1847 Blake House Inn B & B

Cutest Dog Photo Contest – Win a $150 Gift Certificate

Wednesday, March 9th, 2011

I’ve run a few contests here and there over the years, including a military essay contest, trivia contests, and a recipe contest.  But I must say that this contest probably has me the most excited.

I love dogs, all dogs!  And Blake House welcomes dogs of all shapes, sizes, and breeds. We’ve had a lot and appreciate every dog that chooses to stay here. Asheville is a pet-friendly city, but it is still difficult to find B&Bs that allow dogs. Of the ones that do, most have size restrictions or room restrictions. But not Blake House. In fact, we only have one room that is NOT pet-friendly.

As you can see, I love dogs!  And want to see more come to the Inn. To accomplish this, I’ve made some changes to the website and our offerings to be even more enticing to our four-legged guests.  The website now has a Doggie Scoop page, solely dedicated to our canine guests. And this page will evolve and grow over time. Check it out, there’s a hilarious video of a dog’s leg that is trying to steal the bone from its owner.  I crack up every time I watch it!

We also offer, dog walking services, for a very nominal fee, for our doggie guests. Jake Rusher Park is next to the Inn and while mom and dad are out enjoying Asheville, Amber or I will walk your dog(s) around the park so he/she can exercise and take care of business.  We also provide pet sitters and doggie daycare information on the Doggie Scoop Page for those looking for even more for their dog.

Lastly, we offer all kinds of romance packages and spa services for mom and dad and we’ve just added a romance basket for your dog. Fido’s Doggie-Style Romance Basket treats your canine companion to a little pampering.

But, onto the purpose of this post – our newest contest – the Cutest Dog Photo Contest

All the details and rules are on our Facebook Page, but this is a straight photo contest. Each month, send in one photo of your cutie patootie, and your dog could win a $150 Blake House Inn Gift Certificate.  Winners will be selected by votes on the site, but you must be a Fan to enter.

How cool is that? Maybe Fido can use that gift certificate for all the things discussed above.  The only catch is that mom or dad, or both have to tag along on the trip.

Check it out and in the meantime, here are a few shots of some of my cuties (most will recognize Rocky in the middle picture, sleeping, as usual, in a drawer I converted into a bed):

On the left we have Jenny & Squirt, Jack Russell/Chihuahua mixes. On the right is Sophie, our Jack Russell foster dog from Animal Compassion Network.

QR Codes – Why You Should Get to Know Them

Thursday, February 24th, 2011

I signed up for a QR code about 10 months ago, but never used it. Until now! That’s because I didn’t recognize its value at first. I just got one for the Inn because I was learning as much as possible about all the new social media options and QR codes were among the growing list of things to use to promote your business.  Now that I understand how to use it better, I see what a cool tool it can be.

What is a QR Code?

According to Wikipedia, the technical definition of a QR Code is a two-dimensional barcode, sort of like the barcodes you see on store items that identify what they are and how much they cost when you scan the code into the register. The QR code is shaped like a square and can be encoded with text, data, or in my case, the URL the the Blake House website.  It’s my business’ fingerprint. This is the QR Code for Blake House:

How is a QR Code used?

It is used by the camera function on your smart phone.  First you have to download a FREE QR Code Reader app onto your phone. I have an iPhone so I downloaded the QR Code Reader app from i-nigma. You can use other versions or readers. From your iphone, click the App Store icon and do a search for i-nigma. There is an app for the new iPhone4 and one for the rest of us who still have the iPhone 3GS or lower. Once you download the app, you can start reading QR Codes for any business that has one. It is literally that simple.

You’ll see QR Codes in store windows, on printed material, Facebook Pages, emails, etc.  You may have already seen them, but like me, didn’t know what they were and haven’t paid much attention to them. Now you do.

When you see a business with a QR Code (like the Blake House one shown above), you click the QR Reader app on your phone and it opens your camera.  Hold your camera up so that it sees the QR Code and as soon as it registers the code, it will take you to whatever online information has been programmed into the code.

The Blake House Inn QR Code takes you to the Blake House Inn website. Other QR Codes may be set up to take you to the business’ website or a coupon page or their Facebook Page.

What is the value of the app?

Here are 2 examples:

1. Let’s say you pick up one of Blake House Inn’s rack cards in the Chamber of Commerce Visitors Center, but you haven’t been to our website.  The rack card only has so much information and you think you’ll remember to check out the website when you get home later. Maybe you will, but maybe you’ll forget.  If the rack card has a QR Code on it (mine don’t right now), you can use your phone to very quickly get to my website, just by opening your camera.  And instead of having to wait to look at my business, you can access it immediately.
2. You’re at a restaurant and you notice they have a QR Code displayed on their menu or in the window. By clicking on it, you find out that they are offering a discount, but only for patrons who reference the promotion on the QR Code.

Of course, there are many other uses for the QR Code, but its greatest purpose is to allow people on-the-spot access to information about the business they are interested in. It can be used for informational purposes only or it can be used to promote specials or promotions for those who access it.

If you own a business, you should consider getting a QR Code (or multiple codes) to help promote your business.

For everyone else, you should start reading QR Codes for the businesses you patronize that have them because you never know what kind of deal you just might score.

It’s the End of Summer and I Can’t Think!

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

I’m not a writer, so I can’t have writer’s block. I’m not a blogger, so I can’t have blogger’s block.  But I’ve definitely been having trouble coming up with the topics and the energy to write anything. I think it all started in June when my dog, Hummer, passed away. Since then, I began working at Eagle’s Nest Foundation and July and August have been pretty busy months at the Inn. Between being depressed about losing my baby and dealing with the summer crush as well as a new job, I feel like I haven’t had the energy or inspiration. You’d think that with all the summer action around here, I’d have no problem coming up with interesting topics.

But I can’t think of ANYTHING that I want to/feel like write about!

I’m sure I could blog about the new piece of flooring in the kitchen I had done last week ($1600 later and it’s only 1/4 of the entire kitchen floor space). Or, I could talk about the Family Reunion Cruise I just returned from (I probably will share that soon). There’s also all the fun summer activities that took place in Asheville or the cool fall lineup, including the Flower Carpet at Biltmore and Octoberfest (another beer festival). There’s a wedding at the Inn this weekend that could inspire me to write and another one the first weekend in October that I’m preparing for. Lastly, I could always talk about my super sister, Jessica, and her admirable battle with breast cancer these past six months (another probably will blog).

There are definitely lots of topics to write about. I just need to find my mojo and get back into the groove.  I’d really love to hear from anyone (professional writer, blogger, or novice) what tips they might like to share with me and the general public about how they deal with the infamous “block” that invariably happens.  What can/do you do to get past it?