- The Lodge Social
- Pages
- Day #2 - Build a Direct Booking Website Over Lunch
This lesson and my video guide go together. Complete them in any order you choose.
Winning websites are able to say the most with the least amount of words.
Donald Miller from Storybrand says:
"When somebody visits our website, they’re burning calories to process the information we’re sharing. And if we don’t say something quickly, they will tune us out."
Here's what Don is stating:
If it's between putting effort into working with us or leaving, they'd rather leave.
It's not enough to make our website just visually welcoming. The words we use must be super easy to understand as well
Today I'm going to teach you how to do exactly that.
Let's begin lesson two, shall we?
Step 1: A Website Should Pass The Grunt Test In 3 Seconds
The grunt test was coined by the brilliant mind of Donald Miller and Storybrand.
The grunt test framework is simple. Viewers should be able to understand these three things:
What is your business?
How will it make my life better?
What do I need to do to buy it?
In three seconds or less.
How you measure this is also simple. If a caveman were to visit your website, would they be able to understand what your brand can do for them?

Let me give you an example:
Imagine I own a campground with cabins in northern Wisconsin. This is what a good and bad grunt test looks like:
Bad:
Extended Serenity
Find peace in a busy world.
Start now.
Good:
A Wooded Stay Near Mountain Bike Trails
Enjoy a northern Wisconsin campground right off world class mountain biking trails. Stay in a cabin or tent with your friends.
Book now.

Step 2: Combine The Grunt Test With The ARB Formula
Use the ARB formula to answer the grunt test question, "how will it make my life better?"
The ARB Formula:
Attention: Story, statistic, question.
Reason: Context
Benefit: Solution and Summary
This formula will give the reader all the information they need to know about your stay without burning too many mental calories.
This is the content viewers will read to make sure renting from you is the right option.
This is what I wrote for my northern Wisconsin campground.

P.s. Get Ai to write your ARB website content using these prompts.
Step 3: Show Proof
The last element of a great direct booking website is showing that other people took the leap.
This includes user generated content (UGC), testimonials and reviews. Here are some simple proof points to throw on a website:
Photos that guests took while at your property (UGC).
The nice things people have said on Airbnb (Testimonials).
Your rating on Airbnb (Reviews).
People just want to know that others have had a positive experience with you.
Here's what my final make-believe website looks like.

Day 2 Recap: Create a Direct Booking Website & Make It Easy to Understand
Create a direct booking website and make it easy for guests to book by:
Following my 19 minute how-to video at the top of today's lesson.
Passing the grunt test in 3 seconds or less.
Giving a guest all the information they need to know using the ARB formula.
Showing proof that people like you.
And with that we come to the end of Day #2. Your business has a new home!
Learning how to build a website took me years to learn. It can be complicated. If you have any questions, please ask by clicking my survey link below.
Tool Kit:
Today’s lesson comes with resources to make creating a direct booking website easier.
Automatically feed reviews from Airbnb to your website with Elfsight.
Get help from ChatGPT to write content following the ARB formula.