Website content checklist

It’s important that your website’s main navigation menu links to the most important pages of your website. Firstly there are a number of menu items that the customer will expect to find, such as Home, Contact and Book/Shop/Buy. We recommend to have a summary product page (known as parent page) in the main navigation, and as a sub menu item your different sub offers – known as child pages (e.g. Sunset tour, family tour).
Having a page summarising your offer allows not only allows people to easily get an overview of your offer but is also a great way to have yet another chance to rank higher on search engines.

The copy of your website refers to your content. Beautifully crafted descriptions of your product, service and story are just as important as strong images. The balance needs to be right and entice people to want to know more about your offer. Plus, rich content will boost your search ranking. If you haven’t done so yet, ensure that your content is structured using headings, paragraphs, bullet points, images, videos to make it easy for the reader to understand what you are talking about. Ensure the information you provide is precise and clear and there isn’t an overload of text. When you write your copy make sure you put yourself in the shoes of someone who has never heard about your business, services or location. It’s a great idea to turn their questions into your headings.

We suggest weaving appropriately-sized large, high-quality images throughout your website to best present the experience you are offering customers. tell the story of your product / services and help create trust between your business and your client. The better quality the image, the more likely customers are to rate your products / services highly, which will influence their decision to buy. Your images should be (at least semi) professional so that you paint a professional picture of your business (tip: an image of a guest enjoying your product is more powerful than a product shot). Images should also be uploaded to your website in the appropriate resolution and file size to load quickly.

We have moved into an age of experience and video is the bedrock of the experience economy. Consider embedding some video content to your site, to help potential customers get a better feel for your product/service and destination. If you already have access to a video of your business you should integrate it into your website and if you don’t, we recommend you get video content created for your business.

We recommend displaying a detailed map of where your business is located on your website. The simplest way to do this is to embed a Google Map so that users can use it for directions as well. If you don’t trade from a shop-front, then think about the most appropriate contact point (eg: tour departure points) and provide maps to those.

Written directions (from the North/South/East/West) will not only help your customers to find you but also boost your Local Search rankings on Google as 1/3 of all mobile searches have a locality component in them. Be as precise as possible. If your business is in a low reception area, consider making these directions available offline as a downloadable PDF. It’s a good idea to also add these to your confirmation email.

People with disabilities need to know about accessibility first so making this information easy to find is very helpful to them. People with disabilities are not only people in wheelchairs (think about adults and children who are vision or hearing impaired etc.). Make sure you list access paths, guest facilities (rooms or seating on tour), bathrooms, entrances, parking, etc. prominently and that keyword searches (eg: wheelchair) return useful results. This is often referred to as ‘accessible tourism’. It would be ideal to have a page dedicated to how your business caters to people with a disability.

To boost your search results and help your customers, consider adding a content-rich page dedicated to showcasing other activities and things to do in the local area. Include images, descriptions and links that direct customers to the websites for at least 8 local businesses. The more reasons you give the customer to experience your region the more likely they are to come and the longer they’ll stay.

Also link to your local/regional/industry association websites which also hold a lot of valuable resources about the destination.

Consider creating a blog/news page where customers can find information about the experience you and your region offer. One of the best ways to improve your organic ranking on Google is with rich and engaging content on your website and a blog is one of the best ways to do that. Produce content that genuinely benefits those who visit your site and Google will boost your ranking. You should aim to publish at least 1 content-rich blog post per quarter and your posts should have dates. Make your Blog a top level menu item, rather than burying your hard work in a sub-menu.

Think of a home page as a key sales page, it’s where you briefly showcase the primary products/services you offer with clickable links (usually on images) directing the customer to the exact thing they are looking for. Your home page should form part of your site navigation using a mix of text, image and call to action buttons.

An empowers customers to self-serve, enabling them to find solutions quickly on their own. Furthermore, they helps with SEO (Google even offers a special layout for FAQs) and they provides you with a single source of truth that new employees can refer to.

They are also a great source of inspiration for your future blog posts.

Capturing contact details such as names and email addresses of people interested in your product and services is a very effective way to build an email database. Consider adding a newsletter subscription box to your footer, a subscription form to your contact page or a lead magnet pop-up to keep customers up to date on current events, news and promotions.

It’s important to display your rates/prices online. Making your rates easily accessible to your customers will increase trust and help them establish their expectations. If people cannot get a sense of your rates they will go back to Google and on to the next listing.

Research shows that consumers expect to be able to view their options, check availability and purchase/book immediately online rather than calling or emailing. An order form or an enquiry form is not the same as the ability to check availability/stock online and pay online. We recommend you source an online booking/shop system and that you add a book/buy now button to every page of your website so that customers can easily find it.

Make sure you include relevant testimonials on your individual product / service pages. For example, if you run different tours for families and for couples, include testimonials of families on the family tour page and ones of couples on the couple tour page.

Display your industry memberships, accreditations and/or awards (such as your TripAdvisor Travellers Choice Award) on your home page (ideally at the bottom of the page) to celebrate your achievements and offer customers an insight into your commitment to providing a great product/service.

Remember to test your links to ensure they all lead to the correct social media platforms and make sure that each link opens in a new tab so that the customer is not directed away from your website.