Search for the Modern Age

As a destination marketing organization, the Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau (DCVB) does its best to stay ahead of trends, needs and new technology to further their goal and mission as Durham's official marketing agency.

With the launch of the redesigned website, http://www.durham-nc.com/, the organization took several leaps forward in bringing its number one information fulfillment tool in line with that goal.  As already noted here, here, and here, the new site is considerably more functional than previous.  One of the biggest advancements in service, however, is the search capability and results.

Back in the day - years ago - veritably the stone ages in computer time...Google used to install mini search units on the servers of organizations that needed them when search functions needed to integrate both web-based and internal data.  These were state of the art at the time and supplied organizations with super fast and complete search results on their sites and delivered to site visitors the absolute best information available on their query.  As the sands of time trickle, so too does the creeping obsolescence of all things computer, and this Google unit became little more than a space filler on a server rack...and it was still delivering the search results for the site.  Needless to say, the search results were amongst the things to be least proud of on that award-winning digital destination.

Fast forward to now and users will see a vast improvement in the search results because the tools that drive them are considerably more advanced and enhanced, and the output results are amazing.  Imagine searching for a place and getting not only information about that place, but also information about events happening there.  "It's like stepping out of a mid 90's compact sedan and sliding behind the wheel of a new sports car with every bell and whistle," said Sam Poley, DCVB's Director of Marketing and Communications.  "The search results on this site are so much more user friendly  both for those visiting and those who call Durham home."

The site is now easier to keep up to date and fresh with new content is being added all the time. Visitors are encouraged to return often.

Newly-Designed durham-nc.com Drives Visitation

The Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau (DCVB), Durham’s official marketing agency, is proud to announce the launch of its newly redesigned website, www.durham-nc.com.  Visitors contemplating a trip to the Bull City visited the site nearly 700,000 times last year.  Having earned numerous awards in destination marketing competitions including twice being rated the #1 destination website in North America, a Webby Worthy Award, “Best on the Net,” “Top Five Destination Site” designation, a MarCom Award, and the WebAward Standard of Excellence, the site is noted industry wide as a bellwether.

With this launch, aside from an updated look, the site is home to new features, content and capabilities, all designed to help drive visitation to Durham.  Designed fully with the intent to achieve a much more user-focused experience, the site now empowers users to build custom itineraries, read customer reviews on place pages, and define their site experience by selecting options that characterize their purpose for visiting.  The site also has expanded content, enhanced visuals, and “stickiness” – the ability to keep users engaged and attentive for longer periods.

“Destination websites like www.durham-nc.com have been shown to increase incremental trips to a destination by about 4% and increase the length of stay of another 4% of visitors who use the site.  With unique visitors to the site approaching half a million, that translates to about 20,000 more visitors each year plus existing visitors spending about 20,000 more days in Durham than they otherwise might have.  That’s huge,”   said Shelly Green, President and CEO of the Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The redesign of Durham-nc.com is more than skin deep. In addition to a complete visual overhaul, the new website features:

• Improved navigation – navigation is now easier for the 75% of site visitors coming to the site through a page other than the homepage, and users who do come to the homepage can identify their visitor type and have an experience more tailored to their interests.

• Trip Planner – Durham-nc.com’s new Trip Planner feature helps visitors ensure they don’t miss a single thing they want to do.  From any detail screen, whether a visitor feature, restaurant, shop, lodging property, or event, visitors have the option to “Add to My Trip Planner.” This personalized itinerary can then be printed, texted, or emailed for future use.

• Reviews Integration – with so many great things to see and do in Durham, choosing just a few can be hard for a visitor. To help add a personal touch, Durham-nc.com now incorporates reviews on each details screen from Yelp.com, one of the largest review sites on the web.

• Calendar integration – DCVB’s extensive calendar of more than 4,000 annual events is more thoroughly integrated into Durham-nc.com than ever. Select upcoming events are featured on each page, with options to search the event calendar in more detail through the existing advanced search page.

• Search improvements – now with the overall site search, users can access relevant content from DCVB’s extensive database of visitor features (including places to stay, eat, shop, things to see & do, and more) and see events related to the search as well. For example, a search for “Duke Gardens” returns results about the place and facility specifications, as well as upcoming events taking place there.

• Featured content – though durham-nc.com offers extensive options for visitors to personalize their trip, sometimes the amount of information available can be overwhelming. For a more “guided” introduction to the wealth of Durham’s visitor product, Durham-nc.com now includes feature stories in each major section. These features will rotate periodically and may include in-depth features on particular visitor-related businesses or organizations, sample itineraries, announcements of new site features, and more.

• Other improvements to current features include: a friendlier live chat tab that is less intrusive but still easy to find when needed; online versions of both the 2011 Official Durham Visitors Guide and the Official Durham Meeting & Event Planners Guide; and a more printer-friendly and mobile-friendly template with rich-media features that work on most smart-phones (full mobile version coming in late 2011).