Less than an hour from where I lived in Pennsylvania, you see road signs that warn you to beware of horse and buggy carriages using the road.

The Amish people live a life very different from yours and mine.

For the most part they don’t use electricity. They avoid most machines, preferring a simple lifestyle that revolves around farming and handcrafting everyday items.

Amish furniture is coveted in some circles for its high quality and classic beauty. Their food is simple and delicious, and their household items are made with masterful craftsmanship and attention to detail.

The Amish don’t use computers, so what could they possibly teach us about web design?

The key to gorgeous site design if you’re not a professional designer is to keep it simple.

Does simple mean plain? Boring? Unadorned?

No. Simple — in this case — means effortless (as in, effortless to read and absorb), and accessible (as in, easy to find what you need).

In today’s post, we’re going to talk about how to achieve the kind of simplicity that leads to a sophisticated, ultra-functional website.

It’s easy, once you know how.

Start with a well-proportioned theme

Your design job will be much easier if you start with a theme that has “good bones.”

By this I mean plenty of white space, and an open, airy feel. You want your words and images to be surrounded by open space like you’d put a matte around a beautiful painting.

Plus, working with a solid WordPress theme gives a cohesive structure to your site, and makes each page look like it relates to the one before.

Use a reduced color palette

Amish clothing is very low key and modest.

The result is that when you come face to face with an Amish person, you really see them. You don’t see their flashy clothing or notice their hairstyle.

What you see are their faces. Their personalities shine through, unembellished by the trappings the rest of us use.

How does this translate to our web pages?

On your site, this means using a design style whose goal is to let your content shine through. Your message should be the star of the show, and your design style shouldn’t detract from the purpose of your pages.

One way to accomplish this is to use a reduced palette of colors. I recommend starting with two main colors in addition to black text and a white background.

Using a reduced color palette helps direct attention where it belongs, which is on your words.

Because — as we know, the writer runs this show.

But, the designer makes you look.

Do more with less

The Amish are masters at making the most of whatever they have on hand.

Used clothing becomes a beautiful quilt to huddle under in the cold winter months.

The sap from maple trees is tapped and boiled down to become delectable maple syrup.

Wood is reclaimed from barns and turned into furniture.

One quick and effective way to apply the “use what you have on hand” concept is pare your fonts down to two. Use one for text, one for headlines. Pick fonts that have a full family of weights: bold, semi-bold, and italic.

Then put those fonts to work all over your site. Use different weights, or try them in all caps. But don’t go beyond your two fonts.

Designing within these “restrictions” will set you free. Your pages will hang together and look cohesive because your fonts will be consistent throughout.

Lighten up your sidebar

Most of our websites have some sort of content area, as well as what I like to call the “business side of things,” which is usually a sidebar.

It’s tempting to cram your sidebar full of all sorts of ads, social media icons, opt-in forms and affiliate banners. The result is that each item competes visually with all the others, and no one wins.

Instead, approach it like the Amish.

They don’t use big, blinking neon signs to point out their businesses. They state their offerings simply, and present them in uncluttered surroundings so the customer has space to think and really see what’s there.

On your sidebar, this means paring down your offerings and making some hard decisions. If your theme allows it, it might mean running different combinations of sidebar content on different pages of your site. This allows you to spread your offerings out and feature them where they’ll make the most sense.

Look at your sidebar and decide what one action you’d most like your visitor to take. Then make a call to action that stands out visually. Make it larger and more colorful, and place it and higher up in the column.

The rest of your sidebar options should be less colorful and smaller so they don’t compete.

‘Tis a gift to be simple

Simplicity can be beautiful when your aim is to create a site that’s intelligent, effortless to navigate and easy to understand.

What can you do to apply some Amish craftsmanship to your site?

-Thanks to Copyblogger for this article; couldn’t have written it better myself as a long-time resident of this Amish region. This advice is spot on! – Dee

I’m passing along the advice and hoping you’ll do it, too, to help promote your own business, be it in tourism or other products and services.  One photo is worth a thousand words; now they can be displayed even bigger on your Facebook wall and photo albums.

Upload those big, beautiful photos

The new photos are much larger.

When you upload an album you can create a mini-story that is eye-catching and provocative. Post more pictures on your Facebook Page and think about what story you can tell with the photos.

Showcase an event, your products, or (interesting) happenings at your office.

The other great thing about the new photo size is that they take up more space in the News Feed. You are claiming more real estate than a typical post. Remember to add comments onto the main picture in the Album so you can also get your message across, along with your great images.

3 Way Magic

Use these three techniques to get your message out and engage with travellers and travel planners.

1.  Showcase your product
Web video is ideal for showing exactly how your hotel or tour works, and why it’s the best on offer at the destination.

Your web video doesn’t have to be fancy. It’s more important to:
Take the time to develop your story
Write a script: don’t wing it
Edit carefully so your video comes in under three minutes

2.  Share your reality
Any time you share some of your own reality, your two-dimensional Internet presence becomes more three dimensional, and that makes your company — and its offerings — more appealing to visitors.

