If you use WordPress to power your tour operator website then you already know how flexible the platform can be. You are probably also aware that you can install plugins that extend the functionality of your website. Besides installing the Rezgo Online Booking plugin, here are five plugins that you should install on your tour operator website to maximize your exposure and increase your sales conversions:
1. WordPress SEO – This is by far one of the best and most popular SEO plugins for WordPress. The WordPress SEO plugin allows you to specify target keywords for each page, title, and meta description. The plugin has dozens of other features including automated page titles, url structures, and even breadcrumb formats. For best results when used with the Rezgo Online Booking plugin, be sure to create a separate WordPress page for each tour or activity. Each page would contact a Rezgo short code that specifies the tour or activity that you want to show. When you do this, you can optimize each page using the WordPress SEO plugin. Using it in this way does not affect any of the functionality of booking plugin.
2. W3 Total Cache – This plugin caches (or saves) copies of your pages and delivers them faster than if the page has to be generated from scratch with each page load. This is particularly useful if you have a lot of plugins that can affect the speed of your site. Be sure to exclude the Rezgo pages from your W3 Total Cache, since the cache plugin can interfere with the calendar functionality of the plugin.
3. Simple 301 Redirects – When you update the links on pages or move pages to different categories you can affect how Google indexes the page and the page rank associated with the page. This plugin allows you to seamlessly point your old page URL to the new page on your site so that Google doesn’t have to hunt for it. In addition, the page rank from the old URL will automatically move to the new URL so that you don’t lose any search benefit you may have gained with the old URL. It is extremely easy to use and is very fast.
4. Rezgo Tour Posts – The tour post plugin works in conjunction with the Rezgo plugin to generate a custom post type for the Rezgo pages. The custom post types can then be included in the XML site map generated by the WordPress SEO plugin. This is important because it means the pages will be properly indexed by Google.
5. Backup Buddy – Backing up your WordPress site manually can be a bit of pain if you are not technical. This plugin (and accompanying service) allows you to back-up your WordPress on a daily basis and allows you to restore your site to a previous version with a click of a button. The cost is relatively low for a single site (about $80/year) but is definitely worth the peace of mind. IThemes (the plugin developer) also offers other useful plugins including an excellent security plugin.
There are many more plugins that you can add to your site if you choose. Be careful which ones you add and how many you add to your site. Many plugins can add unnecessary overhead to your site that can cause your site to slow down or become unreliable. Some plugins can also cause conflicts with other plugins. Adding the five plugins I’ve mentioned along with the Rezgo Online Booking plugin will make your site search engine friendly, faster, and safe.
Written By | Rezgo
