Private tours have become increasingly popular recently. Not only does this type of offering promote safety and peace of mind, but it also helps travelers have a unique experience with their chosen company. People can…

Instagram Reels are short, entertaining videos that can be a great tool for businesses looking to increase their engagement and visibility. However, if you don’t know how to create captivating content, you may not experience…

For most tour operators, their top priority for their website is turning clicks into customers – in other words, having a high conversion rate. A fundamental part of driving conversions is analyzing your current performance…

Marketing your tours and activities is one of the top ways to be successful. It leads to more visibility online and new and retained business.  Whether your goals are lofty (like starting a blog and…

Customer feedback is an essential part of doing business. While it might feel a little uncomfortable to ask guests for their honest opinion, it’s the best way to improve the quality of the experiences you…

Multi-day tours are exciting for guests and tour operators, with options to enjoy diverse itineraries, meet new people, and try multiple activities over the course of several days. For guests, multi-day tours offer hassle-free travel,…

In most of our SEO guides, you hear us talk about how to optimize for Google, the biggest search engine out there with around 83% of the search engine market share (Statista). But there’s another…

You may be asking yourself, how do I reach the most potential customers on my Instagram account? The answer: Instagram search optimization.  While this may be a concept you have not heard of, there are…

Tour operators are always searching for creative, unique ways to keep their businesses successful. One option that is exceedingly popular (especially after travel restrictions and social distancing) is a self-guided tour.  A self-guided tour is…

Social media community management is a strategy used to create an authentic community across your various internet platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, and more. It’s a way for you to interact with your audience and…

When you publish a new page to your website, it gets indexed by Google. The Google crawler analyzes the page for content and meaning and stores it in the index. This way it will show…

Are you ready to offer a new experience to your customers? While the excitement of developing a new activity can be enticing, taking a strategic approach to growing your business is key. Similar to the…

When your whole team puts in the effort to provide your guests with an incredible tour or activity experience, you hope that you wowed them enough for them to leave you a good review. But…

Diversifying where you advertise your company is an important step to reaching as many customers as possible. YouTube is one of the most trafficked media sites worldwide, with well over 2.2 billion active users (Visual…

Collecting customer feedback is a great way to improve your business. The individuals that have already experienced your tour or activity are able to give you real answers and suggestions about the aspects they enjoyed…

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is key to driving organic traffic to your site from Google searches. Getting the algorithm to notice your site is a never-ending process and it can seem daunting when you…

As a tour operator, wait times may not immediately seem like a problem. This usually means your attractions are bringing in significant crowds and revenue.  The flipside of having long wait times, though, is that…

A logo represents a company and its brand identity. As with all of your marketing assets, your logo should be on brand with your chosen color scheme, fonts, and images. This will help distinguish your…

Are your marketing emails going unnoticed – or being totally ignored? The answer for a lot of companies is yes.  The average open rate for marketing and newsletter emails in the travel, hospitality, and leisure…

The main goal of the Google search engine results page (SERP) is to offer searchers the answer to their question as quickly and easily as possible. To this end, the SERP is full of features,…

Here at FareHarbor, we pride ourselves on our resources — from expert-run webinars to specialized Compass guides (like the one you’re reading right now!). And we’re sure you’ve taken advantage of our top-rated 24/7 Support…

Travelers and locals alike are flocking to your business and enjoying the experiences you offer. Business is booming, and you’re spending every minute of the day ensuring that your tours or activities are running smoothly. …

We will always recommend a diverse marketing strategy to maximize results. Although you may be using Instagram or Youtube already, a LinkedIn profile can also be a great tool for marketing if used effectively.  This…

How did you decide what to do on your last vacation? Maybe you researched the top-ranked activities on Tripadvisor or you got a recommendation from a local friend.  Choosing which tour or activity to add…

As a tour operator, you want to get people talking about your business, and one of the best ways is to employ tour guides that make the experience amazing for your guests.  Much of this…

Do you have a good understanding of how far in advance your customers typically book? How about which activity start times are most popular? Eliminate the guesswork by running three quick and easy reports right…

We’re all competing for followers’ attention on social media. And while you should be focused on the unique value and point of view that your business offers on these platforms, there are many benefits to…

Running an organized, efficient business is one of the key factors of customer satisfaction. When customers have to wait for an activity to start because of delays or other problems, they’re more likely to leave…

We’re all about using free tools to enhance your marketing strategy. One of our favorites is Google Alerts, a tool that lets you track the web for mentions of your business name or any other…

