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In this episode, Justin Hinkle makes the case that most travel advisor websites are only performing one of two possible functions — confirming credibility for referrals — while leaving the other entirely unbuilt. He calls that second function the Second Job: the website’s ability to introduce you to potential clients who’ve never heard of you, through search results, blog content, social media, and directory listings.
Justin walks through what it takes to build for the Second Job: how cold discovery actually works and what channels drive it, why local SEO is more accessible than most advisors think and where to start, how blog content creates compounding findability that social posts don’t, how the relationship between social and the website should work, and where the email list fits as the layer that catches interested visitors who aren’t ready to book yet. He closes with the three places most advisor websites break down — getting found, converting visitors, and capturing the ones who aren’t ready — and the order in which to address them.
1. Most travel advisor websites are only doing one job The typical advisor site is built for a referral — someone who already has a reason to trust you and just needs to confirm you’re worth a call. That’s the first job, and most sites handle it adequately. The Second Job is different: introducing yourself to complete strangers who found you through a search or a piece of content. A cold visitor has no prior context and won’t forgive the things a warm referral overlooks. Building for both requires thinking deliberately about the stranger’s experience, not just the referral’s.
2. Cold discovery requires something findable Strangers can only find you if there’s something out there to find. Search, social reach beyond existing followers, directory listings, content that gets shared — all of these require you to have created entry points into your site. A website with no blog content, no Google Business Profile, and no directory presence is essentially invisible to anyone who didn’t already know to look for it. The Second Job starts with making yourself findable.
3. Local SEO is more accessible than most advisors think Trying to rank for “travel advisor” is a dead end. Trying to rank for “travel advisor in [your city]” is a completely different competition — mostly against other local advisors, most of whom don’t have strong SEO. A Google Business Profile (free, takes an afternoon to set up) and natural mentions of your location throughout your site are the starting point. Client reviews on that profile influence both your visibility and whether strangers click on you.
4. Blog content is the highest-leverage tool for the Second Job A social post disappears in a day or two. A blog post can show up in search results for years. Specific, useful posts that answer questions people are actively searching — not general travel inspiration, but content that addresses a real decision someone in planning mode is trying to make — are what pull in cold traffic consistently. The specificity signals expertise. The post on its own is an entry point; the rest of the site is what converts the visitor once they’re there.
5. The three gaps to diagnose, in order Most advisor websites that aren’t performing the Second Job are failing at one of three things: getting found (no content, no local SEO, no directories), converting visitors who do arrive (vague messaging, unclear specialty, no visible path to take action), or staying connected to people who aren’t ready yet (no email list, no lead magnet). Fixing them in that sequence — traffic first, then conversion, then follow-up — is the most efficient path to a site that’s actually acquiring clients on its own.