Is WordPress Safe For Your Hotel’s Website

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March 9, 2022 by

WordPress Security, Plugin Auditing, & Why

“Is WordPress safe?”

This is a question I’m often asked by prospects looking to build a new hotel website and want confidence that they’re making the right decision. While WordPress isn’t the solution for every website, here are some reasons why we recommend the #1 content management system on the market. 

WordPress Security in General

As the most popular content management system with over 40% market share, it's understandable why WordPress might be an attractive target for nefarious activity. Here’s why we rest easy: 

  1. World-wide community. With a world-wide, open source community, it's in everyone's best interest to find, share, and patch security vulnerabilities, which WordPress releases at frequent intervals.
  2. Security plugins. We install a security plugin on all GCommerce hotel websites called Wordfence that helps protect against brute force password attempts, keeps a log of file changes and user logins, blocks suspicious IPs, and more.
  3. Regular updates. We apply released security patches (using the WordPress update panel) on at least a monthly basis with our Preventative Maintenance service, and more frequently when a critical patch is needed. This keeps our site from being low hanging fruit for would-be attackers.

It's important to remember that hotel website software is organic and constantly evolving – it's not something that should be set and forgotten (which is a good way to become a target). While we can't control when or how software updates are released by WordPress or 3rd party plugin developers, we can control when and how these updates get applied. We offer a Preventative Maintenance service for clients that host with us to do just that – taking the stress and unknowns of what’s going to happen out of the equation.

For GCommerce, this means using testing environments to identify and address issues before they're applied to public-facing hotel websites. So while we cannot guarantee there will never be breakages (no one can), we do everything within reason to keep this reality of software development manageable for ourselves and our clients.

On the topic of WordPress plugins

“Okay, I see how I can make WordPress secure for my hotel’s website. How do I keep plugins from breaking?”

In a nutshell, plugins add functionality to your hotel’s website. They can do anything from adding a simple button, to adding an Instagram feed, to adding an entire eCommerce store. Considering the complexity of what you need and how mission-critical it is to your operation is a great way to keep your investment in perspective. 

Before installing anything to our clients’ websites, these are the key factors we consider when evaluating plugins:

  1. Age of the last plugin update. We look at the latest update date for a given plugin to determine if it is still receiving ongoing support. Depending on the complexity of the plugin, we will generally only use ones that have been updated within the last year or less. 
  2. Number of installations. We consider how many websites have the plugin installed and in use on their site using the WordPress plugin repository. The larger the user base, the more likely there will be community support forums and/or support provided by the plugin developer which means more bugs are being discovered and fixed across a variety of development environments. In other words, it's likely to be more robust and secure.
  3. Premium options for complex or critical functionality, when needed. For functionality that is more complex or sensitive in nature (for example eCommerce plugins), we will generally recommend premium WordPress plugins for guaranteed support availability and responses.
  4. Using a limited number of plugins. We strive to avoid using too many plugins on a site to reduce the risk of compatibility errors. Whenever possible (and when it makes sense), we will first write functionality as part of the WordPress theme before reaching for a plugin to further reduce the risk of breakages. A good target is to limit to 12 - 20 plugins, but there are always exceptions. Just understand the more you add the more likely you may need to come up with creative compatibility solutions.

We know how frustrating it can be when a WordPress plugin that was working perfectly fine last week seems to stop working for no good reason. And while it’s tempting to say “Just change it back! It was working before!”, you run the risk of your out-of-date software being exploited. 

By keeping on top of updates so your version changes are small, dealing with these incremental breakages (which is normal) will keep the long term maintenance cost lower. It’s a lot like getting an oil change for your car. If you change it regularly you’ll get better mileage and performance out of it, with disastrous consequences if you let the oil run dry and melt your engine instead.

On the topic of WordPress themes

Similar to plugins, WordPress themes (also sometimes referred to as commercial templates), focus on the look and feel of your hotel’s website, with some functionality baked in. Wherever the theme functionality ends is where plugins begin. 

Similar rules apply when selecting a theme, especially the support. As far as expected mileage goes, I’ve found the lifespan can vary drastically from client to client. My rule of thumb – if you want to take advantage of the latest speed enhancements and stand out from your competition, you should consider revisiting your website needs every 3 - 5 years. (I mean, if your smartphone is considered ancient after 2 years… you get the idea.) 

Why Should I Use WordPress For My Hotel’s Website?

