What business owners can learn from Universal Studios theme park website

written by Quired
04-24-2009
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Written by J. Paul Duplantis

I had an experience the other day with my family that speaks volumes about how businesses are beginning to use the internet to help spark interest in their offerings.

We are planning a family trip to California in the middle of summer and had been floating the idea of the Universal Studio Theme park as an option.

Admittedly both my son and I were excited about the idea to say the least but my interest level was tempered by all of the other madness going on in my brain at any given minute. As the scheduled vacation began to draw near, I needed help to make a decision if we were going to make Universal a part of our destination.

So I gathered the family around the computer and went to www.UniversalStudiosHollywood.com What happened from there is what every business should consider. Not only did every ride in the park have its own introductory video but many attractions had their own micro website.

The videos were short, entertaining and compelling. I was able to put myself and my son into the experience visually and audibly. Something that text would not have been able to do.

I will be the first one to admit that sometimes simple text or an interesting article is less time consuming than video but text is what usually draws me in or piques my interest. Video is what qualifies the experience for me. (especially when the video is done well).

I would rather learn about the product, service or event before talking to the rep or visiting the location. I feel it is a better use of my time and probably saves me time when you factor in asking a rep countless questions or wasting time traveling to an event where the experience did not match with my expectation.

The theme park also hit it out of the park by creating micro websites for a number of their key attractions.

Return of the Mummy Micro Website
Shrek 4D Micro Website
Simpsons The Ride Micro Website

They even created a specific domain for the Simpsons Ride which is great for targeting and SEO.

Successful business owners are discovering the potential of the web and moving away from creating static websites to creating dynamic web experiences to build audiences around. The successful formula is proving to be "experience" over "pitch".

Now I am jazzed to hit the Revenge of the Mummy ride with my wife and son then off to the beach for a little R & R.