Building a Destination Website

Are destinations, resorts and tourism attractions falling behind in internet marketing opportunities? According to The Wanderlust Report, destination marketers aren't taking full advantage of the web's potential to attract travel consumers. In a recent issue of their online newsletter, destination branding agency Wanderlust shared today's best practices for building a website that both travelers and search engines will love.

Mark D. Shipley, President and Chief Strategic Officer of Wanderlust, commented on the situation. 'Considering the maturity of the industry's online presence compared to most other categories, I'm continually amazed at how few resort, destination and attraction websites follow best practices for site design, content strategy and search engine optimization. It's as if they, or the experts building and maintaining their websites, are stuck in a mass marketing mindset,' Shipley stated. 'At first glance, many of these website look great. Unfortunately, when you look under the hood, you find that the dancing bologna isn't performing as graceful as it looks. All flash and no substance simply won't cut it in a Web 2.0 world.'

The Times They Are A Changing

In the old web 1.0 days, marketers used websites as 'brochureware;' a place to point campaigns in other media, a place to close the deal. But things have changed. 'Today, it's perfectly reasonable to expect your website to attract travelers early in the buying process through inbound links, organic searches and paid searches, which are often necessary to gain traction,' said Shipley. 'At the same time, your website should help nurture consumers until they're ready to buy.' To accomplish these aggressive goals, websites must offer content that is compelling - not just to humans seeking travel information at all stages of the buying process, but also to search engines on a quest for relevance. Why cater to two such diverse audiences? 'Upwards of 70% of all travel planning begins online. The place most people start? While Bing has made inroads recently, it's still Google,' Shipley asserts. The position of Google as the de facto search engine of choice rests squarely on the company's ability to deliver the most relevant search results. Google goes to great lengths to evaluate every page on every website, indexing and ranking each based on its relevance to a particular search term.

Try This Simple Test

Shipley walked us through an example of online search functionality. 'When you search for 'family-friendly resort in the Poconos,' Google wants to make sure that you get what you're looking for, so the search engine carefully screens sites for content that matches your keywords. Unfortunately, the resorts aren't doing their part to facilitate successful searches. On the first page of results from this sample search, only one in ten listings is actually a resort. The other nine are aggregators and repackagers who make my search more difficult and commodify the resorts competing for my business,' he said. Clearly, developing a successful and attractive travel website for today's sophisticated Internet marketplace requires more than a flashy interface or a repurposing of resort collateral. It requires an understanding of what consumers are searching for and how you can leverage Internet search technology to maximize site traffic. Shipley concludes, 'The effectiveness of your site hinges on the strategies and decisions you make right from the beginning.'

Read more of 'Building a Destination Website' in the Wanderlust Report, Volume 1, Number 2.

About Wanderlust
Wanderlust is an ad agency that specializes in travel marketing & destination branding. We help our clients understand what drives desire for travel, to bridge the gap from traditional media to the internet, and build integrated marketing communications programs designed to deliver people to their destinations.

Contact: Mark Shipley
Phone: 518-272-2500
Email: mshipley@createwanderlust.com

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