There is typically a formula behind the content of most campground websites, with the navigation pointing visitors to the essential information that differentiates any one park from its competitors, including a link to a reservations page where the site’s “call to action” may be finalized. The content will likely include a list of amenities, a listing of accommodations and their accompanying rates, a site map that allows potential guests to visualize the entire park at a glance, a comprehensive listing of area attractions, travel directions, a calendar of events, an outline of rules and policies, and perhaps a photo gallery and one or more Google 360 or YouTube videos. Often overlooked is a page of FAQs – the acronym for Frequently Asked Questions.

Although there may be some overlap with a park’s rules, as well as reservation and cancellation policies, a list of frequently asked questions – and, of course, the answers to those questions – can be very useful in helping guests to plan their stays prior to their arrivals. They also help to minimize the likelihood of misunderstandings and surprises that can set a negative tone upon a guest’s arrival and during that guest’s entire stay. Another big advantage of an FAQ page is its ability to streamline the workflow in your office, particularly when it comes to needlessly answering repetitive questions on the telephone. If you are being asked the same questions day after day, it is an indication that those questions are not being answered on your website or that the answers are buried away in a location that is not easily found. Let an FAQ page come to the rescue!

Most typically, an FAQ page presents a list of brief questions in a conversational format. When users click on a question, it either expands into content that discloses the answer, or it links to a list of answers at the bottom of the page. Although those recurring telephone questions will certainly be included, here are some specific topics to consider adding to your FAQ list:

• Pet Policies and Restrictions: Let your guests know in advance if you limit the number of pets they may bring, restrict certain breeds of dogs, or charge a fee to bring their pets. Also outline the pet-owner’s responsibilities. If you have a dog park or dog wash, be sure to promote that here.
• Check-In and Check-Out Times: Let your guests know your specific arrival and departure times, as well as any early check-in or late check-out fees, if applicable.
• Hours of Operation: These would include hours of operation for your office and store, laundry, game room, any food services that you may offer, honey wagon service, and propane fills. You should also outline the hours of operation for recreational amenities such as your swimming pool, miniature golf course, jumping pillow or water park. A guest who has been on the road all day and can’t wait for a dip in your pool needs to know in advance that it closes at 7:00 PM. While you are listing hours, be sure to mention your quiet hours.
• Add-On Fees: Particularly at a time when many parks try to offer all-inclusive recreational amenities, let your guests know if there are fees to use any of those amenities. If wristbands are required, is there an additional fee? Guests should also be informed in advance if there are fees for things like parking an additional vehicle, a gate card deposit, or use of restroom showers.
• Fishing: If your park offers opportunities for fishing, let your guests know whether or not a license or fee is required. If a pond is completely within your property, there is probably no state fishing license required; however, if your park adjoins a lake, a license is likely to be required. In many instances, there will be no license required for children under a certain age; however, a father helping to reel in a catch probably needs to be licensed. Also be sure to let them know if they may keep any fish caught or if your fishing is catch-and-release.
• Boat Usage: Hand-in-hand with fishing, are guests allowed to launch their own boats in your pond or lake? If so, are motors allowed, or are there any other restrictions? If you rent canoes, kayaks, or paddleboats, now is the time to let people know.
• Rental Accommodation Details: Let your guests know what is included – and what is not included. Do they need to bring their own towels and bed linens, or do you offer linen service, and if so, is there an additional fee?
• Usage Restrictions: Amusement parks typically have signs indicating that “you must be this tall to use this ride”, and you need to let your guests know if any of your recreational amenities are restricted to guests over a certain age, height, or other limitation.
• Visitor Policy: List any restrictions, including fees, on your guests’ visitors. These policies might vary when they apply to seasonal campers as opposed to weekend campers. May visitors bring pets, do they have full use of facilities, where do they park, and is there a limit to the number of visitors per site?
• Group Facilities: If your park has a safari field, picnic grove, pavilion, or otherwise offers facilities that appeal to groups, promote that fact.
• WiFi: Is your WiFi free or fee-based, what are the usage limitations, is the coverage widespread, and is a password required?
• EV Charging: Do you allow – or prohibit – the charging of electric vehicles at your campsites or a central charging station? If so, what are the fees involved?
• Tobacco, Alcohol, and Marijuana Use Policies: Where may these be used within your park, and what areas are off-limits? Make your policies clear and enforceable.
• Prohibitions: If you prohibit fireworks, firearms or other types of weapons, generators, political flags, or any type of offensive behavior, let people know in advance. It is never safe to presume that every potential guest will routinely demonstrate basic standards of courtesy or respect for fellow guests.
• Secondary Vehicles: May guests use personal golf carts, ATV’s, mopeds or other vehicles within your park during their stay? Outline insurance requirements, age restrictions, and be sure to list exceptions for people with disabilities.
• Forms of Payment: List the credit cards that you accept, along with outlining your policy on the use of anything other than cash for payment. If you charge any credit card processing fees, disclose those up-front.
• Cancellations and Refunds: At the risk of repeating yourself, list these policies again and make them crystal-clear.

In addition to adding an FAQ page to your website, it is highly advisable to direct guests to this page and encourage that it be read in its entirety. When a guest makes a reservation, it could include an acceptance of policies that involves a digital signature. Rather than simply saying “thank you”, add a link to your FAQ page, suggesting that visiting the page will help to ensure the most enjoyable stay possible.

My company builds websites for the campground industry. A few years ago I reached out to the manager of a campground in a Northern state whose website would appear to be in desperate need of replacement. Its 14 year old website (nearly a century in either website or dog years!) was not mobile-friendly, had zero in terms of SEO (search engine optimization), was not ADA compliant (really an unknown issue at that time), had nothing but a phone number to call for reservations, did not even list the campground’s address, and had not been updated since it was built (still promoting that the park was the “newest” in its area.) After being asked to quote on a new website, the manager responded that my company’s services were “to rich” (sic) for his campground that was only open for a 5 month season.

