FAQ

What kinds of businesses does iFishCanada work with?

iFishCanada works with independent fishing lodges, drive-to resorts, fly-in operators, outpost camps, houseboat rentals and hunting outfitters. Most clients are in Northwestern Ontario’s Sunset Country and Manitoba, and the system works the same way for lodges and outfitters elsewhere in Canada.

The strongest fit is an established, owner-operated lodge that already gives guests a great trip, has open weeks it would like to fill, and wants its next generation of guests to find it as easily as its regulars do.

How do I know if my lodge would benefit?

A few questions usually answer it:

• How many weeks each season do you wish were fuller, especially in spring and fall?
• What would one more group of four a month be worth to you across a full year?
• How often are you answering the same booking questions by phone and email?
• If someone asked ChatGPT or Google where to book your kind of trip today, would your lodge come up?
• How much do you spend on marketing that stops the day you stop paying for it?

If those questions point to a real gap, the Lodge Revenue Calculator runs the numbers with your own rates and cabins, and the Would AI Recommend Your Lodge? self-audit shows where your website stands today.

Do you work with my competitors on the same lake?

iFishCanada takes one client per lake. Once your lodge is a client, a competitor on the same water is turned away, so the work done for you stays working for you.

Do you work with lodges outside Canada?

Yes. U.S. lodges and outfitters are welcome and pay the same price as Canadian clients, in Canadian dollars. Every site iFishCanada builds is in English.

What is the iFishCanada Lodge Marketing System?

The Lodge Marketing System is an owned marketing system that iFishCanada builds and runs on your own website. It helps future guests find your lodge, get their questions answered, check availability, arrive prepared, leave reviews and come back, while the content it creates keeps building on property you own.

It includes:

• a business knowledge base built from recorded interviews with you;
• a WordPress website with up to 22 primary content pages;
• the Cabin Calendar with pre-trip and post-trip guest emails;
• an AI guest assistant that answers trip-planning questions from your knowledge base;
• search and AI visibility work, measured with the AI Visibility plugin;
• analytics and attribution through Google Analytics, Search Console and Tag Manager;
• two new citation-focused content pieces every month, 48 over the first 24 months;
• monthly reporting and a Growth Review every six months.

What does the AI guest assistant do?

The guest assistant answers trip-planning questions on your website by chat and voice, using only the facts in your lodge’s knowledge base. It logs the questions guests ask, so you see what people want to know, and any question it can’t answer well becomes a new page or FAQ answer.

You can try the same engine on the iFishCanada Fishing Trip Planner, which answers from the directory’s lodge listings.

What is AI Citation Visibility, and why does it matter for a lodge?

AI Citation Visibility is how often tools like ChatGPT, Google’s AI Overviews and Perplexity name and cite your lodge when a traveller asks them where to fish. More trip planning now starts in those tools, and they recommend the lodges whose websites give clear, specific, quotable answers.

Read the full guide to AI Citation Visibility, or see what iFishCanada’s scan of more than 100 lodge websites found.

Can the system work with my existing booking system?

The standard system uses the iFishCanada Cabin Calendar, which shows open dates and runs your pre-trip and post-trip emails. If you already use a booking engine you want to keep, connecting it is scoped and quoted separately after a look at how it works.

Do I need new photos or a professional photographer?

Most lodges already have more usable photos than they think. During onboarding, iFishCanada gathers images from your current site, social accounts and photo folders, reviews every one, and matches the best images to each page. If a page needs a shot you don’t have yet, you’ll get a specific list of what to capture.

Is Google Business Profile or social media management part of it?

Google Business Profile and social media work are available as extra hourly work on top of the base system, so you pay for them only if you want them. Defined social media packages are also available as an add-on.

How much does the Lodge Marketing System cost?

The Lodge Marketing System is $397 CAD a month for an initial 24-month term, plus GST. iFishCanada does most of the work up front, building the full system in the first 30 days, and you pay for it evenly over the term.

To weigh that against your own season, the Lodge Revenue Calculator shows what added bookings would mean across a full year, and this post walks through the “one more group of four” math.

When are payments due?

The first monthly payment is due when your project starts. The second is due 30 days later, when your new site launches. Payments continue monthly after that for the rest of the term.

How can I pay?

iFishCanada accepts Interac e-Transfer, credit card and PayPal. Payment details are set out in your agreement before work begins.

What other costs should I plan for?

Your lodge pays for its own website hosting and domain, which stay in your name. iFishCanada is a WordPress.com Agency Partner and sets up hosting for you, typically $200 to $400 a year. Your domain renewal is usually $15 to $30 a year.

Why is the term 24 months?

The term matches how the system is built. The heaviest work happens in the first month: interviews, the knowledge base, the full website, the calendar, the emails and the assistant. Spreading that cost over 24 months keeps the monthly price low, and it gives the content, reviews and search visibility two full seasons to build.

Early-exit terms are written into the agreement, and Doug walks through them on the discovery call.

What happens at the end of the 24 months?

Near the end of the term, you and Doug review results, attribution and what your lodge needs next. If you both want to continue, you start a new two-year term at the standard price at that time. If you choose to stop, you keep everything that was built, and your cabin calendar and guest emails keep working without further updates.

How long does it take to launch?

The complete system is built to be live within 30 days of your project start: the website, cabin calendar, guest emails, FAQ and reviews, analytics, AI assistant and visibility baseline. The next two weeks are used to check, correct and fine-tune everything.

