A blog can be a very useful marketing tool. With a strong blog, you can consistently attract guests to your site. They may thus be more likely to book through your site than through an online travel agency. This is good for your bottom line.
That doesn’t mean a blog on its own is enough to deliver results. To optimize your return-on-investment, keep the following hotel website blogging best practices in mind.
5 Hotel Website Blogging Best Practices You Need to Know About
Make it ‘Scannable’
You need to account for Internet user behaviors when developing blog content. Even if your blog is otherwise strong, it may fail to attract a consistent audience if it’s not designed for today’s Internet users.
For instance, research has shown that people tend to browse the Internet via mobile devices more often than via desktop computers these days. That means they’re consuming content on much smaller screens. Ensure your blog is formatted accordingly by including headers, breaking up the text with other media elements, and avoiding long paragraphs that are difficult to read on a small mobile device.
Incorporate Other Media
A blog primarily consists of text. That should be your focus when developing content. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t also include other media. On the contrary, there are instances when it makes sense to include images, video, infographics, and more.
After all, surveys indicate the vast majority of Internet users would be willing to share relevant video content with their friends and family. Video and images simply engage readers in a way that text can’t.
You just need to make sure you’re using this type of content when it makes sense to do so. You don’t want to randomly include video for its own sake. For example, a blog entry covering a recent event at one of your properties would be enriched with a video showing highlights from the event.
Consider Writing to Multiple Audiences
You obviously need to define your audience when developing any marketing campaign. Reaching the right people is much easier when you decide who the “right people” actually are.
That’s not to say you should limit yourself to one audience. You may get better results by developing multiple customer personas.
For instance, maybe you run a hotel that’s popular with a few different groups, including traveling professionals, families on vacation, and people seeking wedding venues. The kind of content that appeals to someone planning a wedding might be irrelevant to a traveling businessperson. You’ll improve engagement if you tailor different pieces of content to different audiences.
Monitor Engagement
It’s important to constantly find ways to improve your blogging strategy. That’s much easier to do when you regularly monitor posts for signs of engagement.
This isn’t limited to page views. You also want to monitor how long guests remained on a particular blog’s page, how often a particular blog was shared, etc. Doing so helps you better understand what types of content do and do not resonate with your audience.
Offer Value
Of all hotel blogging best practices, this is the most important to remember. You don’t want your content to come across as too promotional. Readers will find no value in such content, and thus won’t engage with it.
Consider how you can provide value to your audience every single time you develop blog content. What types of information are your ideal guests looking for? By keeping their needs in mind, you’ll develop a blogging strategy that yields major results.
