Following a soft launch in February, the National Watermelon Promotion Board has officially unveiled its refreshed and reformatted website that is home to all things watermelon.

Not since 2015 has the fresh front of watermelon had a facelift. Now in 2020, the new Watermelon.org is here. Benefits include:

• Fully customizable pages built from an abundant library of rich components
• Fun and playful animations
• Recipes and carvings pages are coded for rich search result snippets
• Fully integrated, fluid responsive website that tethers to not one, but two fully customized databases and runs succinctly
• Site is built to be more efficient from an SEO and organic search perspective aiding in driving traffic to our site
• Ubiquitous wayfinding and navigation that allows desired content to be bubbled up to the surface and promotes quicker, more digestible bits of engagement for users

The new site design promotes return visitation with automated content buckets and the ability to make real-time optimizations around many topics and pieces of content.

“Generally speaking, we uplifted the design aesthetic to be much more vivid and to align more with people’s lifestyles and behaviors,” said Stephanie Barlow, senior director of communications at NWPB. “We bridged many diverse audience groups and defined smart sections that tailor messaging and content to exactly their specific wants and needs, reducing the friction. Although consumer-focused, the website speaks to retailers, foodservice and more.”

Ultimately, the new website creates an easier gateway for shareable content, backlinks and referral traffic from our owned platforms to unique partners, according to NWPB.

One area that the new site will address is the fact that consumer research shows people don’t know what to do with the whole watermelon; they’re not buying it because it’s too big. But in fact, it’s 100 percent edible, and hundreds of recipes, carvings, crafts and activity sheets are available at watermelon.org for at-home use.

“Now, more than ever, consumers value at-home resources,” said Barlow. “Our recipes and carvings pages have historically made up about 50 percent of the site traffic, and now we have easier access to those resources stretching the value of the watermelon as more than a sweet treat, but a healthy choice that offers diverse options to use that whole watermelon.”