There are many, many reasons why WordPress is a go-to for our company. Here are some of our favorite reasons that impact our and our clients’ bottom line:

  1. Access to quality developers. There are plenty of qualified WordPress developers available anywhere, making it easy to find, vet, and hire support when you need it. While your current developer is hopefully providing all the services you need, having assurance that external support is available to maintain your site should you need it is a great insurance policy.
  2. More affordable long term maintenance. WordPress applies frequent, incremental patches which tends to make compatibility issues less severe and easier to address when they do arise (and they will). But because there is better WordPress developer availability, it's more likely these issues can be addressed in a timely manner and at a reasonable cost (vs. paying premium for developers in limited supply for other platform solutions like ExpressionEngine or Magento).
  3. Reduced staff training. The longer WordPress is used, the more likely it is you will have future employees that already have familiarity with the content management system, making training faster, more accessible, and easier to work with.
  4. No recurring license fees and includes upgrades. WordPress has no recurring license fees for the core software and users get to enjoy the benefit of having functionality upgrades for free. The trade off however is that the onus of keeping the software up-to-date is the responsibility of the site owner, unlike with a proprietary system.

Still not convinced? That’s okay. WordPress isn’t for everyone and it’s not appropriate for every site. But hopefully you now have a more informed understanding of why it might be the right choice for you. Thanks for reading!

Have more questions? Feel free to reach out to GCommerce’s hotel website experts for more information.

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How To Avoid Costly Website Performance Issues Within Google Tag Manager

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February 26, 2022 by

What Is Google Tag Manager?

Tag managers have become increasingly commonplace on modern websites for many reasons. They provide ease of access for placing scripts and light applications onto websites, without having to lean heavily on a developer and allow these additions to be placed without interrupting the website’s base functionality.  As time has passed however, some concerns have arisen about using tag managers, such as Google Tag Manager, one of which is overcrowding.

Website Performance Contributors

Your website is set up with a number of assets (Pictures, Videos, Graphics, Apps etc) that all contribute to the load time and overall site performance.  Other factors might include your site host service, outdated code/low functioning coding, or the number of people accessing your site at the same time without adequate scaling.  Most of these issues are within your control to manage and can be handled by your development team.

Tag Managers Effect on Website Performance

Typically, a tag manager such as Google Tag Manager will not affect site performance that much.  With well regulated use, a typical tag manager will serve a limited number of marketing and analytics tags and some of these tags can be loaded after the website pages have already loaded completely. A well regulated Google tag management container should have a minimal to unnotiable effect on website performance.  When a tag manager is mismanaged it can present a number of problems that will have a varying degree of impact on the websites performance and the operation of the tag management container itself.

When Tag Managers Are the Problem

Too Many Tags

How many tags is too many tags to have within your Google tag manager?  If a tag manager has ten to twenty basic marketing tags, that amount of additional script will indeed add an additional load to the website’s performance.  If all ten to twenty tags are loading inline with the rest of the website, it might see a difference of a few hundred nanoseconds, so unless the website sees a few hundred thousand users per hour or each of these tags has a thousand lines of code, the website’s speed is in no danger of being reduced to a crawl. However if a tag manager container has been accumulating tags over the years, maybe from trying out different publishers or asset integrations and now has 300 or more tags inside, it’s very possible that your tag management container is impeding your website performance to a more noticeable level.

There are very few reasons why any tag management container would need to have tags numbering in the multiple hundreds on any individual site or even multiple websites sharing the same tag manager container.  In addition to flirting with website performance issues, letting a container fill up to the point where there are that many tags, will make it somewhat difficult to manage.  Think of it like acculating items in your office over the span of multiple years of service.  Eventually figuring out what does what and goes where becomes a sizable task in itself and that’s before you consider what you want to remove. A better way to handle your tag management container, and avoid costly website performance issues, is to progressively update and evaluate your tag manager container’s status in regular intervals.

Multiple Tag Manager Containers Running On One Website

Implementing a tag management container, such as Google tag manager, is a relatively easy process in most cases. That ease of implementation can spawn another issue with multiple tag manager containers being placed on a website adversely.  Running multiple tag management containers is not always a bad thing. Leveraging two or more containers where both are monitored and their use is openly discussed can work with great efficiency.  On the other hand, it’s very possible to lose sight of multiple tag manager container operations as well.  A prime example of this is one tag manager container is used for years but the administrator in charge of said tag manager container is the sole owner and has now separated from the organization.  Now nobody knows what is inside of the tag management container or how to get inside of it. Without support from the tag manager container product developer, that container is now essentially a ghost ship ‘dead’ on the site. 

All too often, the website owner will simply install a new tag manager and continue to  operate with two containers installed, not giving it a second thought. A potential nightmare scenario has now been created. The website now potentially has multiple scripts running on that can no longer be verified, and there is an unsecure access point to the site where someone might be able to make major modifications to it or potentially add some form of malware. It may be a little bit of a process, but whatever can be done to recreate the useful instruments from the ‘dead’ tag manager container in the newly created container, and then the ‘dead’ container should be removed as soon as possible.

Conclusion 

Tag Management container ownership at first glance is a relatively simple concept, but it has lasting implications and consequences to website operations.  Maintaining a well organized and well run tag manager container overtime should be a process similar to housekeeping. Too many tags accumulating and running unchecked in a container without proper oversight, can be a hindrance to website performance and leveraging the container with proficiency.  Similarly, operating more than one tag management container on a site, where full utilization transparency does not exist, can present as many if not more problems as a single unkempt container.  It is in the best interest of website owners/administrators who have opted to use tagging containers to adopt or create rules and policy around their placement and long term use. 

