RVUSA.com has been online for 20 years, and I thought it would be fun to take a walk down memory lane from when it was first launched in 1995, to the new Responsive Mobile Website we have now. I used the Way Back Machine to pull all our logos to share with you, starting with our first logo:
Back then, we had dealers from 16 different states advertising with us.
In 1997, a logo and website refresh was needed as the site continued to grow, and more dealers came on board (left). Then another quick logo refresh in 2000 was made (right) using Flash.
As word got out that RVUSA was building websites, we had more and more demand to create websites for dealers across the US. I came on board in March 1999 as a website designer. With no designated customer service person in place, I pretty quickly became website designer / account manager. By early 2000, we had dealers from 39 different states advertising with us, and the RVUSA website was growing at a steady pace.
On September 1, 2000, NetSource Technologies, an established website development company, acquired RVUSA. Our team doubled in size overnight, and a brand new RVUSA logo, and website design was introduced.
As more and more RV Classified websites came online, our dealers asked for a solution that gave them the ability to enter/manage their inventory in once place, and then have it sent automatically to the other RV Classified websites they were advertising with. My team got to work. In September 2001, we sent our first successful file of inventory for 11 dealers to RVTrader.com. We were the first company to set up an inventory export withRVTrader.com, and have since setup imports and exports for other classified websites, dealer management systems, etc.
MSNBC posted an article in November 2003 about “The RV Life“, and RVUSA.com was included. Here’s what they said:
RV USA (http://www.rvusa.com) is among the best organized and most useful RV sites available. The site includes interesting features such as cookbook links (like “The Four Ingredient Cookbook”) especially selected for the small RV kitchens. The site also features forums for RV-ers to ask questions, and exchange tips and information, and allows members to post classified ads selling RV’s for free. A host of travel information, including campgrounds, places to eat, sights to see, grocery stores, and events around the country, can also be found on the site.
I remember feeling so proud of myself, and my team. All the hard work we had put intoRVUSA.com was recognized at a National level, and it was pretty exciting.
The next overhaul of the RVUSA.com website happened in 2004. We changed up the logo a little, and added the tag line “The Original Online RV Guide“:
The design was kept the same for 5 years, mainly because it worked so well, but in 2009 it was time for a fresh new look for the website and logo. We also changed the tag line to “Your Guide to Everything RV“:
This is my personal favorite logo and design… I love the American flag, stars and stripes feel, etc. We’ve used this logo on our lanyard at the RVIA show for at least 5 years, and we always get a fantastic response.
In 2015, you just can’t have a website that is not mobile friendly, and Google is doing all they can to deter you from having one. In April, they released their new “mobile-friendly” algorithm, started displaying “mobile-friendly” on each listing in their search results, and just yesterday I saw a blog post that they are trying out a new “Slow to Load” alert.
So here we are to our NEW Responsive Mobile Website Design, and Logo for 2015:
The coolest feature we added was MyRVUSA. This free tool gives you the ability to save units, searches you perform, etc., and have access to them very quickly. If you haven’t checked it out, I’d highly recommend it.
Thank you for taking this walk through RVUSA.com history with me. If you have any questions, please let me know.
Cindy Spencer 🙂
Cindy Spencer, an Account Manager at NetSource Media since 2000, works with clients across the US with RVUSA.com,TrailersUSA.com and RVCanada.com. Cindy and her in-house team of designers and programmers helps dealers with responsive website design, website & email hosting, inventory management & distribution, website maintenance, SEO, and much more. Connect with Cindy on Google+ and follow her RV blog.
