The Challenge

Giltedge wanted this to be their first large-scale site that you can actually book their tours on and see individual destination and accommodation pages for.

The Solution

This is the first of the Gilt Edge sites that we built using our free LSX theme. We also used some of the paid extensions for LSX to customize the site, such as the LSX Mega Menus and LSX Sharing extensions. The Giltedge AfricaIt’s totally distinct from the rest of the group in both appearance and For building the content on the homepage we made use of widgets from our Tour Operator plugin. The full suite of paid extensions for the Tour Operator plugin were used in building this project, to name a few, Videos, Team, and Galleries.

Very specific design work was needed for this client and as such we created several rounds of detailed wireframes as well as full-res mockups of each page before moving to development. Our two in-house designers, Deon and Anke, collaborated seamlessly to create this site’s beautiful visuals. Deon did wireframes for the initial phase for around 30 pages, almost every page on the website. These evolved over the course of the design phase into full-scale mockups. While doing homepage mockups, for example, it informed the other wireframes.

We customised the layout and appearance of Tour Operator elements from the Tour Operator default styles. What meta is shown in the Tour Cards, and where the meta data displays, was painstakingly designed and developed. The client provided all imagery for the site except for the homepage banner and full-width backgrounds selected by our designer, Anke.

The colours used were strictly according to their guidelines for (from menu colour to buttons to links and calls-to-action.

As an added trust factor, we integrated Feefo ratings onto the homepage and on the contact page to display their glowing client reviews.

We used Caldera Forms and developed a custom solution that autopopulates forms for specific tours according to what people have already filled in when they enquire, as well as automatically filling in the customer’s location with an IP tracker that’s now part of our Geo Location Extension. Caldera Forms was also integrated with the ZOHO CRM using our Caldera/Zoho integration plugin.

We used the Wetu Importer because Giltedge manage all accommodation and tour listings on Wetu. Links for more info on accommodations and tours on the Giltedge Africa site point out to Wetu listings from featured Tours and Accommodations pages.

FacetWP was used for implementing filters for searching through the various tour types.

We used the simple, powerful Optin Monster plugin to build exit-intent popups for the site to encourage users to sign up to the Giltedge newsletter.

This site was the result of extensive design and custom development work. By combining our own free theme, LSX, and plugin, Tour Operators, along with their paid extensions and some other premium extensions we know and love, we were able to deliver an attractive, feature rich website for Giltedge Africa.

Desktop Screenshots