As the digital age becomes more influential, with each passing day, the need to have your business online is more important than ever. Having a strong digital presence on social media and with a website isn’t just about creating accounts and hoping for the best.
This is especially true for websites, as Google ranking factors are becoming more scrutinous each year. As such, several brands and companies in the tourism sector have been asking why travel website design is so important for success.
To put your mind at ease, let’s have a look at the benefits of a well-designed travel website and how you can go about doing this.
Five reasons to invest in high-quality website design
From brand awareness to increased revenue, a high-quality website can make all the difference. So, let’s dive a bit deeper into the top 5 benefits of investing in web design.
1. Increases visibility and brand awareness
Designing a travel website that catches the eye and performs well on the search engine results page (SERP) can work wonders for your brand. It’s a natural way to earn brand awareness and target people from around the world.
A well-designed website will also be impactful, ensuring visitors remember who you are and what you offer. This is especially important nowadays, with loads of tour agencies popping up.
If your website loads quickly and ticks all the boxes of Google’s ranking algorithm, then your site will naturally rank well. High rankings result in greater exposure, and greater exposure means you’re reaching far more customers than you otherwise would with a poorly designed website.
2. It improves the user experience
Having a good-looking website doesn’t always mean it’ll perform well. You also need to consider the user when adding or adjusting your website to ensure they have the best possible experience.
There’s plenty to consider, from answering their queries on-page to ensuring they don’t have to jump from page to page to find prices. Slow page speed, complex menus, and unclear product descriptions are surefire ways to lose potential users.
On the other hand, features like a search bar, accessible contact information, and easy navigation can turn your leads into conversions. When designing a website, think of it as if you’re the customer — if something doesn’t work or is confusing, consider changing it.
3. It increases customer engagement
Not only are well-designed websites great for the user experience, but they also tend to draw in customers. If your site is aesthetically pleasing and memorable, you’re more likely to increase customer engagement.
This is where a responsive website design is paramount, as it needs to easily adapt to different screen sizes. Having interactive elements throughout your website and effective calls to action (CTAs) can further improve your customer engagement on the website.
Have you got a website and aren’t sure what’s working well and what isn’t? Google Analytics 4 and Google Search Console can often help you determine relevant, traffic-earning pages. Another great tool at your web dev team’s disposal is Hotjar, which helps you understand what users are engaging with on your website.
4. It helps your SEO strategy
Most large tour and travel companies have SEO strategies to continuously improve their websites’ performance. Not all travel websites can invest a lot of money in marketing campaigns, and this is where a high-quality website design can be your saving grace.
If your site aligns with Google’s best practices, loads quickly, and offers an interactive design, that can make your SEO efforts far more effective. SEO can only do so much, and if you’re trying to rank a poorly designed website, it’s almost as effective as trying to gather water with a sift.
5. It can increase revenue
The biggest benefit of having a well-designed website is its revenue-earning potential. Just to show how important website design is to conversions and revenue, here are some damning stats, thanks to Higher Visibility:
- 60% of customers will abandon purchases when buying from a site with poor user experience.
- 59% of consumers will opt for beautiful websites over plain or simple designs.
- 88.5% of users will leave a slow-loading website.
These stats further prove that the design of your website is a significant factor in converting sales. So, if you want to improve your numbers, we recommend designing a travel website with a trusted company that knows your niche.
Six elements to make your travel website design successful
Now that you know why a well-designed website is important, let’s examine the practices you can adopt to your site.
1. Responsive design
Responsive design is possibly one of the most important aspects of a high-quality website. If elements don’t load properly, or you have complex code that breaks regularly, you’ll see a significant drop in traffic.
Ensuring your website adjusts accurately, no matter the screen size, is a great place to start. Whether using a laptop or a phone, you’ll want your website to look the same or very similar across the board.
2. Quick loading time
According to Envisage Digital, if a website takes anywhere between 1 and 5 seconds to load, it increases the bounce rate probability by 90%. That’s a lot of interested customers that are leaving your website.
In other words, ensuring your website loads ultra-fast is almost as important as making it look stunning. Some of the main things to optimize include image sizes, the server response time, using browser caching, reducing CSS and Javascript files, and evaluating your page speed regularly.
3. User-friendly booking process
Utilizing an easy-to-use and effective booking process is super important. The last thing you want is to prompt a customer all the way to the booking or payment step just to have them leave your website.
It’s best to use trusted payment systems and software that don’t damage your website’s speed. When picking your payment gateway, also ensure it’s easy to follow and caters to several payment methods.
4. Desktop and mobile optimized
While there are still more purchases being made via desktop, there are far more mobile users. Furthermore, Google has now set its indexing standards according to your website’s mobile performance.
So, you want to make sure your website design is responsive to both mobile and desktop. Furthermore, ensuring your website is in line with Google’s indexing standards will further improve traffic and sales from mobile and desktop.
5. Easy navigation
You’ll want to create a simple yet effective website that any customer can use. The navigation of your website is crucial, from having a search bar to a well-structured header and footer.
Creating content funnels and good URL structures is yet another way you can improve the navigation of your website. Most importantly, when designing your website, always keep the user in mind.
6. Engaging content
Last but not least, engaging content is one of the most essential aspects of website design. From fantastic imagery to well-written website copy, it plays a vital role in catching the attention of potential customers.
Conclusion
When you weigh the benefits of high-quality website design in relation to its costs, it only makes sense to invest in your website. When picking your web designer, ensure you ask the important questions pertaining to the best practices mentioned above.
With this newfound knowledge under your belt, you can start seeing genuine changes to your travel website’s performance.
Next reads:
- The travel sector can control its digital presence with modern solutions from Reputation House
- Direct bookings lead the way for independent hotels in Europe
The article Why travel website design is so important for success first appeared in TravelDailyNews International.
Vicky Karantzavelou