Build It and Then Do a Lot More- Making Your Web Site Effective
A golf course's Web site is perhaps its most valuable tool for customer service and marketing. Consumers use the Internet for different purposes, so a good Web site can fulfill their needs with both information and interaction.
“Over the past few years, the traveling public in general has used the Internet significantly for gathering information,” says Ged Stonehouse, owner of Stonehouse Marketing and Golf Group. “It helps them decide where to go and what there is to see and do once they get there. But it has just been in the last 12 to 18 months that consumers have really endorsed the Internet as a tool for doing business—actually making the purchase, signing up or making a booking.”
With almost 90 percent of core golfers using the Internet, building an effective Web site and utilizing an effective online marketing plan should be a core strategy for the golf course operation.
An Effective Website
An effective Web site must be visually appealing. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t put a lot of information on the site. “Our Web site was very friendly, but it was massive in regards to the information,” says Dave Cowan, a golf course consultant and former manager of Mill Run Golf & Country Club. “I believe that it’s an information tool.”
The key is to make your Web site easy to navigate. “The majority of people using the Internet know enough to find their way around, but can get easily lost or frustrated,” explains Stonehouse. “The simplicity comes with navigation. When I go to the site, can I easily find my way quickly and directly to what I want?”
The Web site should also offer online tee time booking and purchasing opportunities. “The key for the consumer is 24/7 accessibility,” Stonehouse says. “The gang gets together to watch baseball and decide to golf the next morning. They go on the Internet and there they find the courses that have this service. If you’re not there, you can’t be chosen.”
Stonehouse cites the Web site for Canada’s Bell Bay Golf Club on Cape Breton Island as one that is attractive, easy to navigate and book tee times online. “I clicked on the booking button, and a window opened asking if I was a member or guest,” he says. “It asked my name and provided a button to search for a tee time. Up came a calendar to choose the day, number in my party, nine or 18 holes, power cart, preferred time. There were the times, the cost, I confirmed it, entered my credit card number, and it printed a confirmation.”
For Bell Bay, one of Stonehouse’s clients, this past season was its first with the technology to make their Web site more effective. “They are seeing significant activity in just their first season of having the system,” Stonehouse says.
Now Market, Market, Market
So now you have built your beautiful, interactive, easy-to-navigate Web site. What happens next? You can’t just sit back and hope the customers find it.
“Funny enough, if you look at people’s advertisements and promotions, they won’t have their Web site address on there,” Cowan says. “We tried to drive all the people to our Web site by making it very prominent in all our promotions. Make sure it is a part of any advertisement you run.”
Put something on your Web site that is not available anywhere else. Entice people to visit your site to download coupons or enter contests that are run through the Web site.
Use e-mail marketing and online golf course marketing effectively. “We have been working with our clients and encouraging them to gather e-mails from their customers when they book tee-times or when they come in,” Stonehouse says. “We invite them to sign up for the club’s e-newsletter. Then the club can send out an attractive, full-color, current newsletter to their clients in seconds for little or no cost. The newsletter will have links to specials on your Web site and information about the club. This goes to people who already know about your course— they have played it and hopefully like it and your service— and will enjoy getting updated information and specials.”
To increase links to your Web site, provide quality photography and editorial to the many other Web sites that are focused on golf. “They are always looking for good editorial,” Stonehouse says. In addition, “look up all those sites that have your course listed and make sure the information is correct.”
Also, make sure your course is cross-linked with local chambers of commerce and city information sites—newcomers and visitors to the area rely up these Web sites.
Most important, don’t get lost on the Web. Make sure your site is in the top 10 listings on the search engine. Type in the name of your business and see if it shows up on the first page. Also type in a common phrase that for your business, such as “golf course, Hilton Head.” If your golf course doesn’t show up on the first page on one or both of these tries, you are losing visitors to your Web site.
“People will only look at that first page,” Cowan says. “It has to be simple so that when people go looking for your Web site, they can find it.”
The world’s most popular search engine is www.google.com. Golf courses can use Google AdWords, Google’s advertising program that lets businesses create simple ads and display them to people already searching online for information related to their business. These AdWords ads are displayed alongside the links to the articles containing the key words that were typed into the Google search engine. Cowan recommends using a company that specializes in Web site marketing to ensure that your site is kept very fresh in the search engines.
“There are people that are experts in that field,” he says. “It’s important because you can get lost in the sea of information for sure.”
The bottom line is not to skimp on your Web site or online marketing. “Spend a little time and money to have a great Web site,” Stonehouse says. “It is one of your most economical and effective ways to market your product.”