As a travel entrepreneur, you know how critical it is to have an attractive, high-functioning website to promote your business. Your website is the face of your company and often the first impression potential customers will have of your brand. Choosing a website developer that understands the unique needs of travel companies is essential. You need a platform that allows you to create stunning visuals, share the excitement of travel destinations and experiences, provide practical customer information, and enable seamless booking capabilities. With many website builders on the market, determining the top companies that specialize in travel can be challenging. This article on travel website UI design tips from the pros highlights five of the best travel website developers based on their features, customization options, ease of use, and customer reviews. With the right partner, you can build a website that inspires wanderlust in visitors and converts them into loyal customers.
Unicorn Platform: The All-in-One Travel Website Builder
As a travel website developer, using an all-in-one platform can save you valuable time and resources. Unicorn Platform is a leading website builder specifically geared toward travel companies and tour operators.
Unicorn Platform offers a simple drag and drop interface to design beautiful, responsive websites with no coding required. With pre-built sections and elements for destinations, tours, blog posts, photos, videos, and more, you can create an eye-catching site in just a few hours. Integrated booking functionality allows visitors to easily purchase and schedule tours directly on your site.
Some of the main benefits of Unicorn Platform include:
- Mobile-optimized templates. Unicorn Platform templates are fully responsive so your site looks great on any device. This is especially important for travel sites as many visitors will be booking on-the-go.
- Integrated payment processing. Accept credit cards, PayPal, and over 60 other payment methods directly on your site. Unicorn Platform handles the payment processing so you can get paid faster.
- Multilingual support. Unicorn Platform supports over 25 languages so you can create a localized site for your target markets. This makes your travel offerings more accessible to international visitors.
- SEO tools. Unicorn Platform includes built-in SEO tools like meta title and description creation, URL slugging, and alt image attributes to help improve your search ranking.
- Affiliate marketing. The Unicorn Platform affiliate program allows you to earn additional revenue by promoting complementary travel products and services. You can also recruit other affiliates to help market your tours.
- 24/7 support. Unicorn Platform offers phone, email, and chat support around the clock. Their helpful support team can assist you with any questions as you build and manage your travel website.
For an all-inclusive travel website builder, Unicorn Platform is an excellent choice. With their simple yet powerful platform, you can create a stunning, optimized site to promote your tours and start booking more travelers from around the world.
Why You Need a Custom Travel Website
To effectively promote your travel business, you need an online presence built on a custom website. Here are a few reasons why:
- Establish credibility. A professional website shows you are a legitimate company, which builds trust with potential customers. It gives the impression you are an established and reputable business in the travel industry.
- Own your platform. Having your own website means you have full control over the content and design. You can highlight what makes your company unique without being limited by a generic template. You can also integrate booking software, blogs, and other tools to create a seamless experience for visitors.
- Improve search ranking. An optimized website with location-specific content for your travel business will rank higher in search results like Google. This means more visibility and traffic which leads to more bookings and sales. Using related keywords, internal linking, and fast load times are some of the ways to improve your search ranking.
- Capture leads. With a custom website, you can add lead capture forms for visitors to submit their contact information. Whether through a newsletter sign-up, contact request, or booking inquiry, capturing leads allows you to build your customer database and market to potential customers.
- Mobile-friendly. Over half of all web traffic now comes from mobile devices. A responsive, mobile-optimized website provides an exceptional viewing experience for visitors on any device. If your site is not mobile-friendly, you will miss out on a huge number of potential customers.
In summary, a custom travel website establishes your brand, gives you control over the platform, improves search visibility, captures more leads, and provides an optimal experience for mobile visitors. For any travel business, a professional website is essential to success in today's digital world. With the right developer, you can have an affordable yet high-quality website that will take your company to the next level.
Key Features to Look for in a Travel Website Builder
Drag and Drop Interface
For building travel websites, a drag and drop interface is essential. Look for a platform with an intuitive visual editor that lets you add and arrange elements by simply dragging and dropping them onto the page. This makes it easy to create attractive landing pages, even without technical skills. Some options provide 100+ customizable templates to get you started.
Responsive Design
With more and more people accessing the web via mobile devices, responsive design is a must-have feature. The platform you choose should automatically optimize your site for any screen size. This means your content will display well on smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktops. Images and text will resize to fit the screen, and the layout will adjust to provide the best experience for your visitors, regardless of how they access your site.