Maybe a previous employee set up a Google My Business (GMB) listing and you didn’t know, so you created a new one. Or maybe you’ve recently restarted your SEO efforts and forgot you already had…

We’ve long been conditioned to equate SEO success with ranking – a website’s position on the search engine results page (SERP) for a given keyword. It’s only natural to strive for the top spot. We’ve…

There are so many different aspects to SEO, from technical considerations like schema markup to content, keywords, and local strategies. So when you’re putting together your SEO strategy, it can be difficult to know where…

Tour and activity providers must have stellar customer service skills in order to run their business more smoothly, get positive reviews, and stay successful. You and your employees interact with guests every day, and while…

Developing successful content doesn’t happen overnight. From researching your audience to analyzing search intent and choosing the right keywords, there’s always room for improvement when creating content for your website.  When you spend a lot…

Social media can be as time-consuming as you allow it to be — both as a user and as a marketer. But as a business owner, you might feel like it’s not worth the time…

SEO best practices can quickly go out of fashion since search engines like Google make constant updates to improve their algorithms.  We know it can feel difficult to stay up to date on the best…

Writing is an art – one that can certainly feel hard to master. It’s also an essential part of marketing your tour or activity business, which likely makes you even more enthusiastic to get it…

As a business owner, adding a free offering may seem counterproductive. Contrary to what you might think, adding a free tour may actually help you increase profits! Of course, this is not for everyone and…

Hopefully you’re familiar with the Bookings section of your Dashboard and the various view, filter, and display options. But did you know you can also save your favorite filters and display options as a custom…

Are you looking for fresh strategies to generate revenue? Use the FareHarbor Distribution Network (FHDN) to expand your reach this busy season.  The FHDN lets you sell other FareHarbor clients’ tours and activities as well…

Whether you need a quick reminder on how to use the availability updater or want to train a new employee on editing an item listing, it’s always a good time to refresh your memory on…

Looking for additional ways to market your tours and draw in new customers? Offer dog-friendly activities! These days, it seems like more and more people love to travel with their furry, four-legged friends.  In fact,…

You’re probably familiar with the must-have pages that ensure a great user experience on your website, like a contact page and home page. Apart from these common inclusions, there are several other pages you should…

Our Compass digital marketing guides often highlight the importance of marketing to your target audience. Whether that’s families with kids, solo travelers, or Gen Z, understanding the ins and outs of your main customer base helps…

Your PPC competitors are those that are bidding for the same keywords as you. (Be aware that they may not be the same competitors you have offline!). A PPC competitor analysis will help you make…

Your YouTube channel is an opportunity to show viewers what your company is all about. With so many channels on the platform, it’s important to stand out and attract more viewers who could turn into…

Traveling alone is a unique and exciting experience that everyone from Baby Boomers to Gen Zers is eager to have, creating a valuable opportunity for tour and activity operators. Marketing to solo travelers is a…

Perfecting your Google Ads strategy is an important part of maximizing your exposure and bookings.  In typical Google fashion, the algorithm for Ads changes over time, which will affect how you should go about your…

What started out as a platform to make professional connections, LinkedIn has become a prime spot to share industry news, engage with your peers, and tell authentic stories.  Currently, there are over 55 million companies…

Collecting payments is an essential part of doing business. So when credit card disputes happen, you want to act quickly to protect your company. Not only can disputes be costly, but they’re also stressful and…

In the past few years, at-home DNA testing has become more and more common with the popularity of companies like Ancestry and 23andMe. People are increasingly interested in learning where they come from, and these…

Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs) are full of variety. From ads and organic results to the local map pack and featured snippets, the array of SERP features offers many ways to gain additional exposure…

In the past few years, Google has been putting more emphasis on machine learning for PPC ads, with tools like Smart Bidding that rely on the algorithm to optimize ad strategy. In 2020, Google made…

An update from Google in 2021 changed how the search engine indexes and ranks web pages. Known as the Passage Ranking update, this change means that Google now ranks specific passages of content in addition…

If you’ve spent some time perusing FareHarbor Compass, you’ve likely noticed us using anchor text. Anchor text is the text used in a link. It might say “learn more,” “our favorite kayak routes,” or “find…

Reporting can feel like a very daunting task. Updating sheets every month and pulling out important insights takes up a lot of time. If you identify with those statements, we encourage you to start using…

One of the best parts of traveling is experiencing the beauty of the great outdoors, and luckily you don’t need to plan an expensive trip abroad to do just that. The emerging travel trend of…

