Why Your Hotel Needs A Blog…NOW
Introduction: The Importance of Content
Content development is going to be a major — if not THE most important — online marketing and search engine ranking factor for hotels over the next few years.
Remember, the ultimate goal for search engines like Google is to deliver to its searchers EXACTLY the information for which they’re searching. Things like links, meta tags, etc. are peripheral elements that search engines uses in its algorithm to judge the quality of a site’s content, but don’t forget, content isn’t just for search engines, not at all. It also offers a tip-top marketing initiative for attracting new users to your area and brand. Content can do double-duty where those other elements like links are completely invisible to prospective guests.
Blog Development
While there are many kinds of content development, the one from which most hotels will benefit the most: blog content. You don’t have to call it a blog: it might be a destination guide, travel tips, a travelogue. Whatever the name, it’s constantly refreshed content that offers valuable and hopefully entertaining information to your guests.
In fact, blogs are the content hub for every website in every industry. Sales pages (rooms/packages) are always focused on capturing/engaging users during the shopping phase, but a blog with the proper content development can:
- Increase your hotel’s exposure
- Capture potential customers earlier in the sales funnel
- Create NEW business
- Build customer loyalty
- Underlie a more solid and comprehensive online marketing strategy
And not only does it do all that, it enables all those benefits simultaneously.
Brief History of Travel-Related Content Development on the Web
Content has always been king: it drives the web (always has and always will) for both search and social media channels.
Typical hotel websites are pretty thin, with just a few static pages that focus on capturing guests in the shopping phase. They ignore adding blogs and shy away from content development for online marketing, which has the power and gain visibility for your property when users are in the discovery phase! Why? Because it takes some effort to create and implement fresh and useful articles.
But it is precisely this mentality that enabled OTAs, travel affiliates and major hotel brands to grow in strength over the past four years, leaving the independent hotel behind. OTAs, affiliates and brands understand that content (alongside convenience) is a (if not “the”) major driving force of new business, on-going customer communication and brand visibility.
Well, it’s time for hotels to take back their piece of the online pie. Direct bookings, as a whole, have dropped over the past few years, partly due to the rise of OTAs and partly due to hotels just maintaining status quo (not pushing their online programs forward). Independent and individual property hotels have not budgeted for growth in their marketing plans, and so their websites have remained flat for years. But through blog development, they can refresh and revitalize their online presence.
Consider These Stats
The web is the main source for travel research and planning for both personal and business travelers – where 87% of travelers use the Internet as their primary travel planning source. Additionally, search engines (at 64% ) remains the #1 planning source for personal travel research.
These stats show that a very high percentage of travelers are turning to the Internet to aid them in their travel discovery (where should I go, what should I do) and decision-making (where should I stay) processes.
The Benefits of Blogging for Hotels
- Increase influence and authority with users: By offering useful content that aids users in their travel planning and decision making process, your hotel establishes itself as a local area expert.
- Increase website traffic: Blogs are a fantastic addition to a hotel’s SEO strategy, as they help to increase rankings and diversify ranking keywords, which in turn helps to get the website ranked for a greater number of travel related keyword phrases.
- Capture users at the top of the travel shopping funnel: By finding searchers when they’re still in the discovery phase, your property can dramatically widen its pool of prospective guests.
- Empower push marketing on social media: you can push (share) your fresh blog content out to your Facebook and Twitter audience; this means you can address search engines, on-site visitors and off-site prospective guests all at the same time.
- Create a centralized news hub for all hotel news and marketing initiatives: New spa? Renovated rooms? New seasonal packages? Place that content on the blog so that blog subscribers (your fans) can stay updated and get excited about the changes.
- Attract new visitors to your website/brand: Once they’re there, you have the ability to capture them (capture by: email address, blog subscription, social media follower) for long-term communication, sales and brand loyalty.
We’ve only just scratched the surface of blog development for hotels here. In upcoming posts in this series, we’ll take a closer look at real-world examples, delve into how-to’s, discuss different blog platforms and finally take a look at the analytics data most important for blogs.
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