Guestweb Site
We have just refreshed our GuestWeb Site examples:
Dovecote Lodge
Our spec was a 7 bed rural Guesthouse in the Howardian Hills wanting a mobile friendly modern website to really give its customers a welcoming taste of its property and its history along with an insight into its services and local area.
We delivered a handwritten mobile first website that we feel covers this ideally with large text panels and hand drawn artwork.
Yorkwalls
Our spec was a 6 bed city Guesthouse in York wanting a mobile friendly minimal modern website to really give its customers a welcoming taste of its property, services and local area.
We delivered a handwritten mobile first website and artwork that we feel covers this ideally with its small snippets of text and minimal images.
What's in a website?
Many people tell us that they're not sure what their website requirements are? So are then worried about being sold a website which has elements that are either unsuitable for their business, or that they just don't want but are led to believe they need to have.
So we've hopefully explained in plain english what makes up a basic website and then we'll let you decide if you want the added bells and whistles!
Area 1 - The Header
Your header should consist of the following items:
Logo
Your company logo should be a focal point in a header this could just be your company name or maybe you have a image logo. Commonly it is placed either to the top left or centrally.
Navigation
Site navigation is a list of pages on your website and usually displayed in the header commonly across the bottom but can be placed to the top or right either in a single line or block.
Contact Details
This can be either your telephone number, postal address, email address or all of them.
CTA
Call To Action's are highlighted links / buttons that draw in people to do an action e.g Book Now or Check Availability.
You can also place in your header Social Media links which can be either image icons or simply text.
Area 2 - The Contents
Your main page contents should consist of the following items:
Text
Page titles, paragraph headings and blocks of text can be laid out in numerous ways to suit your written content & images.
Images
These can be either photo or graphic images. It is vital that these elements to your website are correctly saved / sized & optimised, as this can cause serious problems for people viewing your site especially if visiting via a mobile device.
Forms
All Guest House sites need forms of some kind whether they be a simple contact or availability/enquiry right through to a secure integrated booking system display grid & form.
CTA
Call To Action's can be incorporated into your main content too, like in the header they can be buttons/links to Book Now etc.. or they maybe text links to information on other pages e.g breakfast or room details. You can also include links to other trusted sites such as local attractions or events.
Area 3 - The Footer
Your footer usually contains the following items:
Contact Details
Even if you have your contact details in the header it is advisable to add them here as well allowing mobile visitors better usability.
Additional / Secondary Navigation
It isn't necessary to place all your page navigation in your header especially if you have multi page site as sometimes the header can get a little too crowded. So here is the ideal place to put for example your terms & conditions or sitemap page links, both of these are important not just for your visitors navigation but also for your websites Google/Bing listing.
Social Media Links
These are a very important modern marketing tool so no matter if you have a Facebook/Twitter/Google+ account or all of them, a social media presence these days is a must.
CTA
Like in the header Call To Action's are highlighted links / buttons that draw in people to perform an action e.g clicking on a Book Now button/link. Here in the footer you can either repeat the same CTA's or have different ones such as guest review links e.g VisitEngland or Tripadvisor.
Copyright
All websites and the content within them are inherently copyrighted, provided your content is all original work. Though it is almost impossible to stop some unscrupulous individuals copying elements and passing it off as their work, marking your site with either "All Rights Reserved" or using the copyright symbol and year is enough to deter the majority. It also helps if you then wish to legally pursue any infringement. It is also advisable to check that you own the copyright to any photos of your property that may have been taken by someone else.