By: Hunter Lee Hughes
The Shady Motel is a scenic stopover in Caliente, Nevada that caters to clients seeking a “stress-free” break from their busy lives.
Ironically, managing the picturesque getaway keeps owner/operator Nolan Avery extremely busy. So when it came time to update the website – ShadyMotel.Net – Nolan wanted a web presence that solved problems and made his life easier, while showcasing the natural beauty and adventure options that appeal to potential guests. Nolan hired Ben Rowley and designer Rydan Banis at Nevada Central Media to update his site, after working with them on previous sites for the last four years. An assessment with the NVC Media team made clear some of Nolan’s objectives for the site’s transformation. It was then up to Ben and Rydan to translate those goals into a fresh, compelling site.
One overall concern for the re-do: making sure the website worked effectively for clients accessing the site through their smartphones. People sometimes make split decisions about a weekend getaway to Caliente from Las Vegas or California. So it’s very important for the website to be able to secure clients a reservation quickly, while they’re motivated. Sure enough, a simple test shows how easily and effectively that ShadyMotel.Net collects reservations via an iPhone. As soon as the site loads, users can see the “Make a Reservation” button (without even having to scroll down). Once you click the button, you’re immediately shown photographs of the rooms, alongside available dates. That feature alone is worth the update, especially since the difference between a new client and a potential client often resides in the convenience of getting what they want promptly via smartphone. Says Nolan of the success rate of bookings on the new site, “I have seen about 6% of my clients book through my website and have a goal to double, and maybe triple, that amount.”
Those numbers are sure to rise.
The site’s concentration on mobile users led to another important decision: prioritizing the home page. Rydan says, “We expected the majority of website traffic to come through mobile devices, so we wanted everything readily available on the homepage.”
The result of that direction is a terrific looking homepage that features some of the best photographs on the entire site. Visitors see a silhouette image of scenic mountains underneath the Shady Motel logo in an eye-catching combination that also features six menu tabs: Home, About, Amenities, Attractions, Contact and Reserve a Room. Scrolling down the page reveals color photographs of local mountains situated behind the tree that appears to have inspired the motel’s logo and namesake. Another portrait of the landscape interjects a lone hiker at the base of a mountain, smartly suggesting an activity that draws visitors. A third photograph highlights the historic Union Pacific train station against a blue sky. The final photograph spotlights the motel itself just after dusk, providing potential patrons a glimpse of an appealing place to land after a day of taking in the sites of the surrounding areas. It’s a smart closing image. You can almost imagine someone scanning the final photo and thinking, “That looks like a great place to stop after a day’s adventure.”
Another of the site’s positive features is its strategic focus on steering potential clients to the reservations page. Once customers google your hotel and find your site, they are likely to be seriously considering their travel plans. So while it’s important to provide all sorts of information to the client, it’s even more essential that a pathway to making a reservation is always transparent. As such, one form or another of the “Make a Reservation” button appears frequently on the site, always well-integrated into the website structure.
It appears as a “Check Availability” button in the About, Amenities, Attractions and Contact pages, while receiving its own tab on the home page with both the original “Make a Reservation” button and a “Reserve Your Room” choice in the horizontal menu near the top of the page. By slightly changing the wording depending on its location, NVC Media ensures that clients don’t feel overwhelmed with a hard sell. But the constant presence of the “booking a room” idea subtly reinforces the desired action by the consumer that will eventually yield more revenue for the motel.
The site’s color scheme also reinforces messaging important to the Shady Motel, emphasizing the colors: green and white. The color green references nature and the natural beauty surrounding the motel, while the color white suggests the peaceful, stress-free environment that Nolan prioritizes. Of the imagery and colors chosen for the site, Rydan says, “Caliente, Nevada has a lot of amazing natural features and we wanted really inviting imagery of the surrounding area for Shady Motel’s website. The area is appealing for adventurous people and we chose a clean nature-inspired color scheme to go hand-in-hand with that.”
The individual pages on the site are clean, simple and accessible. The ‘About’ page covers the motel’s family background and friendly ethos. The ‘Amenities’ page reinforces the stress-free mantra of the motel and lists special features like the BBQ area available, while the ‘Contact’ page gives standard details of how to call or email the motel (as well as showing a photograph of one of the rooms with freshly made queen-size beds). Finally, the ‘Reserve a Room’ tab lists all the rooms, with an accompanying calendar for availability over the next three months. The three-month calendar subtly suggests that clients should book rooms far in advance, in part to motivate them to book right away.
The result of the collaboration between Nevada Central Media and the Shady Motel is an appealing site that makes it easy for customers to book a stay. They’ve created a positive feedback loop, too, by including links to both Facebook and Trip Advisor to encourage patrons to leave a good review following their stay. The approach seems to be working out just fine, according to Nolan. He says, “The website worked out great. It’s up to date. People can book online. And the site is compatible with small devices, which is what we needed.”
Great job to the Shady Motel and Nevada Central Media on this one.
Check out the redesigned Shady Motel website at ShadyMotel.net.