How to Make a Travel Website Design that is Effective
Tell Your Users Why Your Service Matters to Them
Why does that matter for my website?
When you’re thinking about how to make a travel website (or any website!) there’s one truth we need to recognize.
Here’s that plain and simple truth:
People make decisions based on why they want something.
Science backs this up. The experience, service, or product they ultimately decide to get doesn’t have to be the one they thought they wanted. It just has to address the reason why they want it.
That’s why clarifying the reason why your service matters to them is so crucial. It’s the spice that makes your travel website design stand out among the crowd.
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Want to learn more about why “why” is so important? Check out Simon Sinek’s TEDx talk or his book Start with Why. |
How do I integrate that into my Travel Website Design?
There are two important pieces to keep in mind: Keep It Simple + Make it Visible
Keep it Simple
Your travel website design must make it very easy for your customer. It must be easy for them to understand why your service matters to them.
Here’s why: customers only have so much brainpower. So you need to make sure they have plenty of brainpower to decide to purchase your service. That means making sure they use as little as possible to understand why your service matters to them.
Here’s how: We recommend using a single, easy-to-read sentence.
Make It Visible
You have 8 seconds. That’s how long the typical user’s attention span is. If they don’t understand why your service matters to them before that time is up, then they will likely bounce to the next search result.
That’s why you need to prioritize where you put each piece of information.
We recommend placing it at the top of your homepage. It is particularly effective to have your single, easy-to-read sentence above the fold.
That way you can make sure your visitors understand why your service matters to them within 8 seconds of landing on your website.
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This tool makes it easy to see how hard your sentences are to read. |
Make It Easy for Your Visitors to Become Your Customers
Why does it matter?
Nobody wants to figure out HOW to become your customers. Once they’ve made the decision they just want to get going. So make it easy for them to move from decision to adventure!
How to Make a Travel Website that Does This
The simplest way is this: keep a call-to-action button in the upper right-hand corner of your website.
That upper right-hand corner has a lot of power.
Here’s why: That’s where most designs keep the crucial functions. Think about the last time you opened Facebook. Where did you go to check your notifications? The upper righthand corner. Now think about the browser itself. Where do you go to exit? The upper righthand corner.
We’ve been trained (as users) to look there for all of the necessary actions.
By sticking that button there, your users will know exactly where to go once they have decided to move forward.
Start Building a Connection with Your Visitors
Why use a newsletter?
You can’t control if a user visits your website every week (or not!) — but, you can drop them a useful note every week. That’s why newsletters are so powerful. With a newsletter, you can connect with your visitors. Newsletters help build a community. And newsletters make it easy to keep your brand top of mind for your customers.
Even if your customer doesn’t open every one of your emails, they will still see your brand on a regular basis. That’s powerful!
Just remember, if your content isn’t relevant or useful, then your newsletter might end up in the spam folder. So send your customers the content you know matters to them.
How to Make a Travel Website with a Newsletter Opt-In
The best way to make sure your customers see your newsletter opt-in is to create a pop-up. A slide-over will also work. Basically, you want something that moves and catches your visitor’s eyes.
Opt-in sections in the header and footer of your website can be easy to miss. That is why making sure your opt-in section moves on your visitor’s screen is so effective.
Plus, it’s easy!
Many CRMs (customer relationship management) tools like MailChimp make it simple. With their tools, you can create a beautiful pop-up. Their instructions make it easy to embed that pop-up onto your website. Once you do, it will automatically add new subscribers to your mailing list when they opt-in.
To make a more effective pop-up, add an incentive. Some great incentives are: a free product, guide, or useful document that they can have. It’s a fantastic way to show your visitors that content from you is useful, relevant, and important to them.
We recommend only showing the pop-up once the user has scrolled at least 50% down your landing page.
The 3 Key Principles for Travel Website Design
When you use these three principles to build your website then it will be a step ahead of most of the competition.
These principles help you connect with your users. They help your users understand why your service is so valuable to them. And they make it easy to purchase your service or product.
Consider taking a little time today and do this:
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- Write down a few sentences that capture WHY your service matters.
After a few days, read those sentences again.
Choose one that resonates with you the most.
Then, start editing it into the simple sentence you need. - Add a Call-to-Action button on the top right-hand corner of your website.
- And implement that pop-up so you can start building your newsletter.
- Write down a few sentences that capture WHY your service matters.
These three principles will make a world of difference without a whole lot of time. That’s why, when you are considering how to build a travel website, we start with these principles.
