in advance... With everything being interconnected with Google, when you sell the inn are you also selling all of the photos and stories you have done for your blog?
I can see giving the new owners the room photos, breakfast, outdoor photo s, etc, but I'm not sure I want to hand over, as in SELL to them, all the photos I have taken in 10 years.
I might want the photos and stories to still be mine to use as I see fit. I'm pretty personal on the blog so what do I do about that?
How are others handling this kind of transition?

When we bought this inn, we stipulated that we would own the URL for the website and the email address (and phone number.) The webmaster took down the whole site saying she owned it and if we didn't pay her directly, we couldn't have it.
So, if you don't want to sell your blog and pictures, you don't have to. It will be part of the deal..

Just thinking in advance... With everything being interconnected with Google, when you sell the inn are you also selling all of the photos and stories you have done for your blog?
I can see giving the new owners the room photos, breakfast, outdoor photo s, etc, but I'm not sure I want to hand over, as in SELL to them, all the photos I have taken in 10 years.
I might want the photos and stories to still be mine to use as I see fit. I'm pretty personal on the blog so what do I do about that?
How are others handling this kind of transition?

When we bought this inn, we stipulated that we would own the URL for the website and the email address (and phone number.) The webmaster took down the whole site saying she owned it and if we didn't pay her directly, we couldn't have it.
So, if you don't want to sell your blog and pictures, you don't have to. It will be part of the deal.

A total conveyance should be agreed upon before the papers are signed. I have a list and price on everything conveying, these are things that aspirings do not understand. RUGS ALONE can take a bite out of your retirement savings! The little things sure add up!
Not sure how much she was selling the website for, but if it is an established inn you want to get everything, and get the hands of the previous owners out of everything. In most instances it is best to get them out of everything and do your own thing! This is being sold as a business, so you get everything as a business. We don't hold onto anything.

 

[Madeleine]

Another way to ask the question is, as the buyer, do you expect that all of these photos are yours? That all of the blog articles are part of the business?
What's the perception and the expectation?.

If I were buying a property now, knowing what I know, I would expect the blog to stay the way it is. Google considers each post (if set up properly) as a page of your website. It's your marketing of the inn, not a personal blog. I would have no problems if you wanted to continue to use the photos you had already posted.
FB I wouldn't care so much about. As long as the page gets transferred and I'm able to keep the 'fans', the previous posts don't have as much value to me. Now, if google starts to give them more weight in searches, then it should go with the business.
.

I don't have the blog set up that way. It's a separate entity with a link from the website and each blog page has a link back to the website.

 

[Madeleine]

Just thinking in advance... With everything being interconnected with Google, when you sell the inn are you also selling all of the photos and stories you have done for your blog?
I can see giving the new owners the room photos, breakfast, outdoor photo s, etc, but I'm not sure I want to hand over, as in SELL to them, all the photos I have taken in 10 years.
I might want the photos and stories to still be mine to use as I see fit. I'm pretty personal on the blog so what do I do about that?
How are others handling this kind of transition?

When we bought this inn, we stipulated that we would own the URL for the website and the email address (and phone number.) The webmaster took down the whole site saying she owned it and if we didn't pay her directly, we couldn't have it.
So, if you don't want to sell your blog and pictures, you don't have to. It will be part of the deal..

When we bought this inn, we stipulated that we would own the URL for the website and the email address (and phone number.) The webmaster took down the whole site saying she owned it and if we didn't pay her directly, we couldn't have it.
So, if you don't want to sell your blog and pictures, you don't have to. It will be part of the deal.

You must have bought from the same people we did... ;-)
The webmaster was not the inn owner and the webmaster insisted we pay him to maintain the website. It was a debacle. Our broker didn't include the URL in the sale agreement because it was, as he put it, 'an integral part of running the business' and that verbiage was already included.
Took us a month to get it sorted. During which time we had no control of the website.

