How We Help You Get Booked – Working on Your Listings

Oct 28, 2024 | 6 minute read Comments
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Reading Time: 6 minutes
Boat speeding on the waves

From creating custom-made Google and Facebook ads to our friendly and professional support center, at FishingBooker we do our best to cover all the bases of advertising your company. One of the most important steps in this process is optimizing your listing. This is the domain of FishingBooker’s Content team.

The creative minds behind the keyboard make sure that everything on your listing represents your business in the best way possible. Let’s take a look, step by step, at what we do to make your listing Fishingbook-able.

Writing up the captain’s bio

Captain sitting on a boat

The optimization of your listing starts with the writeup of your captain’s bio. Your whole listing stems from your bio, and this is one of the things customer will look at first to get to know you a bit better.

We want the bio to represent you and your passion for fishing in the best way possible, and this is why we call you to hear your side of the story. After that, it’s our job to show what makes you tick and why booking a trip with you is a one-of-a-kind experience.

We encourage you to come up with your own bio. Your personal touch resonates with prospective customers, and personalized bios have the most success in attracting new anglers to your boat. Your bio photo is also very important – customers like to see who they’re going to be spending their day with. Uploading a good photo of yourself is a great way to make them feel safe and let them know exactly what to expect from you.

Choosing the best photos available

Your photos are the most valuable asset to your listing and statistics have proven it over and over again. Customers love nothing more than seeing good-quality photos of happy customers with a brag-worthy catch.

Three men sitting on a boat with a huge Grouper
High-quality photos on your listing send a clear message to customers: This could be you!

Photos are crucial because they’re selling the feel of your charter and telling your future customer: “This could be you!” We hand-pick the photos that show your business in the best light, retouch them if necessary, and upload them to your listing.

The magic number of photos that boosts your booking rate is 16, and that’s the number we aim for. Seeing that the average number of photos on our most-booked listings is 28, it’s safe to say that the more photos you have on your profile, the better.

Sending us your selection of photos or allowing us to source them from your website and social media is beneficial for you on two levels. Firstly, customers will understand better what to expect on their fishing expedition with you. Secondly, our content writers will get an impression of what you and your business are all about and they’ll be able to write a better description for your listing.

Videos of intense fishing action are a great addition to your collection of photos, so upload a couple if you have them.

When asked about what was the most useful part of the booking process, one of many satisfied FishingBooker customers, James from North Carolina confirmed – I like the videos of the captains, you get a feel for them.

All about your description

A man sitting on the couch with a laptop, thinking about fishing

Your listing description is where the writing and SEO magic happen. Our writers gather everything they know about your business and write up an accurate and unique description of you, your boat, and what the customer can expect. They’re here to make sure both the customer and the captain are happy with what they read.

You’re much more likely to get booked when your listing has a description written by our team.

Here are some ground rules we always follow in order to make your listing bookable and up to FishingBooker standards:

The minimum length of the description is around 1,200 characters, while the maximum is 2,000. We always write in third person (“Captain X will put you on the best bite” instead of “I will put you on the best bite”).

We cover the most important points of interest for the customers – what makes your service stand out, where your customers will go fishing, what species they’ll be targeting, what you will provide on their trip, and what they should bring. This allows them to set clear expectations that will lead to a successful trip and, hopefully, positive reviews for you.

Here, again, your input is invaluable. You’re welcome to write whatever you think is most important about your business – from the reasons why customers will love fishing with you to how you stand out from other captains in your area. Our Content Specialists strive to include your voice, so the more details you share, the better your listing will be.

Why you need complete trip descriptions

While the description gives a general idea of what customers can expect on their charter, trip descriptions are there to showcase all the details. Notably, 98% of all trips booked in the previous year have a custom-written trip description. Not surprising, as these make it easier for customers to make their final booking decision.

Well-written and informational trip descriptions can easily tip the scales in your favor and give the customers that final nudge towards the “Book Now” button.

Happy man holding two big Walleye
Your trip description helps customers come aboard with the right expectations.

When writing up trip descriptions, we take into account what information customers find most valuable and make sure we include it. There’s a number of questions we answer here:

  • How long is the ride to the fishing grounds?
  • What are the target species?
  • Which techniques are customers likely to use on different trips?
  • Which trips are best for anglers of different experience levels?
  • What should the customers bring and what is included in the price?
  • Which trip is the best value?

Tell us about every one of your trips (write it in the trip description itself or tell us over the phone) and go into as much detail as you can, and we’ll make sure we advertise it properly. The ultimate goal here is to help the customer make the right decision about which trip is right for them. A well-written trip description also informs them about which package is the best value for their money.

Your listing has been written up, optimized to a T, and now it’s…locked?

Checkbox showing something is FishingBooker approved

Now that your listing is optimized, we make sure it stays that way and keeps bringing you money by locking it. This is a concern for many captains who list with us and it’s completely understandable, at least until we explain the reasoning behind it.

We want your listing to bring you more business, and keeping it optimized up to the industry’s top standards is how we make this happen. Our content and SEO specialists provide the best internet presence for you free of charge and only earn commission once we prove our value and get you booked. This is why we need to make sure your listing stays up to par!

But make no mistake, you’re still in complete charge of your listing. Everything we do is about getting you booked on a regular basis, but if there’s something you want to change, contact us and we’ll take care of it within one business day. Remember, it’s in both our interests to get you booked as much as possible.

Representing your charter in the best – and most accurate – light is the mission of the Content team and FishingBooker in general. We do everything in our power to get you booked, and this is how we do it, step by step.

Is there something you’d like to know more about in this process? Do you have any questions? Let us know in the comments!

Author profile picture

Andriana has been in love with nature since before she could walk, and she lives to explore the great outdoors whenever she has the chance. Be it traveling to far-off lands, hiking, or mountain climbing, Andriana loves discovering new places and writing about them. The first time she went fishing with her dad she insisted on returning all the catch into the water. Dad was not pleased. Her curiosity about fishing only grew from there, and she’s been writing and learning about it for years. Andriana’s favorite fish to catch is Mahi Mahi.

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Doug Noland

Nov 14, 2021

Like to know more about fee structure etc

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  • Andrijana Maletic

    Nov 15, 2021

    Hello Doug,

    I’m guessing you’re referring to the commission that you set on your FishingBooker profile, which is a percentage of your trip price that you invest for every successful trip. It’s the fee that you pay to FishingBooker for every successful trip that comes through our site, and you can adjust it at any time.

    I hope this helps Doug, if you have any other questions, we’re here for you.

    All the best!

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