Getting Your Visitors Where They Need to Go

I was reviewing an agent’s website recently and discussing how we could be of assistance.  I noticed that they had a page on the site called Maps and Directions.

The agent’s site is usually visited by people who are looking for second home or vacation property, so the visitors aren’t really familiar with the area.  They’d done a good job of giving directions to the resort town from the closest major cities.  But, it was a static display of a map and information that couldn’t be easily printed to assist visitors for the drive.

One option to make that information more useful would be to put the directions into a PDF file and let visitors download it.  But, the most effective way to help those visitors would be to let them generate a map showing specific directions from their starting point.

Don’t Forget the Maps!

There have been other posts on this blog about maps.  The map-maker I use is www.ZeeMaps.com.  It’s a fairly easy way to create interactive Google maps that are extremely useful.

You end up with a map that can have a list of the locations shown on the map, and push pins that identify a specific location.  When a visitor clicks on one of the push pins, they will see the description you added, and links that will give them the ability to get directions from a specific starting point, just as you see on the maps on the Google site.

And, the good news is that the map directions open in a new window, so your visitors won’t lose the page on your site.

Take a look at this example of a map in Northwest Florida.  To see the type of description you can add, click on the push pin #6, or click on the #6 entry under Points of Interest on the right side of the map.

Maps can be useful in many ways - don’t forget to use them!