Don’t break the first commandment of effective hotel marketing by ignoring the enormous power of the Internet. In today’s highly competitive battle to attract guests, every hotelier needs to have an informative and interesting blog and make certain that their website is updated on a regular basis.
Today’s travelers are much better informed about their options for accommodations. Before the emergence of social media and the easy access to information, you might have made a few phone calls and checked with a couple of brand name hotels before making a reservation. Today, not only can a traveler look-up a dozen hotels around their destination, but they can also compare your hotel to your competitor’s hotel. Forget about building brand loyalty if you are stuck in the “Dark Ages” and do not have a blog, or heaven forbid, a professional website.
3 Reasons blogging is a plus for hotels
1) Google’s new search algorithm rewards new and interesting content by placing it above older content in search results. To get noticed, you need to get on the first page when someone does a search. Google loves new articles and will give you points that will improve the effectiveness of your SEO.
2) A blog is a great way to get conversations about your hotel started on Facebook and Twitter. When you create a buzz by posting details about an upcoming promotion, word will spread quickly. As people share and talk about what they read, your hotel’s name also becomes part of the discussion.
As a hotel manager, you want to know when a guest has an unfortunate experience while staying at your hotel. You want to know when they were really thrilled with the breakfast buffet or had a suggestion to improve the guest experience. With a blog, you can get almost instant feedback. Past, present and future guests can post on your hotel’s blog and you then have the opportunity to respond and make a personal connection.
3) Useful information is probably the most important reason as to why people develop an interest in reading and following a hotel blog. Potential guests want to know about any recent changes at your hotel or how they might benefit by visiting. For instance, if you made arrangements with the local steakhouse to give your hotel guests a 25 percent discount, give the restaurant a nice write-up and then share it with that restaurant. If they repost it on their site, you are reaching more people and potentially, more paying guests.
Why is doing a blog with Wordpress better?
Wordpress already has millions of bloggers on its social media platform and when you put the right tags in your article, some of those bloggers will see it. They can help promote and spread your message in a number of different ways. If you write something really cool, they may want to reblog your original article or they may feel compelled to comment on your article. Maybe they will link to your article with something they write. In any case, the more you network, the better the chance that someone looking for a place to stay will take note of your hotel.
Blogging is not easy, but using Wordpress is. The platform makes it simple to create headlines that attract the attention you want. You have great control over your blog as you are able to customize it just the way you want. You can add pictures and create links. You can change fonts, bold, or italicize words. You can even draw attention to your blog by using color.
Regular posting
Here is where you have to be a little creative to come up with interesting topics. If you are going to be blogging several times a day, come up with unique topics. Sometimes, it is as simple as creating a top-ten list of local restaurants. You can get readers to give their favorites. Anyone can think of conversation starters. Is it wrong to walk barefoot to get some ice for your room? How much should you tip the maid? Is it wrong to steal the little bottles of shampoo?
Regular posting means that you will have more content online and more searches will be generated. You must be careful not to just post endlessly if your content quality suffers. Remember, good, fresh content is rewarded by Google, while you are punished for lame content.
Your hotel will get more leads with a blog if the article is really good. Quality articles can keep you at the top of Google for months. If you are ranking low in the Google search results, blogging and content creation moves you higher in the search rankings and may even land you on the first page of search results without spending a dime on Google AdWords.
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