Searching for an Archery Range Near You? Discover Archery Ranges Canada

Manisha: Hello Archery Family. It's Manisha of the Archery Parent Podcast. What you need to know to best support your Archer. If you have ever been looking for an Archery range, either you've been traveling and you want to get some extra arrows in, or you're looking for a new place for your Archer to practice, you know how frustrating that can be.

Today's guest is Josh Kennedy of Archery Ranges Canada, and he is going to take us through something that he has developed that is very exciting and can help everybody across the country. Josh, welcome to the podcast.

Josh: Hey, thank you so much for having me.

Manisha: Let's just get into this.

What is Archery Ranges Canada? What was the light bulb moment that made you feel that a national directory was really needed across Canada?

Josh: What ended up happening? I kind of just went gung ho into it. I just started going and researching. The one local Archery range is great, but what else is there? I want to go and do all different types of places.

I want to go and head up to Barrie to go and shoot up there. I want to go and head out to the west end of Toronto and shoot up there. I want to go downtown Toronto and shoot in those areas.

It just was never an easy process because on top of it, you need to go and find out if it was a member based club, like I had to go and pay in advance or whatever else. Is it open to the public?

There's so much information that it didn't give me. I had to go and put like an hour, hour and a half just on my first time just to try and go and research and find the ranges, even just like some that are, pretty local to me, it was always an absolute challenge, and I still remember one time I went to try and drive out to this one range and it was closed. It just didn't exist anymore, but they said that it was still open.

You get these hiccups. You have no idea what you're driving to, and if it is good, if it's not good or anything else. I was like, this must be better. There must be a better way to go and experience this. I didn't end up going and doing anything with it for about a year.

I ended up going and listening just to a YouTube video, and they ended up going and talking about directories, and it just made a light bulb moment for me. I was like, “Ah, okay. Well, I can do this for Archery ranges.” This is exactly what I need and what I'm guessing a lot of other people need because I can't be the only person.

I saw people talking about on Reddit. I saw people commenting it on different types of Facebook groups and whatever else, and I was like, I'm not the only one, so let's go and do it. And asked AI if there are any Archery range directories in Canada. And then it was like, no, besides the, the one page non-interactive pages that are on like the provincial websites.

There's really nothing. And I was like, okay. There's a massive hole that needs to be filled here.

Manisha: Definitely. I saw your post on the York County Bowman Facebook page.

That is one of the questions that I get a lot. I am in this place somewhere in Canada. Do you know of any ranges?

I was actually in the process of starting a directory.

Nothing near what you're doing, but I wanted to have a directory of all the ranges in Canada, and then when I saw your post, it was so intriguing to me because you are doing it and I knew I needed to get in touch with you, and I was really curious to find out all the different features that you've added to it, and we're going to get into all of that.

I wanted to ask you, what has been the feedback since you released it. And you launched in January of this year, so very fresh, but what has the feedback been so far right now?

Josh: Raving reviews? It's kind of crazy. There's been no real bad comments towards any of this, and this is the one thing that's great about this community, is they will do whatever it takes to go and help grow this sport.

I've had tons of help to go and make the experience of the website even better, address any types of maybe bugs or issues that are through the website. They're going and telling me, they're giving me comments and working with me one-on-one, doing step-by-step. And it's been an amazing experience.

Manisha: You're so right to say that the Archery community is supportive. They don't always have the ability or resources to do certain things, but when someone does, it does seem that people support them and help cheer them on.

I wanted to ask, so what is very different about what you are doing is, unlike provincial or even the national databases that we have, you have chosen to include not only your typically registered range, but you've also included pro shops. You've included sort of the unaffiliated, backyard style ranges, as well. So why did you decide to do that a opposed to just going to every province's page and copying all of that.

Josh: So this is the thing. Every range has a chance. And they should have a chance of being seen and being recognized. And that's one of the biggest things.

What I wanted to go and do was help with getting every type of range, no matter what it is, the smallest range that has three lanes or that has like 20 lanes. One that only can go and shoot up to like 20 yards. Or ones that can go and shoot up to 180 or a hundred yards or anything else, right? It's not on in their major priority to go to a registered range.

Because it comes down to is that there are so many people that are hunters, weekend warriors, people that do tournaments and do it professionally. But even the people that just go and do Archery just as a therapy aspect and just going and trying to clear their mind and clear their head.

For a lot of us, it's not so much of thinking that they have to get to one of those registered locations. They just want to go and find one that's close enough to them that they can go and shoot. It doesn't really matter if they're affiliated or not or anything else.

I want to go and make it the most accessible and most complete Archery database that you could possibly ever have.

