Future Proof your Website 2014

What Got you Here
WON’T Get you There.
Future Proof your
Website.
KEVIN GUILL, DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL SERVICES

REZSTREAM

2014 PAII INNKEEPING SHOW

 Kevin Guill, Director of Digital Services at RezStream
 Founder of the Denver ExpressionEngine Meetup Group
 Developed my first website in 2004
 Developed 100’s of websites, project managed many more
 Specialize in ecommerce and content management systems

Email:

 Helping hoteliers with their web presence since early 2007

Kevin.Guill@RezStream.com

 3 time presenter/co-presenter at the PAII Innkeeping Show

Phone:
303-872-4118

LinkedIn:
linkedin.com/in/kguill

Who we are:




Founded in 2005
Our focus is on serving small independently owned properties in the United States
Empower you with superior technology solutions to make your business run better

Our Products and Services:


Property Management System
o Cloud PMS scheduled for Q2 2014

 Online Booking Engine
 Digital Marketing
o Search Engine Optimization, Pay Per Click, Social Media, Email Marketing

 Creative Services
o Website Design/Development, Photography, Videography


What we will cover
 A LOOK BACK AT THE WEB
 TYPES OF WEBSITES

 3 THINGS TO DO NOW
 7 TRENDS FOR 2014
 QUESTION & ANSWER


A Look Back: Where We Came From


A Look Back: Growth of New
Websites
 January 2004
o 46,033,732 Hostnames
o 21,339,810 Active sites
o 1st website for many

 2013 – Significant growth
o Amount of websites grew by 1/3

 January 2014
o 861,379,152 Hostnames
o 180,067,270 Active sites

http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2014/01/03/january-2014-web-server-survey.html


A Look Back: Websites: 1990’s –
2000’s

Early
1990’s Mid 2000’s

• Beginning of Web 2.0
• Centered layouts
• Flash
• Splash pages
• Animations
• Drop down menus
• Websites inexpensive
• Friends built websites

Mid - Late
2000’s


• Web 2.0 in full swing
• Interactive Content
• Intelligent websites
• Large websites emerge
• Visual presence
• Websites expensive
• You hired a professional
• Internet Marketing

A Look Back: Websites: 2010 - 2013

2010 2013

• Death of Flash
• Mobile Era
• Responsive Design
• Speed Matters
• Social Media Integrations
• The Cloud
• Professionally Developed


A Look Ahead: User Experience
 Information Architecture
 Visual Design
 Functionality
 Usability
 Typography
 User Interface

 Content Strategy
 Interactive Design


Types of Websites
Static
• Less expensive to
develop
• Not database driven
• Feature-less
• Difficult to manage
• Change fees
• Slow turnaround times
for changes

Customized CMS
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Expensive to develop
Database driven
Designed to suit
Features customized
Easy to manage content
Takes time to build
Need a developer to
maintain system and add
features


Turnkey CMS
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Subscription based
Affordable
Pre-designed
Feature rich
Easy to manage content
Rapid deployment
System maintenance,
training & support
included

A Few Key Points
1. Your website should be main focus
 It is the MOTHERSHIP

2. Put content on your website FIRST
 Be the authority
 Get the credit, don’t give it to Facebook,
YouTube
 Many are too distracted by Social Media
 Social Media supports the website, not replace

3. Budget for a website every 2- 3 years


3 Things To Do NOW
JANUARY 2014


3 Things To Do NOW: Get a CMS
BENEFITS
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦

CHOOSING A PLATFORM

Easy to create, edit, publish content
Organized content
Database: user interactive content
Software Integrations
Can grow with your business
Redesigns are usually less expensive
Save time (time is money)

◦ Choose an established platform
◦ Drupal
◦ ExpressionEngine (My favorite )
◦ WordPress

◦ No custom platforms
◦ Expensive
◦ Painful when you leave
◦ Difficult to find a developer willing to take on project


3 Things To Do NOW: Housekeeping
1. Analyze Your Backlinks
 Know who is linking to you. Are they worthy?
◦ Google Webmaster Tools
 What is a “Worthy” backlink?
◦ Is the link natural?
◦ Does the link exist on an authority website?
◦ Does it link to the correct page?
◦ It is relatively new?

 What is a “Unworthy” backlink?
◦ Anything paid, unnatural
◦ Unrelated industry or location
◦ Website has no or weak authority
◦ User registration/comment spam
 Removing the “Unworthy”
◦ Send website owner a request for removal
◦ Use Google Disavow Tool


3 Things To Do NOW: Housekeeping
2. Revisit Your Content
 Are you representing accurately?
◦ Brand? Property? Rooms?
 Convey your value. What is your unique selling proposition?
◦ Affordable
◦ Luxury
◦ Location
◦ Historic

 Give users what they want
◦ Provide real answers to real questions
◦ What questions do your guests ask you?
◦ Entertain them with guest experiences or local stories
 What if your content is poor?
◦ If irrelevant, remove it
◦ Re-write or enhance relevant content
◦ Take new property and room photos


3 Things To Do NOW: Focus on the
User
USABILITY

MAKE IT EASY TO CONVERT
 Offer multiple ways to enter booking process

 Mobile. Act Now
o All content/pages must be accessible
• Responsive design is the easiest way to manage this right now

 Make content easy and interactive
o
o
o
o
o
o

Search filters (beds, occupancy, price, square footage)
Save favorite unit(s)
Compare units
Reviews
Phone numbers and address easy to find
Turn by turn by directions

 Keep user moving forward through website

o Strategically place calls-to-actions (CTA) on every page
• Reservation Buttons
• Availability Calendars

 A/B test CTAs
•
•
•
•
•
•

Test: Location
Test: Size
Test: Color
Test: Text
Tool: Wingify Visual Website Optimizer
Tool: Optimizely

 Track conversions with Google Analytics


7 Trends for 2014
1) Heavy Focus on Mobile
2) More Flat User Interface
3) Simple Color Schemes
4) Fixed on Demand Navigations
5) Videos in Place of Text

6) Large Hero (Intro) Area
7) Large Fonts with personality


Thank You!
Email:
Kevin.Guill@RezStream.com

Direct Phone:
303-872-4118

LinkedIn:
linkedin.com/in/kguill
Booth # 501


Future Proof your Website 2014

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Future Proof your Website 2014