For our blog series, Ask The Experts, we asked our Digital Marketing Team to submit their clients’ most frequently asked questions. Our leadership team provided their answers to help hoteliers grow their digital marketing knowledge.
Today, Brian Surdel addresses website design, development, and functionality.
What design elements can we add to our independent website once it has launched?
Web design is constantly evolving. What was trending a few years ago can already be seen on “Top 10 Stale Designs We’re Sick of Seeing” articles that get passed like notes in high school. Due to this, design is something clients want to see changed and updated often. Usually, the request is something along the lines of, “Can we add this design component to our site?” or “Can we do what Hotel XYZ is doing on our site?”
The simple answer is, “Yes, we can!” Blue Magnet’s Design and Development team is fully equipped to provide and develop just about any design you can think of. Sounds easy, right? However, as we have already mentioned, design is always evolving and much thought should go into any type of significant change on your website.
This is where we step in; in our role as an expert marketing partner, we will help you decide what design-based decisions to make based on our experience, data, and industry-defined best practices.
While we can implement any design on any site, there are strategic ways you should go about adding new design elements. Think tactically. How will this new design impact the way my site flows? How will it change user experience (UX)? Will it be for the better? Or will the new design look great but make things more confusing? If that is the case, do you want to make that business decision?
The very first step of adding new design elements to your site is consulting with your Digital Marketing Manager, who will then work with our Design and Development team. We will walk you through what a new design could look like, highlight any opportunities to go after with a fresh look, and point out areas of concern that could arise due to changes. We create custom proposals outlining the vision and technicalities behind the project and will work with your team to get your ideas live!
If you think your design could use some love, do not hesitate to reach out. Our team will talk you through your current design and steer you in the right direction. Contact the Design and Dev team now!
Is my hotel’s website mobile-friendly?
Mobile is an important piece of the puzzle in modern day web development. In fact we have been writing about mobile and responsive web design since 2012! So it might come as a surprise that our honest answer is: no! Just kidding… we are going to be cliche and say that we are not mobile-friendly… we are so much more than that! Blue Magnet has been preaching mobile-friendly, responsive design for years. In fact, one of our main focuses in web design is mobile-first thinking and not only responsive content, but adaptive as well.
To keep up to date on the latest developments and trends in hotel web design, join the 1,000+ hotel professionals who subscribe to our quarterly email by providing your email address in the form below.