In 1998, 50.6 million people engaged in bowling in the U.S.making it one of the most participated sports across the country. (source: Bowling.net). According to The Millionaire Next Door, a book written by Thomas Stanley, bowling is the second most profitable entrepreneurship business in America (source:Bowling.net). Bowling is clearly a lucrative niche- with the right online presence and marketing, there is money to be made.
But, how is your online presence? Would better-engaged traffic help grow your bowling alley business? Could you be getting more bookings with a much stronger online presence?
If you answered yes to any of the questions above, read on.
It is not enough, anymore, for any business to have a website with just text and photos. A high-performing website needs to be flawless, up-to-date, and top-notch to stand out from competitors. A good bowling website, therefore, needs to be attractive, informative, and be useful to its visitors. Yes, that is the niche of a good website. It drives more people to stay longer on the website and encourages more bookings.
What Makes a High-Converting Bowling Website?
The most significant marketing asset for your bowling business is your website. With a good bowling website, you will not struggle to attract traffic or make sales. Website design alone no longer works. You need to apply online marketing strategies that work in tandem with your website.
Elements To A High Performing Bowling Website Include:
- Home page appearance
- Bowling web copy
- Functionality
- Mobile user friendly
- Booking and payment process
- Bowling lane pre-selection
- Party and events reservations calendar
- Food pre-order section
- Link your event calendar to your social media accounts
Homepage Appearance
Is your homepage convincing enough to leave a lasting impression?
When people visit the homepage of your bowling alley website, are they convinced enough you can deliver?
Does your homepage make visitors want to linger long enough on the site for you to win their trust and eventually convert them?
Your homepage is a first entry point to your bowling alley business and first impressions matter.
The design should be modern and appealing. Most bowlers are Millennials who are very tech-savvy. If your bowling website is dull, old-fashioned, and out-dated, they will go running to your competitors’ websites if they look more lively and eye-catching to them.
Talk about what you are offering right away without assuming people know your business inside and out. Have content, photos, and graphics on your homepage that communicate your bowling alley’s services. Emphasize your strong selling points and features that make your business stand out from the competition.
Put at least one video on your homepage that showcases the bowling experience, the ambiance of your facilities, and the quality of your services; Seeing is believing.
Lastly, on the homepage, include testimonials that show other people who have used your services and were happy with them. Trustworthiness is a huge aspect of conversion. Brand trust on top of sales leads to brand loyalty.
Bowling Web Copy
What information do visitors want to see when they visit a bowling alley site? Does the content on your site meet their needs?
A mistake many businesses make is to focus all their energies on how the website looks in terms of the outer appearance but give it little actual function beyond the content
Words have power. The right information on your website can convert a visitor to a customer.
What content does a bowling alley site need to have? Strive to write content that answers questions visitors might have:
- Features and services
- Pricing Information
- Hours of Operation
- Specials Offers
- Tournament, Event, and League Information
- How-To Content
Functionality
Navigation is significant when it comes to user experience. A good bowling alley website should be easy to navigate. You do not want to have a site structure that makes people confused.
Call-to-action buttons should function well, driving visitors through your sales funnel. Broken links and slow page loads disappoint users, which, in turn, increases your website’s bounce rate. As a business owner, you want to make sure all the links on your website are up-to-date and functioning well.
If the user experience is good and everything flows seamlessly. They will be engaged, take more time to navigate through everything, and leave the website having satisfied their needs.
Mobile User-Friendly
Does your bowling alley website load seamlessly on a mobile device? Can the booking process be completed using only a mobile device?
Research shows 50% of all internet traffic takes place on a mobile device. The irony is that most bowling websites we have worked on were not mobile-responsive. Visitors, therefore, had to log into a desktop-first for them to reserve bowling lanes. Can you imagine how frustrating that is?
Booking And Payment Process
How is the booking and payment process on your bowling alley website? Is it direct and transparent? Does your booking process avoid lengthy procedures when it comes to making payments? Always remember that the fewer steps a process has, the fewer customers will abandon your website; reducing friction is key to converting website visitors into customers.
An easy reservation and payment process is always a win. Strive to achieve this aspect on your website.
Bowling Alley lane reservation
A good bowling alley website should allow visitors to reserve a bowling lane to avoid confusion and/or double bookings. Can you imagine arriving at a bowling event with tickets already paid for only to be told all lanes are full? A reservation/booking system keeps this from happening.
Party And Events Reservations Calendar
A good booking system can also be used to schedule events and facility rentals during non-peak times, boosting your profitability.
Visitors should be able to pick a time and date on the calendar for an event, select food from the menu, and buy tickets. It should be that simple.
Maybe you hold a cosmic bowling night every Friday and Saturday, or it is football season, and you have a match-watch party. These events should be able to be marketed online using your website, your events calendar page, a home page slider, your email list, and your social media accounts. Event calendars that allow you to use photos or images can be more engaging to site visitors.
Food Pre-Order Section
If your bowling alley sells food and drink, showcase this on your website.. The option to review your bowling alley’s menu and each plate’s nutritional information increases your website’s functionality and, if you are willing to allow food purchases online, potentially increases your restaurant and beverage sales.. It’s convenient to pay for everything at one go and will love that you went the extra mile to provide this significant feature.
Link Your Event Calendar To Your Social Media Accounts
Your bowling alley’s event calendar should have the option of merging it with the business social media pages like Facebook. Sharing the calendar of events on your social media platform helps widen your reach, meaning more bookings or party ticket sales.
So, instead of putting your social media pages on the homepage, the best option is to link your social media account to the Event Calendar page on your website, driving additional traffic to your website which can then be converted into lane reservations, shoe rentals, and maybe even meal purchases..
Conclusion
Our main goal is to help take your bowling alley business to the next level. If you are at a point in your business where you feel you could be making more money, but your website is not the best, maybe it is time for an upgrade!.
With our help, you can turn your website into a lead-generating machine. As a business owner, you must invest in your future success. Contact us today and find out how we can improve your website conversions!
