Hey guide,
Your personal profile text and photo are critical, because they are what a potential client sees first.
And most of the tour guide profiles are not good, usually because it is neglected.
Making a good profile is a long process. It requires thought.
It has to grab the attention of the client by highlighting your relevant qualifications.
Most of you are too boring, do not give information about yourself and your personality.
For example, a sentence like: “I am a professional, responsible and creative guide” is BAD.
Stop being cliche!
Your profile is on a platform for professional tour guides. We are all professional, responsible, and creative!
But we are not all the same. You should describe WHY you are professional, responsible, and creative if you want a client to hire you. But don’t use those buzz words.
The following tips can help you to create the perfect profile
People looking for a tour guide want to know what to expect.
They already know that you are a professional guide, your name shows on top of the page, and they can usually get your gender from your name or profile picture, so skip that info in your text. They also selected the destination, you don’t have to sell your city.
Who are YOU?
There are questions in the text below about your motivation, experience, achievements, and more.
Answer them and add whatever you like or feel that it is important to write about.
Much of this information should also be in your resume, so take a good look at your resume and if you don’t have one, start making one.
Not that you need one for Booqify but studying your resume will give you a much better idea of your experiences and skills.
Write in the first person for a stronger and more personal effect but try not to use the word “I” to much.
Your profile should be fun and informative, if you think that is what your clients are looking for, probably most tourists are.
If writing goes really difficult, use bullet points, which is more formal, but it shows what you wanna say.
Reshuffle and rewrite
The next step is to reshuffle and rewrite to smaller coherent pieces go for a total 250 to 500 words, if you feel you need more or can do with less, that’s up to you.
Make sure, you get the reader’s attention in the first 5 sentences or so, In this first part you can write about one main experience, skill or achievement that stands out. Be loud and proud, inflating it will only encourage your reader to continue reading.
And remember, no buzzwords, unless followed by an explanation or example WHY you are responsible, creative, specialized, organizational or anything like that.
Another reason why the start of your story is important are the tour guide requests.
When you send an offer via Booqify, the start of your profile text is automatically added to your reply
That’s what friends are for
After you have written your first version go and sit with a good friend and read it out loud. Good friends know you well and you have a good chance he or she will add some stuff or change some words that better describe you.
Check your grammar, remember, you are a professional, spelling mistakes can be a downer and might give the impression that you did not spend enough time and effort into your profile.
If the language is not your mother tongue find a native speaker to check and correct grammar and style.
Now is also the time to make your one-liner of 150 characters, which is usually your first text shown on Booqify.
It has to include what makes you unique from the guides above and under you on the list.
Your photo
Did you know it takes less than 50 milliseconds to be able to draw conclusions about people based on a photo.
People use it to decide if you are friendly and interesting enough to spent time with, and hire you.
And if not, they click to the next guide, meaning: no business for you
Here are a few general rules about your profile picture:
- number 1: smile and show your teeth
- Your photo should be Head-and-shoulders or head-to-waist, no close ups on head shots or full body
don’t put any friends, family, dogs in it, this is about you - face the camera , but asymmetrical, use the rule of thirds (more info at the bottom)
- face the light, no bright light behind you
- don’t wear sunglasses
- avoid a hat, but if you can’t, make sure it does not cause a shadow on your face and especially your eyes, no shadow
Just remember while working on your profile: you wanna look approachable, credible and competent
Good luck,
Menno
Feel free to send me any feedback, questions or links that I can add to this page.
Possible questions you can answer in your profile:
Why did you want to become a tour guide?
What drives or motivates you?
Where do you live?
Where did you grow up?
Why do you think you are suitable as a tour guide?
What really interests you about being a tour guide?
What do you like the most and least about working as a tour guide?
What is your experience?
What are your previous responsibilities?
What are you really passionate about?
What skills do you have?
What is your education?
what is your family situation?
Why should I book you?
What is your greatest achievement/accomplishment?
What are you most proud of?
What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?
What are you good at?
What are your hobbies or personal interests?
What can you offer that someone else can not?
Why can you call yourself a specialist in certain subjects or sites?
From where did you get your experience?
Which jobs or volunteer positions are you doing or have you done?
Rule of thirds:
It is a rule of thumb which is one of the first things you will learn if you take photography classes.
“Break” an image in equal thirds, by two horizontal and two vertical lines, after which you have four intersections. The theory is that placing a point of interest, in this case your face, on one of these intersections, your photo is more balanced and that the interaction of the viewer is more natural. Studies have shown that people’s eyes go to one of these intersection points more then they go to the center.
Wanna read more: Click here for a deeper look at the rule of thirds on Photography Talk, defining it, explaining how and why it works. See examples of the rule of third in action along the way and even offer up some instances in which this rule should be broken.
You can become an expert your self by following Photography For Beginners from James Miller.
External links:
WikiHow to write a personal profile
copymyresume.com/
beabetterguide.com profile photo tips
The Resume Center, questions & answers
Rule of thirds
