A Web Strategy Runs Through It

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You might think AO is constantly sinking money into Web development. Not so. The site is mature now. It works, so there's less need for experimentation. "This is a time to step back and evaluate," Gregg says.

Besides, it was a tough season this year. A light snowpack lowered river levels. Worse, California's energy crisis crunched the entire industry. "The majority of our business is on rivers that provide hydroelectric power," says Scott. "The allowances of water for recreation were very low."

Still, the company has plans to further refine its Web site. For example, Low wants to get a site map up soon. AO is also pursuing some co-branding outside the industry. "We have 12 other sites driving traffic our way, but I won't tell you what they are," Low says. Doesn't want to alert the competition, you know.

AO continues to pursue traditional marketing, although nothing like it did in the old days. "When we started the site, we thought we'd eliminate the printed materials in three years," Gregg says, "but you really need both to support each other. The printed materials have to be as good as they ever were to compete and build credibility."

"We once thought the Web would be a onetime investment, like a catalog," says Scott. "Put up the site and lean back, and it will work for you over time. But that's not the way it works. In the '70s and '80s, our customers were people on the edge, real enthusiasts. Now our customers are people who will do something else if they don't go rafting."

The company's Web strategy has done more than prove itself. According to Gregg, revenues from the site alone were $55,000 in 1997, $260,000 in 1998, and $600,000 in 1999. In 2000, the site brought in $760,000. "When I look at $760,000 from the Web and compare it to $34,000 from ads in the AAA magazine, I know it's well worth the investment of resources," Gregg says. In fact, he's sure it's the best investment AO has ever made.

Michael Warshaw is editor of Small Business Computing.

A Site to Behold

There are something like 270 pages on www.aorafting.com, organized in a simple architecture designed for easy navigation, according to Webmaster Jamie Low. Visitors are greeted by a home page with a moderate amount of text, some pictures, and lots of links. "Your Best Source for California Whitewater Rafting River Trips," it says -- a carefully written slogan. "It's all about search engines," says CEO Gregg Armstrong.

Four large navigation buttons are stacked in a vertical column on the left side, one for each of the site's main sections: About All-Outdoors, California Rivers, Plan a Trip, and Contact Us.

The About All-Outdoors link leads to a company backgrounder. Those who want to check out AO can click to histories of both the company and the Armstrong family, a guest feedback page, and a list of the governmental permits that AO holds. There are also confidence-inspiring testimonials from some government-agency officials: "All-Outdoors is an outstanding outfitter and partner to BLM." -- D.K. Swickard, Bureau of Land Management.

California Rivers is the shopper's page. It opens to reveal a map with buttons for each of the 12 rivers to which AO brings its customers. In the left-hand navigation bar, the rivers are organized by the skill level they require. Click on a river button for selections of photos, trip descriptions and fees, and another route to the 360-degree virtual-reality tours. "Redundancy is important," Low says. "Make sure you have a lot of links to the different pages."

Plan a Trip takes visitors through a four-step process to choose a river, select a day, and make reservations.

Lastly, Contact Us also provides links to the reservation system, as well as a catalog-request page and links to provide feedback on trips or even the site itself.

Just about every page has a photo of a spectacular locale. There are plenty of opportunities for visitors to volunteer information by using feedback pages or by signing up for the company's E-mail newsletters, to mention two.

One thing you can't do on the site is complete a reservation. You can pay by credit card and you can pick your river, but the system stops short there. "We have people send in a form, and a human being always gets back to them," says Low.

The reason for that limitation is that reservations are made way ahead of time, before anyone knows what water conditions may be. Plus, in order to gauge a rafting party's skill level and ensure that customers understand that their accommodations won't exactly be the Ritz, AO needs more interactivity with its customers than its Web site can now provide.

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