I’ve just been planning a weekend away in Yorkshire for a family wedding and I’ve been really surprised at the poor standard of websites for the kind of places I want to stay at (a low-key, yet comfortable and modern, stylish if at all possible, guest house or B&B).
Most of the websites I’ve looked at have put me off right away: poor information, hard to navigate, low-quality pictures and a generally uninspiring feel. All of which says to me: don’t stay here!
What makes this particularly surprising (and irritating) is that these are the type of business for whom a good website is essential. Potential customers, especially those who are visiting the area for the first time, can be put off in an instant by a bad website. Equally, they can be enticed to make a booking by a good one.
Talking of guesthouses and B&Bs with good websites, we have just finished a new website for Landseer House in Sidlesham, near Chichester (www.landseerhouse.co.uk). We overhauled their website, adding up-to-date information on what they offer and a selection of brand new images, taken by the Chichester Design photographer.
As part of the redesign, the website was fully search-engine optimised by our specialist team, giving Landseer House a higher Google ranking, which makes it more visible to potential guests. We also set up a Google AdWords online marketing campaign to help boost its online profile further.
If only more guest houses, B&Bs and hotels would follow suit, my trip planning would be a lot easier!
To find out more about Chichester Design’s web design and development services, contact Michael on +44 (0)1243 787542 or info@chichesterdesign.co.uk.
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