I explained that most campgrounds in the Northern states were only open from late spring through early fall, hardly an operating calendar that was unique to his park. Based upon the weekly rates that are published on his website, if a new professionally designed website brought in only 15 new campers who would not have otherwise chosen to stay at his campground, he would have fully recovered his investment during a single season. That investment recovery would not even include the additional income generated by those guests’ purchases in his store, laundromat, game room, or fee-based added services. I went on to ask if his park was at full occupancy throughout its 5 month season, pointing out how the satellite image on Google Earth showed that his park had 48 sites – 35 pull-thrus and 13 back-ins – only 16 of which were occupied at the moment when that most recent image was captured.

I am referencing this campground’s website as simply an example of short-sighted thinking. The campground manager could have been dismissing the cost of Wi-Fi service, reservation software, upgraded electrical service, energy efficiency upgrades, a new line of store merchandise, a new dumping station or honey wagon, new rental boats, cabin or park model rentals, yurts or teepees, branded apparel, or replacements for the worn out and inefficient washers and dryers in his laundromat. Translated from the original Latin, the adage that “you have to spend money to make money” is nothing new, originally credited to the Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus a little over two millennia ago.

I can understand a short season factoring into a decision to purchase a motorcycle, snowmobile, speedboat, convertible automobile, or any other consumer good that represents an emotional want rather than a physical need. Those decisions all involve the purchase of personal goods, whereas an entirely different set of standards should apply when making well-informed business decisions.

I have always found it useful to make business decisions based upon the measurement of projected return on investment. This can apply to almost any purchase. Let me use Wi-Fi as an example, along with a few rounded numbers to simplify calculations. Let’s presume that you run a campground with 100 sites, that your average nightly site fee is $50.00, that the average guest stays two nights, you have an average occupancy rate of 50%, your season runs 150 days, and that 50% of your prospective campers demand Wi-Fi and will not stay at a park that does not offer high-speed Internet at sites. Let’s also presume that the cost of a new Wi-Fi installation at this small- to medium-sized park would be $7,500.00 (admittedly on the high side.) Although some parks charge for the service, and others offer tiered service levels, let’s presume that your park is going to treat Wi-Fi service as a utility that will be provided to its guests at no added charge as part of its overnight fee.

If the added service increases occupancy from 50% to just 60%, that means filling 10 otherwise empty campsites at $50.00 per night. Over the course of a 150 day season, this represents $7,500.00 in income, fully recovering the investment in the new Wi-Fi system, or an investment that is recouped in a single season. If your park is in a competitive market that allows it to charge for Wi-Fi service, the payback period may be even shorter. The same sort of calculations can be applied to an investment in upgraded electrical services, when your prospective guests are seeking out reliable 50-amp service when most of your sites are providing 20- or 30-amp service through rusty power pedestals with circuit breakers that trip open on a regular basis. In fact, when it comes to park utilities, problems with Wi-Fi, electrical service, roadways, water pressure and sewerage are just as likely to lead to an abbreviated stay as an obnoxious camper or barking dog on an adjacent site. The same claim may be made for restrooms or playgrounds in dire need of upgrades, a store with too many empty shelves, or a game room with too many “out of order” signs. Weaknesses in these areas can actually be driving away business, as well as inflicting harm on review sites.

When it comes to less tangible services such as a park’s website, reservation software, planned activities and advertising, it is still quite easy to calculate return on investment and to make informed decisions. In fact, these represent some of the best ways to spread the word about that new Wi-Fi or electrical service, essentially speeding the return on investment on those infrastructural improvements. Think twice – and perform some calculations – prior to dismissing a business investment out of hand. That “too costly” investment may be both easily recovered and the key to running your business more profitably than ever.

Part 1
The Basics

I recently presented a webinar titled “Best Practices: Website Design Considerations” before members of several state campground associations. Although my company has been building campground websites since 1998, it was not my intention to promote my company in that webinar, nor is it my intention to do so in this column. What I would like to share is objective advice on how to make the right decisions when it comes to what is almost certainly the single most important tool to market your business both today and in the years ahead.

Let me start with some history. In the early days, websites were built to be viewed on computers, usually with small monitors and slow dial-up modems. Until Apple introduced the first iPhone in 2007, what was a smartphone? Websites were designed to fit narrow computer monitors and limited bandwidth. As time went on, cutting edge sites used Macromedia Flash, later acquired by Adobe. Flash is no longer supported on iOS (meaning any Mac or Apple device), Android devices (in other words, no mobile devices, which are two-thirds of the market), and will see the final nail driven into its coffin at the end of December. Websites now need to be built so that they present full content across all platforms and devices. If you have a narrow website that is not mobile-friendly, and perhaps uses animated GIFs and maybe Flash animation, you are probably wondering what happened to that Blockbuster store where you rented your VHS videotapes.

Mobile-Friendly

Just like we have both lifelong friends and recently made casual acquaintances, there have been many approaches to the presentation of mobile-friendly website content. In the early days (in this case, 2005), as website designers were feeling their way around in the dark, there was a proliferation of separate websites that were intended for smaller displays and limited bandwidth, typically with stripped down content and a .mobi URL. This was sort of like having a car that you drove in the summer and a separate vehicle that you could drive on snowy mountain roads in the winter. When somebody visited a website, they would encounter a link that said “Click here for a mobile version of this site.”

That was inefficient, and the search engines hated it. There were essentially two websites to maintain. Fortunately, these were soon replaced by adaptivewebsites, where the website did its best to detect the device being used and then presented one of two alternate versions of content. There were still two versions of content to maintain. This was sort of like having a big SUV where, when the roads got sloppy, you had to get out and turn the hubs on the front wheels and then engage the transfer case to drive in four-wheel drive.

Finally, responsivewebsite design came along, where one website was designed to detect the device being used and then present content that was scaled to the size of the display, whether it was a phone, a tablet, a laptop computer, or a big monitor. This is essentially the all-wheel drive of websites and could have been the brainchild of Subaru. This is the standard today, and Google and Bing love it.

