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Building Out Your Local Dive Guides

For potential and certified divers, PADI Dive Guides are a new resource to discover diving around the globe and book their next underwater adventures with PADI^®Dive Centers and Resorts. For PADI Members, Dive Guides offer an easy, effective and free way to attract divers to their local dive destination.

Using Dive Guides Australia as an Example

Here, we’ll use Australia as an example destination to show how Dive Guides are broken down and how both divers and PADI Members can uniquely utilize this tool. Ultimately, we hope you’ll be inspired to help build out the details of your own dive destination and local dive sites.

PADI Dive Guides allow new and certified divers to first explore dive opportunities by continent and country – which in this case is Australia. As a foundation, PADI Staff creates the big picture overviews of each destination. In addition to marine life calendars, seasonal weather data, and travel information, here is a synopsis of the introductory description found on the Dive Guides Australia page:

Scuba adventures are endless when diving in Australia. This beautiful part of the world not only holds the Great Barrier Reef, but offers giant kelp forests, shipwrecks and a stunning diversity of marine life. Wobbegong, grey reef, nurse and white tip sharks all make their home here, alongside turtles, schools of giant trevally and a host of critters. Manta rays and whale sharks are common sightings when in season, and the Yongala Wreck is definitely worth a visit. Diving in Australia is a year-round affair – it’s no wonder so many divers get certified here.

Example Dive Site: ‘Bashful Bommie’

PADI Dive Guides also allow potential new and certified divers to drill down to specific dive locations and dive sites within the country or region they are interested in exploring. Powered by the knowledge and expertise of the PADI membership, Dive Guides content at the local level is provided by PADI Members via an easy and intuitive online portal. As area experts, PADI Retail, Resort and Professional members are best equipped to describe and promote local diving in their respective destinations.

You can think of Dive Guides as a one-stop shop for divers to explore, discover, and plan their next underwater adventure – powered by the local knowledge and expertise of PADI Members. When we drill down within Dive Guides Australia, top dive sites throughout the country are revealed. Here, we’ll use the dive site named ‘Bashful Bommie’ as an example. This specific dive site was added by Scuba IQ, which is recognized on the dive site page and then linked to a custom business listing on PADI.com. When a diver clicks on this specific dive site, in addition to photos, dive type, and location information, they will be presented with a description of the dive site like this:

Like most of Opal reef, this is a great site for divers from beginner to expert. Named after the huge coral structure found here, this spot is teeming with life, with regular sightings of turtles, sharks, stingrays and barracuda; as well as some of the most amazing coral to be found in the area.

How Do Dive Guides Benefit PADI Members?

The information available via PADI Dive Guides not only helps reach more potential new and certified divers and encourages them to book, it also benefits participating PADI Members in a myriad of ways:

- - Increased Traffic – By leveraging PADI.com’s reach and PADI marketing efforts, PADI Members can attract more customers to their location
    by adding local destination guides and dive sites. PADI Members who create and edit destination and dive site guides are listed as contributors on these pages.
  - Diver Leads from Contact Forms – All PADI shops and resorts within a specific destination are linked on the related destination pages. Each listing includes a ‘Contact Shop’ form to generate customer leads that are sent directly to the store or resort.
  - Diver Leads from Custom Business Page – PADI Retail and Resort contributors receive recognition and links to business listings on PADI.com, which can be created at no charge – these links and pages connect divers directly with the PADI dive operators.
  - PADI Adventures Bookings Offered – PADI Members who use PADI Adventures to increase their dive and course bookings receive the added bonus of having their dive offerings appear on relevant destination, dive site and dive business pages. This makes it easy for divers to immediately book while diver interest and enthusiasm is high.

How To Make Your Destination Stand Out

Ready to start building out your local Dive Guides? To get started, you’ll first need to log in to the PADI Pro Portal and then click on the PADI Dive Guide & Dive Site Editor link. Next, PADI Retail and Resort members can create their dive business pages hosted on PADI.com (this step is already done for all PADI Adventures participants). Then, drawing on your knowledge and experience of your local destination, PADI Members can create or edit a destination guide or dive site guide.

Want to ensure you’re implementing best practices when building out your local Dive Guides? Here are three resources that will help ensure that you receive all the benefits that Dive Guides offer PADI Members: