Here are ten top tips on how to improve your travel and tourism blog – and five good examples of the blogs who are practising what we preach when it comes to a good business blog.
First, let’s quickly look at why having an active and compelling business blog on your website is a good idea:
1. A blog is a key part of your online marketing strategy.
2. A regularly updated business blog with good, compelling content will bring people to your website.
3. It will help customers find you online via social media and will improve your search engine rankings. In turn this will increase traffic to your site. More traffic can mean more sales.
4. Thanks to a good blog, your new visitors are more likely to ‘follow you’ on social media or revisit your site – and this way you will build brand awareness and hopefully, achieve sales.
So that’s the reasons you should have a blog.
Now here are our top ten tips on how to make your travel and tourism blogs one of the best
1) Hook the reader with a powerful headline
To be powerful, a headline needs to say exactly what the blog is about and what the reader will gain from reading it. The headline on this blog told you that you’d find the ten most important tips to improve your travel and tourism blog.
2) Content is king
When it comes to travel and tourism writing, make the content compelling and aspirational. Your readers will be more likely to share it, or are more likely to want to purchase the trip you are talking about.
For example, talk about the most original and unique things to see, do and experience at a particular destination. YTravel blog’s post on the most romantic things to do in NYC is one of many great examples.
3) Make it useful
Or, focus your content on making things easier for the traveller – for instance advice on a specific kind of holiday, what to pack for a specific type of holiday.Europe Active – the adventure holiday specialist’s blog on taking a cycling holiday is a good example.
4) Keep it current
Where possible, capitalise on trends or current events for some of your blogs. For example, here’s Cuba Holidays talking about the ultimate ‘what to see in Cuba before it all changes’ in their blog – giving a nod to current developments in Cuba.
5) Look internally for authors / contributors
Bringing in a local perspective every so often works well. If you work with local experts, like a local guide for instance, ask them for some content. They could share some history about the location, why the love it, the best viewing points etc. You can see what we mean over at GONOLA.com – their whole blog is based on getting the ‘local perspective’.
6) Share and share alike
Make the content easy to share. Ensure there are social media buttons on the page. You can see what we mean on our own blog.
7) Make it appealing
Of course, you will talk positively about your subject, but try to go the extra mile and show a picture of the amazing view you are referring to. (Nomadic Matt’s travel blog does this well). Or, you should describe what it will feel like to be there – the heat, the cold, the smells, the sounds.
8) Embrace all the channels
Think about all social media channels and see what will suit you / you can cope with. For instance, if you have access to good imagery then Instagram is fantastic for travel blogs.
9) Call to action
Make sure there’s a call to action in your tourism blog. It could be booking a trip, signing up for a newsletter etc. This will help greatly with lead generation.
10) Make it a regular thing
To be successful you absolutely must ensure you post a blog regularly. It will keep traffic flowing to your site. If you don’t have internal resources to do that then hire a good freelance writer or blogger to put one together for you.
If you are a travel and tourism operator and you’d like to take your blog, website or any aspect of your digital marketing to the next level, then get in touch with TMA today.
Need more free advice?
Chris and his team will send you a weekly email offering high-value insight and advice about a variety of marketing and business development topics related to the tourism industry. We address specific destinations, tours and activities, and the hotel industry. We also provide important travel industry news and updates.