There are no simple fixes or upgrades to turn an old website into a new responsive site. It is an entirely different framework, and it requires the construction of an all-new site. When a responsive site is being built, there are different approaches: Some website designers tend to first design for mobile devices then let the chips fall where they may on larger displays. Others tend to first design for larger displays, and then optimize the fluid content for smaller displays. Others yet, with no real design experience, rely on templates to do the job for them. In my opinion, due to the small display, almost any responsive website is going to look fine on a phone. Looking really impressive on a larger display, on the other hand, requires a more sophisticated level of design skills that go far beyond just making a bigger version of the content that appears on a phone.

The End User Experience

When you want a customer to get from point A (your site’s point of entry, usually its Home page) to point B (the call to action, the reservation request), you do not want to send them through a maze. This is the same reason that there is a consistent clockwise traffic pattern in almost every major supermarket, where you enter into the produce, fresh bakery, and prepared foods departments; proceed to the deli, meats, dairy and frozen foods; then find the impulse items like candy bars and the National Enquirer at the checkout stands.

Navigating the supermarket aisles is an intuitive process that has been carefully crafted and fine-tuned to maximize sales. The same sort of formulas should apply to your website. People expect to find the navigation either at the top of the page or the left-hand column, floating so they do not have to scroll back up for access. The content should be presented intuitively, organized in a logical fashion that translates into page structure, and nobody should have to search or click to access essential contact information.

The Easiest Approaches

Most small business owners have been convinced in recent years that a content management system (CMS) is essential, giving them the ability to directly maintain their website content. Most have been persuaded that CMS is their key to escaping dependence upon webmasters who charge exorbitant fees and take forever to make changes, a situation which may be far from truthful. Another temptation is to use one of the many “free” website building tools that can be found online. One claims that you will “make a website in minutes … (with) zero code or design skills required”. If you do not quite want to do-it-yourself, another company claims that it will “build you a stunning website in 48 hours” for only $400 per year, including hosting and a domain name. In both instances, try to find a “contact” link on their websites with an address in the United States (or anywhere, for that matter). Then, before getting burned, do a Google search with one of those companies’ names followed by the word “complaints”.

There isn’t a single larger-sized business in America where the owner pretends to be his own webmaster. Can you imagine Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk working on his own website? Recognize the value of having professional guidance and valid marketing advice incorporated into your website. Probably the most important factor is hiring one of the many reputable companies with both an extensive and an intimate understanding of the campground industry. Your business depends upon making the right decision.

Part 2
The Acronyms

Continuing on the theme, allow me to address some of the acronyms that you will want to implement either on your existing website or its successor. These ideas apply whether your site has been built by a company that understands your business and industry, a computer-savvy kid down the road, or that person who you see in your mirror every morning.

CTA

No, not the Chicago Transit Authority, CTA in this instance stands for call to action, a marketing term that references the next step that you want your website visitors to take in order to finalize the intended transaction. Typically, this means guiding people from their point of entry on your site’s Home page to your reservation process. Without smooth navigation and an intuitive end user experience, there can be a disconnection that breaks that intended path from point A to point B. A call to action tends to present an incentive, whether real or perceptual, that keeps people on track and focused.

In an e-commerce environment, that incentive often takes the form of a limited-time discount, a purchase bonus, or free shipping. Another e-commerce incentive that applies to campgrounds takes the form of limited inventory. When somebody wants to camp on the Fourth of July, it is a safe assumption that the demand for campsites will far exceed the available supply. Subtly stress how people should “avoid disappointment” by making their reservations early, with an accompanying “click here to reserve now” link. If they need more information or would like to communicate with you first, be sure that every means of direct contact is immediately accessible, whether they would like to call, email, or send you a private message on a social media site. Both on your website and in any direct communication help them to visualize the difference between everything that your park has to offer versus staying home and dipping their toes in the inflatable kiddie pool in their back yard.

SEO

Whether or not they really understand how it works or what it means, every website owner is at least vaguely familiar with the concept of search engine optimization. Although SEO is treated as a profit opportunity by many website development companies, it is essential if you want your website to be found and highly indexed in online searches. Beware of companies (often contacting you via spam email or telemarketing calls) who promise you #1 search engine placement on Google. 99% of those are scams. You know those telemarketing calls. The caller ID probably shows a local phone number, you answer the phone, wait a second, then hear a “bloop” sound, followed by somebody from a boiler room in Bangalore who tells you his name is Michael. The same people might be calling you another day, pretending that they are from the “Windows Help Desk” or “Apple Care”, telling you that your Windows computer or iCloud account has been compromised and that they are coming to your rescue.

There are no magic wands or shortcuts to effective SEO. Some people try to automate the process, typically using website plug-ins, but there is nothing like carefully incorporating it into the construction of the site. Important components are a carefully written page title, description, proper alt tags behind photos and graphics, open graph content, and a data feed for search engine robots. Most importantly, carefully written text where keywords are king. Many people comment that few people read text these days. Well, my answer is that the 10% of people who still care to read will appreciate the text on your site, and search engine robots devour every word. Make them count!

GMB

Another very important SEO factor is your listing on Google My Business. Your Google My Business profile is extremely important and under your full control. Start by claiming your Business Profile if you have not done so already. Then check that all of the contact information is correct. This includes the name of your business; your correct address, phone number, and website address; and your hours. Your campground is open 24 hours a day, so don’t let potential guests see the word “Closed”. Of course, update these hours in your off-season.

Choose the most appropriate category for your business, if it is not already showing, then choose appropriate secondary categories. There are over 3,000 categories to choose from, so be specific. The most obvious choices are “campground” and “RV park”. You have little control over the description that Google shows; however, you can write a “from the business” description. Select attributes (such as “free Wi-Fi” or LP gas) listing any of the full range of your park’s amenities. Be sure to add (and update!) photos on a regular basis, showcasing only the best available images. You can even add videos and Google 360 videos, all of which help to create greater engagement. Speaking of engagement, ask your best customers to write reviews; post questions and answers; and set up messaging.

