LITTLE ROCK, AR--(Marketwire - Aug 10, 2011) - Travelers looking for Arkansas vacation destination ideas and deals will find information easily thanks to a redesign of Arkansas.com, the state's travel and tourism website.
The site provides a plethora of information on themes, including: outdoors, things to do, places to stay, state and federal parks, dining, lakes and rivers, maps, city listings, hot deals and packages, calendar of events, kids and families, trip planning, relocating to the state, and much, much more. Arkansas.com is a comprehensive tool for gaining information on tourism attractions, cities and regions in the state.
In 2009 and 2010, Arkansas.com delivered 1.2 million sales leads to industry partners. In June 2011 alone, the site had 530,995 visitor sessions. Arkansas.com currently ranks third in visitors among the 50 state tourism websites, according to Experian Hitwise.
Little Rock-based Aristotle Interactive, Arkansas Parks and Tourism's online agency of record, was hired in 1998 to develop the first online presence for the state and 12 years later the award-winning Arkansas.com is in its sixth iteration. The previous site design, implemented in 2007, underwent a focus group study in spring 2010 to determine whether the creative look and feel of Arkansas.com was still competitive with other state tourism websites. Results indicated that the look was beginning to feel dated.
Aristotle redesigned the main page and interior pages with a new color scheme and layout. The revitalized main page features all-new photography from around the state and interactive photo captions that provide site visitors with helpful information.
Arkansas.com has positioned itself as a cutting-edge tourism website with this redesign. The proliferation of smartphones and tablets means that more people than ever are visiting websites on mobile devices. The new design eliminates Flash programming from the site, making it more compatible with devices such as the iPhone and iPad. This follows on the heels of other advancements to Arkansas Tourism's mobile presence such as the iPhone Hot Deals App and a mobile website launched in 2010.
Arkansas.com isn't the only member of the Arkansas Tourism website family to get a new look. Arkansas.com/dining features recipes, videos from Arkansas chefs and culinary vacation ideas. Arkindustryinsider.com showcases the Department of Parks and Tourism's free tools to help the Natural State's tourism businesses market services to travelers. Explore these new websites at www.arkansas.com, www.arkansas.com/dining and www.arkindustryinsider.com.
