When you’re asking yourself that question, what’s the first thing you do?  Check out the tourism websites of course! 

Building websites for tourism-related businesses is one of our main focuses here at Gray’s Web Design.

Check out this enticing website for Lochaerie Resort on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State www.lochaerie.com:

Lochaerie Resort, Cabins on the Olympic Peninsula

Their website sports an availability calendar customized just for them.  Plus they can update every single page of their website.  Isn’t it great to be in control?

And besides figuring out where to stay, you want to decide what to do.  Here’s a fun site that we just did for Sand Dunes Frontier in Florence, Oregon.  This business owner had the idea to embed a variety of videos right into the design.  Why be boring, right?  www.sanddunesfrontier.com

Sand Dunes Frontier in Florence, Oregon

Why have a boring school website when you use a website to colorfully show off the joy, community, and mission of your school — and still communicate all the little details that a school website needs to communicate?

That’s what Holy Cross Catholic School in Portland, Oregon decided to do.  Check it out at www.holycrosspdx.org.

Holy Cross Catholic School in Portland, Oregon

With their fully updatable website, Holy Cross Catholic School can communicate about admissions, events, news and more.  But they didn’t stop there.  They have photo galleries, a photo-rich page about each classroom, and info about alumni, activities, music, sports and more.

Plus they are using facebook to keep in touch with their families.  You can see their facebook page here:  http://www.facebook.com/holycrosscatholicschool.

Enjoy!

We redid the Ocean Bleu at Gino’s website recently — check it out!  www.oceanbleuseafoods.com.

Ready for your mouth to water?

Ocean Bleu at Gino's, Newport, Oregon Bayfront

These guys are using both their website and facebook to engage with their customers.

Their emphasis is on wild caught, natural seafood.  And they Buy Local! True confessions here….this is one of my favorite places to eat.

If you haven’t liked them on facebook yet, what are you waiting for?  www.facebook.com/oceanbleuatginos.

Do musicians and artists need websites too?  Heck yes!  Websites and facebook are excellent marketing tools to get the word out about the quality of focus of your artistry.

Newport fused glass artist Karel Murphy of Windy Sea Designs launched this brand new site recently:

Windy Sea Designs by Karel Murphy

Karel uses her site to both showcase her work and to sell online.  She has a custom shopping cart that she updates herself.  And she is using facebook to keep in touch with her fans.  Visit her site at www.windyseadesigns.com.

Portland mandolinist Brian Oberlin has launched his ultra-cool eye-catching website at www.mandoberlin.com.

Portland Mandolinist Brian Oberlin of Mandoberlin

He uses his site to feature upcoming performances, and upcoming classes and workshops that he is teaching.  He also uses his site to provide musical clips of his work to whet the appetite.  And once you’ve heard some clips, you can find out where to buy his music.

He manages his own website, adding his events, clips and teaching tools himself using a custom-designed admin that we made for him.

Plus he’s using facebook to keep in touch with his fans.

And speaking of mandolin music, check out the new and improved Oregon Mandolin Orchestra website at www.oregonmandolinorchestra.org.

Oregon Mandolin Orchestra

These folks also update their own website, including upcoming events, musical clips, photo gallery, news, and more!

And they are using facebook to connect with their fans.