Whether you’re a travel blogger, a travel agency, or an experienced tourism company, an online portal will help clients learn about your services, book stays, or keep up with your travels. For that, a website is the best tool at your disposal. But if you have zero coding experience or web development skills, creating a website is expensive, right? Not anymore. With today’s website builders, you can create and customize your own website, even with zero technical know-how prior.
Are you wondering how to create a tourism website? If so, this guide is for you. In it, you’ll discover how to:
- Select the right website builder
- Choose a domain name
- Create your website
- Add the proper features
- Tailor the site to your audience
How to create a travel website: The 5 steps
The various elements necessary for a travel company website will change depending upon the company and the business model. For instance, a small travel blogger may focus on the web content and visual elements of their own traveling, whereas a massive tourism conglomerate may put more emphasis on the online store and booking aspects of the site, similar to a travel agent.
Because of this, it’s important to ask yourself the following questions before you begin:
- Who is my audience?
- What is the purpose of the site?
- What sections, features, and functionalities do you require?
- What are you trying to say or sell?
By taking stock of your goals and requirements, you’ll be able to save time and ensure that your site is geared towards your target audience. Once this brainstorming is done, you’re ready to get to work.
1. Select the right platform
If you haven’t yet created a website, the first task is to decide which platform to use to build out your new travel website design. And if you don’t know how to build travel meta search engine information directly into your site, choose one that’s user-friendly.
- Intelligent A.I.-driven website builder – Choose a mobile-responsive builder that doesn’t require design or coding skills.
- Domain name – Register and buy a custom domain name. Be sure to choose wisely since it will become the name people associate with your travel brand.
- Lead capture – A professional website platform should provide all of the widgets and lead capture tools you need to grow your contact list and subscriber audience, including:
- Email subscribe boxes
- Pop-ups
- Contact forms
- Website analytics – Measure your sites’ growth and performance with a powerful analytics tool. This gives you both macro- and micro-trends, charts, and data visualizations for actionable insights into optimizing your website for your target audience.
- Video – Videos and photos are powerful tools for travel websites and bloggers. It gives your visitors a taste of what you’re selling.
- Marketing – The platform’s marketing tools give you a powerful way to reach prospective clients with deals, travel packages, sign-up forms, and a host of other avenues to share your story.
- Blog – Your blog is both a powerful tool for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and growing your audience.
2. Pick a domain name
If you’re creating something new, it’s important to take the time to carefully consider your name. The right name can enhance your brand, whereas the wrong one can be easily forgotten or misspelled.
What are the features of a strong domain name?
- It’s available – First and foremost, see whether the name you chose is actually available for the taking. Don’t pick something that is too close to your competitors.
- It conveys your unique selling proposition or niche – These days, most travel or campground companies segment themselves into their various niches, such as:
- Travel blogger
- Adventure travel
- Cultural tourism
- Culinary tourism
- Religious pilgrimage
- Road tripping
- Camping and outdoor activities
- Luxury vacations and destinations
Whatever your niche, it’s important to let your audience know from the outset what it is you do and what makes you different.
- Reflects your brand personality – Are you fun and adventurous? Luxurious? Meant for families? Singles? Foodies? The tone of your name should speak to your brand personality and target audience.
- Easy to remember and spell – Don’t choose a name that is wordy, hard to remember, or simply a jumble of words and letters. The name should be simple, unique, and — ideally — clever. Lyft, for example, is short, sweet, has a unique but easy spelling, and conveys to people what it does.
- Available as a social handle – Since social media plays a massive role in the travel industry, it’s important that your chosen domain is also available on social media sites such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Once you’ve narrowed down your list of top candidates, check for availability and then find the annual price. Settle on the one that works best for your budget and brand, and then go from there.
Note: If you have the perfect domain name, but it’s already taken, try using a different top-level domain (the “.com” or “.org” at the end of the URL). There are many creative TLDs to choose from, some even relating to travel!
3. Create your website
Next, it’s time to create your website. This part, funny enough, is one of the easiest steps. Select from one of the hundreds of Constant Contact premium themes and templates. From there, customize your site to match your brand’s style, color, and messaging. In addition, the content and imagery need to mesh well with the theme. So, as you go about the process, keep in mind the following tips:
- Create a logo and put it on every page – Your logo is a visual representation of your brand and its identity. If done correctly, it’s what people will automatically and intuitively associate with your brand.
- Match colors to your branding – Once your logo is finished, select a color scheme for your website that complements or augments your logo.
- High-quality photography and videos – Your goal is to entice your audience to read, stay, visit, travel, experience, and much more. One of the best ways you can do this is by including beautiful photos and videos that highlight the various destinations and speak to your brand. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words, but it’s not a bad idea to include a few snappy descriptions of the place, deals, and things to do too.
- Simplicity is best – For a powerful visual aesthetic, it’s important to avoid cramming your site with too much content. Instead, a simple site that uses a minimalist design to its advantage will direct visitors’ eyes to where you want them to go.
- Build out your pages – Once the general design has been determined, you’ll need to fill your home page, contact page, store, services, and blog pages with SEO-geared content that explains who you are, what you do, and what you offer.
4. Tailor the site to your audience
Whatever your travel site, it’s critical to tailor the features to your visitors’ needs. Both your blog and the main page itself should accomplish some if not all of the following:
- Help visitors book their dream vacation – If you’re a travel booker, your goal is to help your visitors plan their perfect trip. By creating a booking website, you can give them plenty of options, ideas, deals, and add useful filters like:
- Location
- Hotels
- Flights
- Price ranges
- Travel dates
- Tell your audience about the best travel locations – Your site can be a source of inspiration that stokes the visitor’s desire to travel somewhere new and exciting. Help them visualize and imagine what a trip would be like using videos, photos, and blogs.
- Share exciting travel deals – Is there a screaming deal for flights to Bali? Does a hotel in Iceland have a special board and dining package? Turn your website into the place people search for a great price on an amazing trip.
- Recommend things to do – As a travel veteran, recommend the best restaurants, excursions, hikes, activities, and attractions — all of the things that first-time travelers need to know. You have the opportunity to promote businesses you admire and give visitors a chance to imagine what the trip could be like.
- Be a guide in more ways than one – Traveling somewhere new can come with anxiety, especially if it’s to a foreign country with a different culture and language. By posting travel tips, tricks, and official guides, establish your authority as an expert that visitors can trust to have their back.
- Show them the world – Help visitors discover exciting new places that they’ve never heard about. Take them off the beaten path to lesser-known locales whether it be the Ischia Island spa in Italy or the Pingvallavatn Lake in Iceland.
5. Add the right features
The type of travel website you create will determine what features it must spotlight. For example, a travel blogger may not need much functionality but will place more emphasis on visual elements and centralize the site around the blog. A travel booker, on the other hand, may require significant functionality, such as:
- Listings management
- Map integration
- Online travel booking and confirmation
- Payment collection
- Currency converter
- Price trackers
- Trip planners
For all of this, and more, there’s really only one solution.
The choice for your travel website
Thanks to intuitive website builders, creating an aesthetically pleasing travel website is fast, easy, and affordable. Before you begin, however, do your research and establish your identity as a travel business.
Are you an explorer that wants to share your adventures? A booker, looking to entice new tourists? A foodie on a voyage of self-discovery and restaurant exploration? Your answer to this will impact your website’s design, layout, and emphasis.
