If you’re in the midst of a website revamp (or if you’re starting from scratch), you may be wondering about what makes a good travel website. What are the features, designs, and must-haves that create a standout website for your travel business? Naturally, you may feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of choices but we’re here to help.

Let’s start by discussing what a travel website should include.

What should a travel website include?

Travel website design is all about functionality, aesthetics, and user experience. So, from a design and functionality standpoint, there are dozens of things that may be wise to add to your travel website. Now, it depends largely on the type of travel site you plan on creating; however, we can speak generally about some ideas worth including.

These include:

Payment Integration

If you plan on having site visitors purchase anything through your travel business site store, it’s crucial that you offer customers as many payment options as possible. Most travelers have several credit cards, debit cards, or bank payment options, so providing them with friendly payment methods increases your chances of converting a visitor into a customer. 

A mobile-responsive site design 

Currently, more users surf the web through their mobile devices than on their desktops. As a result, it’s become important for a travel blog or travel agency website to cater to their web design to mobile. Instead of building an entirely separate website for mobile and tablet users, a mobile-responsive website uses code that causes the layout and content on the page to adapt to the size of the screen — no matter which device it’s on.

A mobile-responsive design provides several benefits, including:

  • Increased visibility on search engine results – Google’s mobile algorithm favors sites with responsive design.
  • A better user experience – Pages are catered to mobile users, meaning they have a visual hierarchy, large touch targets, and are centered on readability.
  • Increased conversions – Faster page load times and better user experience leads to decreased bounce rates and increased conversions.    
  • Prepares you for the future – As mobile technology continues to advance and 5g technology becomes widely available, mobile devices will likely account for an even larger share of internet users. 

Plenty of features 

When selecting your website builder, it’s crucial to keep in mind the features that a travel website may need. Such as: 

  • Analytics You need a way to track your site and store’s performance, growth, and metrics. 
  • Video tie-ins – Like photos, videos provide a powerful way to reach your audience and convey the beauty and excitement surrounding a new place. 
  • Marketing tool integrations – In order to grow your business, you need to be able to link your website to marketing tools like sign-up forms and social media platforms.
  • Blog – For a travel site, few pages are more important than the blog (from both a search engine visibility and customer conversion standpoint). You need a blog builder that provides an easy way to create, manage, and organize your travel blog posts. From there, use the blog tools to optimize the page by adding tags, images, videos, headers, and meta descriptions.  

One additional note about blogs: It’s vital that the blogs are well-written and evocative. There may be dozens of people who have already written about a travel destination, so it’s vital that you purposefully craft content that stands out and then promote your blog.  

Customer reviews 

For both retail and travel, consumer reviews can help you drive sales and establish credibility with your readers. These days, word-of-mouth recommendations are far more powerful than many forms of marketing, even if it’s coming from a stranger.

If you don’t host customer reviews, there are aggregator sites like TripAdvisor that will. And customers are well aware of their existence. So, it’s best to include them, whether it’s about restaurants, hotels, or activities you recommend.

Social media integration

Travelers and would-be travelers like to share their experiences, make recommendations, and interact with each other. Social media platforms are the perfect place to further build your brand and share your story.  

Powerful photos 

Pictures can be incredible motivators, especially when they’re showing off exotic, stunning locations and dream destinations. Your site should utilize big, beautiful photos of anything from the meals, to the places, to the locales. But you don’t want to overdo it. It’s important that you tastefully curate a select group of impactful images.

How to build a travel website

There are several important considerations when it comes to creating a travel website and selecting a design that matches. That said, there are a few crossroads you’ll likely find yourself at, including:

Determine what kind of travel site you want to be

This is an essential part of the process since it will influence everything from your site layout, the design, to the domain itself. All the later choices will stem from this first fateful decision.  

Put simply, what do you envision your site being? To help decide, there are several categories to choose from, including:

  • Travel blogger – A travel blogger may have a site store, but the design and content of the blog are tailored towards storytelling, not selling. This will place a heavy emphasis on photos, visual aesthetics, and easy readability. Our guide on How to Start a Travel Blog dives into this. Typically, there may be several subcategories that fall under the title of travel blogger, including:
    • The guide – The travel expert who focuses on how-tos, instructionals, and advice on local foods, customs, tourist activities, sites, restaurants, and experiences.
    • The cuisine aficionado – Many people view travel through the lens of food and drinks. This type of blog places a special emphasis on meals, wines, beers, and everything that ties into that. 
    • The essayist/memoirist – This type of travel blog focuses on travel in terms of the experience the writer had during their adventure. 
  • Travel booker – Although blogs may be a feature of the site, the store and booking facet of the platform take precedence. Blogs serve to encourage readers to go on a trip, and ideally, that trip is booked through the site. Similarly to the blogger, there are various types of bookers, including:
    • The vacation planner – Recommend travel packages or simply list available options, such as:
      • Hotels
      • Flights
      • Dinners
    • The deal finder – While you receive some kickbacks from the places you recommend, this type of booker helps their readers find amazing deals, whether that be a cheap flight or a last-minute flash sale on a hotel.  
    • The tourism board – Some travel sites will act as a virtual tourism board that travelers will visit to find out information, ideas, and guides on a specific location. Partner with other businesses or allow purchases to go directly through your site. 

Pick the right domain name 

When it comes to a travel website, one of the most important components is the right domain name. A domain name is the address people type into their web browser to get to your website. It will serve as your site’s virtual calling card, so it’s essential that you carefully consider what you’re going to choose, as it will:

  • Help you gain online credibility
  • Demonstrate to customers that you’re legitimate
  • Protect your brand
  • Help your visibility in search results

If you already own a domain name, it’s easy to connect it to your Constant Contact website. We have a powerful all-in-one platform that allows for domain management, domain-based email, and domain privacy.   

But what are the features of a strong domain name? 

  • It’s available as both a domain and social media handle – Even if you’ve come up with the best name in the world, it’s useless to you if someone else already owns it. 
  • It reflects your brand – Your name should give readers an impression as to who and what you are. 
  • Explains what you do – Ideally, your name will clue in readers as to what makes you stand out from other travel websites. 
  • Short and easy to spell – The name should be one word — two words max — and one that has no numbers or symbols. It should be easy to read, spell, and say aloud. 
  • Uses a relevant top-level domain (TLD) – Although .com is the most common TLD, there are several travel-centric top-level domains, including:
    • .travel
    • .vacation
    • .tours

Build the travel website

Once you’ve decided on a domain name, it’s time to get to the building. Start by browsing the templates available in your website builder pick one that appeals to you, then dive in and have fun with it!