Establish an Online Presence for Your Travel Agency
As with any new business, when starting a travel agency, it is important to establish an online presence. Ultimately, this is will play a key part in your marketing efforts and influence how clients find you. Before you can start marketing though, you need to establish a few online basics.
Set Up Your Website
In today’s digital age, a website is the lifeblood of nearly every business. If you are working with a franchise or host, they will likely help you set up and maintain your website. If you’re doing it on your own, there are plenty of great resources available to help you design a website, or you can hire a web development company. There are a few key things to consider when setting up your website
- Pick a short, easy to remember and easy to spell URL
- Make your site easy to use and easy to navigate
- Make sure your site is mobile friendly
- Make your site informative and provide value to anyone who visits
Create a Google My Business Account
With a Google My Business account, you can create a free business listing that includes pictures, information about your business, links to your website and a link to call you directly. Your business profile will be visible in Google searches that match certain terms. This is an easy and free way to drive more traffic to your business.
Set up Social Media Profiles
Your customers probably don’t want to know about your cat’s new sweater, but they do want to know about a sale on cruises to the Western Caribbean. When starting a travel agency, it’s a good idea to create social media profiles for your business that are separate from your personal profiles. Most platforms, like Facebook, allow you to create a business profile so you can include information about your business and links to your website.
Social media continues to be one of the leading ways to connect with customers, but it can be overwhelming. Rather than spreading yourself thin by posting to five or six different platforms, start by focusing on just one or two sites. It’s a good idea to pick the social platforms your customers are most likely to use.
Make a Yelp Business Listing
Reviews play a huge role in the consumer decision-making process, and Yelp continues to be a leading site for reviews. By creating a business profile with Yelp, you will make your business more visible to potential customers searching for travel agent services. Like with a Google business profile, a Yelp business page allows you to include photos, links to your website, and other important information about your business. Yelp business listings are free to create, with the option to pay for enhanced advertising options.
