The Jacksonville Area Convention & Visitors Bureau has a revamped website.
Executive Director Brittany Henry says the idea for updating the new website came from ideas during the Covid-19 pandemic shutdowns. She says many tourism bureaus went through a time of inner review, taking stock of their resources, and thinking of things that each could do better. Henry says she inherited many things, including the Convention & Visitor’s Bureau website that was starting to become outdated.
Henry says that when the City of Jacksonville went through its rebrand in August of last year that she believed it was time to also rework the website at jacksonvilleil.org: “We just thought with the re-brand process that it was really time to take a look at that website and see what we can do. We just kind of took off from there. We had lots of great ideas, things that we wanted to see added that we didn’t necessarily have before. We really started working regionally and statewide with some of our other tourism partners to take a look at our stuff and ask them what did they see, what were we missing. We formed a committee through our bureau and we sent things out asking for some local input. This is what we came up with and we are pretty proud of it.”
Henry says that the new site is visually captivating right up front: “I think immediately someone will notice the beautiful images that pop right up. Then, using the tagline ‘Uncover the possibilities.’ That’s the first thing you are going to see when open it up. At least, that’s what I notice and what I am hearing from people who are really seeing that. We really wanted to make sure that logo usage from the rebrand was primary and in front so people can start to recognize that brand exchange. As far as the toolbar goes on the top, most of it still looks about the same. We have some different tabs that have changed. We have some additional, new tabs. We broke up lodging and dining. They are no longer together. We wanted to make sure that each one is represented differently. Now, you can go to the tabs and you can search by what type of place that you’d like to stay at or eat at. Not everything is just on one page.”
Henry says that the site is still a work in progress in some areas, especially with new businesses as so many have opened up within the last 5 years alone.
Henry says if people see something is missing or have a suggestion, they can contact the bureau by filling out the “Contact Us” form on the website, call 217-243-5678, or stop by the office during business hours at 310 East State Street.
Henry says to keep checking the site regularly as new features, photos, videos, links, and more will continue to be added over the coming months.