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Mar 29
Web Tweak: San Jose (CA) CVB
Now we're getting somewhere!  The website for the San Jose (California) Convention and Visitors Bureau openly welcomes visitors and conventions.  This is the first site I've found to do so.  Still, I wish that the welcome were the head title, and not "Access San Jose".  On the whole, it is well designed to do the work of a CVB site.  The optical flow leads the viewer to the buttons and links that serve a potential client.

As a CVB site, it loses its focus a bit when it aims its first pass-through link to "Visitors and Residents".  But then, it has bitten off something bigger than a CVB site should; it's "Access San Jose", including info that residents can use to better enjoy their community.  That's admirable, and if the community doesn't have another entity to praise itself and sell itself to the local citizenry, I guess I can understand the one-stop uber -site.  Otherwise, they ought to let the city speak to its residents on one site, and the tourism people speak to potential visitors on another site, while the CVB sells hotel rooms and convention services on yet another (true and dedicated) CVB site.

I'll harp on this all across the continent.
Mar 27
Santa Barbara CVB
Why should a visitor have to click on a link--even if it is the first link--to get to the "Welcome" page?  Isn't that what the homepage is supposed to be?  It's like dangling a hook in the water with a note saying that the bait is in the boat. Continue Reading
Mar 24
Web Tweak: Los Angeles CVB
All the CVB site has to do is say, "Bring your event to LA."  Unfortunately, it doesn't.  Instead it says that LA is the event, and that you should come see it.  Continue Reading
Mar 18
Web Tweak: San Diego CVB
Today I review the website of the San Diego CVB, or should I say, the San Diego VB?  It's hard to find anything on their home page about conventions or conference planning.  Continue Reading
Mar 17
Web Tweak: Tucson CVB
I visited the sites of the Tucson CVB and rummaged through the linked pages.  Here's what I found. Continue Reading
Mar 16
Web Tweak: Phoenix CVB
This is the first of what I call Web Tweaks, being candid critiques, with praise where deserved, for the websites of CVBs across America and perhaps around the world.  I have decided to start near home, with the Phoenix, Arizona CVB.  First Impressions -- It has all the right things in all the right places.  Continue Reading

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