Statement from CEO of Buuteeq

[Innkeep]

On the Buuteeq blog. Answers to Questions from PAII Forum, April 2011. Of interest to any who are following the Wandari situation. Swirt, if this is in the wrong place, please feel free to move/remove it.
http://www.buuteeq.com/blog/answers-to-questions-from-paii-forum-april-2011/
[swirt - I moved this from resouces into the forum]

 

[JBloggs]

Is there a nutshell version that anyone cares to share?

 

[EmptyNest]

Is there a nutshell version that anyone cares to share?.

UH..... ????

 

[Mary at Bridgewater Inn and Cottage]

WELL my old computer wont down load it all. Something about it might shut down my computer as it is long ? This might be a good thing ?

 

[JBloggs]

WELL my old computer wont down load it all. Something about it might shut down my computer as it is long ? This might be a good thing ?

.

Yah super long, not worth digesting, that is why I wanted an ABC version to get the gist.

 

[toddburme]

That right there should remind us that management responses to reviews need to be short and humble. This looks to ruffle more feathers then it sooths.

 

[JBloggs]

That right there should remind us that management responses to reviews need to be short and humble. This looks to ruffle more feathers then it sooths..

That right there should remind us that management responses to reviews need to be short and humble. This looks to ruffle more feathers then it sooths.

You mean with all the rigamorale...I couldn't take it, it was too much. Confused the matter even further. But do fill us in on the feedback NOW on the Paii forum...
Todd you are one wise cookie. Short concise and to the point, amen.

 

[Madeleine]

It doesn't help that he says he's not going to be snarky by being snarky.
And, the website hasn't been updated since it was launched in 2011? Um, no, because I didn't get my FB page app from them until this year, so either they made the FB app before I said I wanted it and put it out there or they updated the page since 2011.
Sorry, the explanation goes on for awhile (I got halfway thru it) and seems to be a lot of digression along with explanation.
I will say I had never seen that command (&pws=0) so I tried it. All I got on a Google search of my inn when using that command was a lot of tech talk about how to use that command. No returns on my inn which I find weird. Doing a search on 'my town B&B &pws=0' got me a bunch of returns with the letters 'pws' in the text. Am I missing something in how to do that?

 

[Penelope]

"It is easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission." -

 

[Madeleine]

"It is easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission." -.

I don't think he's asking for forgiveness, either.

 

[OnTheShore]

Yep. My synopsis: "we screwed up but we're gonna keep on doing it 'cause we're just so clever and cool."

 

[DH22]

It doesn't help that he says he's not going to be snarky by being snarky.
And, the website hasn't been updated since it was launched in 2011? Um, no, because I didn't get my FB page app from them until this year, so either they made the FB app before I said I wanted it and put it out there or they updated the page since 2011.
Sorry, the explanation goes on for awhile (I got halfway thru it) and seems to be a lot of digression along with explanation.
I will say I had never seen that command (&pws=0) so I tried it. All I got on a Google search of my inn when using that command was a lot of tech talk about how to use that command. No returns on my inn which I find weird. Doing a search on 'my town B&B &pws=0' got me a bunch of returns with the letters 'pws' in the text. Am I missing something in how to do that?.

Do not enter &pws=0 into google's search box. Type only the search phrase and then search as normal. When the search results load, go to the URL shown within your web browser. You add &pws=0 to the end of the URL. Hit enter to load the modified URL and see the true search results.
If you do not do this, Google personalizes search results based on your history. If you have clicked a link before google will rank it higher for you. To be safe I make sure I am logged out of Google and also manually set my location to a different city. Search results can be different if google thinks you are in the same city as your inn and most potential guests will be in a different city.

 

[Madeleine]

It doesn't help that he says he's not going to be snarky by being snarky.
And, the website hasn't been updated since it was launched in 2011? Um, no, because I didn't get my FB page app from them until this year, so either they made the FB app before I said I wanted it and put it out there or they updated the page since 2011.
Sorry, the explanation goes on for awhile (I got halfway thru it) and seems to be a lot of digression along with explanation.
I will say I had never seen that command (&pws=0) so I tried it. All I got on a Google search of my inn when using that command was a lot of tech talk about how to use that command. No returns on my inn which I find weird. Doing a search on 'my town B&B &pws=0' got me a bunch of returns with the letters 'pws' in the text. Am I missing something in how to do that?.

