How Little Rock’s New Tempest Website Achieved Big Gains Through Growth Marketing Support
The Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau is tasked with positioning and promoting Arkansas’ inviting capital city as a premier choice for leisure travelers, meetings, events, and sporting events.
The CVB is also responsible for managing and securing business to support several of the city’s key attractions and venues, such as the River Market, Robinson Center, and Statehouse Convention Center.
+43%
YOY Traffic Growth
1.1M
Website Visits In First Year
+50%
YOY Organic Traffic
Five Brands, One Domain
In 2022, the Little Rock CVB engaged Tempest for a comprehensive website redesign project that would not only focus technology modernization and captivating design updates, but also aim to bring all CVB-managed entities together under one singular LittleRock.com domain in a way that boosted content discovery and engagement among their audiences.
Previously, Little Rock’s core brands—LittleRock.com, Little Rock Meetings, Statehouse Convention Center, Robinson Center, and River Market—were on separate domains. This structure made content management inefficient and created inconsistent user experiences.
Utilizing the microsites functionality within the versatile Craft CMS, Tempest migrated content from all five properties into LittleRock.com while still maintaining customizable branding for each entity. Logos, color palettes, navigation and other features change depending on the site visited, but the Little Rock CVB team is able to manage the information and content within one CMS instance.
Visual Upgrades & Enhancing Storytelling
Launched on March 31, 2023, the new LittleRock.com also introduced a refreshed and responsive design that infused the CVB’s “Big on Little Rock” into all aspects of the user experience and evoked the warmth of Southern hospitality the destination is known for. Standout design features include an interactive neighborhood spotlight map highlighting the city's unique districts, as well as a series of website elements that can be fully customized to enhance storytelling about the destination’s iconic landmarks, historic attractions, and thriving cultural scene.
The Little Rock CVB also contracted with Tempest for Growth Marketing to ensure ongoing success of the revitalized website, including specialized focuses on search engine optimization, content development and paid search marketing efforts. Operating as a natural extension of their in-house team, Tempest supported the Little Rock CVB by pursuing new content opportunities that allowed for increased exposure within organic search, while also zeroing in on existing content pieces needing updates or SEO improvements.
This work built upon the reconfigured information architecture developed as part of the larger website project, which thoughtfully grouped content into thematic clusters that met the interests of Little Rock’s target audience. New content was built to support marquee annual events and festivals throughout the destination, in-depth overviews of standout attractions, like the Little Rock Zoo, and key seasonal opportunities, such as holiday shopping guides and the top places to view holiday lights.
Record-Breaking Results
In its first year, the revamped LittleRock.com experienced a dramatic surge in traffic, surpassing 1.1 million sessions — representing a 43% increase from the previous year. A major contributor to this achievement was the website's enhanced performance in organic search, generating over 682,000 visits and a 50% growth in traffic.
The new website also helped the Little Rock CVB achieve marketing and sales goals by driving conversions that supported local partners and generated qualified leads. LittleRock.com facilitated nearly 65,000 referrals to local businesses, restaurants, and attractions, 2,700 newsletter signups, over 2,400 vacation guide requests and 162 RFP submissions within the first year of the website.
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At Tempest, we define growth as a broad, data-driven approach focused on ensuring visitors connect with your at every stage of the travel planning process.
The Tempest web development team are digital craftspeople building destination websites that set the benchmark for the industry.
