1. What Got you Here
WON’T Get you There.
Future Proof your
Website.
KEVIN GUILL, DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL SERVICES
REZSTREAM
2014 PAII INNKEEPING SHOW

2.  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
2014 PAII INNKEEPING SHOW

3. 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
2014 PAII INNKEEPING SHOW

4. What we will cover
 A LOOK BACK AT THE WEB
 TYPES OF WEBSITES
 3 THINGS TO DO NOW
 7 TRENDS FOR 2014
 QUESTION & ANSWER
2014 PAII INNKEEPING SHOW

5. A Look Back: Where We Came From
2014 PAII INNKEEPING SHOW

6. 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
2014 PAII INNKEEPING SHOW

7. 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
2014 PAII INNKEEPING SHOW
• Web 2.0 in full swing
• Interactive Content
• Intelligent websites
• Large websites emerge
• Visual presence
• Websites expensive
• You hired a professional
• Internet Marketing

8. A Look Back: Websites: 2010 - 2013
2010 2013
• Death of Flash
• Mobile Era
• Responsive Design
• Speed Matters
• Social Media Integrations
• The Cloud
• Professionally Developed
2014 PAII INNKEEPING SHOW

9. A Look Ahead: User Experience
 Information Architecture
 Visual Design
 Functionality
 Usability
 Typography
 User Interface
 Content Strategy
 Interactive Design
2014 PAII INNKEEPING SHOW

10. 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
2014 PAII INNKEEPING SHOW
Turnkey CMS
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Subscription based
Affordable
Pre-designed
Feature rich
Easy to manage content
Rapid deployment
System maintenance,
training & support
included

11. 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
2014 PAII INNKEEPING SHOW

12. 3 Things To Do NOW
JANUARY 2014
2014 PAII INNKEEPING SHOW

13. 3 Things To Do NOW: Get a CMS
BENEFITS
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
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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
2014 PAII INNKEEPING SHOW

14. 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
2014 PAII INNKEEPING SHOW

15. 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
2014 PAII INNKEEPING SHOW

16. 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
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•
•
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Test: Location
Test: Size
Test: Color
Test: Text
Tool: Wingify Visual Website Optimizer
Tool: Optimizely
 Track conversions with Google Analytics
2014 PAII INNKEEPING SHOW

17. 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
2014 PAII INNKEEPING SHOW

18. Thank You!
Email:
Kevin.Guill@RezStream.com
Direct Phone:
303-872-4118
LinkedIn:
linkedin.com/in/kguill
Booth # 501
2014 PAII INNKEEPING SHOW