KISS

Far from being unique to website, the acronym for “Keep it simple, stupid” should influence most aspects of marketing. Some people seem to think that, when it comes to websites, the more pages the merrier. Not true. Keep it simple and as concise as possible, with navigation that is consistent from page to page, that is located at the top of the page or the left-hand column, and is highly intuitive. Don’t make people guess because there is a chance they will guess wrong, and that is a source of frustration. For example, if the navigation says “Map”, does that mean your park’s Site Map, travel directions on Google Maps, or the “sitemap” of your website. Don’t waste clicks and your visitors’ time. Put your contact information on every page, without forcing people to click on a “Contact Us” link to access that information. Instead of just linking to your social media content, embed it into your Home page. Understand your target market, and ensure that your website is designed to appeal to those demographics – rather than missing the mark. Think smart!

I am probably asked which reservation software I recommend more frequently than any other question. My answer is generally the same each time, responding that I do not recommend any particular reservation software package over another. They all appear to have their advantages and disadvantages, and one that is right for one business may not be right for another. In the 2020 edition of the Woodall’s Campground Management Business Directory, there are 45 businesses listed under the “Reservation Management Systems & Software” category. Essentially, those are too many choices. What I invariably end up doing is to provide a list of questions to ask when comparing the various products on the market.

As with any business investment, you should select software based upon its ability to streamline your workload and increase your profitability. Reservation software is a long-term investment, which is why software is likely depreciated in your accounting and on your tax returns. Consistency is good, particularly when it means that you do not need to learn new processes and your customers are not required to adapt to something unfamiliar. As with anything online, the ultimate determination of success is a highly intuitive end-user experience.

Most reservation systems are part of a broader back office software suite, not simply standalone reservation engines, allowing you to manage your available inventory in real time. They might include customer relationship management and property management system functions. The more robust the package, the more useful the software will be as you manage not only your inventory of campsites and rental units but your overall customer base.

When people tell me that they would like to make a change from an existing software suite, I generally ask them why they are thinking about making a change. Are they contemplating the costs and the learning curve, which also applies to employees? What is it in particular that they dislike about their existing software? I then generally advise them to talk to their existing account representative to see if they can address the new concerns (that may, in fact, not have existed at the time of the original set up.) More often than not, the “problem” is a lack of communication with the existing supplier.

The Important Questions

First and foremost, what are the costs involved? Nothing of value in the business world is free of charge. Is there an initial purchase price, plus a fixed monthly fee or a per-transaction fee? If there are transaction fees, are you expected to pass those along to your customers or are you expected to absorb them into your pricing as a cost of business? Customers will balk at a hefty fee, and absorbing that same fee could seriously impact your profit margins.

Do you have to pay fees on ALL reservations, keeping in mind that most of your customers are finding you from your own website, not the reservation engine? Generally speaking, nobody likes to loosen the lid on a pickle jar, only to pay someone else to actually remove the lid. If you are going to be paying a fee only on stays that are booked through the reservation engine, is the reservation engine competing against your website in search results?

Beyond the pricing issue, here are what I consider to be a few essential questions to ask:

1. Will you have an account representative assigned to your business to offer support during the setup process, the learning curve, and beyond? Are there limitations or costs to that technical support, or are you simply expected to watch (and understand) video tutorials?
2. Does it support dynamic pricing? How flexible is your control of that pricing? Keep in mind that you are looking into a long-term investment. Even if you are not engaged in the use of dynamic pricing today, you are highly likely to do so within the foreseeable future.
3. Does it allow you to determine either a flat or percentage reservation deposit?
4. Does it allow users to reserve add-ons at the time the reservation is made? For example, can a guest reserve a golf cart, or perhaps linen service in a rental unit?
5. Of course you expect the reservation process to be responsive, working on both computers and the full spectrum of mobile devices. Do they have a responsive widget that can be embedded into your website? If not, who is responsible for making your landing page look like your website?
6. Does the reservation engine support languages other than English, not simply using Google Translate?
7. Is the reservation process ADA compliant? PCI compliant? GDPR compliant (important for any reservations originating from the European Union.)
8. Can the reservation engine integrate with Facebook, where many of your customers may be ready to book?
9. If the landing page URL changes, will the old link redirect to the new destination page?

Also important, is the reservation software doing more than passively processing reservations? Does it allow you to follow up with users who do not actually complete the reservation process? E-commerce companies have long utilized “abandoned shopping cart” tracking software, with the understanding that somebody who went through 90% of the buying process is one of your best candidates to turn into a paying customer. Perhaps a person was sidetracked by a phone call, the needs of another family member, or it was simply time to call it a night. A little reminder will not hurt and can often resuscitate the otherwise uncompleted transaction. Choosing a real-time reservation services provider is a very important consideration, which is one of the primary reasons that so many park owners choose to go with a franchise system such as KOA. If you are the more typical unaffiliated “mom and pop” campground owner, you need to make this decision carefully. Too many people have been forced into making a hasty decision because their reservation services provider suddenly ceased operation. Do your homework and make your decision when you are not under duress, choosing a company that you expect to be a key player ten or more years down the road.

In recent weeks, a growing number of campgrounds have received letters and phone calls from legal entities raising questions regarding their websites’ compliance with ADA standards. In this case, ADA stands for the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Signed into law by President George H.W. Bush, the ADA was a natural extension of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibiting discrimination against people with disabilities in all aspects of public life. At its signing, President Bush said, “This act is powerful in its simplicity. It will ensure that people with disabilities are given the basic guarantees for which they have worked so long and so hard: independence, freedom of choice, control of their lives, the opportunity to blend fully and equally into the rich mosaic of the American mainstream.” In 1990, the Internet as we know it today did not even exist, and interpretation of the law today is far from simple.

The ADA is comprised of sections referred to as “titles”. Title I prohibits discrimination in the workplace by any employer with 15 or more full-time employees. Clearly, this applies to the hiring practices of larger campgrounds. Title II prohibits public entities from discriminating against “qualified individuals with disabilities” by excluding them from services and activities. Title III requires that newly constructed or altered public accommodations comply with ADA standards. For campgrounds, considered “public accommodations”, this is why your new restrooms and other remodeled facilities must be universally accessible. Titles II and III have also raised issues regarding accessible swimming pools and accommodations for service animals. Titles IV and V cover telecommunications (closed captioning) and miscellaneous provisions that are of lesser concern for your business.

