Apply now to be featured in Travel Guides Asheville’s Your 2026 Guide To: Local Businesses You Need to Know in Western North Carolina.
We’re curating this new Travel Guides Asheville series spotlighting standout businesses throughout Western North Carolina and helping our community discover more of the incredible people, places, products, and services our region has to offer.
By featuring your business, you’ll have the opportunity to introduce what makes your business unique to our engaged audience of locals and visitors. Whether that means gaining new customers or clients, increasing visits, inquiries, or bookings, or building greater awareness of your brand, this guide is designed to connect more people with businesses worth knowing and supporting throughout Western North Carolina.
As a small business owner, I understand how challenging things have been recently, particularly since Hurricane Helene. To support all those impacted, we're bringing back our 'Pay What You Can' option exclusively for this guide series, for businesses interested in advertising but unable to afford our full rates at this time.
Please don't let price discourage you from applying. Travel Guides Asheville was founded to support local small businesses, and this mission is especially important as we work to continue rebuilding and revitalizing our communities during our busiest time of year, supporting the small businesses that make this region so special.
Guide Launch Date: The first edition will be published on Sunday, August 9, 2026, on Travel Guides Asheville’s Instagram and website. Additional installments will be created based on application demand and published shortly thereafter.
Application Deadline: Wednesday, August 5, 2026, at 11:55 PM.
Cost: $550 one-time payment or your approved ‘Pay What You Can’ selection (due within 24 business hours of approval to secure your spot).
How It Works:
Once you submit your application you will receive an approval email within 48 hours!
You will receive a check out link within your approval email to purchase your business’s spot in the guide.
You must purchase your spot (a one-time fee of $550, or your approved ‘Pay What You Can’ selection) to be included in this guide within 24 hours after receiving your approval email. Your payment guarantees your spot!
The first edition of “Your 2026 Guide To: Local Businesses You Need to Know in Western North Carolina” will be posted on Sunday, August 9, 2026. Additional installments will be created based on application demand and published shortly thereafter. Every guide is posted on:
Instagram Feed (@travelguidesasheville)
Instagram Stories
Instagram Highlight
Facebook (@travelguidesasheville)
Website (www.travelguidesasheville.com)
Pinterest (@travelguidesasheville)
Tik Tok (@travelguidesasheville)
Example:
Here’s an example of a previous guide for reference:
Tip:
Requirement for application approval: Your business must be located in Western North Carolina.
Guide Launch Date: The first edition will be published on Sunday, August 9, 2026, on Travel Guides Asheville’s Instagram and website. Additional installments will be created based on application demand and published shortly thereafter.
Application Deadline: Wednesday, August 5, 2026, at 11:55 PM.
Cost: $550 one-time payment or your approved ‘Pay What You Can’ selection (due within 24 business hours of approval to secure your spot).
FAQ
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For the guide, you’ll submit 4 photos and a short “About Us” blurb/caption.
Your business name, Instagram handle, and physical location address (if applicable) will be included as well!
The guide - as posted on our website - also includes a button that links to your business website (not included on Instagram, TikTok, or Pinterest versions of the guide).
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No, Travel Guides Asheville is currently an online-only travel guide!
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No. It’s a one-time fee to be included in the guide. The guide then remains available forever.
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Forever! The guide stays on our website and socials (Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok) as a permanent post.
Bonus? For up to a year after the guide is posted, we frequently re-share it into our Instagram stories. This reminds our audience (and new followers) what guides we have available on our page!
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No! The application is free and payment will only be due after you have been approved. One you receive your approval email, you then have 24 hours to check out and submit payment.
Your spot is held during this time, and once you submit payment you are guaranteed your spot.
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There are so many benefits to working with us!
Think of Travel Guides Asheville as being your personal marketing team - we love supporting the businesses & individuals we work with. Here are some of the benefits of participating in a guide feature:
• You will be presented in front of our Asheville-based audience, across each of our channels - all of which are popular among locals & visitors to the area! Our guides also make a great reference point. For example, when someone asks, “Who are the best wedding photographers in the area?”, our followers (or anyone who has seen the list) can easily share the applicable guide.
• Our approach also takes social media “SEO” into consideration by using strategically curated hashtags. Because our posts are often popular enough to appear in the “Top” section of selected hashtags, we are able to offer you added visibility to a wider audience through both the guide Feed Post & IG Reel. For example, when someone searches Instagram for ”#AshevilleWeddingPhotographers”, our posts can frequently be found among the first few “Top” posts within that hashtag.
• Another way we get you in front of your key target audience and potential clients is through our involvement in the popular Facebook Communities/Groups for Asheville. It is common to see visitors and locals alike popping into these Facebook groups to ask questions. For example, a user may post, "Who's a great wedding photographer based in Asheville?" We actively monitor these groups, sharing relevant guides to help answer questions and promote our featured businesses and individuals.
• Across all our channels and social media engagement, we continually prioritize those who have worked with us - especially as it relates to sharing content you tag us in on Instagram! We love to share local businesses and entrepreneurs in our stories whenever we can. That's what we're all about - supporting local! You now have a forever social media support team - tag us in your posts or your stories and we will re-share with our audience, even long after the guide has posted. We also try to keep an eye on your page and comment, save, share, and like your posts, too!
• Our guides are frequently reposted into our stories on Instagram to remind our audience what guides have already been published. So you can count on this guide being re-shared long after its posting date.
• We also provide you with publicity directly on our website! We regularly rotate our “Featured Guides” on display at the top of our home page. These are the first guides people see when they visit our site. Each new guide remains in our "Featured" section for two weeks, though many will be rotated back into this section even after the initial two weeks.
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• You pick the photos that are included in the guide! We feature four photos on each business's page in the guide. You’ll find this information in the form you fill out before checking out/submitting payment.
• Your business’s Instagram @ name is shared on your page of the guide and in the caption/description section. This way viewers can easily find you on social media and check out your page!
• Wanting more backlinks to your website? When a guide is posted on our website, we have a clickable button under each businesses featured section that links to their website.
• Questions about SEO? A ton of work behind the scenes goes into to making sure our guides appear in Google results and Pinterest/Facebook/Instagram searches. SEO Titles, navigation titles, keywords, tags and categories, site and page descriptions, image names, alt. text, etc. are all part of our process for SEO.
• Insights after 21 days of the guide posting date are sent to your email. This way you can see how well the post performed on all of our social platforms!