Integrated Booking Systems
The best travel website builders offer integrated booking systems to help you handle reservations directly through your site. Look for a platform that provides a booking engine or works with third-party services like Booking.com or Expedia Affiliate Network. This allows travelers to check rates, view availability, and book rooms instantly, all without leaving your website. You’ll earn commissions for completed bookings, providing an easy source of revenue.
SEO Features
For any travel business, search engine optimization (SEO) is key to success. The website builder you select should have built-in features to help boost your search rankings. This includes options like meta title and description editors, sitemap generation, SEO-optimized page templates, and alt text for images. The platform should also fully support SEO best practices like mobile-first indexing, fast load times, and secure hosting.
Blogging Capabilities
A blog is a great way to attract new visitors, build authority, and rank higher in search engines. Look for a travel website builder with integrated blogging features like blog post templates, WYSIWYG editors, media galleries, categories, tags, and more. The platform should make it simple to publish new posts, optimize them for SEO, and promote your content on social media. An active blog, along with high-quality website content, will establish you as an expert in the travel industry.
Comparing the Top Travel Website Developers
When evaluating travel website developers, several factors should be considered to determine which option is optimal for your needs.
Pricing and Plans
While cost is always a consideration, the cheapest option is not necessarily the best choice. Compare the features and functionality included in the different pricing tiers to find a solution that provides good value within your budget. Look for a range of options to accommodate different business sizes.
Ease of Use
The platform should be intuitive and simple to navigate. Drag and drop builders with pre-designed templates help ensure an easy editing and updating process for non-technical users. Consider how much training and support may be required to get started. Systems with a shallow learning curve will allow you to launch faster.
Customization
The ability to fully customize the look and feel of your site to reflect your brand is key. Look for developers that offer a wide selection of professionally designed templates as a starting point, with the option to tweak layouts, color schemes, typography and more. Themes and templates should be mobile-responsive and optimized for SEO.
Integrations
For a full-service travel website, you’ll want a solution that readily integrates with booking tools, payment processors, email marketing services, and social media platforms. See what third-party integrations are available and how seamlessly they work with the system. The more pre-built integrations offered the better.
Support
Reliable customer service and technical support are essential, especially when launching a new website. Options that provide phone, email and chat support, as well as an online knowledge base with tutorials and documentation will ensure you get the help you need, when you need it.
In summary, you'll want to think about factors like your budget, how easy the platform is to use, level of customization, integrations offered, and quality of support when deciding on a travel website developer. The solution that best balances these elements will set you up for success as you get your site off the ground and start attracting visitors.
Unicorn Platform vs Wix vs Squarespace vs Weebly vs WordPress
When choosing a website builder for your travel business, several platforms are worth considering. This article compares Unicorn Platform, Wix, Squarespace, Weebly, and WordPress to help determine which is the best fit for your needs.
Unicorn Platform
Unicorn Platform is an easy-to-use drag and drop website builder with designer-made templates specific to the travel industry. It offers useful features for travel companies like integrated booking systems, customer reviews, and Google Maps integration. The intuitive interface allows you to quickly build an attractive site without any coding knowledge. Plans start at $12 per month.
Wix
Wix is a popular DIY website builder with designer templates for travel and tourism businesses. It provides helpful features such as online booking, customer reviews, and multi-language options. Wix has an easy drag and drop editor but may require paying for additional features. Pricing ranges from $5 to $25 per month.
Squarespace
Squarespace offers stylish templates and an easy to use editor to create a professional travel website. It includes useful features for the travel industry such as online scheduling, email campaigns, and analytics. However, Squarespace has fewer travel-specific features compared to other options and plans start at $12 per month.
Weebly
Weebly is an easy to use drag and drop website builder with templates optimized for travel and leisure companies. It offers helpful features for travel businesses including booking systems, email marketing, and blogging capabilities. Weebly is very affordable but may require paying for some key features. Plans range from free to $25 per month.
WordPress
WordPress is a popular open-source CMS with thousands of plugins and themes perfect for travel websites. It is a flexible and customizable option but requires more technical skill to setup and manage. WordPress is free to use but you will need to pay for hosting, themes, and some plugins. The learning curve and ongoing maintenance may be difficult for beginners.
