Greater Oklahoma City Chamber

Category:Electronic

Class:One

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Synopsis:

Need

The visitokc.com website was last redesigned 2011. The site did not take advantage of new technologies and was also difficult to navigate. The site was no longer fully meeting the needs of our target audiences.

Development

The Oklahoma City Convention & Visitors Bureau partnered with an Oklahoma City advertising agency to conduct research throughout 2013 and 2014 by holding a series of focus groups from with participants from Oklahoma City, the Dallas metropolitan area as well as local hotels and attractions. The findings were conclusive: Oklahoma City locals know why the city is great, but those who have not visited recently do not realize all of the amenities and attractions the city offers.

The CVB staff launched a new campaign in 2014 to showcase Oklahoma City as a thriving, energetic city with a variety of activities for all ages and interests. The redesigned and refreshed website is a crucial component of this as it allows potential regional, national and international visitors to get a glimpse at Oklahoma City from afar. The site has several audiences including meeting planners, group travel leaders, media, tourists and residents. Meeting planners, group travel leaders and media were each highlighted in a separate navigation making it easier for these groups to find the invehicle for the Convention and Visitors Bureau to showcase area attractions and businesses and give potential visitors a complete look at Oklahoma City.

Objective 2: Replace the mobile site with the single more user-friendly responsive design.

Result: During the first month after the website relaunch, more than 114,000 individuals visited the site. This was a 54.8 percent increase over the same timeframe in 2014. On average, users spent an average of three minutes on the site and visited more than 372,000 pages during the month. Within the first month of launch, pageviews were up 76.78 percent, with the average time spent on the site at 2 min. and 46 seconds and a significant decrease in the bounce rate. Although the new site is in its infancy, we expect these upward trends with our stated objectives to continue.

Budget

The budget for the website redesign was $78,584. Of this, $47,724 was the cost of design and photography as well as the programming of the new responsive website. The first year fee for hosting was $30,858 which also included the integration of Google Maps, Trip Advisor and a weather feed.

What do chamber businesses appreciate most? “We got great exposure right away,” said Mike Overton of Outside Hilton Head. “From kayaking to tours, it’s a great way to keep our offerings front and center to our local adventurers and visitors!”

TRENDING SUCCESS: As a chamber of commerce with a mission to grow our local economy, we’re happy to see the app, encouraging users to take advantage of all the Lowcountry has to offer. When we see a real connection between local business and our best efforts via today’s technology marketplace to drive them there, we know we’re on the right path.