We were contacted to get this site going. The web host the client was using was very popular, but also notorious for failing its clients. We put them on to a better host that we really trust.
The next issue: redirects. The original designer built and delivered the site with default Site URLs that resolved to his original cookie cutter site. That meant that if someone wasn’t an expert in WordPress development, they wouldn’t be able to launch the site. At best, they would be stuck with a site that redirected to the original designer. We repaired the code to resolve this issue.
Next, we swapped our client over to a secure connection to give them their site a strong ranking signal to Google. We also replaced the existing AirBnB tools to tie directly into the client’s AirBnB site: providing booking, registrations and reviews to build trust with the clients.
For this website, we needed to perform a content overhaul. Web content is critical. It has to be sensible, legitimate and show a passion for the topic. We had our work cut out for us, but here are some of the highlights of what we fixed:
- The garden that Victoria is world famous for was listed as “Butshart” Garden. Here’s the real link.
- The original content mill wasn’t familiar with Victoria terminology. (Juan de Fuca Strait instead of Strait of Juan de Fuca)
- The “Travel Info” page that showed a paragraph on Pine Mountain Club just north of LA
- The “Our Local Guide” page that had a title referencing a Danish island. (Denmark isn’t very close to Vancouver Island.)
- Smoothing things out and getting rid of phrasings like “The bathroom has a full kitchen…” – people don’t tend to like kitchen/bathrooms. These great suites obviously didn’t have such a thing.
To put a bow on it, we did an expanded landing page talking about the location: The Janion. That was the easiest part. I have loved the Janion my whole life. When word came that the building was the keystone of a massive development project, I watched eagerly. I applied my local knowledge of Victoria BC to the project to give my client a genuine piece on the building and its role in Victoria – both as part of the history and it’s part in the rejuvenation of Victoria.
Making these key fixes to the vacation rental site empowered our client to get ahead of the curve in the competitive holiday rental market. This put her site on par with longer established rental owners, managers and industry experts. We helped our client to stand out in an overcrowded marketplace.
What makes it special
- We made the site work. Before we started, the site code was redirecting to the site of the original designer.
- We deployed it on an excellent web host.
- We overhauled the content.