Newark and Sherwood District Council's promotional website boosting awareness of Newark, Southwell and Sherwood Forest goes live
A new promotional website created by Newark and Sherwood District Council has been launched.
The online site that features events, attractions and venues in Newark, in Southwell and in Sherwood Forest, has now gone live after plans to create a new online presence were approved by district council members.
The destination brands — Visit Newark, Visit Southwell and Visit Sherwood Forest — were described by the council's economic development committee as encouraging for each area's economy.
The council invited tenders for the design and build of the three new linked websites based on the original single-site feedback from visitors and tourism businesses, as well as data analysis.
Bazzoo — a wesbite design company based in Sutton-on-Trent — secured the contract as the council was attracted to its ideas for introductory aerial film footage on each of the three homepages, and the interactive itinerary for users.
To move plans forward, a council-led working group was formed comprising of tourism stakeholders from across the district.
The group looked at the designs of other destination websites and worked with Bazzoo to confirm a design brief for the linked Visit sites that was bold, simple and user-friendly.
At the council committee that discussed the final stages, members said the professionally-designed website was mobile-friendly and would motivate people to visit Newark, Southwell and Sherwood Forest.
However, Roger Blaney, committee member, said there should be captions accompanying the promotional video content.
"I think it is excellent and I have been told there is music accompanying the website, however, I think captions may be necessary," he said.
Locations for the aerial film footage were chosen to create striking initial impressions of the destinations on offer with a variety of attractions, events and activities showcased.
And with a lot of filming done in the summer months, the council was able to include some of the larger festivals including Newark Festival and the European Juggling Convention.
The visitor itinerary builder enables users to create their own personalised schedules of places to explore, stay, eat and drink. Users will be able choose details of events happening in one, two, or all three destinations.
The council hopes to further work with visitor attractions and businesses with a view to adding more content to the websites.
The first campaign this year will be promoting Christmas in Newark, Southwell and Sherwood Forest, offering a wide range of festive events across the district.
The website for Visit Newark can be found here, Visit Southwell here and Visit Sherwood Forest here.
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