Make Something. Better. #madebysway

Reimagining VisitNorfolk.com

When VisitNorfolk.com’s “industry standard” content management system proved to be too cumbersome to manage, Sway helped them break out of the traditional DMO website mold by creating a new standard for what a destination website can, and should, be.

Making Norfolk a site to see.

With a need to create a site experience as unique as their destination, VisitNorfolk partnered with Sway to help them break free from the prominent player in the space and craft a website that was not only aesthetically pleasing, but also ensured its management and malleability for VisitNorfolk staff was paramount.

Designed and developed for everyone.

Launched in April of 2022, the design and development of the new VisitNorfolk.com was more than a facelift — it was a heavy lift — with a full re-work of the site’s information architecture making it truly simple for visitors and staff alike to use.

Fueling the tourism engine.

With the site’s information architecture reworked to revolve around a new “experience engine”, visitors are able to inherently and immediately find the things about Norfolk that are pertinent to them and that increase their probability in booking their vacation, their meeting, or their night out on the town.

The key word is “easy”.

Curated content is served to visitors that was once regulated to cumbersome listings by easily appending keyword tags by site administrators to increase relevance.

Fueling the tourism engine.

For instance, visitors into “being on the water” would see their event calendars prioritized
with what’s happening on the river and bay. 
Or those looking for a wedding destination would be served hotels with group rates
and blog posts with Norfolk’s most “Instagrammable” vantages.

Tailor made for travelers.

Users can also combine multiple interests as well into virtual itineraries for their time in the city, increasing their likelihood of a visit, a booking, and a great time in Norfolk.

You can handle it from here.

The backend of the site experience is just as impressive as the frontend, with a “what you see is what you get” Wordpress Block Editor interface enabling simple content edits to more involved design changes without the need nor charge of third-party assistance.

Project Highlights

Refreshing Results

We’ve already realized a 22.9% uptick in October traffic from the previous year.

Optimized Success

Traffic in key markets like Washington D.C. and Baltimore are up over 200% thanks to better indexing and search engine optimization.

Real Time Traffic

Maryland traffic is up 387% in conjunction with associated ad units leveraging the tailored content in real time.

An Engagement Engine

Over 43% of the site’s visitors are utilizing the experience engine.