Case Study: Hermann Hill Vineyard and Inn

Mary C. | 15 July 2004 |

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Case Study - Hermann Hill Vineyard and Inn
Hermann Hill Vineyard and Inn - Hermann, MO

This month, we look at a website with a complete Internet presence including a current website design, a custom promotional package, and an effective email marketing campaign. We will take a quick look at the statistics that demonstrate the effectiveness of each piece of the puzzle that is Internet Marketing.

Overview:
The existing website (see the "Before" homepage, below) was extraordinarily lengthy and dated. The design was not a good representative of the property and the long page made the site difficult to navigate. We will attempt to clarify for you the indicators of these issues via past and present traffic through the home page. The original site was making effective use of keywords and the site was gaining traffic through existing promotional efforts. However, the dated design issues caused a percentage of the visitors to leave the site without booking. Therefore, we had plenty of lookers but a new design was required to improve the percentage of conversion to bookers.

Goals:
The property owners knew that the information of the site was in need of a major re-organization. Fresh materials were not available in full at the beginning of the new design. Our designer was able to build a design around existing materials and then fit new images as they became available in the process. Our designer was given wide latitude regarding color choices and design elements within the page. In the end, burgundies, pin-striping and Earth tones best fit the property’s personality. A recent Flash slide show appeals to the eye by presenting multiple images of the property in a calming, reflective manner so as to add to the site and avoid distraction.
Text and keywords were greatly reduced in an effort to maximize a qualified search engine traffic. Our main phrases to target were "Hermann Missouri" and "Hermann Hill". Although generally not advisable, in this case the property name is highly recognizable for the area and worthy of promotional attention.

Before

After:

Results:
As you can see from the before and after screen shots above, the new design is a great improvement over the old design. The new header and slideshow emphasize the elegance and beauty of the Hermann, MO area. As with all of the designs we create, the page provides an accurate representation of what each visitor might expect to experience at the property.

The tracking statistics for this site are quite interesting and worthy of discussion (see below for a comparative table). April 2003 statistics show 7686 home page views for the month at an average rate of 3 page views per visitor. With the new design, April 2004 statistics show 5201 home page views for the month at an average rate of 1.34 page views per visitor.

Home page views:
April 2003: 7686
April 2004: 5201

Average page views per visitor
April 2003: 3
April 2004: 1.34

In April, 2004 we show a conversion rate of visitor numbers from home page to rooms page at 83.34%. This is a highly respectable number. Nearly as importantly for this website the multiple page views for the home page reduced to just over 1.3 per visitor, down from 3 per visitor. Although total page views can be a valuable number to view, recognizing page view trends can be more important.

In this case, an extremely high total page view number looks excellent until we recognize that we were forcing visitors to view the home page more than three times per visit in order for them to find what they were looking for. In other words, the information was disorganized and we were asking our clients to search for it. Some will certainly play along and remain to book a room, but this is certainly a number that we attempt to lower as much as possible.

This case study demonstrates that there is an art to packaging and properly presenting a business in today’s Internet. One must be proactive in one’s efforts, and willing to change based on current trends. Based on results like those shown here, we think more innkeepers should reassess the cost of not keeping their website design up to par.

How do you know if it is time for a new design? The following are some general guidelines that are usually pretty accurate. If your website is two years old or older, it is time for a redesign. Older websites are simply not taking advantage of newer design techniques and design technology. If your website is one or two years old, you should take a close look at it to make sure the design stands up to your competition. Check your tracking software to see the percentage of website visitors making it from your homepage to your rooms page.