Key Tips, Tools, and Tech for Creating a Great Tour

Posted on April 10, 2020

Creating a tour that sells.

Want to know the ins and outs of creating a great tour on Built Story? The right number of tour stops to feature? How much to write per stop? What to consider for your tour takers?

You have come to the right place.

How should your tour look? What should it contain?

We have broken your questions down into some easy-to-follow suggestions with helpful tips that will get you started creating great tours today and will keep customers returning again and again to all the tours you've created.

Tips and Strategies for Creating a Great Tour

Recommended Tour Standards

Number of Tour Stops:

To create a meaningful tour experience (and get great reviews and repeat customers!), we recommend including at least 10 solid, well-thought out stops as a minimum while 20 stops is probably a good max for walking, biking, and driving tours.

Recommended Tour Stops (Walking, Biking, Driving): 10-20 stops

Distance Between Stops:

When creating your tour, plan accordingly with a reasonable amount of walking, biking, and driving for your tour based on realistic standards.

Do not position stops for walking tours separated by more than a block or two.

Consider your audience. If you design a more general tour, your audience will most likely include older people with limited mobility. Something to keep in mind for walking tours is the distance between each stop. Please consider the distance, locations, and time needed between stops, to create a quality experience for your customers.

Recommended Distances Between Stops:

Walking: one block
Biking: 1 mile
Driving: 1-5 miles

The Built Story dashboard allows tour creators to build, edit, and manage content from the desktop site.

Pro Tips:

Don’t forget to consider the local tour area and plan accordingly. Is your tour based in hot, humid South Florida? Keep in mind the amount of time your tour takers will be outside in the heat.
Include recommended rest stops, water fountains, and nearby transit options.
Highlighting locations to grab a bite to eat will get you happier customers and better reviews.
Give your tour takers useful tips – like how to travel better, more often, or more sustainably. Helpful information or additional things about a local area will always help make customers feel special.
At the final tour stop, encourage the tour taker to check out your own website to learn more about you and your background.
You can use this opportunity to encourage them to share their journal photos on social media.

Creating Tour Content:

What's my theme?

Write about what you are passionate about and what you know about. You know the history, the unique stories, the hidden gems, and the off the beaten path eats.

There are so many types of tours you can create: architecture, food, art & culture, children’s activities, storytelling, history, literature, nightlife, and even special themes. Find something that people 1. are interested in and 2. are curious about. Then think about what you'll include in terms of topics, information, and content that will make your tour unique.

Naming your tour.

The name of your tour should allow people searching to get a fast idea of what you will be featuring. The title should include the purpose and/or theme of the tour. Including a tour description can help generate more interest. The more info people can get as soon as they click on a tour, the better.

How much text should be included at each stop?

We recommend writing a minimum of 600 words per stop, but adding extra content to engage tour takers is always a bonus.

What should each tour stop include?

You have the ability to include text, video, audio, and/or photos at each tour stop. You decide what your customers should experience! This lets you add in the unique features that make your local spots come alive.

Have any historic moments taken place there? Make sure to include anything that might pique the attention of your tour takers. Ensure your topic has enough content and media for each stop to create an engaging experience for your customers.

A great way to engage tour takers is to include some fun, related media at each tour stop. Photographs, sound clips, videos, and social posting are all popular and exciting ways to add value to your tour and get better reviews. Tour takers even have the ability to share their images and Journal Entry posts on social media!

Make sure when drafting your tour that you include only original content. Any additional knowledge and information included in your tour – historical, background information, tour stop website – should be referenced with appropriate links or sources.

Focus on the tour as a story.

How does each stop connect to the next? How is each a piece of a broader puzzle? Is there a common theme, allure, mystery, or point you are trying to make? Weaving a narrative will keep customers coming back for more tours from you. It will also ensure great reviews for your tour, attracting more customers.

A great story may also compel customers to share your tour more often on social media.

The Built Story Mobile App features fun local tours in an area with directions to and from each stop.

Useful Tech and Tools:

Google Docs, Dropbox Paper, or other word processing programs can help in drafting your tour. We recommend you research, write, and polish your tour in a cloud-based word processing program, where your information can be safely stored, accessed, and updated before adding to the website.

Grammarly is an excellent tool for double checking your spelling before posting a tour to the Built Story platform.

Coronavirus Recommendations

With social distancing measures in mind, you could also consider crafting tours in areas more accommodating to isolated groups, like places with larger outdoor spaces and activities.

Read about how to create safe, family-friendly day tours.

Telling Your Built Story

Now that you’ve reviewed the helpful strategies, tech, and tips to get you started, you're ready to create your Built Story tour and start earning today!