Case Study - MyDestinationInfo - Usability & Content

Objectives

MyDestinationInfo first approached bigmouthmedia in January 2010 to help with a site re-development programme. The travel experts were worried that they were not getting enough traffic to the site thus maximising the sites’ potential.

The objectives set at the start of the campaign were to:

• Transform the site into an easily navigable, “one-stop-shop” for destination/travel information where users could quickly find, research and book their trip abroad
• Provide users with a positive web experience, showcase the brand’s travel credentials and expertise to bolster the brand, and filter the benefit through to the franchise
• Convey the breadth and depth of destination information available to travel researchers
• Increase awareness of the MyDestinationInfo brand and business benets to franchisees and local businesses
• Increase traffic to both the hub site and, as a result, local travel guide websites

Our Solution

From the outset the major hurdles involved the creation of a user friendly information architecture that would both house and successfully showcase a wide variety of disparate information – much of which had not yet been created.

Our solution was to pursue an outcome that would be heavily geared towards a visually stimulating design that would inspire users and lend the brand vibrancy akin to the actual travel experience.

As well as providing an intuitive interface, good quality web content was vital to attracting, converting and retaining users. Working closely with the bigmouthmedia copy team we were able to offer a seamless blend of authoritative web copy to the existing MyDestinationInfo online presence that was beneficial to both users and search engines alike.

The strategy put in place was to take into account each of the following elements in order to achieve the goals and objectives set at the beginning of the campaign. The five key elements of the strategy were:

• Concept & Planning - First specify website requirements, iron out the information architecture to produce the website structure complete with navigation, test new design concepts and heavily research competitors and other existing solutions.
• Website Design and Content Creation – After initial concepts and navigation structure were approved we then produced optimised wireframes of key web pages to enhance the content structure and navigation treatment of the global hub site. The wireframes then in turn provided the development team with the foundations of the core web pages.
• Keyword research - and the page templates formed part of the brief for local travel experts and the internal copywriting team to create destination information pages and travel articles to showcase MDI’s travel credentials.
• Website Build – Bigmouthmedia provided consultation throughout the build process, reviewing and testing the development site. This allowed the joint campaign team to ensure that the build was correct for the particular website.
• Launch – Before and after launch we supported the User Acceptance Testing (UAT) process to ensure the live site met both business and user requirements. Bigmouthmedia also provided ad hoc support for the MDI development team as they resolved post launch bugs and errors.