Fishing Guide & Charter Websites Done Right

Fishing Guide & Charter Websites Design Done Right

Chris Hustad • December 17, 2022

This article on the fishing charter web design services we offer was recently updated (Oct. 2025). We like to keep our "older" articles up to date as the industry changes a bit over time. With that being said, let's roll on!

Are you a fishing guide or charter, and have too many openings? Is your phone not ringing? Or are you looking for hunting guide website design?

Flyway Media has been designing fishing charter websites all over the country for over 23 years, and our client's success is proven time and time again. Let me explain why...

What Makes Good Website Design for Fishing Charters & Guides?

I can literally remember making my first fishing guide website like it was yesterday. It was right before Christmas in 2001, and I built the website on Microsoft Notepad. Everything was code back then, you either knew it or you didn't.

Fast forward 20 years and let’s just say, things have changed a bit. With that being said, there are a lot of things I’ve learned through the years about building fishing charter websites. And while the industry has changed, A LOT, the goals are still the same. Making the web user ENGAGE with the website by calling, emailing, or forwarding the information on. I love reading articles saying SEO is dead. Trust me, fishing charter SEO is alive and well in this industry still today. And the best part is that it's affordable. If you start playing the advertising game online, you'll see how quickly it adds up. And when the smoke clears, how many bookings came from them?

WE LOVE TO FISH HERE...

At Flyway Media, we’re not just web designers into marketing…we love to fish too!

Flyway Media owner and SEO specialist, Chris Hustad, spends plenty of time on the water himself. Whether it’s fishing prairie lakes in the summer, or hardwater in the winter; you can find Chris just about anywhere in his off-time.

Why does this matter? Because we don’t just understand the marketing side of things, but as anglers ourselves, we understand the fishing market well. This is important from start to finish with everything we do here at Flyway Media. After all, your customers are anglers, obviously, too!

CHRIS HUSTAD - FLYWAY MEDIA OWNER / LEAD

HOW DOES LEAD GENERATION WEB DESIGN WORK?

Historically, guides and charters booked sport shows to get their leads. It's time-consuming, expensive, and you're banking that people walking in are LOOKING for a guided fishing trip.

If you take a step back, it's really the same with advertising. You typically spend a lot of money on fishing charter advertising and hope the right people see it. Why not go to the source of how they're looking nowadays? What you REALLY want is connecting with those who are actively searching for the fishing charter that you're offering. So if you're a fishing charter on the coast in Florida, for example, you want to hit those searching Google for a charter in that area. THAT is a customer who wants a trip...are you on the list when they search for it? If not, that's probably why you're here in the first place (assuming you ALSO used Google to search for the service WE offer).

Nowadays, the first thing most people do when looking for a fishing charter is picking up their phone and searching Google. This is old news, it's been that way awhile now but it's becoming more and more every year. And I say Google simply for the fact that it STILL has around 89-90% of the search market share as I write this (and I'm updating in October of 2025).

From there, you can rank on Google 2 ways organically (not sponsored ads):

Rank in the 3-pack of Google Business Profile.
Have your website rank naturally in the results.

The above example shows the Google Business Profile results on a Google search. This is key to your fishing charter business success. Those that show up consistently in the "3-pack" default results on Google typically get the largest volume of calls..

After the Google Business Profiles is the "organic results" on Google. When I say organic, I mean NOT sponsored ads (typically at the very top). In the organic search results, you can capture one of the top spots in the web results from your website. So basically, you have 2 chances to show up on the 1st page of Google. You really want both, obviously, to ensure a constant stream of fishing charter leads.

It's VERY important to hit homeruns on the right keyword phrases. Otherwise, you're just shooting in the dark, honestly. And sadly, MOST fishing charter web design agencies operate this way (mostly out of ignorance for not knowing SEO).

lead generating websites for fishing charters

WHAT ARE OUR GOALS FOR EVERY FISHING WEBSITE DESIGN PROJECT?

While so much emphasis in the fishing website industry is put on making some super-fancy website, the reality is the KISS principle still applies to web design today. The 3 things I mentioned earlier (phone call, email, forwarding info to others) are the 3 MAIN goals of any guide & outfitter website. It is so important to understand that THIS is what really matters at the end of the day. I can show you stats for days but if they're not reaching out, what's the point? Solid web design for fishing charters doesn't happen on accident.

If our clients aren’t getting phone calls and emails, we’re simply not doing our job. Our clients are busy, which is a good thing. Heck, we don't even use contracts for our marketing. Why? 2 reasons actually.

If the fishing guide or charter is getting a lot of leads/bookings, they have no reason to leave.
If for some reason someone isn't happy, I don't want to "keep them" simply because of the contract. If you're not happy for ANY reason, we will even help you move on. It's nothing personal, it's simply business.

We charge for the website design and after that there's a monthly fee for everything, packaged into one. That's it. We don't like to nickel and dime, and 99% of change requests are included in your monthly bill. I say 99% for the cases where a request requires A LOT of time, work, or expenses. But we're fast and efficient in what we do, so most are included at no-charge.

Take this example on the chart below of what happens when we took over and re-launched a fishing guide website recently. And keep in mind, this is getting into the OFF-SEASON too. Like I said, our fishing charter clients are busy!