Title II Is the Basis for the Current Problems

Originally applied to state and local governments, the definition of what constitutes a “public entity” has become far more broadly interpreted. The Internet and websites (which, as you recall, did not exist in 1990) are now being challenged as “places of public accommodation” due to the way in which they are accessed. This interpretation has been encouraged by legal challenges; most notably the Winn-Dixie case in 2017, where a plaintiff in Florida was successful in one of over 175 (as of November 2018) such lawsuits that he has filed against businesses with websites claimed to be partially inaccessible to the blind. His attorneys were awarded over $100,000.00 in damages. In addition to South Florida, popular federal court jurisdictions for the filing of such suits include Western Pennsylvania, California, and New York City, according to Forbes Magazine.

Regulations regarding websites were slated to be finalized in 2018, but those standards were put on hold under the Trump administration. On the surface, that would appear to be a prudent move that provides relief for small businesses. Unfortunately, actual regulations (as ill-advised as they may have been) are replaced by extensive recommendations, and a “Wild West” of lawsuits appears to be on the horizon. The ability of robots to search for vulnerable websites has opened up new opportunities for eager attorneys representing not only the blind but individuals with low vision or cognitive impairments, as well as the deaf, using either computers or mobile devices.

In lieu of regulations, highly confusing recommendations have been put forward by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the international standards organization that develops protocols and guidelines for the Internet. Its Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) has developed a set of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), the most recent version being WCAG 2.1, released in June 2018. The guidelines are broken down into three levels: A, AA, and AAA, where “A” is the most basic and “AAA” is the most extreme.

Meeting “AAA” standards would be prohibitively costly and would severely impede the online marketing efforts of most businesses. On the other hand, most websites are already in compliance with the “A” standards. In the event of a legal challenge, it is widely believed that a small business that shows a good faith effort at providing “reasonable accessibilities” on its website would prevail in its defense. This appears to translate into an attempt to meet as many “AA” standards as practical. The people who will face the greatest challenges are do-it-yourself webmasters. On the other hand, no website design company will realistically ensure 100% compliance with the existing standards.

I am not an attorney. Should you receive any communication regarding the ADA compliance of your website, you are advised to contact your attorney for legal guidance.

Presuming that you are simply taking a proactive approach, the following is a list of some of the most important “A” and “AA” standards.

• Create “alt” tags (text alternatives) for all images and media files.
• Identify the site’s language (typically “en-us” to indicate “English” with the “United States” subtag), allowing text readers to more easily identify the language used.
• Forms should be properly tabbed for easy keyboard navigation.
• Offer alternatives and suggestions for input errors on forms.
• Provide a consistent navigation and layout throughout the site.
• Ensure that text may be scaled up to 200% of size without causing horizontal scroll bars to appear or breaking the layout.
• Ensure that text and background colors maintain a high contrast ratio.
• Allow users to pause and stop any moving content.

Many of these standards have been long followed by website designers for a variety of reasons. For example, “alt” tags that are used by text readers are also read by search engine robots, and tabbed forms enhance usability for all users.

If you are interested, the far more extreme “AAA” standards partially include sign language translations for all videos, text alternatives for videos, 100% keyboard access, definitions for unusual words, explanations of words that are difficult to pronounce, text using a basic reading level, and no time limits or interruptions of page content.

There are online tests that will allow you to check your website for compliance red flags. One of these is the WAVE web accessibility evaluation tool. There are other fee-based online service providers that offer tests and remediation. One such site that I found at the top of a Google search had an image with a missing “alt” tag right at the top of its own Home page, a very basic compliance failure. We are wading through some very murky waters. As always, you need to stay informed. With typically narrow profit margins, it is hard to imagine any business that would willingly fail to welcome all potential guests.

You have no doubt heard about the GDPR, and you may think that it has nothing to do with you. First of all, what is the GDPR? Unlike the DPRK, which is also in the news quite a bit lately, the GDPR is based in the European Union, not North Korea. It stands for the General Data Protection Regulation, and it goes into effect on May 25, 2018, with the intent of standardizing data protection rules across the 28 member countries of the European Union, from Austria to the United Kingdom (yes, despite Brexit, the United Kingdom remains an EU member until March 29, 2019.) With additional countries currently seeking admission, there are only a few European countries (most notably Russia, Ukraine, Norway, and Switzerland) that are neither members nor in the process of joining. The GDPR is designed to protect the personal privacy rights of citizens who reside within the EU, through the implementation of data protection standards by companies based in the EU itself and global companies that either process or control the personal data concerning individuals who reside in the EU.

Although the owner of a small campground in Oklahoma may not think of his business as a global enterprise, the Internet has made this planet a very small world indeed. Campgrounds near international tourism destinations like New York City, Washington DC, or units of our National Park System certainly recognize their percentage of guests from outside of the United States, many of whom originate from within the European Union. In fact, I have written in the past about measures that park owners can take in order to pursue a larger segment of international tourism business. Unless you are going to take the extreme (and suicidal, from a business development standpoint) measure of banning guests from Europe, the new regulations apply to your business. It is better to embrace the standards now because these new standards are likely to be broadly embraced around the world in the coming years. Which one of us, as individual members of the world society, is not in favor of improving standards to protect our personal privacy?

Some people dismissively think that they can ignore the new GDPR rules, foolishly assuming that they cannot possibly be enforced or that their small business would certainly never be targeted. As Americans, we get inundated with a daily barrage of telemarketing phone calls and junk faxes despite the fact that they are prohibited by the U.S. Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and we have all been the victims of widespread security breaches where companies like Equifax get virtually slapped on the wrist. Well, change is in the air.

What Does It Mean For You?