 

[Madeleine]

I have written 1355 blog articles and 408,218 unique pageviews of the funky coffee talk blog. Nearly all of those have unique photos I myself have taken, and innumerable links to all things good. and wonderful.
Not to mention all the other blogs and social media (thousands of tweets and photos on G+, Pinterest and more) of which I participate.
I would LOVE to hand them all over to the next keeper of the inn.
Sadly, those who have looked here (and not bought) have had no interest in any of this, just from a few questions I have asked. In fact they know nothing about it, they want to bake muffins and pour coffee.
I want to sell the whole kitten-kaboodle, lock stock and barrell...everything from website to social media marketing. I have always hoped that this would be appealing as part of the sale...No one understands the value in all of this. No one understand the time and dedication to get to this point. They just ask "what can you do to increase the occupancy rate?" Like we know the secret, but don't really want to do it. UGH!.

I wonder who these wannabees talk to. Why don't they understand the power behind what you've done with all of your marketing efforts?

 

[TheBeachHouse]

I have written 1355 blog articles and 408,218 unique pageviews of the funky coffee talk blog. Nearly all of those have unique photos I myself have taken, and innumerable links to all things good. and wonderful.
Not to mention all the other blogs and social media (thousands of tweets and photos on G+, Pinterest and more) of which I participate.
I would LOVE to hand them all over to the next keeper of the inn.
Sadly, those who have looked here (and not bought) have had no interest in any of this, just from a few questions I have asked. In fact they know nothing about it, they want to bake muffins and pour coffee.
I want to sell the whole kitten-kaboodle, lock stock and barrell...everything from website to social media marketing. I have always hoped that this would be appealing as part of the sale...No one understands the value in all of this. No one understand the time and dedication to get to this point. They just ask "what can you do to increase the occupancy rate?" Like we know the secret, but don't really want to do it. UGH!.

I wonder who these wannabees talk to. Why don't they understand the power behind what you've done with all of your marketing efforts?
.

I wonder who these wannabees talk to. Why don't they understand the power behind what you've done with all of your marketing efforts?

I would have loved to take over a blog. My PO didn't want to advertise. We aren't even in the Chamber of Commerce map of hotels. (We will be in the 2014 version.) At this point, most of our business comes from referrals from the inns that are closed for the winter.
And in the meantime, I really did not like the previous website. Too many flashing pictures and not enough actual information. I think ours is pretty informative. We now have a tab for things to do, the history of the inn, a photo gallery and upcoming events. But it's a process.

 

[OnTheShore]

Just thinking in advance... With everything being interconnected with Google, when you sell the inn are you also selling all of the photos and stories you have done for your blog?
I can see giving the new owners the room photos, breakfast, outdoor photo s, etc, but I'm not sure I want to hand over, as in SELL to them, all the photos I have taken in 10 years.
I might want the photos and stories to still be mine to use as I see fit. I'm pretty personal on the blog so what do I do about that?
How are others handling this kind of transition?

When we bought this inn, we stipulated that we would own the URL for the website and the email address (and phone number.) The webmaster took down the whole site saying she owned it and if we didn't pay her directly, we couldn't have it.
So, if you don't want to sell your blog and pictures, you don't have to. It will be part of the deal..

When we bought this inn, we stipulated that we would own the URL for the website and the email address (and phone number.) The webmaster took down the whole site saying she owned it and if we didn't pay her directly, we couldn't have it.
So, if you don't want to sell your blog and pictures, you don't have to. It will be part of the deal.

You must have bought from the same people we did... ;-)
The webmaster was not the inn owner and the webmaster insisted we pay him to maintain the website. It was a debacle. Our broker didn't include the URL in the sale agreement because it was, as he put it, 'an integral part of running the business' and that verbiage was already included.
Took us a month to get it sorted. During which time we had no control of the website.
.

When we bought this inn, we stipulated that we would own the URL for the website and the email address (and phone number.) The webmaster took down the whole site saying she owned it and if we didn't pay her directly, we couldn't have it.
So, if you don't want to sell your blog and pictures, you don't have to. It will be part of the deal.

