Web Design Ireland

I have been known to occasionally bash the keys at various retro game titles such as the Bullfrogs classic Theme  Park, ( I know - I’m an eighties kid) and believe it or not, the strategies involved in building your theme park empire, are analogous with website development and promotion…There are tips you can apply to both..

1) Listen to the advisor

The advisor is the man. Listen to his advice or die, and whilst I dont claim to wear a hat as stylish as this little number, I do (sometimes) offer sterling advice. Now before my head gets too big for this blog post, let me explain. At the beginning of a new theme park, you will get guided through by many tips from the games help guy (the advisor). He shows you the ropes at the start, making sure you dont make any silly park design mistakes but.. the only things he tells you should be obvious things you either overlooked or forget..Which is why you should get your site reviewed by a few people when you launch to make sure you dont miss anything important.

2) Listen to the little people

The little people are your friends, and so are your site visitors. If you listen to what they are telling you, you’ll get rewarded. Common sense really.  With Theme Park you get the chance to survey visitors easily, as they all have happy icons. Unfortunately real visitors to your website aren’t going to be able to leave you feedback unless you ask them for it. Whether that be through site surveys, comments on your blog, or through direct emails. With Theme Park the following is good advice to increase your bottom line. You can take the same concepts and apply them to your site too.

spend some time surveying customers to fine tune your prices:
- extra sales may provide more income than extra profit;
- extra sales means faster usage of stocks (== more money).

3) Starting out

When just starting out, don’t open your park until you’ve laid out a  few rides, bathrooms, food and drink stands, and merchandise shops.  You don’t want your first guests to enter a park that has been poorly laid out, because they’ll be dissatisfied and word of mouth will hurt future attendance levels. Same thing with starting out with a new website. Make sure your layout and design are spot on when you launch your site, so that your visitors will spread the word so to speak.

4) Satisfying The Masses

Think of your content on your website the same way you treat your rides in theme park. Research Research Research. If you know what is hot at the right minute, then your visitors are going to be happy campers.  When a ride breaks down in Theme Park, don’t wait for a mechanic, TELL him to fix it. Same thing with your website, dont wait for your visitors to tell you something is broken, keep an eye on things yourself with monitoring tools, and fix that badboy up yourself. Hire Entertainers. In other words maybe invest in your website content by bringing in a few content writers.

5) Revenue Streams

One important thing to note is that in Theme Park admission prices alone will not  provide enough revenue for your park to operate.  That’s where  food/merchandise/game units come into the picture.  Combined with front  gate admission prices, the revenue that food/merchandise/game units generate should bring your park into the black…same with your website. You can’t rely purely on making it big from simple visitor numbers or pay per view advertising. Alternative revenue streams such as cafepress t-shirts etc can reap the rewards.