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OUR WORK — CASE STUDY · BOUNTY HUNTER GUIDE SERVICE

FROM A $150-A-MONTH TEMPLATE TO $20,000 IN ONLINE BOOKINGS

A Crystal Coast charter captain was paying a subscription website service every month for a site with no analytics, no SEO, and no way to book. We replaced it with a site built to rank and to take bookings — and it has already paid for itself several times over.

ONLINE BOOKINGS ≈$20,000 IN 2026
BEAUFORT CHARTER TERMS PAGE ONE
THE BUILD $3,500 ONE-TIME
SOURCES: GA4 + SEARCH CONSOLE

THE SITUATION

BEFORE THE REBUILD

The story we hear from most captains, and the one this client lived: the website existed, but it wasn’t working. It wasn’t built around the trips, it didn’t make booking easy, and every booking still depended on catching the phone between trips.

A client ready to book at 9pm had two options: fill out a form and wait, or call a captain who was on the water. Both cost bookings. The calendar was running on word of mouth while the website just sat there.

WHAT WE DID

THE STRATEGY

01 REBUILT AROUND THE TWO JOBS

The old site couldn’t be found and couldn’t take a booking. The new one was designed to do exactly those two things: get found, and book the trip.

02 LOCAL SEO FOR THE CRYSTAL COAST

The specific work that gets a charter ranking for the town-and-service terms visiting anglers type — “Beaufort NC fishing charter,” not filler keywords.

03 ONLINE BOOKING, BUILT IN

Booking integrated directly into the site, so every visitor — however they arrived — can reserve a trip on the spot instead of calling and waiting.

04 MEASURED FROM DAY ONE, ADS ALONGSIDE

Google Analytics 4 and Search Console connected from launch, with paid search running alongside the organic work — driving trips while the rankings built.

WHAT HAPPENED

FROM THE LOGBOOK

≈$20,000

IN ONLINE BOOKINGS, 2026 SO FAR

Across roughly 30 trips — on booking infrastructure the old site never had.

PAGE ONE

CORE BEAUFORT CHARTER TERMS

Real booking-intent searches, not filler — with Morehead City terms climbing behind them.

5×+

THE BUILD COST, BACK ALREADY

Organic search bookings alone out-earned the $3,500 build in the first few months.

THE RETURN: BUILD COST VS BOOKINGS

HOVER OR TAB ACROSS THE BARS

PALE = THE BUILD · EMBER = ONLINE BOOKINGS · 2026 SO FAR

Real numbers, honestly framed: the ≈$20,000 is gross bookings, not profit, and a share of it is existing customers now booking online. The cleanest read: the new search traffic alone has already out-earned the build cost.

PAGE ONE WHERE IT COUNTS

GOOGLE SEARCH CONSOLE POSITIONS

Average Search Console positions for the searches a visiting angler types when they’re planning a Beaufort trip and ready to book:

4.9 FISHING CHARTER BEAUFORT NC

4.9 FISHING CHARTER BEAUFORT NC

6.4 FISHING IN BEAUFORT NC

6.6 FISHING CHARTERS BEAUFORT NC

6.8 BEAUFORT NC FISHING CHARTERS

THE NEIGHBORING MOREHEAD CITY TERMS ARE RANKING TOO — AND CLIMBING TOWARD PAGE ONE.

“[Client quote goes here — swap this line in when the captain’s words come through.]”

— BOUNTY HUNTER GUIDE SERVICE · BEAUFORT & MOREHEAD CITY, NORTH CAROLINA

THE HONEST PICTURE

WORTH BEING STRAIGHT ABOUT

A young site, not a long track record

Live only since earlier in 2026 — this is its first several months. Most bookings still come through direct and referral visits, the captain’s existing reputation finally able to book online instead of by phone.

Search is the growing share, not the biggest yet

Organic and paid search contribute a growing share on top of direct bookings. That’s what you want this early: page one for the money terms, and a share that grows as rankings mature.

How we measured this: booking revenue comes from Google Analytics 4; keyword rankings come from Google Search Console — both set up by us as part of the rebuild. No ranking guarantees, no inflated numbers, no cherry-picking. Results reflect one client’s outcomes over a specific period and are not a guarantee of future performance.

MORE GUIDES WHO DID THE WORK

KEEP READING

ORGANIC TRAFFIC UP 40–65%, YEAR OVER YEAR

An Alaska lodge in the most crowded market there is — page one for the Kenai terms that book…

READ THE CASE STUDY

STILL PAYING MONTHLY FOR A BROCHURE?

Tell us what’s going on with your bookings. We’ll give you a straight answer about whether we can help — even if the answer is no.

LET’S TALK
Or call +1 (252) 253-3990‬ — you’ll get a person, not a funnel.