Do not enter &pws=0 into google's search box. Type only the search phrase and then search as normal. When the search results load, go to the URL shown within your web browser. You add &pws=0 to the end of the URL. Hit enter to load the modified URL and see the true search results.
If you do not do this, Google personalizes search results based on your history. If you have clicked a link before google will rank it higher for you. To be safe I make sure I am logged out of Google and also manually set my location to a different city. Search results can be different if google thinks you are in the same city as your inn and most potential guests will be in a different city.
.

Thank you. I did that and the search results didn't change a bit. So what does that mean?
Then I changed my location and still got the same results.

 

[Happy Keeper]

Is there a nutshell version that anyone cares to share?.

and like who is paying them and are you getting a ROI you like?
At first glance, it looks like something we can do without, but I would love to hear otherwise.

 

[Happy Keeper]

It doesn't help that he says he's not going to be snarky by being snarky.
And, the website hasn't been updated since it was launched in 2011? Um, no, because I didn't get my FB page app from them until this year, so either they made the FB app before I said I wanted it and put it out there or they updated the page since 2011.
Sorry, the explanation goes on for awhile (I got halfway thru it) and seems to be a lot of digression along with explanation.
I will say I had never seen that command (&pws=0) so I tried it. All I got on a Google search of my inn when using that command was a lot of tech talk about how to use that command. No returns on my inn which I find weird. Doing a search on 'my town B&B &pws=0' got me a bunch of returns with the letters 'pws' in the text. Am I missing something in how to do that?.

Do not enter &pws=0 into google's search box. Type only the search phrase and then search as normal. When the search results load, go to the URL shown within your web browser. You add &pws=0 to the end of the URL. Hit enter to load the modified URL and see the true search results.
If you do not do this, Google personalizes search results based on your history. If you have clicked a link before google will rank it higher for you. To be safe I make sure I am logged out of Google and also manually set my location to a different city. Search results can be different if google thinks you are in the same city as your inn and most potential guests will be in a different city.
.

I tried this and it did appear to remain the same. I am not super tech savvy, so it could be I am not doing as you say. I did my search for YYYY bed and breakfasts and when the very long URL appears in the top box, I went to the end of it and added &pws=0.

 

[DH22]

It doesn't help that he says he's not going to be snarky by being snarky.
And, the website hasn't been updated since it was launched in 2011? Um, no, because I didn't get my FB page app from them until this year, so either they made the FB app before I said I wanted it and put it out there or they updated the page since 2011.
Sorry, the explanation goes on for awhile (I got halfway thru it) and seems to be a lot of digression along with explanation.
I will say I had never seen that command (&pws=0) so I tried it. All I got on a Google search of my inn when using that command was a lot of tech talk about how to use that command. No returns on my inn which I find weird. Doing a search on 'my town B&B &pws=0' got me a bunch of returns with the letters 'pws' in the text. Am I missing something in how to do that?.

Do not enter &pws=0 into google's search box. Type only the search phrase and then search as normal. When the search results load, go to the URL shown within your web browser. You add &pws=0 to the end of the URL. Hit enter to load the modified URL and see the true search results.
If you do not do this, Google personalizes search results based on your history. If you have clicked a link before google will rank it higher for you. To be safe I make sure I am logged out of Google and also manually set my location to a different city. Search results can be different if google thinks you are in the same city as your inn and most potential guests will be in a different city.
.

Thank you. I did that and the search results didn't change a bit. So what does that mean?
Then I changed my location and still got the same results.
.

If the results are the same, then Google was not personalizing them. I do not actually have to use &pws=0 often, because the results I get are usually accurate. I use it occasionally to double check or will use it if the results have changed a lot since that usually is because of personalization.
For example, in addition to bed and breakfast, we have been working on optimizing our website for hotel searches. We do rank pretty well (have been as high as the middle of the first page), but about a week ago I checked and we were #2. I doubted we moved up that much and sure enough after using &pws=0, the results changed back to what I was used to seeing.
Personalization is most likely to occur when you are signed into a google account that has history enabled. Search results can still be personalized though because Google tracks some history data in a cookie. However, you have to actually click on the links in Google search results to be affected. Chances are you do not click on the link to your website when you are checking rankings. If you click on your own or your competitors links it can affect results of future searches.
As far as location, it usually only affects more general search terms. If your search results include your city name, it probably will not affect search rankings. However, if you search simply for “bed and breakfasts”, google will include bed and breakfasts near your location. It does not affect most search phrases I check, but I keep it set to a different city to be safe.
Google’s info on search personalization:
http://support.google.com/accounts/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=54048
It does look like &pws=0 might now be an outdated method of de-personalizing search results. It seems you can go to http://www.google.com/history/optout to turn off personalization. This is the first I have read about it, so I have not tried it yet myself.

