Casa Azul - Website Update Project
🗺️Pereira, Colombia
https://www.casaazulpereira.com/
After completing two earlier website redesign projects under challenging conditions, this project for Casa Azul Boutique Hostel & Café marked a turning point. By this point, I had refined my workflow, gained confidence balancing design and development roles, and felt more prepared to tackle the work without the same level of stress or uncertainty.
Because the process flowed more smoothly, I’m presenting this case study in a different format. Instead of focusing on challenges, I will be highlighting the main goals, the updates I implemented, and the results.
Project Overview
This project began with a focus on improving the usability, SEO, and overall design of the website. Over the past few weeks, I’ve addressed several key issues, including:
Revamping the homepage to improve visual appeal and usability
Updating mobile compatibility for seamless browsing
Adding a new blog section to highlight events and offers
Week 1:
Understanding Needs & Setting Goals
In the first week, I met with the hostel owners to discuss the site’s main priorities. Together, we identified the following focus areas:
Improving the reservation buttons to make them more user-friendly and visible
Enhancing SEO to improve search engine ranking and overall site visibility
Exploring payment integration to enable payments directly through the site
Adding a café menu tab to allow guests to view the café’s offerings easily
Enabling multi-language support to accommodate international visitors
Week 2:
Design Refinements & Implementation
I focused on refining the design and making technical improvements:
The homepage layout was updated to avoid excessive white space and encourage better use of the page’s real estate.
I addressed the mobile functionality issues, specifically with the room reservation system, which was previously non-functional on mobile devices.
The image parallax effect was adjusted for a smoother visual experience.
The reservation section was realigned, and I fixed various text and image alignment issues for a cleaner layout.
In addition to these fixes, I also added a blog section to the site to list upcoming events, a feature that will help promote the hostel's activities and connect with guests.
Before:
Week 3:
SEO and Ongoing Work
Currently, I’m focusing on SEO improvements by updating meta tags and monitoring site performance using tools like Google Analytics and ahrefs.com. This is a critical step to ensure the website ranks higher on search engines and reaches a wider audience.
The owner, currently in the Netherlands, has given me permission to continue working on the site while they are away. I will keep optimizing the site’s SEO and making other necessary improvements as we move forward.
⏳ Current Status
They are live!