Manisha: Let's break down the website, first of all.

So you've got your Homepage, and on your Homepage there is a search bar, and you can either put the name of the range, you can put in the city that you're in, or I think the province that you're in.

Let's talk about what happens and what, what appears below that search bar.

Josh: So we got the search bar, and then underneath we have a geo locator.

So basically it will then sense exactly where you are in the country and then in doing so, give you more information for the location that you're living in.

Below that, I actually just added it today, subcategories where you can then go and look up if the range is kid friendly, that they can go and run birthday parties, one's focused on women.

There's about six different categories, and so you can click on one of those. It'll then take you to like a subsection where you can then click on even your province that you're in, and then the city, and then it can give you all the different ranges that are located in and around that area for that subsection that you're going and looking for.

Again, it's all about accessibility, making it as user friendly and accessible towards a range as they possibly can.

Manisha: So when you find a range that you want to go to and you click on the name, what does the directed page share about that specific range?

Josh: When you go and you actually click on it, we give a full description. We have names, emails, phone numbers, any type of amenities that the club offers. What types of bows do they allow? You can also go and see pricing, and you also get a map for the actual location, and you click on that and you can then get the directions towards that.

Manisha: So how up to date is this? Because we all know that not all of the provinces update their information,

Josh: With the information we go and we try to take as much as we possibly can from the website or any other types of information that we could find. Maybe through the Facebook pages, Instagram, to go and give as much up-to-date information as we can.

But again, not everything will be perfect. And so with that, people can go and start claiming their listing and then they can start going and editing it themselves. And do everything they need to.

Manisha: How would someone claim their listing if they've noticed either the information is not correct or if their range is missing?

Josh: Yeah, so there is the claim option and then there is also even making your own listing and you want to go and add your own range or add the range that you work for or work at. So there is that option.

So basically with the claim, they can sign up. Make a profile. And then from there they can click on the profile and give them a dropdown menu. And then it'll just say, "Claim Listing". And then you can go through the process of claiming the listing, giving your name, the role at the club. then once you submit it.

Then it takes about a day or so for me or for anyone else to be able to accept it and just kind of make sure that we can verify that you do work or are a part of that club and you're not some random person.

Once we do that, the claim is yours and you can go and do what you want with it. Change the photo, change the entire description as you want, change any other types of amenities. Change the address, if the address isn't correct. And anything else and just make sure that it is the most up-to-date and best information for it.

Manisha: And what if someone wanted a premium listing? What do they do?

Josh: There are little prompts throughout the site that you can go and upgrade. So if you're wanting to go and get some analytics and start finding out how much traffic you are actually getting to your listing, like how many clicks or anything else, you can then upgrade to the Silver package. And then that'll also make all of your listing fully active, making your phone number clickable, making your email clickable, and making it more interactive with phone users and cell phone users.

You can then add more photos, increase the amount of description words that you have, because right now the free version gives you about 150.

With the Silver package, you get up to 250 or 300.

Manisha: And so how does someone get that information? Do they contact you directly?

Josh: They can just go right through the website and just click through that and they have the upgrade options there. And then it'll just send them right over to a pay station.

So, we have the Silver package and then we also have the Gold package. And so the Gold package puts your featured listing right on the front of the homepage. And if anyone goes and searches and basically lives in and around 50 kilometers of where your range is located, it will just show up right on the Homepage. And so it'll be front and centre, getting you more views, more clicks, basically getting you a lot more traffic to help with getting more cash flow and increasing all around, productivity that way.

So, and then it'll also go and give you access to adding a video to your listing. So then you can even do like a video tour of your listing or have interviews about how great it is and doing, video interviews that way,

You even then get access to calendar of events. You can then go and put it onto the listing itself. You can then send everyone to the listing and just be like, just pay attention to the listing. All the events are going to be up on there and you can just have that constant amount of traffic, increasing it that way, and then getting people to fully see when someone visits, “Oh, they have it on this day, great.” Now they can go and do it.

It just makes things a lot more efficient and easier for people to know about your range.

Manisha: A range can actually use ArcheryRangesCanada.ca as their own website essentially.

Josh: Basically.

Manisha: There are so many that don't have a website and for you to provide this information, it really is helping build out the community and like you said, make things so much more accessible.

I just want to talk about the actual map that you have. There are little dots for all the different cities that you have listings for, and someone can just click on one of those dots and it'll take them to those ranges there.

What does it take for you to put all of this together, to maintain all of this? How does it all happen?

Josh: I've been going and using different types of web application tools, AI tools to be able to go and gather all the information that I need to. It's helped me out a ton with gathering all the proper information, gathering the descriptions and everything else so that it can be the most comprehensive.

