The tourism industry is growing again – after the tumultuous time that was the 2020 pandemic. In 2021, travel and tourism’s direct contribution to GDP was approximately 5.8 billion USD. This shows that the tourism market has become highly competitive, and numerous travel and tour businesses now offer attractive packages. With that said, how exactly are you going to make your business stand out? You design a website.
Websites play a critical role in search engine optimization (SEO) and ensuring your business reaches the right audience at the right time. A website is also a marketing channel for businesses to promote their products and services and acts as social proof for new visitors.
However, not all websites are created equal. Here, we have listed the dos and don’ts of tourism website development to help you build a successful website.
Dos
Focus on Content Marketing
The best tourism website development advice is to invest in content creation. You might have a well-designed website, but if the content is unreliable and lacks vital information, your visitors will be confused and won’t travel with you.
Content marketing has gained incredible traction, with over 67% of marketers reporting that content marketing generates leads. Content is also crucial for:
● Educating your audience
● Building customer loyalty
● And optimizing SEO
What’s more, good-quality content helps customers see you as an authoritative figure because of your knowledge, which will entice them to do business with you.
Use Eye-Catching Website Design Principles
Did you know that 94% of people base their first impressions of a website on the design? With that in mind, your website design should be top-notch and include all the necessary landing pages providing reliable information about the tour packages you offer.
A landing page specifically promotes a particular service or product and should convey that information. Moreover, the website color should align with the brand guidelines, making every page harmonious.
The following are some tips to optimize your website design:
● Use white space to accentuate your design elements
● Add CTAs and social proof (reviews, testimonials)
● Simplify navigation by keeping the design simple and the text readable
● Use keyword-focused content
Optimize Your Website with SEO
The type of content and landing pages you include in your tourism website is also dependent on SEO. SEO planning and keyword research are critical to ensure your business reaches the right audience at the right time on the right platform.
By researching keywords, you can analyze the current problems in your industry, what your audience searches most for on the various search engines, and what your competitors are doing to fill any potential gaps in the market.
This will help you develop a tourism website development and content creation strategy and optimize SEO accordingly.
Don’ts
Don’t Forget the Metas
Another important aspect of SEO and tourism website development is the metas. Businesses often overlook these small pieces of content, thinking they don’t hold much value, but titles, headers, and metas are significant for SEO.
For instance, a meta title and description are HTML elements that help search engines, like Google, rank pages and help your audience find your business.
Here’s what you need to know about creating a meta title and meta description::
● A meta title should not be longer than 60 characters (including spaces) and a meta description must be between 150 and 160 characters. Both must clearly show in the Google search snippet.
● It should include an overview of the entire article or website.
● Include a focus keyword and a CTA
Don’t Use Stock Images
Businesses often use stock images in an attempt to include high-quality imagery in their websites and make their landing pages visually pleasing. Although there is nothing wrong with using stock images, you will find many similar businesses using the same images as yours.
To ensure your business looks reliable and authentic, use original photography. With the right camera photographs, you can make your website stand out as a unique and authentic source of information..
Conclusion
There are many other dos and don’ts when it comes to tourism website development, such as using a good hosting platform, focusing on internal linking, simplifying navigating, avoiding keyword stuffing, etc.
If you’re not an expert in the matter, you should consult professional developers and have them assess your current website to know how it can be upgraded. If you’re new to the game, you can even hire them to create a website for you from scratch. However, the dos and don’ts of tourism website development listed here should set you on your way to having a great tourism website.
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