Have questions about how to use Google tag manager properly to avoid website performance issues? Reach out to the tag management experts at GCommerce today.

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What Hotel's Should Know About Cookieless Tracking & Google Analytics 4

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February 15, 2022 by

We’ve recently written about Google’s latest iteration of Analytics and important things hotel’s should know about Google Analytics 4 (GA4). In this post, we will go into a bit more detail on how the change to cookieless tracking might impact your hotel’s digital marketing efforts.

What are Cookies and Why Do They Matter?

Cookies are small pieces of data stored on your computer by the web browser. What they are isn’t so important as to what they are used for, which is to track individual users. By dropping a unique cookie or pixel onto your browser, a website can then track behavior outside of your website.

Are Cookies An Invasion of Privacy?

This is the big debate currently being waged and many people would say yes. Legislations like Europe’s GDPR, California Consumer Privacy Act, recent updates to Apple’s IOS to block more 3rd party tracking are all efforts to protect user’s individual privacy by making it harder to identify those individuals. At the heart of this debate is cookieless tracking. While cookies are not banned or illegal, a lot of browsers, plug-ins and software help to block cookies and there is evidence the cookies are becoming a less viable way to track users.

What does this mean for Google’s Universal Analytics?

Google’s current and most popular iteration of Analytics, Universal Analytics, uses first-party cookies to determine a number of variables within their tracking. Already, digital marketers are reporting gaps in data based on people that are actively blocking cookies and tracking. Within our own data, we have noticed certain instances where traffic from California has decreased, while traffic from locations not tracked has increased. This change is very likely indicative that California’s privacy laws are having an impact on our ability to track.

Why is Google Analytics 4 A Solution To A Cookieless World?

Despite what the name suggests, GA4 isn’t actually more robust tracking, it is actually less tracking on individual users. This is because GA4 is not tracking every pageview. Rather than rely on cookies and javascript variables to track every pageview, GA4 is tracking based on specific events that are built and established. Google then applies advanced models to fill out data for traffic and behavior. What Google Analytics 4 lacks in individual tracking it makes up for with the robust tools of their machine learning algorithms. The need for something like GA4 comes from the new privacy laws and public awareness around data collection.

What Should Your Hotel Do About Google Analytics 4?

While GA4 definitely seems like the exclusive tracking platform that Google will be supporting in the near future, Universal Analytics is still your most valuable tracking tool, for now. As we discussed above, changes to the way users view their privacy will make Universal Analytics less and less reliable as time goes on. The unfortunate aspect of this is that there is no published timetable for when GA and other tech companies will implement changes. The earlier that your hotel starts to utilize GA4, get familiar with it and start to utilize data from it, the further ahead of the curve your hotel will be when Universal Analytics comes to a point it is no longer recommended to utilize. There is no other time like now to start preparing for the future. 

How To Get Started With Google Analytics 4?

After my father got a debilitating injury trying to build a retention wall in our backyard at the ripe-young age of 56, he decided it might be better to trust the experts. In this situation, we would also recommend utilizing an expert to help install GA4 for your hotel’s website. The truth is, GA4 is a completely novel way of tracking that does not rely exclusively on individual user data. Instead, it relies on event signals that are built and established based on the functionality and goals of your website.

Google Analytics 4 Tracking From GCommerce

If you’re interested in having the experts at GCommerce help establish GA4 tracking and reporting for your hotel website, contact us today!

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Improve Conversion Rates On Your Hotel's Book Now Button

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October 13, 2021 by

A partner hotel with GCommerce Solutions had a Book Now button that had many other links close to it, which could have been decreasing the click-through-rates (CTR) to the hotel booking engine. With the help of the expert graphic designers at GCommerce Solutions, we designed a new Book Now button that we hoped would have a higher CTR and conversion rate.

A/B Test

Utilizing Google Optimize, we were able to create two versions of the clients homepage, one with the original Book Now button and one with our variant. We were able to split the traffic so that 50% of visitors see each version of the page. 

Results 

After about 12k total sessions, the new Variant has a Conversion Rate of 1.74%, which is a 12% increase compared to the Original.

Screenshot of transaction data in google analytics

How Significant is a 12% Increase in Conversion Rate?

This hotel has an Average Order Value (AOV) of about $810. If they drove the same number of visitors in 2019 as they did in 2020 and had the same AOV, a 12% increase in Conversion Value would have resulted in over 2,300 more Conversions and another $1.95 million in Revenue. 

Start A/B Testing With Your Website

A/B tests are the best way to gather valuable data that allows you to improve conversion rates on your website and get better returns for your marketing dollars. 

Contact GCommerce Solutions today to start A/B testing on your hotel website to improve conversion rates.

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