Sweetwater Branch Inn Bed & Breakfast

Business Background

Sweetwater Branch Inn Bed & Breakfast, located in historic downtown Gainesville, Florida, is part of a beautifully restored Victorian complex. While staying true to its original Victorian decor, the inn offers world-class modern amenities, including Jacuzzi-equipped bathrooms and wireless Internet access.

The Inn’s grounds are surrounded by magnificent gardens, site of countless weddings and background to the most beautiful wedding photographs. A popular choice for wedding ceremonies and receptions, Sweetwater Branch Inn is also the site of many business meetings, conferences, group luncheons, socials, anniversaries, graduations, holiday parties and more.

The Challenge

Following the launch of their new web site months earlier the Innkeeper consulted with Xerpix Media to discuss search engine optimization.

We evaluated the present site and found multiple areas of improvement. The site failed to showcase the magnificent grounds and impressive interiors of the property, which are among this business’ main assets. It also failed to project the warm and welcoming feeling one can’t escape when visiting the Inn. The navigation was poorly organized and made it difficult to accomplish simple tasks such as browsing the various rooms and cottages and finding their rates. The site also failed to market and emphasize the many services offered by this unique Bed and Breakfast: Weddings, Business Events, Romance Packages, Extended Stay and more. Last but not least, the site was not optimized for the web and had poor rankings on the most popular search engines.

The Strategy

Avoiding drastic changes to the image of the recently designed web site, we planned thorough site-wide revisions as follows:

Layout

Our strategy included the replacement of the current header with a Flash collage of photos that fades in and out gently and serves two purposes: allows visitors to view multiple photos of the property and adds a gentle and welcoming feel to the site.

To better represents the Inn and inspire elegance we designed small graphic enhancements for the site.

Navigation

A new navigation structure will allow users to reach all pages throughout the site from the main menu. Pages that belong to the same categories will be grouped under a submenu. New sections will be created to market specific services.

Search Engine Optimization

We planned to implement site-wide optimization that included code structure, content keywords, tags, target pages and more.

The Results

The new site has a welcoming and warm feeling to it while projecting the Victorian Elegance this Inn earned its popularity for. Graphic enhancements such as crown molding-like frame at the top and bottom of the pages create an elegant effect. The top header fades in and out and showcases full views and details of the property. A separate rotating header in the secondary pages displays additional images.

The navigation is logical, easy and smooth. All accommodations are grouped under the same submenu and can be browsed within the same page. Room rates are conveniently displayed in the main menu. All events are grouped under a submenu and new sections have been created for Business Events and Other types of Events. A new Extended stay section has been created to cater to extended stay guests. Romance packages have been completely redesigned to showcase and market the various products. Each page of the site has been enhanced with new graphics, photos and content organization.

Overall, the site looks warm and welcoming and it projects charm and elegance. The site is user-friendly and easy to navigate. The spectacular grounds of this property are finally showcased in the rotating headers and in photos throughout the site. Events, Catering, Romance Packages and Extended Stay have an appropriate display area.

As a result of our work, Sweetwater Branch Inn experienced a remarkable spike in traffic, rankings and bookings. Our client reached and consistently kept top search engine rankings under the accommodations group of keywords, extended stay, romance, various events and more. Also, for the first time the sites garners compliments from numerous guests and visitors.

Visit Sweetwater Branch Inn»