Using those AI tools, it has been able to go and make the map the way that it is because if I didn't have that, then there would be nothing, for me to be able to do that.

Manisha: So since you've launched, can you share just a ballpark of how many visits you've had to the website?

Josh: It's been about six weeks and so far I've had about like over 3000 visits.

It was about like 554 active users and then new users. I have like 644 new users. This was only with, with two provinces. Once they get all of them up, it's going to be a busy, busy site. People still don't really even know about. We're already getting this type of traffic. Just wait till it's well known.

And the funny thing about it as well is that I'm already have people searching from Singapore. A ton of people from the United States are already going and visiting the website. Probably a third of the people right now that have come to visit are from the States.

Manisha: That's amazing because we do want to encourage Archers from other countries to attend different events, to explore the country. And that is one of the harder things to do, is to find an Archery range.

So you are really opening it up, not just for Canadians, but you're opening it up to so many other countries, so many other visitors, and that will only make it better for everybody to be able to enjoy, for sure.

Have you seen or found any hidden gems that you want to put on your Bucket List?

Josh: I kind of have like three different hidden gems that we can go and look at.

The first one is actually, Forest City Archers. For them, they have a very large, like 64 acres, for an outdoor 3D course. They have 40 targets. It's a crazy amount and on top of it, all season. So they're open even during the winter so people can still go and shoot and do everything that they want to do there.

It's such a, a great experience. And then they also offer like every type of bow. Even crossbow can go and shoot there as well.

Manisha: Where are they located?

Josh: In Thorndale. It's a great little spot and I definitely recommend it.

So the next one is in British Columbia. Salt Spring Archery Society at Jade Farm. It's actually a real farm, so you can go get yourself into that little small island community, and go and experience having that 3D course. The scenic immersion. You're even going and shooting right by the ocean.

And then the last one is Alberta. This one is interesting. This one is an immersive experience. It's called Painted Warriors. And it's in the Mountain View County, right in the mountains, which is absolutely fantastic. The big thing about this though, is it goes and actually immerses you into the whole native community; the whole native process on how they actually went and did it back then.

Then they go and they do 3D courses with a hyper-realism experience, that way puts you through that whole type of culture and significance and get you into traditional bow and shooting how they would back then. It's a cool one.

Manisha: So going forward, what else do you have on the horizon for Archery Ranges Canada?

Josh: Reviews are actually coming down the drainpipe. Pretty close. Basically, people then can go and rate and give any types of reviews for that range itself. So you have the five-star reviews.

You can go and write anything that you had with that experience. That is definitely one coming down the drainpipe pretty soon, which is great.

Manisha: Are you a member of a club yourself?

Josh: I'm not associated with one type of club. I like to experience different ones. That's what I want to be able to experience and I'm that type of person.

I always want to go and see and feel and and understand what a different type of place is instead of having that regular spot. So like I do have places that I typically go to. I go there, I go, like I said to west end of Toronto. I go downtown. I go towards Peterborough. I kind of go all over the place.

The one goal that I actually would love to go and do is once I'm done with collecting and gathering all these ranges, the goal would be to go and visit every single one of them.

Manisha: That's great. And what if someone from another country saw what you're doing and wanted to do that for their own country?

What advice would you have for them?

Josh: It's going to take time. When I first started doing this, it took me two and a half months and I was putting in a lot of hours. It was challenging for sure. I am a father of three, had to go and do this outside of my full-time job and being with them to go and be able to complete this and make it work.

Manisha: Let's just review what we've talked about. Let's talk about the three different levels of listing that a club can have. So you've got the free listing which everyone has. So that's called the Bronze level, free for everybody.

And then you've got the Silver, and then you've got the Gold. So just briefly again, tell us the difference between all three.

Josh: The free listing, everyone goes and gets access to that at any time. Nothing's very interactive with that one. You only get one photo. With that, you only get about 150 words to be able to describe your range. Go and share all the amenities that you have, but you can't go and share your prices.

That you do have to go and upgrade for sharing your prices, and you don't really get any type of analytics, so you don't really know what really is happening with your range and what's happening with your listing.

Then there's the Silver, the second option. So this one here is affordable. Thinking that a lot of people will be kind of going more towards this one. Everything becomes interactive, so like I said, it's easier for the phone experience so people can then go and click on it, get the information, and they'll just go straight to their phone or anything else for email, for phone number or website as well.

They'll also be able to have three photos with every listing. They then will be able to share their prices. They can even go and have an FAQ section, and then they even have being able to actually answer reviews.