The new rules require a higher standard of consent in the gathering of personal data, broaden the rights of individuals to demand that their personal data remain private, and establish enforcement powers that include some substantial files for violations. If your website, like many if not most, is running Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, or similar analytical software, you have probably received notices from Google, requiring that you update your agreement and provide your company’s legal name and contact information, a process that shifts the burden of ultimate legal responsibility from Google to your business. If you are familiar with Google Analytics and have evaluated your analytical data, you know how it can map your website’s traffic volume down to the local level, based upon the IP addresses of individual computers and mobile devices. The information falls just short of identifying a specific visitor to your site as Liam Andersson, at 211 Svarvargatan in Stockholm, Sweden; however, the IP address of a user’s computer constitutes personal information under the new regulations.

If you are advertising your business using online tools such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads or Facebook Advertising, you are probably fully aware of how that advertising can be targeted toward specific countries. Targeting any EU countries identifies your company as one that is specifically processing data from individuals who come under the protection of the GDPR. Although many American campground websites have dedicated French language versions (if they cater to a French Canadian clientele) or Spanish language websites (in order to reach out to the growing numbers of bilingual Americans), having dedicated website content (not simply the availability of a Google Translate tool) in French (even FR-CA, as opposed to FR-FR) or Spanish could also be interpreted as an effort to market to individuals in France and Spain. Clearly, this gets complicated.

There is no question that companies like Google and Facebook will be modifying the ways that they gather and process personal data, in order to safeguard their own interests; however, your individual business is also going to have to take certain measures in order to comply with the new GDPR rules. If your park belongs to a franchise that has its own assets to protect, such as Leisure Systems’ Yogi Bear Jellystone Parks, your compliance needs to be assured. None of this is particularly easy, but it is all unquestionably necessary.

What Do You Need to Do?

First of all, you need to recognize that, even if you are not specifically targeting or marketing to consumers in the European Union, people residing in the member countries are likely to be visiting your website. For that reason alone, it is necessary that some modifications be made to your site, particularly if it involves the sale of any type of merchandise or has any sort of form that compiles personal information. This would include reservation request forms or any third-party software that processes reservations on your behalf. Those forms must be modified so that users specifically consent (opt in) to the gathering of their personal information (in other words, no permission boxes that are checked by default), and they must have a clear option to withdraw their consent. These processes must be very clear, specific and unambiguous, and you must have a means to immediately halt any data processing upon request.

Your website should also have a privacy policy that is associated with any e-commerce or form that gathers personal information. That privacy policy must be updated to reflect the new GDPR requirements. If it does not already do so, your privacy policy should specify that your website is not directed toward children (although, unlike alcohol-related sites as an example, an age gate does not need to be in place), whether or not it is using cookies or tracking technologies that might be out of compliance, how your website is identifying user locations (Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager, for example), whether you are collecting email address for marketing purposes (again, clearly specifying opt in and opt out procedures), whether you are collecting phone numbers and for what purposes, and how and where your data is stored.

Your level of exposure to the new GDPR rules should also address a series of European-specific questions. These include whether or not your site accepts payments in currencies other than U.S. dollars (it should not), whether your site is advertised or specifically marketed in any way toward European consumers (if so, you may want to reconsider this practice for the time being), whether your site blocks or diminishes content to European users (for example, disabling reservations – a rather extreme measure), and whether or not your site gets any significant traffic from users in Europe.

Although it is your responsibility to update any agreements with companies like Google and Facebook, many of the necessary steps will require either assistance or implementation by your webmaster or third-party reservation service providers. Keep in mind that this will involve additional services that will almost certainly incur additional fees. Maintaining standards that respect personal privacy go beyond your website and must influence your internal business practices, including the secure storage of customer data. We are living in a complicated world where, ultimately, we are all consumers with rights that need to be protected.

No, that is not a typo in the title, but it did catch your attention, didn’t it? In the campground industry, most park owners choose a website design and hosting services provider with a track record and industry presence. Others choose to affiliate with a franchise, where they can benefit from corporate branding and marketing expertise that has been proven effective. Yet others choose to go it alone, taking the D-I-Y route with so-called “free websites” from companies like Wix, Weebly, Homestead, and Vistaprint.

Sometimes the do-it-yourself people are simply “hands on” business owners who feel uncomfortable with delegating responsibility. I often wonder if they also build the washers and dryers in their laundry, make the ice cream that is sold in their store, and provide each weekend’s entertainment, performing as a one-man-band every Saturday night. Other folks seem to resentfully think that professional services are overpriced, failing to acknowledge the legitimate costs and years of education, training and experience that are the foundations of those services. Finally, there are park owners who truly cannot afford to hire outside services for something that they would admittedly prefer not to do themselves.

This post is intended for the people in that last category, park owners who recognize that they need assistance in marketing their parks but believe that help is out of reach.

One of my company’s clients, based in New Hampshire, had wanted to replace the old website that we had built for them back in 2009, but a new mobile-friendly site was just not in their budget regardless of how creatively they juggled their finances. That changed about a month ago, when they received funding through a Micro Enterprise Community Development Block Grant that paid for most of the project. Funds were awarded by the New Hampshire Community Development Finance Authority to Grafton County, which then sub-awarded funds to the Northern Community Investment Corporation. Yes, it can be a complex process! The new website is already live, generating positive customer reviews and new business for our client’s park. Your park might also qualify as a beneficiary from this type of funding.

In our client’s instance, they were located adjacent to what has been identified as a REAP Zone. That acronym stands for Rural Economic Area Partnership Program, an area that the United States Department of Agriculture has identified as facing economic and community development issues. Many, if not most, campgrounds are located in rural areas. By definition, many of these locations are geographically isolated and face population loss and economic distress often due to declines in agriculture. According to the USDA, the REAP Initiative was intended to address such issues as stagnant or declining employment, constraints in economic activity and growth, and disconnection from markets, information and finance. Pilot zones were designated in parts of North Dakota, upstate New York, and the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont (which can also benefit parts of New Hampshire.) Despite the current political climate, agencies continue to develop similar programs for other disadvantaged regions across the country, including the more recent Promise Zone Initiative.

