A campground website has one job: turn a person who's curious into a person who's booked. Most park websites do everything except that one job, they've got photo galleries, a "history of our park" page, a Facebook feed embed, an Adobe Flash slideshow that hasn't worked since 2018. They don't have a clear, fast path to a confirmed reservation.
Here's the diagnostic checklist. Run your park's site against it.
The 5-second test
Open your homepage on a phone. Set a timer for five seconds. After five seconds, can a stranger answer all three of these questions?
- Where is this campground?
- What kind of camping happens here? (RV, tent, cabin, glamping?)
- How do I book?
If any answer requires scrolling, hunting, or thinking, you're losing bookings at the front door. Most parks fail on question 3. The "Book Now" button is buried, hidden in a hamburger menu, or links to a third-party site that loads slowly.
What "good" looks like vs. what "common" looks like
| Element | What most parks have | What works |
|---|---|---|
| Hero | Stock photo of a generic campfire + "Welcome to [park name]" | Real photo of YOUR park + a one-sentence pitch (e.g., "Lakefront RV camping 15 minutes from Nashville") |
| Booking CTA | "Book Now" link that goes to a third-party booking site after 3 clicks | Date picker on the homepage that lands directly on available sites for those dates |
| Phone number | In a footer. Nowhere else. | In the top-right of every page, click-to-call on mobile |
| Address | One mention, on the contact page | Visible above the fold on the homepage with a "directions" link |
| Photos | 2014 photoshoot, 24 thumbnails of the same lake angle | 10 modern photos showing different site types, the bathhouse, the actual amenities (yes, bathhouse photos, guests look) |
| Site map | Hand-drawn JPG with a "we'll send you the right site" pitch | Interactive map showing what's available for the guest's dates and which sites fit their rig |
| Pricing | "Call for pricing" | Public rates by site type, with seasonal differences clearly shown |
| Reviews | None on site (they're on Google) | 3-5 actual quotes from real guests, each tied to a specific aspect (cleanliness, kid-friendliness, etc.) |
The three pages that actually matter
Most park sites have 8-12 pages. Most of those pages get fewer than 5 visits a month. The three that matter:
Home. Five seconds to answer "where, what, how do I book." Date picker visible. Phone number visible. One photo that screams "this place." A second-tier scroll showing the experience.
Sites & rates. Map of the park. Filter by site type, hookup, length. Show available now. Don't make people email you to find out if site 47 is available for the 4th of July weekend.
Things to do. This is the page that converts the "we might come" guest. List specific activities, named restaurants 20 minutes away, the local lake's best swimming spot, the antique store on the way in, the diner the locals actually eat at. Specific beats generic 10 to 1.
Cabins, glamping options, group sites, history of the park, photo gallery, those are nice-to-haves, not need-to-haves. If you don't have time, skip them and put that time into the three above.
What to delete
- Your "About Us" page if it's just a paragraph about how the park has been family-owned since 1987. Move that sentence to the home page hero. Delete the page.
- The Facebook feed embed that shows your last post from 2022.
- The PDF "rate sheet" link from 2019 still sitting in the menu.
- The blog if you haven't posted in two years. An out-of-date blog reads like an out-of-business park.
- The "weather" widget. Nobody is checking your park's website to find the weather. They have a weather app.
One more thing
Test the booking flow on your own site as a stranger would. Use your phone. Use 4G, not WiFi. Try to book site 12 for July 4th weekend. Time how long it takes from "land on homepage" to "see confirmation."
If it takes more than 90 seconds, every booking attempt that doesn't survive that timer is a lost reservation. Fix that one thing first. Everything else is window-dressing.
Run your park on Campground Management.
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