by admin
Four reasons why travel companies should blog
6:13 pm in Travel Blogging Tips by admin
I have written and promoted a blog for over four years and I have learnt a lot in this time, and being a solo blogger you have to learn quickly. Sometimes, I browse a travel website and wonder why they haven’t created a blog because I can see so many added benefits.
Here are my five reasons why companies should create a blog:
Creating a new communication channel
Gone are the days where you would contact a company solely on the telephone. Now consumers want to interact with you through email and online using social media networks. A blog opens up new channels and if a consumer can contact with you quickly, you’re more likely to get that vital holiday booking.
Search engine optimisation
I have read thousands of articles about search engine optimisation, and while I am no means an expert I have found that attracting links to a blog is much easier than to a website offering a service or product. When you have a blog you are joining a huge community of travel bloggers who like to share quality content.
It is okay having a pretty looking website offering the best holidays on the planet, but if you have no content then you’ll not attract visitors from the natural search results.
Blogs and social media
Social media tools like Facebook and Twitter are great at raising awareness of your brand, so if you have a blog with content that you can share, you can use these tools to extend your reach out to travel consumers and to bloggers who want to share content within their own community.
Building trust
You might be a specialist tour operator who is selling boating holidays in Greece; as a consumer how do I trust that the people who run these holidays know what they are doing. Creating a blog can build trust, you can prove that your business knows what it is talking about and is an expert and can be trusted.
Finding value in a blog
If you want to engage with your customers, increase brand awareness, become more findable you will find value in a blog. I couldn’t see value for the likes of Thomson or Thomas Cook creating a blog, but I could see independent travel agencies writing about destinations and the types of holidays that they offer.
Creating a blog will not be right for every travel company. Bear in mind that you will want to find someone that is going to write content that people want to read. For most companies it’ll not be an instant solution to selling more holidays or increasing traffic to a website.
Good post Darren. Every time I go to a new destination in Vietnam, or even a destination I’ve been to before but never written about it, I blog it upon my return and link to my Picasa image gallery This has proved to be a great sales tool – I can back up a quote for an off-the-beaten-track Mekong Delta tour with an informal, first-hand account of my trip and loads of pics.
Hi Tim,
Those are the exact reasons why more companies should have a blog. As a consumer, if I know you have been to that destination and have written about your experiences, well that’s going to get you my booking for sure.
All that you said .. making building – or regaining – trust high on the list along with information sharing. Surprised how little travel and other related companies do blog and/or use Twitter and other social media. Is it that they are so understaffed? so far behind the times? don’t see the value? I’ll retweet your post and see if we can collectively put some pressure on to get them to do better .. in so many ways, eh?
Hi Joan,
I suspect part of the problem is that the CEO’s do not see any return on investment. They think that they cannot generate revenue from a blog, which I guess is partly true, but they forget or don’t realise that blogs are good at building brand awareness and link building