Cobh is built on a hill facing the water, and a visitor’s day happens in the few streets between the two. A liner ties up at the deepwater quay beside the train station, the passengers walk out into Casement Square and along West Beach, and within the hour they are in the cafes, the gift shops and the pubs, at the Titanic Experience or on the Spike Island ferry from Kennedy Pier, or climbing to St Colman’s Cathedral to photograph the Deck of Cards houses below it. Website design in Cobh is about those people and the day trippers off the Cork train as much as the town’s own residents. We are based in Dublin and we do not have a desk in Cobh. The first chat is a video call or a phone call, you send us the hours, prices and photos over WhatsApp, and we build the site from what you send.
The day a liner is in
Cruise passengers have a few hours and a phone with roaming. They search ‘coffee Cobh’, ‘Titanic tour Cobh’ and ‘taxi Cobh to Fota’ while they are still on the gangway, and they go where Google and the maps app send them. A cafe with current hours, a photo of the counter and a pin in the right place on the waterfront gets the walk-in. One with no listing, or last year’s hours, watches them pass the door. The season runs from spring to autumn, and the town’s trade follows the ship schedule rather than the days of the week. A guide, a photographer or a small shop on the route up to the cathedral is found by the people walking it only if the page says where you are and when you open.
Day trippers off the Cork train
The other crowd comes from Cork. The train from Kent Station runs out through Little Island, Fota and Rushbrooke and puts people down on the waterfront in under half an hour, and on a fine Sunday the town fills with families back from Fota Wildlife Park or out for a walk along the Promenade and something to eat. They search the night before or on the train, ‘things to do in Cobh’ and then ‘lunch Cobh’, and the cafes that appear with a menu and prices are the ones they walk into.
What a Cobh page has to get right
The routing key is P24 and the address should carry it, matched exactly to the Google Business Profile. Hours have to be true in both halves of the year, or someone who climbed the hill to a locked door leaves a bad review. Photos should be of your own place, with the harbour in them if you can, because the harbour is what the visitor came for. A B&B or a holiday let needs its own booking and a deposit, so the guest who finds you on Google books directly and the commission stays with you. Our guide on how to take deposits online in Ireland covers the fair terms.
Tours, rooms and cafes that live on Facebook
Plenty of Cobh businesses run on a Facebook page and the booking platforms alone: walking tours, boat trips, guesthouses, small gift shops. That works until the visitor is standing on the quay with a question, because Facebook does not show hours and prices in a Google search and the platforms take a cut of every room. A page of your own, with dates, prices, a way to book and a direct link to leave a Google review, turns a good afternoon into the next visitor finding you. Our guide on how to get more Google reviews covers the direct link and the text after the visit.
Two plans, run from Dublin
Essentials is €499 to set up and €50 a month. Complete is €1,499 and €100 a month and adds bookings with deposits, payments, chat and the monthly Google work. The detail is on the pricing page, and what we build for guesthouses is on the B&Bs and guesthouses page.