Tour and activity providers need to enhance their online presence not only for a global audience that might be interested in traveling to their location, but also to their local customers who may want to utilize their services. Localizing your business with the most innovative social networking sites ensures that customers can find your company when they need your services, and it’s a critical step in any SEO campaign.

Creating a Local Listing on Google+

Google+ Local pages are beneficial not only because they provide search engine users with more information about your company, but they are indexed by the search engine which allows them to be a powerful SEO tool.

  • Visit www.plus.google.com/local in order to set up your Google Places listing.
  • After you create your listing, you will be sent to the verification page. A PIN will be sent to you, and you must enter it in order to verify your listing.
  • Finally, you can create your Google+ Local page. You can enter the name of your business as well as link to your website for more exposure. Once you have entered in your business information, simply click “verify” and your page is set up!
  • You can add opening hours, photos, logos, reviews and your logo, that all will increase the search engine ranking.

Result:

melbourne_by_foot_serp

 

Creating a Local Business Page on Facebook

Your local business page is different from a personal Facebook profile. You will went to set up a business page in order to utilize Facebook in the best way possible for your business.

  • Begin by going to www.facebook.com/pages/create in order to sign up.
  • In order to start your page, you will have to provide specific details about your business. This includes your name, address, phone number and business category.
  • Next you have to claim your page and verify that it is actually your business. After you have claimed the page, you need to verify it by uploading specific documents or by completing the e-mail verification process.
  • Once you have verified your Facebook Local Business Page, you can begin editing your page and managing it.
  • Tour and activity providers who are a larger company with several locations can connect more than five different local locations to their larger corporate page. This helps companies attract new customers in different locations. It might be something to consider if you run a larger company with smaller locations in different cities in your area.
  • Tip: You can receive bookings on your Facebook page.

As a tour and activity provider, you should consider setting up both a Google+ Local page as well as a Facebook Local Business page. This shows up in the search engine results and helps you rank higher for location specific searches.

Social networking sites are one of the most powerful tools online today for tour and activity providers. By creating an SEO strategy that takes into account local listings as well as powerful web content, you can launch your business to the next level. For more information on marketing your tour and activity company to the right audience, download our social media E-book for more tips.



social media for tours and activities