And then with the Gold, this one is the Lamborghini per se, unlimited photos, full YouTube video. You can go and put in 500 words for their description. They have all the types of stuff that what Silver would offer, as well.

There's two really big things with the Gold, the featured listing that you can go and experience on your Homepage, the calendar. Then you end up going and having an ad on any free listing in and around that area.

So again, within 50 kilometers of that area. So, if there is another competitor that has a listing and they're on the free version, then your Gold package will then go and place an ad on the free listing.

Manisha: That's a great idea.

Josh: It's all about eyeballs, right? Getting traction and getting yourself in front of other people.

So that will be the main thing, and those are some great, great features that people can go and experience.

Manisha: How many listings do you have on the website right now?

Josh: So right now it's about 244 listings so far in Canada, but these are only over three provinces.

We have about 137 listings in just in Ontario. I have 47 listings in BC and I'm still going and getting people submitting new ranges that have been overlooked. So we're even going and still growing, uh, within BC as well. Those numbers are still growing.

I just recently added Alberta and that is 44 listings. We're looking pretty good for numbers right now and a lot more than what originally thought.

Manisha: Do you have an idea of how many listings across Canada there are potentially going to be. These are registered ranges. These are also unregistered ranges. And, these are pro shops, as well.

Josh: I think there's over 400.

Manisha: So is there anything else that you wanted to share with our listeners?

Josh: If you really want to go and have the full experience of what you are exactly looking for, Archery Ranges Canada is going to be that.

It is going to be the easiest way for you to be able to go and find any type of information about any range that is close to you and you can then go and find anything that is remarkable and go and have those same types of hidden gems that I went and experienced earlier.

Unless you were a local to some of these areas, you probably would've never heard about them.

Manisha: It's funny you bring that up. Where I live, I have lived here for over 30 years. I have been an Archery Mom for over 11 years. And, the two that you have listed in my city, I had no idea even existed. What Josh is doing is actually quite eye-opening and shocking.

Anything else that you wanted to share about Archery Ranges Canada, Josh?

Josh: Just come. Have a good time. This is made for everyone. This is for the every man. This is for the backyard hero, the Weekend Warrior, the therapy guy that is just wanting to shoot just because he loves to shoot, doesn't really go and care about anything else - or achieve anything else besides that.

It is here for you and for everyone, and so come and experience it and just keep coming back.

Manisha: I'm going to change tact just a little bit now.

Give me one thing that you never leave home without when you're heading to a new Archery range.

Josh: Well, the one thing that I make sure that I have is my Allen key.

If you don't have your Allen key, then you're really kind of screwed. You could be going and shooting like, let's say Saturday, it could go and shoot you, dial your sights and it works perfectly. Aiming, aiming great. You go and you shoot on Sunday. All of a sudden that same thing is different than how it needs to be adjusted the day before.

And if you don't have that thing, you're really out of luck.

Manisha: Let's give a quick shout out to the different ranges that we have talked about. So we talked about York County Bowmen. You talked about Forest City in Thorndale. You talked about Salt Spring on Salt Spring Island, and what was the one in Alberta?

Josh: This one was Painted Warriors.

Manisha: Painted Warriors. So hello to all of these ranges and to everyone else, get onto ArcheryRangesCanada.ca, and just check it out.

If your range is not there, make sure you claim it. If you want a listing at a different level, make sure that you take care of that.

And if you have questions, how can people reach you, Josh?

Josh: You can go and reach me at ArcheryRangesCanada@gmail.com or go to our Contact Us page down at the footer and you can go and send us messages through the website there.

Manisha: There's one last thing I wanted to ask you before we sign off. On your About page, you have a statement that says:

"By making it easier for Canadians to find Archery ranges and get started with lessons, we're investing in the future growth of Archery across the country."

I love that so much. Can you just share with me how you resonate with that statement?

Josh: Again, it's all about just loving the sport. Loving what it can offer, and what it has done for me, what it has done for my family.

It's about drawing everyone in and making this community a community. It's about Canada. And I find right now we're so divided in so many different things right now. If we can then just all come together for one thing. No matter what it is. No matter what your beliefs are. No matter what your religion is. No matter what you may have been experienced throughout your life, we all then can come together to love the sport.

Manisha: You've done so much in relatively a short amount of time. Your impact is going to be so significant. Like you said, you have three provinces down, but you've got so much more growing to do.

Josh, thank you for taking the time to come onto the podcast and sharing this website that is filling such a huge gap in the information sharing within the community.

I wish you so much luck with it and I look forward to seeing how it grows.

Josh: Thank you so much.

Manisha: That's Josh. I'm Manisha and this is the Archery Parent Podcast. We will see you again soon.

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