You must have bought from the same people we did... ;-)
The webmaster was not the inn owner and the webmaster insisted we pay him to maintain the website. It was a debacle. Our broker didn't include the URL in the sale agreement because it was, as he put it, 'an integral part of running the business' and that verbiage was already included.
Took us a month to get it sorted. During which time we had no control of the website.

So this gets to the question that potential buyers should be asking -- in who's name is the website domain name actually registered (the innkeeper or some other webmaster?).
Who has access to the website files -- the innkeeper or the webmaster?
Etc..... This was discussed in a digital housekeeping blog by chef forfeng (I think, among others). And in other threads on this forum.

 

[Madeleine]

Just thinking in advance... With everything being interconnected with Google, when you sell the inn are you also selling all of the photos and stories you have done for your blog?
I can see giving the new owners the room photos, breakfast, outdoor photo s, etc, but I'm not sure I want to hand over, as in SELL to them, all the photos I have taken in 10 years.
I might want the photos and stories to still be mine to use as I see fit. I'm pretty personal on the blog so what do I do about that?
How are others handling this kind of transition?

When we bought this inn, we stipulated that we would own the URL for the website and the email address (and phone number.) The webmaster took down the whole site saying she owned it and if we didn't pay her directly, we couldn't have it.
So, if you don't want to sell your blog and pictures, you don't have to. It will be part of the deal..

When we bought this inn, we stipulated that we would own the URL for the website and the email address (and phone number.) The webmaster took down the whole site saying she owned it and if we didn't pay her directly, we couldn't have it.
So, if you don't want to sell your blog and pictures, you don't have to. It will be part of the deal.

You must have bought from the same people we did... ;-)
The webmaster was not the inn owner and the webmaster insisted we pay him to maintain the website. It was a debacle. Our broker didn't include the URL in the sale agreement because it was, as he put it, 'an integral part of running the business' and that verbiage was already included.
Took us a month to get it sorted. During which time we had no control of the website.
.

When we bought this inn, we stipulated that we would own the URL for the website and the email address (and phone number.) The webmaster took down the whole site saying she owned it and if we didn't pay her directly, we couldn't have it.
So, if you don't want to sell your blog and pictures, you don't have to. It will be part of the deal.

You must have bought from the same people we did... ;-)
The webmaster was not the inn owner and the webmaster insisted we pay him to maintain the website. It was a debacle. Our broker didn't include the URL in the sale agreement because it was, as he put it, 'an integral part of running the business' and that verbiage was already included.
Took us a month to get it sorted. During which time we had no control of the website.

So this gets to the question that potential buyers should be asking -- in who's name is the website domain name actually registered (the innkeeper or some other webmaster?).
Who has access to the website files -- the innkeeper or the webmaster?
Etc..... This was discussed in a digital housekeeping blog by chef forfeng (I think, among others). And in other threads on this forum.
.

When we bought this inn, we stipulated that we would own the URL for the website and the email address (and phone number.) The webmaster took down the whole site saying she owned it and if we didn't pay her directly, we couldn't have it.
So, if you don't want to sell your blog and pictures, you don't have to. It will be part of the deal.

You must have bought from the same people we did... ;-)
The webmaster was not the inn owner and the webmaster insisted we pay him to maintain the website. It was a debacle. Our broker didn't include the URL in the sale agreement because it was, as he put it, 'an integral part of running the business' and that verbiage was already included.
Took us a month to get it sorted. During which time we had no control of the website.

So this gets to the question that potential buyers should be asking -- in who's name is the website domain name actually registered (the innkeeper or some other webmaster?).
Who has access to the website files -- the innkeeper or the webmaster?
Etc..... This was discussed in a digital housekeeping blog by chef forfeng (I think, among others). And in other threads on this forum.

In our case the site was registered to the inn owners but they *claimed* the password was only known by the webmaster.