Why does an Internet Marketing Specialist have an incomplete website? In short, we've been too busy working on client projects to focus on self-promotion. We've had no time to take on new clients. But, we may in a few months (Spring 2012). Hopefully we will have a chance to update this site before then!

In the mean-time, read on if you'd like to learn a little more about us…

Mack McCauley started Swiftsure Marketing in 2010 with the idea of building web- sites for quality destination resorts and hotels. He has spent two years studying hotel operations, and marketing, and analyzing the effectiveness of thousands of hotel and destination websites. Mack is an experienced software analyst, designer, and programmer with 15 years of large-project general management experience at Microsoft and IBM including having direct responsibility for a number of large consumer Internet properties. He is also an avid world traveler.

Our first hotel project was a redesign and re-implementation of the website for The Earthbox Motel & Spa in Friday Harbor, WA. The hotel is a stylish update of a classic 60's motor lodge, which is reflected in the overall simple, blocky, design of the new website:

http://www.earthboxmotel.com

Rebuilding the site included an in-depth analysis of current and potential website traffic, search term performance, and referring sites (the basic components of successful Search Engine Optimization.) Factoring these into the design and implementation of the new site resulted in an immediate and sustained 60% increase in overall visits to the site.

During the analysis of the Earthbox site traffic, we discovered that the local San Juan Islands Visitors bureau website was failing to attract the number of visitors one would expect it to, and was sending little traffic to Earthbox and other member businesses. With the owner of Earthbox we approached the Visitors Bureau and presented an analysis of why their website was not living up to its potential. To make a long story short, we ended up with a contract to update the San Juan Island Visitors Bureau site.

We rebuilt the design and navigation of the site and to wrote over one hundred pages of new content. Within three months (June 2011) the revised site was up and running. Traffic quickly grew by 30% (year over year). Average time on the site grew by 30% as well. Ongoing optimization has yeilded further improvements.

This intermediate site is what is running now at:

http://www.visitsanjuans.com

Early in this project it became apparent that the site was built on a proprietary outdated and largely unsupported content management system. We decided to move the site to the open source platform Drupal. After a quick trial by fire, we've become proficient with the powerful Drupal platform and have been developing a number of custom modules for it including a custom environment for members to manage their own content, an integrated advertising system, and a lodging availability module. The new site is due to launch in January 2012. An early version can be previewed at:

http://www.swiftsureimarketing.com

Next in line we will be redesigning the website for Bird Rock Hotel, also in Friday Harbor. Their current site can be seen here:

http://www.birdrockhotel.com

The new site should be completed in February.

It currently appears that we will have time to take on an additional project or two toward the end of the first quarter of 2012. If you have a hotel or destination and are looking to work with someone who understands destination marketing, effective interface design, search optimization and the latest in Internet technology, drop Mack a line at mack@swiftsuremarketing.com or call him at (360) 317-5982 to discuss what we can do for you.

References are available on request.