OUR STORY
“How a Mommy Blog Became a Vibrant Family Tourism Website”
Fun In Jerusalem began as a mommy blog in May 2009, when I began to write about the activities I did with my kids. Readers began to follow our “klita to Jerusalem” through my blog posts After a few months, I began to receive requests from readers for a local calendar of kids events. As my blog readership grew, I decided to convert my WordPress blog into a fully featured tourism website. In February 2010, I launched the Fun In Jerusalem website with the help of a very talented friend. The site readership continued to grow and readers began to come from all over the world.
We added a weekly Fun In Jerusalem newsletter in April 2010. The site became a popular place for locals to find local events to entertain their kids and for tourists to plan their upcoming family trips to Jerusalem. We even received requests for dating activity advice!
In the summer of 2013 it became clear that we had outgrown our current site and were ready for a new look and more features. Working with Illuminea we developed a new site, going back to WordPress, with a fun and interactive design and many new useful features. Our new site launched on May 15th, 2014.
The new site still has the same great features that readers have come to rely on, like the list of FUN Things to Do in Jerusalem, the daily Calendar of Events, our useful Summer Camps Guide to Jerusalem and Swimming Pool Guide which comes in handy during the hot summers in Jerusalem.
Readers looking to plan parties, whether they are birthday parties or a Bar/Bat Mitzva, can find recommended party workshops (like Origami), party entertainers, cute custom cake designers (the cakes …not the designers!) and unique party venues.
The new site also includes new features making it easier to search for activities by age (yes we have activities for teens as well) or by category. The calendar can be searched by type of event or age as well. Most importantly the new site has a great new search feature where you can enter a name of an attraction or type of attraction (ex Jeeping). Attraction pages include a quick and easy reservation option, links to the upcoming events of the attraction and sometimes even a great coupon.
The process of building the Fun In Jerusalem brand has given me the opportunity to become a FUN Expert on all of the kids and teen activities in Jerusalem. It’s been a great learning process (it was my own personal ulpan) and a great way to spread the message, that Jerusalem is a great place to visit with your family and a great place to live.
Then is 2020 we designed a brand new site – faster, with better pictures, easier search and some great features. The site was designed by Profile Soft, a web design firm based in Jerusalem.
I hope the new site continues to Inspire Family Fun in Jerusalem.
–Joanna Shebson
Founder & FUN Expert