It’s no secret that Google is not a fan of duplicate content. Fortunately, you can use a canonical tag to tell Google which version of your webpage (or entire site) is the master copy, signaling to…

A Facebook page is necessary to use many of the platform’s business features, such as creating ads and tracking performance. If you already have a good following on your existing personal profile, you might be…

As you’re thinking about the content you want to create and share via your website, blog, emails, and social media, it can feel overwhelming to keep track of all the specifics. A content calendar allows…

There have been a lot of changes in the world of search engine optimization (SEO) as of late. From new search engine results page (SERP) features to ranking updates, 2022 will likely bring a flurry…

When it comes to your content strategy, you’re doing everything right: conducting keyword research, writing evergreen content, and performing regular content audits. But your content still isn’t earning backlinks. What’s going on? No matter your…

Creating a winning PPC strategy takes a lot of planning and data to ensure you’re targeting the right audiences with impactful messaging. While narrowing down your target audience can seem daunting at first, you can…

If you have experience with pay-per-click (PPC) ads, you’ve undoubtedly heard the term Quality Score. Understanding what elements affect your Quality Score is a crucial component of PPC marketing as these elements impact the cost…

You’ve heard us say many times that your website is your number one sales tool. When a user lands on your website, you have a chance to convert them into a customer through great copy,…

We typically think of travel as a way to connect with different cultures, but the reality is that travel is often framed through a lens of colonialism, particularly when tourists from higher-income, predominantly white countries…

Doesn’t it feel great to get a 5-star review? Whether on Tripadvisor or Google, those awesome reviews boost your star rating and prompt potential customers to book with your business.  You can make your website…

Social media contests are a great way to gain more followers, increase engagement, heighten brand exposure, acquire email signups and so much more! Of course you can develop complex campaigns, but there are many simple…

An effective way to encourage followers to engage with your brand and increase their interest in your offerings is by running a social media giveaway. Giveaways give your followers a chance to try out what…

Veganism has far surpassed being a new diet trend. In fact, WTVOX estimates there are 79 million vegans worldwide. With veganism and vegetarianism entering the mainstream, it’s time for tour operators to revisit the way…

If you’ve been working on a link building strategy, you know it takes time to gain quality backlinks to your website. But inevitably, some backlinks will become broken over time, either because the page doesn’t…

Is SEO for YouTube really relevant? You bet it is! Apart from being an opportunity to showcase your brand, videos that rank well on YouTube get more views and more exposure for your business.  YouTube…

YouTube is a useful medium to connect with your audience and show off what makes your tours and activities worth booking. The second-most visited website after Google, YouTube is a search engine unto itself, giving…

After putting the time and effort into improving your site’s SEO, you’ll surely want to know how your site is performing! Has your site moved up in position on the SERP for your target keyword?…

On-page SEO covers the content on your individual web pages as well as the HTML source code of a page. While off-page SEO refers to technical topics like links and other external signals, on-page SEO…

There are so many different categories of search engine optimization – hopefully, you’ve checked out part one of our Ultimate SEO Guide that covers on-page SEO – and technical SEO is one of the most important…

Over 150 million active “pinners” call Pinterest home, and they’re not just crafters, DIY-ers, and wedding planners. Pinterest has become the trip-planning site, with thousands of users turning to the platform in search of inspiration…

You may be familiar with Pinterest in your personal life, but did you know it can also be an excellent tool for tourism businesses? The visual nature of the site makes it one of the…

As a quick refresher, Google My Business (GMB) allows business owners to claim their listing on Google so that their business shows up in search results when someone searches for a service they offer. Beyond…

Blogging is an opportunity to get creative with your content strategy while giving readers another touchpoint to get to know your business. In addition to helping your website rank for long-tail keywords and inspiring readers…

Remarketing is an important strategy to bring back customers who have shown interest in what you have to offer. This tactic specifically targets users who visited your website and didn’t complete a conversion. On average,…

Leading tours in a historic city or pristine wilderness location is one of the most enjoyable jobs available… but that doesn’t mean it’s all fun and games! Tour guides work hard to make the experience…

Your website is your first chance to make a good impression on potential tour or activity guests. There are so many different ways to design and build your website, but they all have one thing…

Google My Business is one of your most important SEO tools, displaying information about your business in searches on a variety of Google platforms. If you’ve been following the advice in our GMB guides, you’ve…

Titles have a lot of work to do. They need to be descriptive, SEO-friendly, and capture the readers’ attention so they’ll not only click but also read the content.  It’s not easy to pack all…

