Your website can look good and still not be doing much for your business.
Zach Boulanger of Bowling Marketing Solutions uses one question to gauge whether that work is happening: How many people did your website add to your customer database last month?
That shifts the conversation from how a website looks to what it is actually accomplishing.
Carey Tosello, founder of eBowl.biz, compares a website to an iceberg. The photos, colors, pages, and design are only part of what matters. “You see the one-third,” he says. “You don’t see the two-thirds that actually do all the work.” Underneath are the pieces that help people find your business, collect customer information, and keep the site functioning.
HELP THEM FIND YOU
Social media makes it easy to share events, specials, photos, and last-minute information, but a website serves a different purpose. Someone looking for a place to bowl, host a birthday party, or plan a company event typically starts with Google, often without knowing your center’s name.
Website structure matters here. Giving birthday parties, company events, fundraisers, and school outings their own pages provide more specific content for search engines than putting everything on a general events page.
Tip! Search “birthday party ideas” with your city or market instead of your center’s name. Is your center showing up?
KEEP THE CONNECTION
Getting someone to your website is only the beginning. One of the biggest missed opportunities Boulanger sees is letting visitors leave without giving you a way to reach them again. “When we build a site, our number one goal is to collect as much data as possible,” he says. A compelling sign-up offer gives visitors a reason to share their information.
Once they do, the relationship no longer depends on getting that customer back to your website or hoping they see your next social post. An email address or mobile number can be added to a customer database you control. That differs from building a Facebook following, where the platform determines how many followers see an unpaid post. Social media remains useful, but it doesn’t provide the same direct connection.
Tosello saw the difference during COVID, when centers needed to communicate changing hours, reopening information, and procedures. Those with established customer databases already had people they could contact directly. Those starting without one, he says, faced “a longer comeback.”
GIVE SEARCH SOMETHING TO FIND
One common website shortcut can make useful information nearly invisible to search: posting a flyer instead of creating webpage content.
You likely already have flyers promoting parties, specials, and events, so uploading the same artwork to your website seems efficient. The problem is that information within the image doesn’t provide search engines with the same usable text as content built into the webpage.
“Don’t use the same thing that’s on your front desk on your website,” Boulanger says. “Pull the content from it, but it should be redesigned for the web.” The same applies to keeping content current. Prices, packages, and holiday hours should be updated online so customers don’t find outdated information.
As more consumers use AI tools to find information, another question is coming up: Will websites still matter? Boulanger points to where AI gets its information. Search and AI tools rely on information available online, including a center’s website, making accurate, current content increasingly important even when a customer never visits the homepage directly.
SHOW THE EXPERIENCE
The visible part of Tosello’s iceberg still matters, especially when it comes to photography. Tosello says centers can see an immediate increase in party bookings when they use current, quality images. Even without a professional photo shoot, turning on the lights and putting people in the picture gives customers a better sense of the experience. Boulanger points to polished websites from larger entertainment brands, where professional photography and video often make much of the visual impact.
That can be particularly noticeable in bowling, where good stock photography is limited. Photos of your center can show customers what they’re considering buying: people bowling, celebrating, eating, having a drink, and spending time together.
“People send pictures of their empty bowling center,” Boulanger says. “You’ve got to have people smiling, emotion, people having a beer.”
Boulanger also sees value in keeping your visual identity consistent. Bowling Marketing Solutions creates simple brand guides so that colors and fonts carry over across websites, emails, social graphics, monitors, and other marketing materials. eBowl.biz likewise lets you choose from multiple website themes for a look that fits your center. Whether you manage the site or someone does it for you, what customers see online should feel like the business they will walk into.
START WITH THE PHONE
Tosello says websites should be built “mobile first,” rather than simply made mobile-friendly after the desktop version is designed. Roughly 95% of traffic to Bowling Marketing Solutions’ client websites comes from mobile devices, according to Boulanger.
A customer may search for a birthday party, land on your site, browse photos, review the package, and submit information without ever seeing the desktop version you view in the office.
IS YOUR WEBSITE DOING ITS JOB?
Is the information current? Can someone who doesn’t already know your center find it while searching for the experience or event they want? Is your website adding people to your customer database?
Those questions can help identify where your site is working and where it may need attention. If you want another set of eyes, both Tosello and Boulanger offer complimentary website evaluations. When choosing someone to build or manage your site, consider not only their website and marketing expertise but how well they understand your business. Familiarity with party business, group events and repeat visits gives them useful context for what your website needs to accomplish.
There are also different ways to manage the work. Tosello’s BowlRx.com offers a managed option, with the eBowl.biz team handling the website, or an Express option that lets you make updates yourself from your phone. Bowling Marketing Solutions provides managed websites as part of its broader marketing services. Which approach makes sense depends on what you need your website to do and how much you want to manage yourself.
Your website is already part of how customers find, evaluate and connect with your business. Make sure it’s doing its job.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Bowling Marketing Solutions https://bowlingmarketingsolutions.com/
BowlRX https://bowlrx.com/
