Case Study: Court Outdoors (Custom Package)
Case Study: Custom SEO (Beginner Package provided in a ‘Done with You’ teaching + coaching model)
Customers Name: Courtney Sinclair
Company Name: Court Outdoors
Industry: Stand Up Paddleboarding Experiences
Author of the Case Study: Charlotte Mouton
Date of the Case Study: March 2022
Who is Court Outdoors?
Court Outdoors was created out of a passion for spending time outdoors as a way to access self-discovery and is guided by the philosophy of “Go Outside, Grow Inside”. Courtney shares personal reflections and offers to empower outdoor experiences with stand-up paddling and retreats in nature, designed for connecting within.
Through paddle-based outdoor programming, writing, and personal leadership activities, Courtney turns to nature as a mirror that guides and nurtures a sense of self and fosters a strengthened relationship with the outdoors. Courtney has been a Paddle Canada Advanced Flatwater Instructor for over 6 years. She has guided hundreds of people through paddling courses, lessons, and trips, and has guided 5-day self-supported expeditions as a SUP Expedition Guide for SUP Norway. In 2017, she competed in the Ontario Ultra Paddling Points Series and was the overall winner after 350+ km paddled/portaged.
What opportunity did Court Outdoors see at Peak Flow?
Courtney and Katie have known each other since high school and within the adventure industry in their shared home area, the Ottawa Valley. After working on Court Outdoors for a while, Courtney understood she needed to hire outside help to get things in place. She also wanted to know more about what the next steps in her business should look like. Courtney felt confident in working with us after an Ottawa River SUP with Katie this past summer. She knew Katie would be professional, understand her vision, see areas for growth, and have the skills needed to help her level up her SUP business.
Why did Court Outdoors choose to work with Peak Flow?
Courtney decided to work with Peak Flow because she knew we had worked with other clients similar to her (in the Paddleboarding industry). She understood the importance of SEO and how it can be overwhelming trying to tackle it yourself. She was confident in Wills’s capabilities and felt the results he had achieved for other adventure businesses spoke for themselves.
What success did Court Outdoors receive after her Custom SEO Package?
Courtney is still implementing changes on her website but has already seen some of her web pages having higher keyword rankings which are resulting in increased organic website traffic.
Her monthly organic traffic has increased from 0 visitors in Oct 2021 to 110 visitors in Jan 2022. From this work, over the last few months, she has increased organic traffic, increased newsletter signups, and increased sales! She now has more consistency in social media and email marketing.
What happened in the beginning process of working together?
After the initial meeting, Will, our SEO expert, mapped out a timeline and structure of what would be completed. All the deliverables (training sessions and SOP’ + homework) were logged into Courtney’s project management platform, ClickUp. We added due dates so she had a clear timeline of when things would happen and in what order. Will and Courtney met weekly for 8 weeks, to work through the SEO process. It was important for Will to actually work with Courtney and teach her the process so she could maintain it herself in the future.
Let’s Hear from the Courtney Sinclair Herself
Share one specific experience you had with us that made you feel supported in your online business.
I felt really supported when we did the direct implementation of changes or learning and worked through in real-time together how different tools could be utilized. The entire SEO strategy, keyword research, competitor analysis, and site planning were exceptionally helpful and really well broken down into digestible steps. I felt really well guided and advised on how to proceed with updates to my website in how to get eyes landing on my pages, signing up for my newsletter, and registering for my experiences and offerings.
Learning how to best use Click Up! I learned to track tasks or goals and then having it updated with the next steps after each of the calls. I never felt uncertain about what the next most important thing was that I needed to work on.
Similarly, looking through the functionality of Mailchimp and how to implement forms to capture the audience as well as how and why to create specific landing pages for lead magnets (and where, based on where the audience was dropping off).
What results or value did our online business management services bring to your business?
I have a lot more confidence and understanding in the workings of my business such as marketing, SEO, and strategic planning. It is easier to see how all of the pieces from my website to social media to newsletters and product delivery can, and should, work cohesively together and why they are important. I am more confident in the tools that can support everything operating smoothly and how to set up some automation. I feel more professional in my offerings knowing that the customer buying experience is of a higher quality.
Were you nervous about deciding to work with an Online Business Management Agency before you found us?
I wasn’t nervous and knew the investment would be worth it. I needed support for funding in order for it to be accessible to me at this stage of business. At the early stages of my business, it was extremely helpful to have insights on how to improve SEO, how and where to use lead magnets on my website to capture my audience, strategies for social media and newsletter marketing, as well as for analytics and strategic planning support.
Check out this video of Courtney herself sharing her experience doing the Custom SEO Package of training, accountability and coaching.
To Conclude
We loved working with Courtney and putting actionable steps together to help improve her business. As SEO is tricky, with many moving pieces, we want you to know that we are here to help.
If you would like to see these same results or want to ask us any questions then please reach out.
Join the Conversation
We would love for you to join our Business of Adventure Facebook group. This is a collaborative space for business owners or freelancers in the adventure travel and tourism space. The focus here is to share best practices and tips about online presence and digital marketing (front end) and online systems (backend) so you can establish a rock-solid foundation for your adventure business. If this is something you could benefit from, please join!