But it's not enough to just be there. You need a fresh and functional profile if you want to attract customers as well.
It's no secret that we love TripAdvisor around here. We've interviewed them, held partnerships, and we even wrote an ebook about how to make the most out their valuable community. We've written extensively about its benefits for tour operators, activity providers, and destination marketers.
Some of that information has been more helpful, some of it required a few updates as the platform continued to grow. But with all that experience, we strive to offer you the most comprehensive information we can.
That's why today we're sharing some advice about how to build your presence there and make it your own. Here's our quick guide to a better profile in just 11 simple steps.
Correspondence
Our number one space to look at today is communication. Your TripAdvisor profile is less about selling to an audience and more about having an honest dialogue. It's essentially a conversation and like any good conversation, it shouldn't be one-sided.
Before you can receive any new reviews, think about how you've looked after your old ones. Did you go through and respond to each customer who wrote about you?
Here are four important steps to take before moving forward:
We always want rave reviews from customers, but that can't be all there is. You have to participate in the positive posts and own up to the bad ones. Your biggest tip to take away from this is that on a good TripAdvisor page, there shouldn't be only one-sided conversations.
Contact information
How is the information section of your page? Does it have your company's current location, phone number, and company details available? You'd be amazed by how many businesses put a lot of work into setting up their profiles but neglect it like so many of the dust-covered knick-knacks on a shelf somewhere.
Take some time right now to check on this section and clean it up. Here are three things to look after:
Quick note: Did you know that your photos act as information too? Here's a fun fact from Hubspot:
"When people hear information, they're likely to remember only 10% of that information three days later. However, if a relevant image is paired with that same information, people retained 65% of the information three days later."
Whether you know it or not, you're selling your tours, activities, and the destination with your pictures. You want to give people something to think about long after they've seen your company's name or heard about your offers. The more they're picturing your destination, the more likely they are to be picturing themselves enjoying it.
Categorization
A big part of being found on TripAdvisor is your categorization.
It's easy to find your profile if someone already knows about you and what you have to offer, but if you're trying to build up your name, you need to take action. So what can you do? Categorize yourself in a sensible way.
You can think of it like real estate. And for this, we'll take our tip from celebrities.
When someone in Hollywood is working to become an international star, they know that it's not just about being in the big movies or having the most-viewed music videos on YouTube. They want to be in the right locations too.
By categorizing yourself properly on TripAdvisor, you have the chance to cozy up next to the Malibu mansion where that five-time Grammy winner lives. Or you could live somewhere obscure where no one will ever think to find you. It's not hard to guess which one a rising star business would like to pick.
Let's take a moment to categorize ourselves properly and make sure everything is looking right:
Now that your page is nicely updated, let's get it seen online! There are a number of ways to do this and none of them are wrong. For some original ideas, we've written a TripAdvisor checklist to improve rankings, but here are some other important factors that shouldn't be overlooked:
- Your website needs to be ready to take on bookings. Otherwise all your efforts on TripAdvisor were for nothing.
- You need it to be easy to use and it has to look professional (Not sure if it is? Here's a quick email course designed to help you fix that up.)
- Your offers need to be clear and well-presented.
- Your social media channels should back up what customers are seeing everywhere else. Make sure you're promoting the same details there that you have on your site and your TripAdvisor profile.
At TrekkSoft we want to help you stand out in a world where new options are popping up at every avenue and search engines are overly crowded with SEO-optimized website.
Along with a booking-optimized website, a good TripAdvisor profile is a must-have for any tourism company. Especially when you want to improve and grow your business. We hope that if you follow the simple steps shared here you'll soon be ranking with the best tour and activity providers around.
Want to know more about building your best TripAdvisor experience? Check out our latest ebook now!
