The importance of having a blog on your hotel website can’t be stressed enough and in addition to serving as a platform to share informational and inspirational content to past, current, and future guests, blogs can enhance your inbound marketing efforts—driving traffic to your hotel website and attracting even more prospective guests.

Key Benefits of Blogging

• Drive more traffic to the hotel website. With more relevant content on the hotel website, you can increase your organic visibility and traffic. As users search for information on Google, or discover blog posts that have been shared on social media, website clicks and visitors can increase.

• Enhance SEO efforts and search engine rankings. Search engines love fresh content. Since blogs provide the opportunity to frequently add new content, Google and other search engines can serve your website listing in more organic search queries.

• Position your hotel as a destination expert. It’s important for hotels to position themselves at the heart of their destination, which is the main reason people want to travel. Blogging about your destination will position your hotel as a destination expert, build trust with potential guests, and allow them to find useful information and answers to their questions without having to search elsewhere on the internet.

Blogging Best Practices

In order to see successful blog performance, it’s important to follow best practices. Before getting started on your hotel blog, develop a content strategy that works for you, including the topics you’ll focus on and how often you’ll update the blog. If possible, it’s helpful to have multiple contributors, to offer different perspectives and share the workload. Consider these blogging best practices:

Create content for your readers first, and to promote your hotel second.
Avoid being overly promotional. The purpose of a hotel blog is to share destination content through the unique lens of your hotel’s brand. Inspire and inform your best guests with your content. Look at sites like Conde Nast Traveler and Fodors for inspiration on the type of travel stories that users are searching for.

Tailor posts to specific audiences.
Identify your target audiences and create each blog post with one in mind. A simple trick is to ask yourself if you are trying to reach past guests, present guests, or potential guests. Additionally, developing a customer persona for your hotel’s “best guest” can help you keep a consistent tone and style.

Be consistent.
Consumers seek engaging content. When they find something they like, they keep coming back for more. Make sure your hotel blog is consistently updated so you don’t lose their interest. Once a month should be the minimum, while once a week is the most ideal frequency.

Utilize attention-grabbing headlines.
You’ve created amazing content, now you people to click on it. Entice readers with attention-grabbing titles that clearly identify the topic of the content and what they’ll find by clicking through.

Be visual.
Captivate users with high-resolution imagery. Adding strong visual components will enhance the stories you are telling on your blog.

Distribution is everything.
A distribution strategy is key to blog success. Share your blog post on social media channels and in monthly email newsletters. Go a step further by implementing push notifications on your blog site, which allows readers to subscribe to your content and receive a pop-up notification for each new post.

Promote content using social media advertising.
Promoting content on social media can be accomplished with a fairly small budget. Promoting posts on Facebook and Instagram can lead to more eyeballs on your content than ever before.

Set goals and measure results.
It’s extremely important to measure the effectiveness of your blog posts. Each quarter, look at the last three months to identify which types of posts get the most traffic (page views) as well as how long people spend on different types of content (average time on site). Using these findings, you can deliver more of the content your readers engage with the most.

5 Types of Blog Posts for Hotels

Now it’s time to put the best-practices to work. These are the five types of posts you should be creating.

1. The List

There’s a good chance you have come across this type of post. “Top 5 This” or “8 Tips for That” (much like the one you are reading now) are very popular. This format streamlines information into an easy-to-digest list that allows the reader to skim quickly. These posts often generate the most clicks, which means more exposure for your brand.

Titles to consider:

• 8 Ways to Explore San Diego Like a Local
• 10 New Restaurants in New York City to Try Now

2. Interviews

Conducting interviews is a fun way to add personality to your hotel blog. Whether introducing readers to your staff or sourcing insider information on the best things to do in your destination, an interview format offers a personal touch that readers today crave.

Titles to consider:

• The Best Bars in Miami According to Food & Beverage Director Bob Smith
• New York Artist Jane Smith on Her Favorite Museums in Lower Manhattan

3. Behind the Scenes

So much goes on behind the scenes at a hotel. Giving readers a glimpse into how the magic is made is an easy and fun way to connect on another level with past, present, and future guests.

Titles to consider:

• True Stories: The Best Conversations Overheard at the Hotel Bar
• Yoga at {Hotel Name}: Front Office Manager Bob Smith Shares How to Relax Behind Your Desk

4. Destination Guides

From generating more bookings in need periods by sharing the best off-season activities to guiding guests to the best in-season experiences, your blog is a great place to share the best things to see and do in your destination.

• 10 Unexpected Reasons to Visit Aspen This Summer (off season)
• 7 Things to Do in Aspen After You Hit the Slopes (in season)

5. Food & Recipes

Food and travel go hand in hand. Many times, culinary experiences and dishes are part of the initial travel plans, with online visitors being inspired by images of food they may have seen. Help further showcase your property values and the talent behind your chef and kitchen staff by writing about special dishes and creations. The same can be done with your hotel bar, by providing drink recipes and inspiration.

Topics to consider:

• In the Kitchen: Chef Jane Smith’s Tips & Tricks to Make Our Signature Burger
• 5 Cocktails That Will Spice up Your Holidays

No matter what type of hotel or where it’s located, there are endless topics to blog about. And from an increase in organic visibility to more website traffic and, hopefully, direct bookings, there’s no reason to delay this fun and exciting digital channel.

ABOUT HEBS DIGITAL:
Founded in 2001, the firm is headquartered in New York City and has global offices in Las Vegas, Tallinn, Munich, and Asia-Pacific. Through its Smart Guest Acquisition Suite, including the smartCMS®, Smart Personalization Engine, Smart Data Marketing, and full-service digital consulting and marketing solutions, HEBS Digital helps hoteliers drastically boost direct bookings, lower distribution costs, and increase the lifetime value of guests. Its diverse client portfolio consists of top-tier luxury and boutique hotel chains, independent hotels, resorts and casinos, franchised properties and hotel management companies, convention centers, spas, restaurants, DMO and tourist offices.

Part of NextGuest Technologies, HEBS Digital and Serenata CRM, the most comprehensive Hotel CRM Suite today, are the creators of the hospitality industry’s first Fully-Integrated Guest Engagement & Acquisition Platform.

Contact HEBS Digital’s consultants at 1 (800) 649-5076 (North America), +64 (0) 9 889 8489 (Asia Pacific) or success@hebsdigital.com