The key to qualification for the CBDG Micro Program is generally to be located in an economically challenged area, to have a number of employees within a specified range, and for your household to fall within specified income requirements. Not every small business qualifies, but many might be surprised to find that they do. With goals that include the expansion of employment opportunities, a variety of projects that help to strengthen or grow a business might be funded, including marketing assistance and even social media training.

To determine if grants are available in your area, you will need to do a bit of research, with the understanding that small businesses do not directly apply for such funding. You must identify the local non-profit economic development agency that will apply for funding on behalf of the local businesses in your area. Start by performing an online search for “(name of your county and state) economic development agencies” or “(name of your county and state) small business development center”. Then call that agency to find someone who will assist you in determining what programs might be available in your local area at this particular time. Depending upon the organization that will be administering the program, you may be required to complete a brief application form to determine eligibility, with the agency assisting you every step of the way, approving an outside vendor, and authorizing the commencement of work.

In addition to Community Development Block Grant resources, you may also contact the Cooperative Extension Service office at your local land grant college or university or even ask your local banker to put you in touch with an organization that can provide the financial assistance that you need. Without taking the initiative, you will have no idea what resources might be available, and there are literally staff members who are waiting to be of assistance in helping you to grow your business. To paraphrase a famous newspaper editorial, “Yes, Virginia, there is a free website.”

Here in my home state of Massachusetts, a problem in recent years involved elementary schools (already considered to be among the best in the country) that were concentrating too much effort on teaching students to pass the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment Test, commonly known as MCAS. More recently replaced by newer testing that is in line with the national Common Core Standards that have been adopted by most states, the problem with MCAS was that teachers had to devote far too much classroom time teaching students to score highly on tests rather than actually learning. I am not a teacher, but is seems to me that it is more important for students to learn effectively than to be taught to pass tests with the highest possible scores.

A similar issue takes place when companies that market their website services run bot-based tests that present audits of potential website errors, warnings and load speeds. There is no question that it is important to have a site that renders properly and loads quickly across a full range of browsers and devices; however, all speed tests have their limitations. To run an automated test that purports to present the final word on the quality of a website and the experience that it offers to visitors is a flawed concept at best and a competitive potshot at worst.

No bot can effectively measure the quality of the end-user experience because that is an inherently subjective process. There is a tradeoff between a site that is visually exciting and a site that loads instantly, and many of the “errors” that bots identify account for mere milliseconds in the scope of initial overall page load times. A site that consists of nothing but text will usually run a perfect score, but how many reservations do you think such a site might generate for a campground or outdoor resort? My advice is to avoid falling for the bait, particularly when it is offered by companies that fall short themselves when it comes to overall quality and integrity of design – factors that directly influence human-based decisions rather than bot-based tests.

Let me offer an analogy that relates to the family camping industry. Many parks have begun offering one of the many “wine and paint” sessions that have become popular in recent years. They all follow a similar formula, where an artist whose career has never caught fire leads a session where attendees drink just enough wine to encourage their creativity but not so much wine that they can’t find the end of the paintbrush with the bristles. The idea is for everybody to copy the painting that the session leader paints. The order of the day is uniformity, a lack of originality, and the building of self-esteem. If Pablo Picasso was still alive and attended one of these sessions, his work would be the laugh of the evening.

When it comes to websites, the single most important consideration is whether or not a site is mobile-friendly. A site that is not optimized for display on mobile devices – particularly smartphones – presents an impediment to the end-user experience. What is most important is how long it takes before a user is able to read and navigate your site. Whether some images might take a few seconds to load is not an impediment to that experience.

If you are wondering whether your website is up to par, ask for a human, personalized evaluation of its strengths and weaknesses. That will take some time and effort to prepare, but it will offer results that are based upon the actual experiences of human end-users, not the bots that will never contact you to make a reservation for Site 127 for the second week of August.

Times change, along with the ways that websites are viewed and the algorithms that determine how they are ranked in search results. The one thing that is consistent is the importance of working with a knowledgeable and reliable company with a trusted track record to stay on top of things and to represent the best interests of your company.

It is human nature that we all tend to resist change. From brand loyalty to daily routines, we tend to be pretty predictable as individuals. When it comes to the browsers that we use to surf the Internet, we tend to be quite settled in our ways, with very few of us whimsically switching from Safari to Edge to Opera. Part of the reason has to do with the way we each like to stay within our own comfort zone, and another part of the reason involves convenience. Switching to a new browser can be a somewhat daunting task, with bookmarks, history, remembered passwords and other settings to be either imported or rebuilt.

In my own instance, I had been loyal to the Firefox browser for several years now, ever since Internet Explorer’s difficulties pushed me over the edge. More recently, I had been reluctantly tolerating the fact that Firefox was either locking up or crashing on my relatively new Windows 10 computer for several weeks. It got to the point where its misbehavior became predictable, with a day when Firefox did not crash being about as rare as a three dollar bill. I continued to wait for the next Firefox update to resolve my problem – after all, I had auto-submitted probably 100 error reports to Mozilla over this time – but to no avail. When it locked up, I would often check Windows 10 Task Manager, and I would find that Firefox was using 15% of my CPU capacity and taking up way too much memory.

Enough was enough. I decided that I had run out of patience, and it was time to leave Firefox behind as my default browser. Although most of us are familiar with only a handful of options, there is actually quite a collection of available options. I was gravitating toward Vivaldi, but neither the LastPass password manager nor the Disconnect ad blocker that I rely upon support the Vivaldi browser. Based upon plug-in support, I decided to move to Chrome, and I am seeing a remarkable improvement in the speed of my browsing experience, with Chrome using about 0.1% of CPU capacity and barely more than 0.001% of my system’s RAM.

For a variety of reasons, it is difficult to compile really accurate statistics regarding browser usage, even in only the United States, let alone globally. If you check your own website’s statistics in Google Analytics, you will notice that a very high percentage will be identified as “unknown”. Probably the most reliable data is presented by Net Market Share, where it is clear that on desktop computers and tablets, Chrome is the leader of the pack and gaining ground, Internet Explorer is rapidly losing market share (with few users embracing Microsoft Edge as its replacement), and Firefox, Safari, and everything else is pretty much just holding its own with far lower percentages of users. These trends are also tracked in the ongoing browser statistics compiled by W3Schools.com.

