10 years
Some quick, general tips on getting a website built:
- Design for mobile-first (Responsive Web Design)
- Don't use Flash
- Be sure to use text rather than just images (SEO)
- Use lots of photos of smiling, happy people who are looking at the camera
- WordPress.com is probably the easiest way to get online at the moment
More details:
Responsive Web Design (RWD)
RWD means that your website will rearrange itself so that it displays well on any device: laptop, tablet, phone, desktop, etc.
Some hostels are getting over 30% of traffic from mobile devices and I think that is the way the Internet is going. How a site works on mobile devices is very important.
Here's a tool that you can use to see if your website is responsive:
http://mattkersley.com/responsive/
Here's a hostel website that uses responsive design -- put the URL into the responsive testing tool above or view it both on a smartphone and laptop:
http://thefreehand.com/
If you hire a designer, ask them for their thoughts about responsive web design and how they plan to implement it. Common answers will be to use frameworks like Bootstrap (Freehand uses Bootstrap), Foundation, Pure, Genesis, or others. Another common answer might be to buy an existing pre-made template and make it unique for your site. A popular site for pre-made themes is ThemeForest.net.
A responsive design is generally easier to setup and manage than a separate mobile website.
Don't Use Flash
Avoid using Flash, because it doesn't work on iPhones.
Consider a Content Management System (CMS)
A CMS will allow you to update your own website. At the moment, I'd recommend WordPress for hostel websites. If you don't want to pay for website maintenance, use WordPress.com rather than WordPress.org. I think it's USD $99 per year and they will handle hosting and upgrades for you.
Another reasonable solution is Drupal, but Drupal is heavier duty than WordPress and will require more work. WordPress has been adding many features that only Drupal used to have.
If the designer wants to use something other than WordPress or Drupal, ask about things like:
- Maintenance -- e.g., if it's a custom website built in Django (for example), will it require an expensive Python programmer on hand for every update?
- SEO -- WordPress and Drupal have pretty good SEO with the default settings. There are other CMS platforms that are not as good with SEO.
If you go to WordPress.com, you can create a free site and experiment with it. You only have to pay if you want a custom design and your own domain name.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Ask what they will do about SEO. Make sure that the home page's <title> element has your hostel's name, plus the word "hostel" and the name of your city and region.
Example:
<title>XYZ Hostel in Paris, Maine, USA<title>
Search engines can't reliably render JavaScript, so the content should be served as HTML instead of rendered with JavaScript.
Search engines can't reliably read images, so be sure that the website has a lot of normal text content.
Other Tips
Design it around "mobile first" to get it ready for the increasing use of mobile devices -- otherwise you might need a redesign later.
Design the site around creating a visitor flow that leads to bookings.
Use lots of photos of good-looking, smiling people who are having a good time and looking at the camera.
A large bookstore might have some good books on web design ideas, blogging, social media, SEO, and other topics.
When getting advice from a website designer:
- Ask about monthly hosting and maintenance rates.
- What happens if the site gets hacked? How expensive will it be to fix?
- Who is doing the backups?
- How much will it cost to add new features? (e.g., hourly rate)
- If the original designer stops working on it, will another web designer be able to help? (if it's coded from scratch, this is less likely than if an open-source CMS is used)
Log in to join discussion