What Makes a Good Fishing Charter Website?

In my opinion, the definition of a “good fishing guide or charter website” is a combination of many variables.

It has to be attractive, on ALL devices. While ⅔ of your traffic, or more, will usually come from mobile devices, that doesn’t mean you ignore any of your potential customers. We build fishing charter websites that are visually appealing for all devices. After all, you only have a couple seconds to make that first impression, you have to make it count.
It has to be FAST. SO MANY FISHING WEBSITES nowadays are LOADED with “stuff”. While it may look cool, on one device, it ends up killing your potential traffic. Google/Bing doesn’t want to serve slow websites high in their rankings. This has been noted publicly numerous times. So you have to know HOW MUCH video/images/etc. to use on a website, and use it well.
It has to be easy to navigate. A lot of our target markets are for individuals in the older demographic (a.k.a. Those that book the most fishing trips). With that being said, we make contacting the guide EASY for everyone. No reason to make the client work for it. And NEVER build a website that requires someone to click or take action to GET to where they need to be. When they search Google for your service, the result needs to be EXACTLY what they want. THAT is how you successfully connect a lead with a charter.
It has to brand well. Your business is a brand. And that brand needs to be shown to your customers in a way that fits your business model. Colors, verbiage, and titles should be tailored to how you operate your business.
It has to SHOW UP on Google search results. And not just for a couple phrases, either. People are going to search a WIDE VARIETY of ways to find you. The bigger the "spider web" of keyword results, the more often you will show up for that service you offer.

What makes our fishing charter website design so effective? Over 23 years of SEO experience driving your website marketing. Nobody has more experience designing in the outdoor niche than Flyway Media. Learn more about fishing charter SEO, if you're interested.

BE CAREFUL OF WEB DESIGN COMPANIES IN THE FISHING INDUSTRY WHO MAKE A LOT OF PROMISES...

When you surf the web, looking at various fishing guide and charter websites, are these 5 things covered? I've found them to be lacking, more often than not.

And what's really scary, is how many web design shops claim to do these things? I swear EVERYONE who designs websites claims to be an SEO specialist nowadays. Don't believe me? Search for "web designer near me" on Google and find a designer who DOESN'T claim to be an SEO expert. Crazy. How did you find this article? It wasn't on accident. ;-)

Truth is, you can normally spot these jokers from the beginning, as they will make plenty of promises. That should be a red flag. The goal for every fishing web design project is the same, and it's all long-term. SEO takes time to be done right, so it doesn't happen overnight. Remember that simple fact when you converse with other companies.

And I can't tell you how many clients I've worked with that tells stories of being "burnt", elsewhere. It really leaves a bad taste in their mouth, and I don't blame them. Nobody likes to be "sold", let alone a lemon. This is YOUR LIVELIHOOD. Most businesses simply cannot afford that headache.

We account for these 5 things every time we build a fishing guide or charter website. And good fishing charter website design needs to be tracked, monthly, to ensure it’s meeting expectations. I love it when our clients call/email to tell us to “trim back” because they’re getting so many phone calls. It’s a good problem to have.

WHAT MAKES OUR CUSTOM WEB DESIGN FOR FISHING GUIDES SO UNIQUE?

Our web design is basically a fishing charter website on steroids (okay, so steroids aren't good but hopefully you get my pun...I grew up in the 80s where it was common in baseball haha). Our custom fishing guide web design features the following:

Starts with a FULLY-SEO'd website, designed to capture and generate bookings daily.
A full-featured CRM that captures your clients contact information when they finish a fishing trip.
Email marketing that makes sense towards both past clients and potential clients as well (that come through your website and captured into the CRM).
Automates All Fishing Guide Forms into a Simple Spreadsheet.
An optional booking calendar that makes it EASY for your potential anglers to book and setup dates themselves. And our booking calendar is designed to keep your potential customers on your website. NO CLICKING TO EXTERNAL SITES TO BOOK! It's all done inside your website, and it's super easy to use.
Simple Automations to the clients, including RSVP with instructions the day before the trip, and automatic follow-ups after the trip at a set time.
We combine social media(s) into your website seamlessly. All you have to do is post to one (takes a minute or two) and it'll show up everywhere, including your website. Keeps your site FRESH and up to date, all the time.
If you have video of your fishing trips, we can use that throughout the site to create a visual and interactive experience.
ALL THIS AND SO MUCH MORE!!!

These options aren't for every fishing charter or guide, but there are many ways we can make your life easier without losing leads.

We’ve got a lot of testimonials of our work that help tell the tale of how we operate here at Flyway Media. And examples of our work can be found throughout our website.

We offer FREE estimates for our fishing charter web design packages. We feel we’re very competitive, and we operate with ZERO contracts as mentioned earlier. If you’re not happy, you can leave at any time. We’re confident that the results and customer service will keep you here for as long as you operate your fishing charter.

If you want to find out why Flyway Media is growing rapidly, feel free to reach out to me and I will help get your fishing charter the leads it needs to succeed. *Note - We're now giving many of our clients the options of the Outfitter Logic Platform as well. You can learn more about fishing charter marketing at Outfitter Logic itself.

Tight Lines

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