In summary, if you want an easy to use option with built-in features for travel businesses, Unicorn Platform or Wix are great choices. If budget is a concern, Weebly is the most affordable. For maximum control and customization, WordPress is ideal for those with web development experience. The platform you choose depends on your needs, skills, and budget.
How to Create a Stunning Travel Website in Under 30 Minutes
Choose a Theme
Selecting an eye-catching theme is key to creating a stunning travel website. Some popular options include:
- Adventure travel: Highlight exotic destinations and activities like hiking, rock climbing or safaris. Use dramatic photos of natural landscapes.
- Luxury travel: Focus on upscale experiences, premium amenities and indulgent getaways. Feature high-resolution photos of lavish hotels, gourmet meals or spa treatments.
- Family travel: Emphasize kid-friendly attractions, budget-friendly options and group activities. Use lighthearted photos of families enjoying themselves.
Add Striking Images
Visually compelling and high-quality photos are essential for a travel website. Some tips for selecting images:
- Choose photos of your target locations and experiences. For an adventure site, use action shots of outdoor pursuits. For luxury, close-up photos of high-end details. For family, wide shots of groups having fun.
- Use a balance of portrait and landscape orientations. Landscape is good for destination shots, portrait for activity shots.
- Ensure high resolution (at least 1920 x 1080 pixels) so images look sharp on high-definition and retina displays.
- Obtain proper licensing for any photos you do not own. Stock photo sites offer affordable travel images.
Write Engaging Content
Well-crafted content will draw people in and highlight what makes your destinations special. Some suggestions:
- Focus on experiences, not just places. Discuss the types of activities and adventures to be had. Use an enthusiastic and inspiring tone.
- Share practical travel tips and recommendations from locals or industry experts. Provide the inside scoop on the best spots to eat, shop or explore.
- Tell stories of your travels to connect with readers on an emotional level. Describe meaningful interactions with people you met or life-changing moments.
- Discuss the history, culture and natural surroundings of locations. Help readers understand what makes each place unique.
Promote Your Website
Build awareness of your new travel website through social media marketing and search engine optimization (SEO). Engage your target audience by:
- Sharing sample content and photos on social platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Cross-promote to your social media profiles.
- Optimizing page titles, URLs, image alt text and content for relevant keywords. Focus on words and phrases your ideal travelers would search for.
- Gaining high-quality backlinks to improve your search ranking. Request links from complementary blogs, travel media outlets and influencers.
- Encouraging social shares, likes, comments and reviews. Actively participate in conversations with your readers and followers.
With a visually stunning theme, impactful images, engaging content and an effective promotional strategy, you can create a travel website
7 Tips for Designing an Amazing Travel Website
Focus on high-quality images
For a travel website, high-quality images are essential. Use professional photos of destinations, hotels, activities, etc. to showcase what visitors can experience. Images should be colorful, well-lit, and highlight the location's best attributes. Include captions for photos and optimize them for search engine ranking by including location names and relevant keywords.
Easy navigation
A good travel website should be simple to navigate. Use clear categories and menus to organize content in a logical way. Links should be prominent and take users directly to the information they need. All pages should be accessible within 1-3 clicks from the homepage. Consider including a site map to provide an overview of the site's content and structure.
Valuable content
Provide useful information for potential travelers. Include destination guides highlighting things to see and do, restaurant and hotel recommendations, suggested itineraries, packing lists, etc. Offer practical travel tips and advice to help visitors plan their trip. Content should be comprehensive, up-to-date, and optimized for search engines by using important keywords.
Responsive design
With much web traffic now coming from mobile devices, a responsive design is a must. Your travel website should automatically adapt to any screen size, from desktop computers to smartphones. Images, text, and navigation elements should resize and restructure to display properly on different devices. A responsive design provides an optimal viewing experience for all users and is favored by search engines.
Easy contact
Include ways for visitors to contact you with any questions about the destinations or services on your site. An email address, contact form, and phone number should be prominently displayed on all pages. Be sure to respond to all inquiries in a timely and helpful manner. Excellent customer service will lead to a better overall impression of your company and travel website.
