The Pine Cone Acre Motel is located in South Lake Tahoe, CA. Its frontage sign is a staple in this gorgeous mountain getaway, and its location is second to none for those who love the water, the snow, and of course the majestic scenery of Lake Tahoe. When the owners approached us to redesign their web site, they said they wanted a modern design, and one that encompassed all that is great about their cozy little motel situated on Highway 89, right past the "Y" on the way to Emerald Bay.
As you can see from the image, we did a complete makeover. Here is some commentary on the old design
versus the new design, and a discussion on the features we implemented.
The client's highest priorities in redesigning the site were: 1) They wanted a way to easily update the web site themselves (they had been depending on a 'webmaster' to make updates on their previous site, and the process was expensive and cumbersome); 2) They wanted to increase traffic to the web site by using search engine friendly URL's and other modern techniques; 3) They wanted a warm, modern look and feel to their site; and 4) They wanted information to be easily accessible.
We chose Joomla as the platform for the new web site because of its native search engine friendly structure. We used a plugin called SH404SEF to ensure all URL's were friendly. If you visit http://www.pineconeacremotel.com and click around, notice how standard the URL's are. We also implemented a gorgeous slideshow that highlights the motel's grounds, rooms, and beautiful trees. We added a front page coupon, incorporated the client's existing reservation system, and added a guestbook and group services page so prospects could easily submit requests for wedding accommodations, and so forth. As an added bonus we implemted Google Maps with Street View so site visitors could take a virtual tour off the area!
The client absolutely loves the web site, traffic has increased ten fold, and they are already receiving group service inquiries. Overall this project was a huge success and we are honored to have been the client's consultant of choice for this endeavor.