Tourpreneur Tour Business Podcast

In today's bonus episode, we share tips on how to give your tour operator website an extra SEO boost by adding relevant local keywords wherever possible. Day 22 of the 30 Day Tour Operator Challenge by Checkfront.  Make sure to visit tourpreneur.com/challenge to grab your free PDF with even more keyword tips for SEO

For today's challenge, we tackle the important subject of improving your website speed and why you need to make sure all of your pages load fast on all devices. Run a test on Google’s PageSpeed Insights by entering each page URL into the Analyze bar, and then see if there are any problems you can quickly rectify today. Do this for both desktop and mobile.

Angela Heald of Checkfront and Tourpreneur's Shane Whaley discuss the importance of high-quality activity and tour photos on our websites. Angela shares some of her killer iPhone tips for tour operators.

Angela shares her favorite 3 episodes of the Tourpreneur Podcast and Shane suggests other podcasts for tour operators Sometimes, all you need to keep going is to hear from other tour operators on a similar journey. You’re not alone in the challenges you face. And the Tourpreneur Podcast is just the place to find out what tour operators all over the world are doing differently and learning along the way. 

Tips about asking for Google Reviews. It’s no secret that reviews are a ranking factor for Google My Business listings. If you want to earn that coveted spot on the local snack pack, you’ve got to get as many recent, quality reviews as possible.

How many places is your business listed? Yelp? TripAdvisor? Google My Business — of course, since you tackled that listing yesterday. What about Foursquare, Spoke, City Insider, Superpages, or Yellowbook? Take some time today to list your business on as many online directories as possible. All while making sure your name, address, and phone number (NAP data) is correct and consistent on every site. Grab the free PDF which  includes a list of must claim local listings at www.tourpreneur.com/challenge

Spend today updating your Google My Business Profile. Most searchers will see whether your tour company is legit by scanning your GMB listing first. So, make a great first impression by including everything they need to know. Kyla Steeves joins us to give us some quick tips on how to optimize Google My Business - grab the free workbook at www.tourpreneur.com/challenge

Go ahead, take a break, and live like a tourist for the day. Do something you’ve always wanted to do but can never find the time for or keep putting off out of fear.  We talk about how creating a local bucket list can help your activity or tour business. Learn how to surf, scuba dive, or sail. Go skydiving, bungee jumping, rock climbing, hot air ballooning, anything to get off the ground. Visit a nearby town you drive through all the time, but never stop. Take a cooking, painting, pottery, or glass blowing class. Hike to a jaw-dropping view or throw a foodie crawl with friends. Spend a day walking around a museum, art gallery, newly-built library. Whatever will refuel your love for your destination, do it. You might even discover something new to enhance your tours and create a local bucket list.

When taking bookings over the phone, you can answer questions, offer reassurance, and talk up the experience. You can’t necessarily do that online, which is why the booking process needs to be as seamless as possible. You put in a lot of work to get traffic. It’d be a shame for something to get in the way when visitors are so close to booking. By knowing where people tend to change their minds, you can make small changes to boost your conversion rate by at least 5-10%.  More bookings!

You can relieve a lot of guest anxiety with a simple message. By staying in touch with guests from booking to check-out, you show them that you care about every aspect of the experience and want to make sure they have all the information they need before arrival. Grab your copy of the free workbook at www.tourpreneur.com/challenge