The Challenge
New Owners, a 20-Year Love for the Lake — and No Digital Home to Send Guests To
When Danny and Jess took over DJ’s Dockside Resort, they weren’t strangers to Nelson Lake. They’d been coming to Hayward for more than twenty years — the quiet mornings, the long afternoons on the water, the fish fries and campfires. They knew exactly what this place could become.
What they didn’t have was any way to show it. The resort changed hands with no real website, no online booking, and no single place that pulled together everything DJ’s Dockside offers — waterfront stays, a chef-driven restaurant, and direct access to the lake and trails. Guests had no way to discover the resort online or reserve a room without picking up the phone.
And the clock was running. Memorial Day weekend — the start of peak Northwoods season — was the one deadline that couldn’t move. The site had to be live, polished, and ready to take bookings before the first summer guests started planning their trips.
The Solution
A Hand-Coded Resort Site Built Around How People Actually Choose a Lake Getaway
We didn’t reach for a template or a page builder. DJ’s Dockside is a one-of-a-kind place, and it needed a one-of-a-kind site — so we built a fully custom WordPress theme by hand, coded from the ground up to match the brand KreativHQ created and the experience Danny and Jess wanted guests to feel from the very first scroll.
Every decision was made around a single goal: turn a visitor who’s dreaming about a weekend on the lake into a confirmed booking. That meant tying lodging, dining, and adventure into one seamless story, and making the path to “Reserve Your Stay” impossible to miss on any device.
What We Built
Three Systems That Took DJ’s Dockside From Zero Online to Booking-Ready
Hand-Coded Custom WordPress Theme
We built the entire site as a custom WordPress theme written by hand — no drag-and-drop builder, no bloated plugins. That gave DJ’s Dockside a fast, clean, fully original design that captures the Northwoods feel: waterfront imagery, the “Stay / Dine / Explore” structure, and a brand voice that sounds like Danny and Jess themselves. Because it’s custom-coded, the site loads quickly, stays easy to maintain, and can grow with the resort.
Direct Cloudbeds Booking Integration
We wired Cloudbeds reservations directly into the site across every way to stay — motel suites, two-bedroom units, lakeside cabins, RV sites, seasonal spots, and tent camping. Each accommodation shows live pricing and availability and flows straight into the booking engine, so guests can reserve in a few taps instead of calling. From day one, DJ’s Dockside owned its bookings online.
Conversion-Focused, Mobile-First Design
Most people dream about a lake trip on their phone — so we designed for that first. Persistent “Reserve Your Stay” calls to action, a mobile booking bar, and clear pathways from every section keep the next step always within reach. The result is a site that doesn’t just look like the resort; it actively converts browsers into guests.
