Salty Soil: Anchoring a Business Online

Salty Soil, based in Thessaloniki, Greece, is a tourism agency run by Apostolos (Akis) Kontoulis. Founded in 2021, the corporate organizes trips within the region, starting from sea kayaking excursions to street food tours.

Guiding tours over crystal-clear waters and busy street markets are only a component of Akis’ skillset. He’s also a seasoned WordPress guru who built the agency’s website himself.

The Salty Soil site hosted by Hostinger is at the middle of the business – it has allowed the agency to succeed in clients it wouldn’t have otherwise and continue to grow.

Paddling Against the Current

Akis has been operating within the tourism sector since not less than 2004. When he finished secondary school, he moved to the UK to check electrical engineering. His intention was to return back to Greece and find work that will suit his expertise and education. Unfortunately, this was to not be.

“Once I returned, I couldn’t really find a good job in my field in Greece. I’m from Thessaloniki, the second busiest, biggest town within the country. The very best jobs were in Athens, and those that were available were probably not in my field,” Akis reveals.

As an alternative, he decided to become involved in his parents’ travel agency back in Thessaloniki. For a couple of years, all the pieces proceeded along swimmingly – the business was doing well, and Akis ended up running it himself.

That was until the worldwide recession hit. Greece was amongst essentially the most affected countries – it faced a sovereign debt crisis, and the agency needed to close down in 2010.

“After my parents’ agency shut down, I moved to an area next to the ocean and adjusted the services I offered. I began doing sea kayak and stand-up paddleboarding trips with tourists to indicate them the coastline,” recounts Akis.

A More Personal Touch

Akis restarted the agency once more in 2021 within the wake of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. He rebranded it as Salty Soil and added extra itineraries to the repertoire of offered services.

“With Thessaloniki as the bottom, we do custom-made paddling trips, especially in Pelion, Chalkidiki, and Thasos. We also offer day trips across the town. On top of those, we’ve got team-building activities focused on firms.”

While there are a lot of travel agencies that provide similar experiences, Salty Soil caters to individuals who want more exclusivity.

“We primarily work with small groups. This contrasts with what the remaining of the market offers, which has similarities trips but with larger vehicles like 50-seater buses. If you book with us, we guarantee that the trip won’t exceed six individuals.”

Specializing in smaller groups allows Salty Soil to offer a more personalized experience. For instance, if the tourists have any questions, the guides are at all times available to reply them. What’s more, the itinerary itself may be customized based on the needs and needs of Salty Soil’s customers.

A Business With no Website Is Lost

When talking in regards to the agency’s website, Akis admits that having one is a no brainer.

“Nowadays, and not using a site, you’re lost. It’s like having a public store and displaying your products or your services. So, the higher the web site is, the higher your sales might be,” Akis says.

As a matter of fact, website performance is something that Akis takes very seriously. In the course of the winter months, when business is slow, he devotes a couple of hours each week to improving the location. The goal – keeping saltysoil.gr easy, nimble, and user-friendly.

When selecting a platform for the web site, Akis went with WordPress. The open-source content management system made essentially the most sense because it could accommodate Salty Soil’s needs. One more reason was Akis’ experience constructing WordPress web sites – either for the agencies he was running before or third parties that had asked him for help.

As Akis had had experience with other web hosts before, he wanted to decide on the perfect provider for the web site.

“I used to be doing research on what the businesses were offering and for a way much. Based on the mixture of price and services, I made a decision on Hostinger.”

Setting the web site up on Hostinger was easy – installing WordPress was quick, and Akis could start working on the location itself straight away.

“It’s pretty straightforward – you simply click a couple of buttons, and it’s ready!” Akis recalls.

He adds that site management and updates – tasks which will take up numerous time – have been just as easy to handle.

Browsing Ahead Swimmingly

In the case of the longer term of Salty Soil, Akis says that all the pieces is proceeding in accordance with plan.

“We’ll proceed offering the present services. That said, we want to expand. For instance, we wish to supply same-day services and run more simultaneous trips,” Akis says.

To perform this, Salty Soil goals to rent more expert guides who could do the trips without Akis’ supervision.

“Hiring more personnel is currently a bit difficult, but we’re working on it. The right guide is proactive, pleased, and willing to share their knowledge so long as the clients need to hear what they need to say. For this, you could add your personal touch,” Akis reveals.

He plans to realize this inside two to a few years. Having more hands on deck will allow Akis to take up a more managerial role and supervise Salty Soil because the business expands.

But before the corporate is there, Akis is pleased to be fully involved within the day-to-day.

“At the tip of the day, the business and its operation are as much as me. I don’t need to report back to anybody higher up. I even have my way of working, and I like being independent. And having an internet site makes all of it possible.”