Does your website deliver the right messages to your target audience?

In today’s digital age, an inbound tour operator or DMC’s website is often the first touchpoint between their business and potential outbound tour operator partners. Studies have shown that visitors will form an opinion about a website in just 0.05 seconds, with 94% of first impressions being made based on design. Plus, 38% of users will stop engaging with a website if the content or layout is unattractive or not relevant.

So first impressions matter a lot, especially for busy tour operators. This is why having a well designed website that showcases your key messages clearly and effectively can make all the difference in attracting the right partners.

The Adventure Connection team understands the B2B marketplace inside out. We can help you discover where your site performs well and where improvements are needed.  So, to help Destination Management Companies (DMCs) looking to elevate their website and ensure they are hitting the mark on every page, we’ve created a hit list of key points to consider when building or updating a website, ensuring that the key messages reflect your brand effectively and deliver a comfortable user experience.

1. Prioritise User Experience

When looking into potential business partners, buyers want to be able to quickly find the exact information they need.

To keep visitors engaged and encourage them to explore what you offer in more depth, we recommend ensuring these key factors are implemented into your design:

• B2B messaging - if you're purely B2B then you need to say so. If you're not, you may need to consider developing a separate brand from your B2C brand (and at a minimum, a spearate B2B landing page)

• Simple menus - keep your menu bar decluttered with clear headings 

• Intuitive navigation and a logical site structure - this will help viewers find their way around your website easily and efficiently, encouraging them to explore for longer

• Clear call-to-action buttons - easy ways for visitors to get in touch are imperative! 

• Fast loading times - nobody likes to wait for long periods of time for a webpage to load and quite often they won't 

• Mobile responsiveness - A mobile-friendly site ensures that visitors can easily browse your offerings on the go and help to achieve higher rankings in search engines

2. Declutter your web pages

When thinking about written copy for your website, less is often more.

Tour Operators rarely have time to dig through paragraphs of text to find your key messages and scout for the information they need. Content needs to be concise, to the point and organised for easy navigation. 

When writing your website copy, focus on benefits, not just features. For example, instead of just listing your services or a generic paragraph about your business, link to how these features may ease the pain points of your audience.

Many specialists and studies say that when browsing the internet, people tend to scroll instead of read so avoiding text heavy paragraphs is essential. We would recommend using:

• bullet points

• headers

• short paragraphs

to break up the information.

And highlight the essentials and make your text content easier to navigate.

3. Use quality images/videos

As they often say, a picture speaks a thousand words and making the most of colourful graphics can make all the difference when grabbing someone's attention.

Incorporate bright, high-quality images and videos across all web pages that represent your brand’s style and offering. This will reinforce your key messages and give your audience a glimpse of the experiences they can expect.

4. Maintain Consistent Branding

When it comes to your website, visual consistency is more than just an aesthetic choice - it’s a crucial element in reinforcing brand identity and ensuring a seamless user experience. A disjointed design with varying colours, fonts or imagery styles can make your site feel unprofessional and confusing, potentially leading to lost opportunities.

Use a consistent colour scheme that aligns with your brand, a set of fonts that enhance readability and professionalism and structured layouts that create a familiar and intuitive navigation flow for visitors. 

Beyond aesthetics, a consistent design ensures that every page on your website reflects your brand’s personality and values. Whether a potential partner lands on your Homepage, browses your services or reads your blogs, they should immediately recognise the same visual identity and messaging, reinforcing your credibility and professionalism.

Quick Tips for Maintaining Visual Consistency:

✔️ Stick to a defined brand style guide – Outline your colours, fonts, logo usage and design principles

✔️ Use templates for layouts – Ensure each page follows a structured, predictable format

✔️ Be intentional with imagery – Choose a consistent photography style that aligns with your brand identity

✔️ Apply branding to all elements – Buttons, icons, and even call-to-action sections should follow a unified style

The Adventure Connection can help you will all of this so please ask us if you need help.

5. Regularly Update Content

Regularly updating your website content signals to visitors - and search engines - that your business is active and engaged. Fresh, relevant content not only boosts SEO rankings but also builds credibility and keeps your audience informed with the latest insights, offerings and industry trends.

Beyond content, maintaining a modern website design is just as important. Web design trends evolve quickly and an outdated look can give the impression that your business is out of touch. Refreshing your website’s layout, visuals and functionality from time to time ensures a positive experience for users while reinforcing your brand’s professionalism and reliability.

The Adventure Connection is a UK based marketing agency with many years of experience of the travel industry and in-house expertise across a range of marketing channels. Our in-depth knowledge of the leisure travel market enables us to create professional websites that reflect your brand and are specifically designed for a B2B audience. We’ll review content, navigation and performance and make recommendations to improve your user experience.

If you're unsure whether your website is effectively showcasing your key messages or if you're considering a redesign, please get in touch at: beth@theadventureconnection.com 

To find out more about our website services, visit: https://www.theadventureconnection.com/services/marketing/websites