Show readers you’re just like them by sharing a little about yourself on Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, your blog, and your email newsletter. You can post photos or short videos that show them the real you, both inside and outside of work.
Keep it light, tie it in with a topic you know your audience is interested in, and turn it around and talk about them the first chance you get.

3.  Shatter your stereotypes
If your business is typecast a certain way – eg luxury hotel, spa and conference center – accept it and set the record straight online.

Showing your prospective guests a little personality is an excellent way to make your hotel or tour memorable.
A good example is Vision Villa Resort in Bali that now calls itself Vision Villa Bali, the Center of Adventure, with links to its new concierge desk, Vision Adventures. The stereotyped image of a luxury spa resort built for relaxation has been shattered by the “adventure centre” personality, taking advantage of the adventure playground at the resort’s doorsteps.

–
About the Author: Pamela Wilson helps small businesses grow with great design and marketing at Big Brand System. Her article has been adapted for tourism operators by Dee Farrell at Peacock Tourism Marketing. Together, we hope your blogs and fan pages will add some personality through your stories.

Talking about content management of your website and social media channels. You need magnetic copy and images – clever stuff that will elicit response.

Do you have a fledgling blog, Facebook page or other social media channel? If it’s time to refresh and regroup, consider getting help with the content and all-important photos.

The question most asked by my clients is “How often should I post?” My answer is invariably “As often as you have something to show or say – as long as it’s a short time between postings.”

Don’t let a month go by, or why bother! Here’s what others are saying.

David Verchere writes “Social Media Examiner Research shows you should post once a day.”
The data shows that in most cases posting every day generated the best results.  This data applies to blog posts but there are no reason that social media posts wouldn’t follow similar rules.  Obviously this assumes that you are posting content that people want to read.

What happens if you post more than once a day? You’ll get a 15% increase in traffic for what amount to a 100% increase in effort. It’s not clear that the extra work makes the increase in traffic worthwhile.

When you share less than once a week you get the same results as when you don’t post at all.  
So the takeaway here is that if you’re not going to post at least a few times a week then you might as well not bother to post at all.

How often do you post? No time? Hire a copy writer! Peacock Tourism Marketing does this best.

My brother's lanai view every day on the Big Island

Studies indicate that images are the second factor right behind pricing in terms of influencing the choice of a property to stay, or tour to take. For some, the perceived experience may be first and price second.

My rule of thumb is: experiment with types of photos, with people or animals first, your rooms, exterior and pool second.

With today’s technology, taking a good picture is easier than ever. Facebook is great at sharing pictures and engaging users – every day 100 million photos are tagged on facebook.

So, ask your guests if you can take pictures with them, then tag them on your Facebook page. Your property, tour and event will be seen by many of their friends.

PS Include a great caption and good descriptor of the image. Not “img 78643321″ but “Kona Coast Sunset.”

Social media is a unique marketing tool for both the press and travel products to get the consumer in an instant. Traditional media and new media add to your PR strategy providing depth and inspiration to travelers to capture their interest before the social media takes affect.

Social media offers that touch point, viral campaigns can bring interested consumers in direct communication with you. KLM recently ran a viral quiz campaign targeting the gay market. This allowed the airline to connect with interested consumers it had not connected with before and therefore grow its marketing database.

Social media is a public relations meets marketing exercise; you can’t force people to join your fan page or Tweeter profile you can just remind them you’re there in a way that extenuates their interest.
The conundrum marketers face is – invest time in social media and hope it is a success, or invest money on more traditional ROIs.

Australia’s Best Job In The World viral campaign that earned 100’s millions still cost $1million to launch and manage – so even social media campaigns need an injection of budget somewhere.

However, if one statement is clear when targeting the gay market or any niche market; the sound of one considered and intelligent mark of respect can earn brownie points for years; and if you’re prepared for the long haul this could bring them over forever. Make your products relevant and be consistent in your approach.

Note: Social media was the hot topic of the IGLTA Convention. CVBs, Tourist Boards, Tour Operators, Hotels, Car Rental Companies and Airlines are all trying to find ways to not just contact the gay market but engage them. However, with budgets smashed, more executives are trying to fit ‘gay’ in as a legitimate market with the leanest of resources. For more information, see IGLTA or ask Dee Farrell, proud member since incorporation.

1 Make time
Try to set aside an hour a day to work on your page, post updates and communicate directly with guests and fans.

2 Start with a small budget
If you do decide to try ads, you’re better off starting out doing small test ads to see what kind of performance you get in a month, and then ramp it up when you figure out which demographics and keywords you want to target.

3 Create a page, not a profile
Start with a personal page and build up your friends list. These folks are the first people you want to invite to become fans of your business page.

4 Have one-on-one conversations
Send a thank you and personalized message right after someone clicks “like” on your page or makes a “comment” on your blog – if they are worthwhile and relevant only.

5 Post cool status updates
Have a goal of one post per day to your page’s wall and one a week on your blog.

Finally, Learn as much as you can. Take notes based on your experiences with social media posting and blogging so you can research answers to your questions later. If you need a coach, ask the birds-of-a-feather at Peacock Tourism Marketing.