We all know that small-town chambers of commerce don’t have a big budget to work with as the bigger cities do. The budgets are dependent on membership renewals, some ad space in the local directory, donations (hehe), and a few other revenue sources. Bottom line: There’s not often much to work with. But there is another source. You may have used it before … and it can be used on your website as well!
We’re talking about sponsored or featured listings!
Your hotels, motels, lodges, restaurants, breweries, pubs, and diners can all be listed on your tourism-specific website. You might have them listed out on the website or even linked back to your existing directory on your chamber of commerce website. Generally speaking, these listings are shown in alphabetical order so as to avoid any favoritism. But what if someone paid a little extra in their membership and got to be listed first AND highlighted on the new tourism website? Brilliant.
These are the listings that would be listed first and forest. They will have a “featured listing” annotation to help them stand out. Perhaps they’d be displayed on a colored background to help them pop. We want to make it worth their sponsorship investment!
In the end, it’s a win-win. These exclusive members of the chamber get to have their listings displayed ahead of the rest by spending a few ad dollars with you. You win because it provides you with some cash flow to help pay for and maintain your website.
Oh … and let’s not forget about the “win” for the tourist who’s looking at your website, sees the listing, books their accommodation, and comes away with an amazing experience while visiting your small town.
NOTE: You can see a demo of what this could look like for an accommodation directory by visiting my demo website.
