Increase your visibility on retreat.guru how to make your listings shine!
Would you like to improve your search ranking on retreat.guru and in turn, increase the number of retreat seekers that connect with you? If so, read on.
This article is intended for retreat centers and teachers using Retreat Guru’s retreat management software to manage your operations - from program creation to participant registration, including room inventory management, emails, payments, and reports. However, if you list your retreats on the marketplace but don’t currently use Retreat Guru’s retreat management software, much of this information will still provide value.
Reviews
Reviews are one of the most important factors when it comes to your visibility on the marketplace. The more reviews you have the more powerful your profile will be. We've got you covered on this. All guests flagged as a marketplace booking will automatically be sent a post-retreat email on the last day of the program, asking them to leave a review on your profile. This email will ask the guest to rate their experience out of 5 stars for the center and teachers the program is linked to. They will also have an opportunity to add additional comments.
In some cases, a guest doesn't see this email or cannot find it. You can re-send this message in the "sent messages" area underneath their registration transactions by clicking "re-send message". For tips on locating these registrations in the software see our How to List on the Marketplace Help Article.
Pro Tip:
To help you boost up your reviews more quickly you can choose to enable the Post Retreat Review Email for all guests whether they booked on retreat.guru or directly with you. You can change this setting by navigating from the Admin Side Panel > Reg. Settings > Email Tab > Post Retreat Review Email Template > Enable > Save Changes. This setting is disabled by default.
Content
Based on our research the more thoughtful and robust your listings are, the more likely retreat seekers will want to book with you. Try to paint a picture of what it would be like to be on retreat with you while sharing any critical information a guest should know before booking. Ensure you've filled in all fields (including images) on your center and program page(s), those with missing fields don't show up as well on the search. For a breakdown of each section on your profile see How to List on the Marketplace.
Events
In your event title, we recommend you use general location (like country) and date for fixed date events with your initial retreat title.
For example: "October Personal Retreat in Costa Rica" will be found easier than "Personal Retreat".
The more events you have listed on the marketplace the more chances a retreat seeker has to find you. When using the duplicate function on your programs consider making changes to help add some of your personal flair, or seasonal changes. You may want to include keywords in the description field that describes the experience you offer, stick to a maximum of 5, and use those words 2-3 times each.
Tags & Retreat Types
A common misconception is that adding more tags leads to better visibility. Actually, the reverse is true! Choose only a few, specific tags - the fewer the tags the more weight each tag will have.
Put yourself in the shoes of a retreat seeker and imagine what words they would use to find your program. This is less about how you want to be categorized and more about how someone will find you. Don't use location or keywords in your title as tags, our marketplace will use your Title, Description, Tags, and Retreat Types as tags in searches automatically.
Many centers offer a variety of retreat options. When choosing your Retreat Type you want it to be the most accurate and broad category. If you specialize or are most well known for a specific specialty it's best to choose this. The type you choose helps our search categorize your retreats but doesn't take away from the chosen tags, description, and title.
Location
It is common for centers to choose to leave out their location on program listings. For marketplace programs it is crucial to use this area and for it to be as close to your center's location as possible. Location is a large part of our search organization and one of the main filters used by retreat seekers on our marketplace. Check your listing after your location is entered to be sure the Google Maps app displays properly. If you don't want to share your center location on the listing choose a region instead of the address.
Response Time
You will receive an email from us notifying you a retreat seeker has reached out when they click the "Ask a question" button on your listing or when they book. Retreat seekers have shared that response time when they ask a question or when they register can impact if they choose to book or cancel their registration. We took that to heart. The quicker you respond to these messages the better your search ranking will be.
We'd love to hear from you. Did you find this article helpful? Are you aware of any additional information we should add? Would you like to suggest a topic for another article? If so, please contact your friendly support guru.