By following these tips, you can create an amazing, user-friendly travel website to inspire wanderlust in visitors and motivate them to book their next adventure. Optimize your content, focus on stunning visuals, and make navigation simple to keep people exploring all your site has to offer. Provide the resources and information to help them easily plan an unforgettable trip.
How to Rank Your New Travel Website on Google
To rank your new travel website on Google, optimize it for search engines by following these best practices:
Optimize page titles and meta descriptions
The page title and meta description are the snippets of text that appear in Google search results. Make sure each page has a unique title that includes your target keyword, as well as a compelling meta description that convinces users to click. Keep these to 55-60 characters for titles and 150-160 characters for descriptions.
Use header tags
Header tags (H1, H2, H3) organize your content and signal to search engines what the page is about. Use H1 for your page title, H2 for section headings, and H3 for subsections. Include your target keywords in the H2 and H3 headers.
Add internal links
Linking to other relevant content on your site helps search engines discover your pages. When adding links, use keyword-rich anchor text and link to pages with a complementary theme. For example, link from your “Best Beaches in Hawaii” page to your “Maui Travel Guide” or “Oahu Itinerary” pages.
Optimize page content
The content on your page is the most important factor for ranking. Incorporate your target keywords naturally into your page content, including them 3-5 times in the first 100 words. Provide high quality, in-depth content that answers questions and provides value to users. Break up content using formatting like bullet points, numbered lists, images, and videos.
Build inbound links
Inbound links from other sites point to your content and help search engines determine your authority. Promote your new site on social media, reach out to bloggers and journalists, and consider a link building campaign to build high-quality links with sites in your industry.
Technical SEO
Ensure your site has a mobile-friendly design, fast loading times, secure HTTPS, and is free of broken links or redirects. These technical elements provide a good user experience and are rewarded by search engines. Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console so they can fully crawl your new site.
By optimizing your on-page content, building inbound links, and paying attention to technical details, you can improve your search rankings and gain more visibility and traffic for your new travel website. Continually analyze how people use your site and make improvements to better serve both users and search engines.
Travel Website Developers FAQs: Common Questions Answered
As you begin to explore travel website developers, certain questions commonly arise. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions and their answers to help guide you in finding the right solution for your needs.
What are the benefits of using a travel website developer?
Using a dedicated travel website developer platform provides several key benefits:
- Easy to use drag and drop interface. Quickly build responsive websites without needing to know how to code.
- Mobile-friendly templates. Choose from professionally designed templates optimized for mobile devices.
- Built-in booking functionality. Easily add hotel, flight, tour and activity booking to your site. Some integrate with major travel booking engines.
- SEO tools. Benefit from search engine optimization features that help improve your site's ranking in search results.
- eCommerce ready. Sell travel gear, luggage, maps, tickets, tours and more with integrated shopping carts and payment processing.
- 24/7 support. Rely on around-the-clock customer support to help you build your site and resolve any issues.
How much does travel website development software cost?
Pricing for travel website builders typically ranges from $10 to $100 per month based on the specific features and functionalities of the platform. Some offer free trials for you to test the software. Open source options are also available at no cost but require technical skills to setup and manage. For most travel businesses, a mid-range solution around $30 to $60/month will suit their needs well.
What features should I look for in a travel website builder?
Key features to consider when evaluating travel website developers include:
- Responsive templates optimized for mobile
- Built-in booking and eCommerce functionality
- SEO tools and analytics
- 24/7 customer support
- Easy to use interface (drag and drop)
- Photo galleries and slideshows
- Blog or news section
- Multi-language and currency support
- Email marketing and newsletter integrations
- Ability to rebrand and white label
- Reliable hosting with high uptime
Using the right combination of these features will allow you to create an engaging, user-friendly travel website to promote your business online. Comparing multiple platforms to determine what's most important for your specific needs and budget is the best approach.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are several excellent options for developing a visually stunning and user-friendly travel website. Carefully evaluating your specific needs and priorities can help determine which platform is the best fit for your business. While cost and ease of use are certainly important factors, also consider capabilities like customization, integrations, and customer support. The platform you choose will be home to your brand and the place where you make lasting impressions on visitors, so invest the time to make the right choice. With the perfect platform powering your travel website, you’ll be well on your way to growing your business and achieving your dreams. The open road awaits!
