Our new website is finally here! After months in the building process, our home on the world wide web has completed its redesign. Many of you may have noticed that it first went live on March 21st, and I think everyone will be pleased with the latest version of WiseVacations.com.
Many steps went in to the creating the new website, including gathering feedback from staff, guests, and industry experts. What emerged is a more user friendly, intuitive, and search engine friendly site. Many of the bells and whistles are what make it a truly “Web 2.0” site.
The new layout is wider than the old one for a greater eye catching dramatic experience on the home page, and includes a “featured property”. In addition, it allows for more content and space for photos and descriptions. We made it easier to go right to a specific property- cutting the number of clicks from 3 to 1 and also making it much easier to find. This is a central feature that our Res Team uses when talking to potential guests on the phone. Our “Availability Search” is placed in a more intuitive location, property sorting features have been increased, and “Last minute Specials” appear on the side bar for the spontaneous vacation seekers.
On the property pages themselves, we made it easier to view the interior and exterior photos by again reducing the number of clicks it takes to get to them. Checking availability from the property page is easier, and the booking process is the same smooth process it was on the old site. New features to come on the property pages will include property videos and 360 image galleries (for some properties, email me if you already have a video of your property that you would like to submit).
We’ve added an Events section, and something that is very cool, a Weather Forecast section! Now, what’s so cool about that? Well, it’s a real time feed, and also pulls in the Killington Snow Report. These features are not only extremely beneficial to our guests, but they are an integral Web 2.0 technology that makes our site extremely search engine friendly because the site is constantly being updated with new content- and that is one of the components to ranking high in search engines. In addition, if guests know that we have this valuable info, they will come back again and again to our site- and this pattern of traffic is also good for search engines. There is also a “Weather Blog” section that will be written by a staff member and will have the latest on the weather and snow conditions. We get so many calls from guests wondering what the weather is “right now” in Killington, outside our office, (and yes, some of those calls do come from you, our beloved homeowners).
Speaking of blogs, you may also notice that my blog received a nice face lift as well. It now sits directly on our site and I no longer have to use my Blogger account, which is obviously hosted by a third party. Again, it is beneficial to have it on our site for search engines.
“Give me the address, so I can Google Map it, Google Earth it, and/or plug it into my TomTom.” Ok, how many of us have said that lately? Well now, with our all new Directions Page, guests can locate properties on Google Maps and know exactly where it is in relation to their favorite Access Road restaurant or how far it is to Snowshed. We’ve also mapped restaurants, shops, and attractions (coming soon). In addition, on the Property Page, there will soon be a link to “Google Map” so the guest can view the property location directly from the Property Page, not just the Directions Page. You’ll also notice that there is a link to Podcast Directions. No more, “I left the directions on the printer at the office” or “I never read my confirmation email”. Soon, podcasts will be available for download that have directions to Killington from various points, so guests can just download directly to their ipod or other device.
We hope you like the new site and I welcome any comments and feedback. You will find the "Owners link in the bottom right hand side of the website. From there you can log in to your account, just as before. Enjoy! www.wisevacations.com