You might already be familiar with creating ads on social media, but boosting your social media posts is a simpler paid tactic to get your content in front of more people. You don’t even have…

Web accessibility can feel overwhelming if you’re just learning about it for the first time, especially as you parse out laws, guidelines, and misconceptions. You may think it’s too complicated, time-consuming, or just not that…

Knowing your way around the FareHarbor Dashboard gives you the freedom to make adjustments to your calendar, items, customer types, and more. Whether you’re updating your confirmation notes, adding health and safety policies, or generating…

Most tour and activity operators experience some type of slow season. Whether you only offer summertime kayak tours or run year-round cooking classes, it’s normal for search trends for your core activities and services to…

Understanding how your content is performing in the search engine results page (SERP) isn’t always a straightforward process. Whether you’re new to tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console or you’ve just mastered the…

From writing evergreen blog posts to making videos for YouTube, you spend a lot of time creating quality content that showcases the best of your business. But if you’re only putting that content in one…

Words are powerful. We’ve all experienced their potential for persuasion in some form or another. And when it comes to your marketing efforts, choosing the right (or the wrong) word could make all the difference…

Once you’ve developed a winning PPC strategy, you might be wondering how to take your ads to the next level. It’s likely the majority of your clicks happen during peak times specific to your audience,…

Many tour operators — and all types of business owners — base business decisions off of metrics such as weekly sales accruals, customer feedback, and gut feelings. But when you’re looking to build your bottom…

Getting new customers takes time and money, which is why repeat customers are so important to businesses in all industries. Repeat customers are much more likely to make a purchase, and your marketing efforts to…

Whether you just got onboarded or have been with FareHarbor since the beginning, you’ve probably noticed there are many Dashboard features to take advantage of. From Dashboard basics like availabilities and manifests to more advanced…

Featured snippets are a coveted spot on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). They provide an answer to a search query directly at the top of the SERP. In fact, the featured snippet is the…

You’re probably familiar with the saying “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” That’s A/B testing in a nutshell – evaluating two versions of something like an email subject line to determine which…

One of the most important steps of link building is finding websites or bloggers whose content resonates with you – or better yet, with your audience. But before you take the leap and reach out…

In recent years, Google has implemented a variety of policies and features that aim to improve consumer safety on the SERP. This includes features like “About this result” — which creates greater transparency around ranking…

Gen Z is well on its way to becoming the largest generation in the world, and we’re starting to see their influence on different industries and platforms. For example, this generation has driven a surge…

International travel has been slow to pick up amid the pandemic, with a variety of different restrictions and quarantine requirements in place throughout the world. The European Union Digital COVID Certificate (EUDCC), launched on July…

Few things are more rewarding to a business owner than opening your computer and seeing a great 5-star review for your tour or activity business. To keep the praise coming, focus on creating an amazing…

Another Google algorithm update? That’s right! While Google typically does not share what changes to expect from algorithm updates, SEO experts believe that the June and July Core Updates, like most others, focused on quality…

If you do any tracking on your website or social media profiles (using tools like Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel), you’re probably familiar with tags. These snippets of code help you collect data by specifying…

Your Google My Business listing is one of the most important tools when it comes to displaying your business in the Google SERP. You have a lot of features available to you, and by using…

Google My Business is a listing that displays your company’s information — such as location, contact information, and user reviews — across various Google features and platforms. Free and easy to use, your GMB account…

Your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SEM (Search Engine Marketing) strategy should not be reactive — for example, you don’t want to wait until your ads perform poorly before adjusting them. Enter: SEO forecasting. SEO…

Your tour or activity website is your time to shine — it’s where you get to show the world what’s fun and unique about the experiences you offer — and you’ve probably spent a lot…

Creating high-quality content takes time, whether it’s for social media, marketing emails, or your blog. The last thing you want is for that content to get lost in the barrage of media users receive every…

Hospitality is central to our industry, and that means we always have to be prepared to deal with any challenges that arise with customers. Most customers will be excited to partake in your tour or…

Keeping users engaged on your website for longer sessions is essential for boosting conversions and improving user experience. If you’ve read our guide on bounce rate and engagement rate in Google Analytics, you know that…

Have you noticed a high bounce rate when analyzing your website data on Google Analytics? If so, you might be wondering how important this metric really is and what it means for your website traffic.…

Earlier this year, Google announced that it would be phasing out Reserve with Google (RwG) for tours, activities, and attractions. The booking service officially ended on August 1, 2021. Reserve with Google was a feature…