March 22, 2009 Benzie County Visitors Bureau Web Site Marketing Plan Outline for www.visitbenzie.com The effectiveness of your Web site hinges on the impact it has on the perspective visitor. In reviewing the Web site committee meeting notes with regards to the existing VisitBenzie.com Web site, it has been established that the current Web site will be updated to accomplish the following: Redesign main index home page to incorporate visitor call to action items: Header, rotating images and main navigation menu – review current design Add graphic navigation items from inside pages of Web site, which currently include: Online Reservations Special Packages Request Visitors Guide Sign up for E-news Coupons Seasonal Reports Current Events (list up to 3 upcoming events from calendar) In the News – upgrade of GLM Toolbox to give Benzie CVB ability to flag any page of the Toolbox to display title, image and intro text on home page Search Engine Optimization Incorporate additional keyword phrases for indexing within the search engines Update meta title, meta descriptions and keywords (only partially effective for for search engines that still review meta tags when indexing Web sites – example - Google focuses on content over meta tags to index Web sites) Research Pay Per Click campaign to create targeted keyword phrases and budget amount needed to participate in PPC campaign Research and determine visitor traffic. Given by committee: Keyword (phrases) – example targets: Sleeping Bear Dunes Michigan Vacation Destination Lake Michigan Beaches Northwest Michigan Vacation Northern Michigan Vacation (Key phrases to be used are yet to be determined) The following will outline the immediate enhancements that can be completed on the VisitBenzie.com Web site in it's current format and programming capability, and what additional work needs to be accomplished to achieve the additional goals that have been outlined by the Web Committee. VisitBenzie.com Web Marketing Plan Outline Web Site Redesign: A new home page will be designed for Benzie County Visitors Bureau to bring in the above listed action items to help drive visitor traffic to the areas of the Web site that will have the most impact on their decision making process of 'Why Benzie County'. A Wire Frame Outline is presented at the end of this working document for your review that will help generate the atmosphere that we need to engage visitors into the Benzie County Visitors Bureau Brand. Immediate Capability: The content contained within the Benzie County Visitors Bureau Web site can be immediately updated to include the additional keyword phrases that have been noted in order to increase our current organic rankings within the search engines. As noted by the Committee and in previous conversations that we have had regarding the keyword phrases, Benzie County Visitors Bureau can add: Additional Content - Current site lacks the needed content to establish rankings with the keywords that Benzie County Visitors Bureau has defined. Content is king when it comes to having a Web site well ranked and indexed organically within the search engines. As noted above, Google alone ranks Web site based on the relevancy of the search performed and the keywords phrases contained within the Web site. The more instances that Google finds 'Sleeping Bear Dunes' within your Web site, the higher it will rank the Web site when that keyword phrase search is performed by a visitor. SUGGESTIONS: Update descriptions: It is very easy to add quick keyword phrases to our existing content to increase our keyword phrase count, without sounding like a broken record to our visitors. To all Accommodation Members descriptions, we could easily add directive text for example of: Located 20 miles south of Sleeping Bear Dunes and 23 miles east of Traverse City. Events: Add additional text to all Events posted in the Events Calendar of VistBenzie.com that includes city names, proximity to Lake Michigan or Sleeping Bear Dunes, for example Develop New Pages Area attractions and activities that visitors will experience when visiting Benzie County should have their own pages within the Benzie County Visitors Bureau Web site. Alt Tags on Images – Convert Image Caption titles to alt tags for additional text Update all main index pages for Web site As suggested, new meta tags can be implemented all main category index pages of Web site – however, this is only effective for a limited number of search engines that still 'spider' through Web sites and index Web sites based on meta tags. VisitBenzie.com Web Marketing Plan Outline Additional Features and Development Items Additional site features that can be incorporated into the VisitBenzie.com Web site that have been previously discussed or noted: Blog: Setup a Blog with design interface that brings navigation and action items of VisitBenzie.com Web site into Blog interface. URL will be: blog.visitbenzie.com Discuss best practice for Blog management and objective for creating and managing a Blog. Trip Advisor: Update record on Trip Advisor to complete Benzie County's profile, and verify accommodation members profiles are accounted for on Trip Advisor. This Web site is used by millions of visitors that look for additional information on the destination they are seeking, and reviews that are established. Add 'Badges' - There are several options that Trip Advisor has made available to interface with their Web site by adding 'badges' to the Members records within the VisitBenzie.com Web site. These 'badges' can be reviewed to determine Discuss best approach and positioning on VisitBenzie.com Targeted Newsletter Campaigns Create targeted marketing email campaigns that can be sent out to the VisitBenzie.com Visitor database. Review import practices of visitor leads that are currently available to Benzie County Visitors Bureau. Associations and organizations that the Bureau belongs to have lead files available for marketing purposes. Benzie VB curently has abilty to mail newsletter campaigns, and import leads that are received in permission based lists and email market to those individuals as well. Discuss import and newsletter campaign strategy and best practice for implementation. Social Media Networking sites: At this time, the current Web site should be focused on bringing up to date with additional content and targeted marketing plan. Once those goals are completed and search engine optimization has been enhanced, we can review other avenues to bring visitors to the Web site by utilizing social networking sites that are available for this interaction. These sites take man hours to maintain, and would like to establish overall goals and procedures before implementation.