What are the steps in the build?

• Interviews. A few recorded conversations about your lodge, your guests and the questions they ask.
• Knowledge base. Your answers become the single source of facts for the website, FAQ, emails and assistant.
• Images. Your existing photos are gathered, reviewed and matched to each page.
• Website. Pages are built in three passes, with your review at each handoff.
• Systems. Calendar, guest emails, FAQ, reviews, analytics and the assistant are set up and tested.
• Launch. The site goes live, and the baseline for search and AI visibility is recorded.

How much of my time will it take?

Your main role is to share what you know and confirm the facts. That means the interview calls, access to your photos and current site, and reviewing pages at each handoff. Production moves quickly; the pace of the build mostly depends on how fast approvals come back, so quick reviews mean an earlier launch.

When is the best time to start?

Fall and early winter are the best time to start for most lodges. You have time for interviews, and the new site is ready before sport-show season and the spring booking rush. Starting closer to opening day still works, with interviews scheduled around your season.

Who owns the website?

Your lodge owns the website and everything published on it: pages, posts, photos, FAQ answers and the site structure. Your domain, hosting account, logins and guest email list are all in your name. The site is built on standard WordPress, so another WordPress developer can take it over at any time.

The ongoing service layer (software updates, monitoring, reporting, new content and the live AI assistant) continues while the relationship is active.

Why WordPress?

WordPress gives your lodge a website it owns outright, with full access to every page and setting. It handles booking calendars, guest emails and structured content well, and it’s easy to hand to another developer. iFishCanada’s own plugins are built for WordPress.

I already have a website. Do I have to start over?

Your existing site is the starting material. Its text, photos and structure are harvested into the knowledge base and image review, and anything that works is kept. Pages are then rebuilt on the system’s structure so every page answers the questions guests actually ask. Your domain stays the same, and the new site replaces the old one on launch day.

Will the site work on phones, load fast and stay secure?

Yes. Every site is tested on phones, tablets and desktops, built to load quickly on rural and mobile connections, served over HTTPS, and kept updated and monitored while the system is active.

Can I make changes myself?

Yes. You have full access to WordPress and can update text, photos, prices and dates whenever you like. Keeping availability and key facts current is part of your role, because the website, FAQ and assistant all draw on the same information.

What happens each month after launch?

Each month iFishCanada publishes two new citation-focused pieces, keeps the plugins and site updated, reviews the questions guests asked the assistant, fills knowledge gaps, and sends you a performance report. There is no required monthly meeting; the report keeps you informed.

What is the six-month Growth Review?

The Growth Review is a 30-minute call every six months to look at what’s working, what has produced measurable value, what changed in your business and where the next opportunity is. It’s recorded and added to your knowledge base, so each review builds on the last.

How will I know if it’s working?

Before launch, iFishCanada records a baseline for search rankings, AI visibility, inquiries and bookings. Monthly reports compare against it, and attribution tracks which pages, emails and sources lead to inquiries, so decisions rest on your own numbers. Rankings and bookings also depend on your season, your rates and the trip you deliver, which is why the Growth Review looks at the whole picture.

How post-trip follow-up turns guests into reviews, referrals and return trips

What if I need something beyond the standard system?

Smaller requests such as an extra landing page, a seasonal promotion or a special form are done in 4-hour work blocks, quoted before work starts. Larger projects, such as an open-dates campaign, a sport show system, a video package or an authority content cluster, are scoped as add-ons when a Growth Review shows they would pay off.

What happens to the plugins if I leave?

You keep the plugin versions installed on your site at the end of the relationship, and your cabin calendar and guest emails keep running. New versions, updates and support continue for active clients.

How do I get started?

• Check your directory listing. Find your lodge in the iFishCanada directory, or add it free, and ask the trip planner a few questions about it.
• Run the self-audit. Would AI Recommend Your Lodge? takes a few minutes on your own site.
• Book a discovery call. A short, free conversation about your season, your open weeks and what a fuller calendar would be worth. Contact Doug to set a time.

Is the Findings Audit free?

Yes. The Findings Audit is a free review of your lodge’s directory listing and website, including a test of how the AI assistant answers questions about your lodge. A follow-up call a few days later walks through what it found.

What happens on the discovery call?

The discovery call is about your lodge first: your season, your open weeks, your guests, and what you spend on marketing today. Together you work out whether there’s a gap worth closing and what it’s worth. The system and price come up only once that’s clear, so if it isn’t a fit, you’ll hear that plainly.

What should I have ready?

• your current website address, if you have one;
• a rough idea of which weeks or seasons you’d like to fill;
• the questions guests ask you most often;
• what you spend on advertising, listings and sport shows each year.

Nothing else needs to be figured out in advance.

Can I talk to current clients?

Yes. Doug is happy to put you in touch with current lodge clients so you can ask them directly how the work has gone. You can also see their listings in the directory, including Rousseau’s Landing, Saarela’s Moonlite Bay and Northwest Flying.

What is the Founding Lodge pilot?

This year iFishCanada is taking eight pilot lodges through the complete Lodge Marketing System. See the Founding Lodge pilot details.

Who is behind iFishCanada?

iFishCanada is run by Doug Lampi from Winnipeg. Doug has built websites for Northwestern Ontario lodges since the 1990s, built the iFishCanada plugins himself, and completed a field scan of more than 100 regional lodge websites to see which ones AI tools recommend. More about iFishCanada.