Gallup is coming into the 21st century with the revamping of its tourism website and the launch of a tourism app.
Gallup Tourism and Marketing Manager Jennifer Lazarz told the city council on Feb. 8 that the website went live on Feb. 4, and it took about 15 months to complete.
The city had help from a branding consultancy company Bandwagon, LLC to come up with a color palette and mood for a new Gallup logo to be used in promotional materials such as the website. In a Sun article published on July 30, a Bandwagon partner Cory Cart explained why they chose the color scheme.
“We realized there was a very distinct color palette and a very distinct shape that is in everything from the jewelry to the fashion designer [Navajo Spirt]’s logo,” he said.
The website has five main categories; things to do, events, dine and drink, where to stay, about Gallup, and a blog.
The things to do section is broken out into three categories: arts and culture, outdoors, and nearby and day trips.
The events section helps visitors plan their trip by knowing what’s going on in Gallup. In an interview, Lazarz said the events page is one of her favorite parts of the new website because now people can post their own events.
Lazarz said some of the most time-consuming work she did on the website was gathering the necessary information for Gallup’s businesses.
“Before, all we had on our directory listing was the name of the business,” she said. “There were no photos, no maps; it was just the name of the business, their phone number, and a website if they had one.”
Lazarz said the website got a facelift in an effort to promote the local businesses.
“One of the biggest needs that was demonstrated in the pandemic was that we need better access to our businesses and to connect everyone to them,” Lazarz said, during the city council meeting.
And that’s why the city tried to make the website as unique as possible.
“It doesn’t look like anything else that’s out there, really,” Lazarz explained. “When you get on that site everything from not only just the stunning photography but the way the content is organized and the way it looks and the feel of it is very specific to Gallup.”
The website was designed by Tempest, a company that helps communities promote themselves digitally.
The tourism website also got a new name along with its new design. Before, the city’s logo was “Gallup Real True,” but in a previous city council meeting, Lazarz told the council that “Visit Gallup” makes more sense in the digital age.
She showed the council that “visit” is a commonly used term, whereas “real” “true” and “real true” didn’t pull up any results about Gallup or any other city when she Googled those terms. Currently, search engine optimization is key, and people often use the word “visit” when they’re trying to plan a vacation.
Lazarz said that the new website is already seeing a lot more activity than the former one.
“People can just so much more easily find what they’re looking for,” Lazarz said.
Website: https://www.visitgallup.com
By Molly Ann Howell
Sun Correspondent