 

[Forest Key]

Hi, I'm the CEO of buuteeq and i'm glad to answer the additional questions on this thread.
First, I spent most of the weekend thinking about and documenting a response--I hope at the very least you will recognize that i'm trying, even if you care to dismiss my honesty or the result. About 30 owners have been in touch with us and almost all have been very satisfied by our response and our 1:1 follow ups.
For those of you here including Joey Bloggs, i'm happy to provide a "ABC" summary as follow

• This morning we put in place a process and team to address any and all questions about Wandari, and i have documented this here (it is short read): http://www.buuteeq.com/blog/how-to-edit-your-wandari-listing/. the inline version: we will delete anyone's listing that wishes to removed from Wandari, no questions asked, usually within an hour of receiving your request at [email protected]. For those of you that would like to "claim" your listing, we have a 15 minute wizard you can fill out that will provide your property with a free high quality listing that you own and control (contact same email address).
• A forthcoming post (later today) will document our position on the SEO FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) that was injected in the PAII forum with false/incorrect information about how "duplicate content" affects a website's rank on Google. A placeholder post in the long post details some specific considerations, but if you are interested in this subject, hold out for the detailed version later today. If you want the super short version: the issues raised in the paii forum regarding "duplicate content" on wandari negatively impacting rankings is FALSE and incorrect, per Google's own guidance published earlier this year.
• The rest of the blog post is a transparent discussion of various topics that owners on the thread wanted to hear a response to which were of much more specific/atomic interest.
• If you have any questions i am happy to receive them and discuss with you directly, at my email: forest @ buuteeq.com

Again, we invite you to contact us for a direct conversation if there is anything that we can answer. We have great free and paid services that are making a meaningful and measurable difference for thousands of B&B and inn owners--we aren't for everyone, but we might be for you.
Thanks
Forest

 

[Samster]

Hi, I'm the CEO of buuteeq and i'm glad to answer the additional questions on this thread.
First, I spent most of the weekend thinking about and documenting a response--I hope at the very least you will recognize that i'm trying, even if you care to dismiss my honesty or the result. About 30 owners have been in touch with us and almost all have been very satisfied by our response and our 1:1 follow ups.
For those of you here including Joey Bloggs, i'm happy to provide a "ABC" summary as follow

• This morning we put in place a process and team to address any and all questions about Wandari, and i have documented this here (it is short read): http://www.buuteeq.com/blog/how-to-edit-your-wandari-listing/. the inline version: we will delete anyone's listing that wishes to removed from Wandari, no questions asked, usually within an hour of receiving your request at [email protected]. For those of you that would like to "claim" your listing, we have a 15 minute wizard you can fill out that will provide your property with a free high quality listing that you own and control (contact same email address).
• A forthcoming post (later today) will document our position on the SEO FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) that was injected in the PAII forum with false/incorrect information about how "duplicate content" affects a website's rank on Google. A placeholder post in the long post details some specific considerations, but if you are interested in this subject, hold out for the detailed version later today. If you want the super short version: the issues raised in the paii forum regarding "duplicate content" on wandari negatively impacting rankings is FALSE and incorrect, per Google's own guidance published earlier this year.
• The rest of the blog post is a transparent discussion of various topics that owners on the thread wanted to hear a response to which were of much more specific/atomic interest.
• If you have any questions i am happy to receive them and discuss with you directly, at my email: forest @ buuteeq.com

Again, we invite you to contact us for a direct conversation if there is anything that we can answer. We have great free and paid services that are making a meaningful and measurable difference for thousands of B&B and inn owners--we aren't for everyone, but we might be for you.
Thanks
Forest.

Forest, I don't know about the brouhaha with your site, but you have listings for my city and 3 of them don't exist or have been closed for over almost 2 years. Hmmm....

