Creating a visual, no stone-unturned website, showcased exactly what you can expect at Gulabin Lodge.
Project Description
Gulabin Lodge and House are properties situated in the stunning natural beauty of Glenshee in Scotland. Surrounded by some of the best hiking, skiing, mountain biking and fishing in the country, these rural houses are set up to offer high-end self-catering for larger groups.
Gulabin House offers space for 12 people, while Gulabin Lodge can cater for a massive 37 people. The properties are tucked away in solitude at the bottom of Ben Gulabin, offering a unique getaway to experience the Highlands of Scotland up close.
The Brief
With the age of Air B&B and Vrbo taking over the self-catering property market, Tim and Helen from Gulabin Lodge wanted something a little different. They wanted a very visual, in-depth website where they could showcase the strengths of their properties, that just don’t fit in the little information boxes on 3rd party websites.
With such bounteous surroundings, they wanted to not only allow people to see the beauty of their properties, but also a window into the surrounding land and all it has to offer. They were looking for a website that immersed people, that could display the depth of wonder in Glenshee and entice people to spend their time with them. They wanted to build trust, to show previous happy customers and show big, bold photos of the land that they love so much.
Deliverables
Web Design and Development – Gulabin Lodge needed a clean, simple to use and easy-to-understand site to showcase their properties and the benefits of the surrounding area.
Digital Marketing and SEO – Wanting more than just the 3rd party sites can offer them, Gulabin wanted to be found on Google, so we carved out pages careful laden with the right keywords.
Branding and Graphic Design – The design was to be image-rich, so visitors could instantly see the beauty of the surroundings. We also put together a logo for the lodge based around its stunning location.
Digital Consultancy – We needed to look through the various forms of social media to discover exactly what worked for Gulabin Lodge. Picking exactly what was manageable on a daily basis and which chimed best with their customers was the strategy.
Secure Managed Web Hosting – To ensure the new site ran as quickly as possible Gulabin Lodge took up our hosting product. With our daily backups and sterling customer service, they never need to worry about losing business from their site going down.
Our Solution
Immersion and Clarity were the key pillars of this site. We wanted to make it incredibly visual, so prospective clients could be enchanted by the beauty of the surroundings and the amount of work that has gone into creating these two lovely properties.
However, creating an immersive experience and delivering complete clarity often leads to a larger project. Normally, accommodation websites will show the house, the price and that is it. Gulabin Lodge wanted more. They wanted to show their properties in-depth and have pages dedicated to the surrounding area, so their prospective clients could see everything that is available locally.
Together, we built a structure for the site, deciding to separate everything out to get maximum exposure.
On the homepage we created bold, colourful links to the other pages, showcasing first and foremost what the offering is. We also tapped into their wealth of testimonials, making social proof one of the key elements of the page.
The About Us page was two-fold. There was a general page to sell people on the ethos that Helen and Tim live by, drawing prospective clients into their warm, friendly ways. They also wanted a page that displayed their green credentials, something that is at the heart of the operation.
We then created separate pages for each of the properties, highlighting their uniqueness and leaving plenty of rooms to wow clients with the stunning photos. They included FAQ pages for each, just so people were as informed as they wanted to be.
We then created a section about the surrounding area, breaking down the individual activities available locally into separate pages. These involved a lot of research and copywriting skills to draw people in and really get them to experience the surrounding area through fluid word smithery.
We also included a Find Us page, and a blog, which we felt was key to improving the SEO of the site.
All through this, we put in strong calls to action which link to contact or booking forms, to ensure that clients could easily get in touch once they had made up their mind.
To let Ossian Media analyse your business needs or existing site and see how we can make your site work for you, get in touch today and we can start discussing your digital needs.
