Visit Shropshire Hills Summer Newsletter - Shropshire Hills & Ludlow

Welcome

It’s a busy time of year for many of us. We hope that you are able to make some time for yourselves and enjoy the sunshine, as well as keeping our Shropshire Hills visitors happy.

In this newsletter:

SEO Training – link to the session held in May
Shropshire Hills Shuttle Bus
How to use Visit Shropshire Hills to market your business
What’s on in the Shropshire Hills.

But first, huge CONGRATULATIONS go to Visit Shropshire Hills members Eaton Manor Country Estate for winning bronze in the Self-Catering Accommodation of the Year category at the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2023. An amazing achievement, well done to Nichola and the team at Eaton Manor!

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Training

In May we held a free SEO training session, hosted by Helen Culshaw of digital marketing agency Ascendancy. The session covered various ways in which you can make changes to your website without the need for complex technology, so it’s well worth a watch – link below.

Helen also made recommendations as to how we could improve our Visit Shropshire Hills website, so this work is ongoing. Helen was impressed with the quality of the website (and she’s seen a lot of websites!) so please do check your listing to make sure you are getting as much out of it as possible. It can really help to make your business more visible.

One way you can help is by including a link from your website to www.visitshropshirehills.co.uk, either to the general website, or a page you have found useful for your guests. e.g. on walking, or things to do or f ood and drink

Read on for more about how to use Visit Shropshire Hills to market your business.

Click Here to access the FREE SEO Training Session

Shropshire Hills Shuttle Bus

The Long Mynd and Stiperstones Shuttle Bus has returned this summer with a new route, new timetable and new fare chart. This is in response to local demand, and to provide a new attraction for the area, that links more of our delightful villages.

The Shropshire Hills AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) who runs the service, hope it will be welcomed by regular users of the old service, attract new users, and provide new ways to enjoy our outstanding landscape. They have set a target of 40 passengers a day to make the service sustainable for the longer term.

Please help the AONB achieve this by using the bus, and telling friends, family and visitors about it. You can also provide feedback by commenting on the AONB’s Facebook page (ShrophillsAONB) or by contacting them through the website.

Click HERE to read the full article about the shuttle bus in the Members’ News section our website

How to use Visit Shropshire Hills
to market your business

As a member of www.visitshropshirehills.co.uk you will know that we work together to promote the Shropshire Hills and our local market towns to encourage visitors to visit our wonderful area.

Make the most of the website and our social media to promote your business – we really do want you to join in our activities…the more businesses that actively engage, the more information we can get out to potential visitors to come and stay and enjoy exploring the area.

Here’s a handy guide to some of the ways you can use Visit Shropshire Hills to market your business:

Member Information
This can be found on every page – in the bottom right corner. It has all the links highlighted below.

Updating your Website Entry
Our website is designed so that you can edit your listing yourself. Please make sure that your website entry is up-to-date and your photos are as attractive and clear as possible, with an informative caption. You can update your listing by logging in on this page.

A good tip is to avoid including details that need regularly updating e.g. dates/prices. The entry always refers visitors to your own website…so they can find all the up-to-date details they need. If you would prefer us to do the update, then send the details you want updated to enquiries@visitshropshirehills.co.uk

Adding an event
If you would like to list an event on our Events page, please go to https://www.visitshropshirehills.co.uk/whats-on/ and click on the link. This is then available to all visitors to the website and is featured on other local websites like https://shropshire-events-guide.co.uk/. If you run a special event, write about it in general terms in your business entry “local agricultural show every August” and then take advantage of our Events page to publicise the specific details/prices/opening hours for each year.

Newsletter
We circulate six newsletters to members each year. Each one includes forthcoming events, so keep us updated in advance. If you would like to feature in the newsletter, send us your copy/photo, but make sure it is relevant to our members. To subscribe to the members’ newsletter follow this link. To unsubscribe from the members’ newsletter just click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the newsletter.

News/Blog
We have two blogs on our website. One visitor-focused h ere and the other with news for members here. If you would like to add a blog/news item, just let us have the copy in a Word document – together with photos – and tell us which blog you would like the article to feature on. Let us know if you would like us to feature this on our social media accounts too.

Social Media
We have employed local social media expert Karen Thorne of the @bedandbreakfastacademy to handle our social media on Facebook and Instagram. We currently have 1.1k followers on Facebook and 3.3k on Instagram so do make sure you’re following us – Facebook @visitshropshirehills and Instagram @visitshropshirehills. Then tag us in your own social media posts with #visitshropshirehills and we will do our best to share and promote your posts.

Great Days Out in the Shropshire Hills
We print an A2 guide, with map and details of things to do, events and places to visit each year. Visitor Centres and businesses use this as a key guide to point visitors in the right direction! If you would like to advertise in this leaflet please contact us on enquiries@visitshropshirehills.co.uk this year we printed 15,000 leaflets and distributed them widely through the county.

Members’ Photo Library
A selection of photos that can be used for your own website and publicity can be found on the Members’ Photo library at this link. Just browse through the collection which is held on Dropbox. If you would like to share your own photos with other members (e.g. to encourage their guests to visit your business), please feel free to send them to enquiries@visitshropshirehills.co.uk, labelled up with the name of your business or location and we will add them to the photo library.

Training events
We run training events and meet-ups on an ad hoc basis. Look out for details in our members newsletter and join in!

If you would like to recommend an update to the website or need more info email enquiries@visitshropshirehills.co.uk and we will do our best to help.

What’s On in The Shropshire Hills

Here’s a selection of events over the coming weeks:

On now until July 2nd
LUDLOW FRINGE FESTIVAL
https://www.ludlowfringe.co.uk/whats-on

JULY 7th and 8th
BISHOPS CASTLE REAL ALE TRAIL

JULY 9th
LUDLOW GREEN FESTIVAL
https://greenfestival.co.uk/

JULY 15th
HAY MEADOW FESTIVAL
AT THE SHROPSHIRE HILLS DISCOVERY CENTRE
https://www.shropshirehillsdiscoverycentre.co.uk/event/hay-meadow-festival-3/

JULY 29th to AUGUST 12th
CHURCH STRETTON ARTS FESTIVAL
https://strettonfestival.org.uk/

AUGUST 3rd
BURWARTON SHOW
https://burwartonshow.co.uk/

AUGUST 5th
CLUN CARNIVAL
https://www.facebook.com/cluncarnival/

If there’s something happening near you, please do let us know so we can make sure it’s on the Events calendar – email us info@visitshropshirehills.co.uk

Upcoming Committee Meetings

The next few VSH Committee meetings are on the following dates:
Tuesday 5^th September
Tuesday 24^th October
Tuesday 5^th December.

The AGM will take place on:
THURSDAY 16th NOVEMBER

If you have anything you’d like to raise please email info@visitshropshirehills.co.uk

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Training

Membership Information