 

[Forest Key]

Hi, I'm the CEO of buuteeq and i'm glad to answer the additional questions on this thread.
First, I spent most of the weekend thinking about and documenting a response--I hope at the very least you will recognize that i'm trying, even if you care to dismiss my honesty or the result. About 30 owners have been in touch with us and almost all have been very satisfied by our response and our 1:1 follow ups.
For those of you here including Joey Bloggs, i'm happy to provide a "ABC" summary as follow

• This morning we put in place a process and team to address any and all questions about Wandari, and i have documented this here (it is short read): http://www.buuteeq.com/blog/how-to-edit-your-wandari-listing/. the inline version: we will delete anyone's listing that wishes to removed from Wandari, no questions asked, usually within an hour of receiving your request at [email protected]. For those of you that would like to "claim" your listing, we have a 15 minute wizard you can fill out that will provide your property with a free high quality listing that you own and control (contact same email address).
• A forthcoming post (later today) will document our position on the SEO FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) that was injected in the PAII forum with false/incorrect information about how "duplicate content" affects a website's rank on Google. A placeholder post in the long post details some specific considerations, but if you are interested in this subject, hold out for the detailed version later today. If you want the super short version: the issues raised in the paii forum regarding "duplicate content" on wandari negatively impacting rankings is FALSE and incorrect, per Google's own guidance published earlier this year.
• The rest of the blog post is a transparent discussion of various topics that owners on the thread wanted to hear a response to which were of much more specific/atomic interest.
• If you have any questions i am happy to receive them and discuss with you directly, at my email: forest @ buuteeq.com

Again, we invite you to contact us for a direct conversation if there is anything that we can answer. We have great free and paid services that are making a meaningful and measurable difference for thousands of B&B and inn owners--we aren't for everyone, but we might be for you.
Thanks
Forest.

Hi Samster,
Yes--there is a lot of room for improvement on the quality of the listings, but we don't want to throw out the baby with the bathwater. We are immediately addressing the concerns of owners who want to correct or delete their listing. What will take us a bit longer (but which we are also doing now) is to manually review and edit/imrpove all of the listings. That is ongoing work that we are doing now. If you would be so kind and point out to me the listings you are talking about I can start with those two (you can email me forest (at) buuteeq.com).
When we have the Wandari listings in better overall shape and with more features added to the system so that it is easier for owners to edit/claim/delete/etc. posts more easily, we will do a more formal push/launch... that is why today it is "beta", a work in progress.
thanks Samster,
Forest

 

[JBloggs]

Hi, I'm the CEO of buuteeq and i'm glad to answer the additional questions on this thread.
First, I spent most of the weekend thinking about and documenting a response--I hope at the very least you will recognize that i'm trying, even if you care to dismiss my honesty or the result. About 30 owners have been in touch with us and almost all have been very satisfied by our response and our 1:1 follow ups.
For those of you here including Joey Bloggs, i'm happy to provide a "ABC" summary as follow

• This morning we put in place a process and team to address any and all questions about Wandari, and i have documented this here (it is short read): http://www.buuteeq.com/blog/how-to-edit-your-wandari-listing/. the inline version: we will delete anyone's listing that wishes to removed from Wandari, no questions asked, usually within an hour of receiving your request at [email protected]. For those of you that would like to "claim" your listing, we have a 15 minute wizard you can fill out that will provide your property with a free high quality listing that you own and control (contact same email address).
• A forthcoming post (later today) will document our position on the SEO FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) that was injected in the PAII forum with false/incorrect information about how "duplicate content" affects a website's rank on Google. A placeholder post in the long post details some specific considerations, but if you are interested in this subject, hold out for the detailed version later today. If you want the super short version: the issues raised in the paii forum regarding "duplicate content" on wandari negatively impacting rankings is FALSE and incorrect, per Google's own guidance published earlier this year.
• The rest of the blog post is a transparent discussion of various topics that owners on the thread wanted to hear a response to which were of much more specific/atomic interest.
• If you have any questions i am happy to receive them and discuss with you directly, at my email: forest @ buuteeq.com

Again, we invite you to contact us for a direct conversation if there is anything that we can answer. We have great free and paid services that are making a meaningful and measurable difference for thousands of B&B and inn owners--we aren't for everyone, but we might be for you.
Thanks
Forest.

Forest, thank you for your ABC version, many members here are also on PAII and players in the B&B industry. Mass confusion is certainly not your desired outcome, but lengthy diatribes make my eyes glaze over and close the article.
Free means free, or should mean free, I hope in your book. I saw a tweet today that read KIDS EAT FREE and the booklet to eat free was just $19.95...
Hope it all comes out in the wash for you and the innkeepers/inn websites.