Of course, smartphones are accounting for an ever-greater share of Web browsing, and they present an entirely different set of statistics, where most users tend not to switch away from the default Android or iOS browser that comes installed on their devices.

You may be wondering why this might be important to you. First of all, go ahead and embrace change in your own browsing habits. Almost incomprehensibly, the (fortunately dwindling) numbers of Internet Explorer users include people who are still using IE10, IE9, IE8, and even older versions, seemingly oblivious to the fact that IE 11 was replaced by Microsoft Edge, where the current version at the time of this writing is Edge15. Running older versions of browser software represents a severe security risk, particularly when that browser is no longer supported by its developer (Microsoft, in the instance of Internet Explorer.) There is a big difference between being loyally running the latest version of Safari on your Mac and blindly running Internet Explorer 8 because it came installed on your old Windows 7 computer.

From a business perspective, it is important that you (or your webmaster) check how your website renders and performs on all browsers, operating systems, and devices that are commonly in use today. Some sites look fine on some browsers but less than perfect on others, whereas many older sites are essentially useless on mobile devices.

Not that long ago, I checked the new website of a campground using the Firefox browser that was still my default at the time. The site, which looked very nice with its embedded YouTube video, embedded widgets and more WordPress plug-ins than you could shake a stick at, would barely load in Firefox and who knows how it works in all those versions of Internet Explorer that people are still using. (Yes, it works much better in Chrome!) Well, according to Net Market Share, Firefox holds 11.79% of the current market share, Internet Explorer’s various versions still occupy 18.95% of market share, and I do not know of a single campground that can afford to risk driving away over 30% of its potential customers.

Going back to that content-heavy website, another very interesting and eye-opening test measures the actual cost of viewing a site on a mobile device using the most popular mobile service providers in various countries (those providers being Verizon and AT&T in the United States.) Calculating the best case scenario using the least expensive data plans, the actual cost of visiting that website is $0.86 in the United States and a whopping $1.65 in Canada (based upon U.S. dollars.) If your potential guest is on a limited data usage plan, a site like this with 9MB of total loaded content is not making a favorable first impression. Chances are those people are not going to wait for the site to load and run up their bills. To run a test of your site, visit What Does My Site Cost?

Are you in the mood for another test? Although any website (unless it uses Flash) will render on a mobile device, it may or may not present optimized content on either Android devices or iPhones. To test your site’s appearance on mobile devices, use the Google Mobile-Friendly Test, where the results might present a rude awakening of how your site appears to perhaps 50% or more of its visitors (many of whom will then abandon your site even faster than they found it!)

As you can see, choices in Web browsers can have far greater implications than first meet the eye. Although Firefox is no longer my default browser, it is still running on my computer for testing purposes, along with Safari, Edge, Opera and, of course, Chrome. If your site’s testing is not up to par, particularly in terms of its overall mobile-friendliness, it may be time to consider its overall cost to your park in potentially lost business.

Even if you can no longer recall the days of school cafeterias or army mess halls, you probably can appreciate the concept of having a bit of variety to spice up your meals from day to day. How many people would want to have the same bowl of corn flakes for breakfast, a slice of pizza for lunch, and a hot dog for dinner … day after day after day? Beyond the lack of nutrition, you would probably be really turned off by somebody who offered you another hot dog.

In recent years, the menus in both academic and military settings have been tremendously improved, with food service operations subcontracted to companies that take pride in both food preparation and the nutritional value of the meals they serve. Gone are the days of cooks whose only formal training was how to prepare meals in large volumes, having been replaced by executive chefs with training in the culinary arts.

Yes, times have changed, but what about your website? Are you asking your prospective customers to get excited about a template-built site that looks just like thousands of others? Having the same menu from one fast-food restaurant to the next is desirable because those establishments are serving a clientele that is seeking consistency, not surprises. However, when planning a special occasion (like a week-long camping vacation, for example), most people are looking for something a little bit out of the ordinary. It becomes problematic when your website is conveying a message that says “boring” when your campers are looking for “spicy” or “savory” on the menu.

Just another WordPress site

I never know whether to laugh or moan when I see sites that seem to display an oh-so-distinctive templated look. I have even seen sites where the site title displays as “Just another WordPress site” because the webmaster did not take the minimal time and effort (or perhaps did not have the knowledge) to substitute an appropriate keyword-based title for the default template setting.

When somebody performs a basic search on Google, the words in the intuitive search term that they enter are either highlighted or made bold in the search results, and a user is more likely to click on search results that contain more of that highlighted or bold text in the site title, domain name, and site description. Nobody is going to search for the term “just another WordPress site”, so it should be clear that having that as your site’s title will put your park at a severe disadvantage. Sadly, there are hundreds of campground websites suffering this limitation. Click here to view the Google search results for campground websites with the “just another WordPress site” title. If your campground is on the list of search results, it just might be time to question the status quo and start searching for another webmaster (realizing, of course, that your existing webmaster may be that person in your mirror.)

Would You Like Arial or Times New Roman with Your Meal?

Even something as seemingly insignificant as font usage is ultimately very important. Once your site shows up in a search, if the person performing the search clicks or taps the link, is that person going to stay on your site … or does something like an overused font send them the message that you are offering the same old menu of hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and a side of fries?

In the old days of the Internet, webmasters usually chose “safe” fonts because the correct fonts would only display if they were installed on the end user’s computer (otherwise defaulting to the dreaded Courier font.) Today, there is a nearly endless selection of fonts available through the Google Fonts API, allowing your webmaster to choose distinctive fonts that are consistent with the overall branding of your business and which will render properly in all current browsers. Using CSS, your webmaster can also specify font styles and can even specify eye-catching font effects like drop shadows and outlines, all of which are supported in Chrome and Safari, and many of which are supported in other browsers.

Once again, if your website is not presenting its visitors with this type of very basic content customization, how can you expect your occupancy levels to be anything but blandly boring?