The new Arkansas.com responsive redesign is like nothing you’ve ever seen! Using data, best practices and user testing, Aristotle redesigned Arkansas.com for the 7th time in 17 years. The site launched in mid-June and is truly unique in the travel/tourism industry.
1. A Website as an Online Publication
High-quality, original content is the most authentic way to engage visitors and drive repeat visits. For travel and tourism especially, content has to be displayed in a visually stunning way to inspire potential travelers. Arkansas.com tackles both content development and design in one fell swoop with a homepage that acts more like an online magazine than your traditional travel destination website.
The homepage of Arkansas.com is broken into defined sections or “panels” of content that (1) serve a different goal and (2) highlight a different aspect of Arkansas’ amazing diversity. Each of the panels on the homepage change MONTHLY. That really is like an online magazine.
The top panel or “Inspiration Panel” combines seasonal content with striking visual appeal.
The “Person Panel” tells the story of Arkansas through the lives (and antics!) of an individual Arkansan.
The “Accolade Panel” showcases the MANY third-party endorsements Arkansas gets as a tourism destination. Finally, the “Activity Panel” reaches a young, active audience with outdoor activities. Wild caving is especially popular when Southern summers become their most sultry.
Every content panel on Arkansas.com includes a “Where is this?” feature. Users can immediately access the content for the business, city and Arkansas area associated with the image. This is Arkansas.com’s way of taking a user from inspiration to travel planning in the click of the mouse!
2. Mac-Daddy Navigation
So Arkansas.com is 17 years old this year! That means that the site has lots and lots and lots of content. This is great for users and for SEO but making all that content easily accessible was a challenge. The solution: an eye-catching, interactive super navigation.
The simple fact is that user expectations in terms of how often they have to click to get information has changed. Users want information in fewer clicks. That means the navigation has to serve up lots of information in a way that isn’t going to overwhelm a visitor to Arkansas.com. Adding the interactive map was a fun way to engage users with a hover state and orient them to Arkansas’ travel areas.
3. Incomparable Data Display
The Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism partners with over 7,000 industry partners (businesses, tour operators, tourism organizations and more)! Each of these partners has a page on the website dynamically generated from a database. With individual accounts, each partner can add events to the Arkansas Events Calendar as well as Deals & Packages for those travelers who like to save. On top of that, Arkansas.com is powered by a database of Arkansas cities and the state’s many lakes, rivers, and trails. That’s A LOT of data to (a) display to the user and (b) to manage on the backend! Aristotle used historical data, best practices and user testing to design template pages to display all of this great information. We’ve integrated image galleries and Google maps; linked businesses’ individual social accounts and cross-linked databases to pull in nearby lakes and rivers as well as deals and coupons.
Similarly, the city pages cross-link different types of attractions, lakes and rivers, hot deals, events and more! This is everything a potential traveler could need when planning their trip to Arkansas!
And don’t forget the great trip planner that allows users to save their Arkansas destinations and print/save/share their itineraries.
4. Stellar Performance
So you guys get it. This is a BIG website. Thousands upon thousands of database entries, even more images in the photo gallery and lots of gorgeous full-screen photography. Yet, the site is very FAST! The main page loads in less than two seconds. Aristotle has been able to achieve that performance by coming up with some new tools and practices to reduce page size and optimize code for speedy content delivery.
Web design and digital marketing are entering a new world of user expectations from inspirational content to online planning tools to pages that load in the blink of an eye. Arkansas.com is on the cutting edge of meeting user expectations in a new, more holistic way.
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