1 First impressions matter – when a visitor first clicks on the home page you have just seconds to hook them in or lose them. Is it appealing? Is it uncluttered? Is it easy to find the info they need?

2 Functionality and usability – most venue’s sites are visited for the same general reasons, e.g. seeking out the latest menu, booking a table for dinner, to see what entertainment is on, to buy tickets to a show. Building a new site is the perfect time to look at what other functionality you can integrate to make your site of genuine use to the public, as well as making the back of house more efficient for your team. 

3 Call to action - what do you want people to do when they’re on your site? Tell them! For example, ask them to get in touch to book in their upcoming event and make it easy for them to send off a functions specific enquiry (and let them know how long it will take to get a reply from your team).

4 Look and feel – a site should reflect your brand aesthetic. If your brand is in need of a refresh, before you create a new site is the best time to do this (we can help you with this too!)

5 Mobile – most search is carried out on a phone. Focus on how your new site works on a phone (generally keeping it simple is best when you consider search on a small screen).