A hotel website blog can help you attract more guests on a consistent basis. It’s an affordable marketing tool that can nevertheless deliver major results.
Maintaining a blog is particularly easy with WordPress. Its intuitive design and robust features makes it an ideal tool for your needs.
Not sure how to start a blog on a hotel website with WordPress? This guide will explain the process.
How to Start a Blog on a Hotel Website Using WordPress: Essential Steps
Get a WordPress Website
It’s important to understand that the tips here won’t apply to everyone. The degree to which a certain tip applies to you will depend on the status of your current website.
For instance, if you’re launching a new website entirely, you can easily start one with WordPress. Just choose a host that allows you to download WordPress, register your domain name, and download WordPress to get started. You can then add a blog whenever you like. Because you’ll also use WordPress to manage all your site’s content, the process of creating content for different sections will be relatively seamless.
Add WordPress to an Existing Site
Don’t worry if you already have a website. Odds are good you can still add a WordPress blog to it. This is often true even if yours isn’t a WordPress site.
Start by downloading WordPress. It’s important for your purposes that you download the open source version from WordPress.org, and not the version from WordPress.com.
You may now be able to add a WordPress blog to your site via one of two methods: adding it to a subdirectory or adding it to a subdomain. Just keep in mind that this process is somewhat technical. Unless you have the proper experience, you might have to coordinate with your developer to complete the task.
You can add WordPress to a subdirectory on your site if you don’t use a CMS to manage your site’s content. To do so, FTP into your server. Now add a folder (name it “blog,” as you’ll access it via [yoursitename].com/blog) and move the contents of the wordpress.zip file to it. Head to “[yoursitename].com/blog,” add “/wpadmin” and you should be all set. Follow the prompts to complete the set-up process.
You won’t be able to add WordPress in this way if you use another CMS. Luckily, you can still add it to a subdomain. Contact your web hosting company to learn how to add subdomains to your site if you’re not sure how to do so. Many hosting companies will allow this.
After creating your subdomain (which should be titled blog.[yoursitename].com), you can FTP into its folder. Add the contents of the WordPress zip file. Now all you have to do is head to “blog.[yoursitename].com/wp-admin” to get started.
Explore Plugins
Now that you know how to start a blog on a hotel website, don’t limit yourself by merely using WordPress’ bare-bones features. WordPress is useful because you can install plugins that enhance and expand upon its capabilities. Browse your options to find any that are right for your needs.
Just remember that WordPress alone isn’t enough to guarantee your blog will be successful. You also need to keep essential blogging best practices in mind when developing content. This is key to maximizing your return-on-investment.