Sunshine Matters

I am pleased to announce our redesigned VISITFLORIDA.com homepage that has been live for just over a week has already resulted in visitors spending more time on the page and scrolling down further to view more content and more ads.  The new look features a cleaner, more responsive design that delivers a consistent view of the homepage across a wide range of devices and screen sizes, providing an optimal viewing experience like never before.  The new, visually-stimulating design was created after careful consideration, incorporating lessons learned from user testing interviews VISIT FLORIDA conducted earlier this year.  

One of the key takeaways from the interviews revealed that the majority of VISITFLORIDA.com users, even if they are regular Sunshine State visitors, are unfamiliar with the geography of the state and the location of Florida cities.  To address this issue, an interactive map has been added to the crown navigation that can be accessed on any page throughout the site, allowing visitors to visualize Florida destinations in a more geographic manner.

Other new site features include category sections such as “Things To Do,” “Places To Go” and “Florida Passions.”  These special sections are research driven, featuring the top searched keywords and content viewed on VISITFLORIDA.com. Topic tiles, such as beaches, fishing, and attractions and events, have also been added in each category section.  These tiles allow visitors to begin navigating the site at a high topic level that interests them and easily dive much deeper into specific content that helps them plan their next vacation.

An additional enhancement to VISITFLORIDA.com was the inclusion of the new Discover Florida Wild portal-page, which provides one-stop shopping for outdoor activities managed by the state.  Through VISIT FLORIDA’s partnership with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, we were able to aggregate content from a host of official Florida entities, including Florida State Parks, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida Forest Service, Florida Water Management Districts and the Florida Coastal Office. Visitors to this page also have access to VISIT FLORIDA’s Outdoors & Nature Insider blog by Kevin Mims who travels the state posting videos, photos and articles on Florida’s “wilder side,” as well as answers questions posed by readers looking for local knowledge and insights.

These changes represent phase one of VISIT FLORIDA’s revised website plan. Phase two will include a deeper focus on the redesign of key pages that are highlighted on the homepage.  To check out the recently completed features, click here.