A well-maintained hotel blog can be a powerful tool for enhancing your hotel’s online presence, attracting targeted traffic, and improving your search engine rankings over time. But, what should a hotel blog about?

Writing Content for Hotel Websites

Hotel blogs serve to provide the knowledge the user is seeking, which means writing content for hotel websites should begin with research. Effective hotel blog content answers questions that users are searching for, such as the best time to visit, things to do nearby, and must-visit restaurants or shops, as well as be optimized for search.

Check out our full guide to creating content that ranks here.

Qualities of Good Hotel Content

Good hotel content should possess several key qualities to effectively engage and attract potential guests. Below are a few qualities of compelling hotel content:

• Topic contains search volume and is relevant to your audience
• Provides value for readers, whether for entertainment or information
• Information is accurate, up-to-date, and reliable
• Written in a voice that makes sense for your brand
• Article is authentic and easy to understand
• Content is optimized for search
• Includes a variety of media that can help drive engagement
• Presentation is visually appealing and user-friendly
• Experience is mobile-friendly and accessible
• Presents a clear call to action

Benefits of a Hotel Blog

SEO

Increased Website Traffic

Regularly publishing high-quality blog content relevant to your hotel’s target audience can attract more visitors to your website. As more people visit your site to read your blog posts, your overall website traffic increases, which can positively impact your SEO efforts.

Improved Search Engine Rankings

By creating informative, engaging, and keyword-optimized blog posts, you can improve your website’s visibility in search engine results. Search engines like Google often prioritize websites that regularly produce fresh and relevant content. Each new blog post gives search engines another opportunity to index your site for relevant keywords, potentially leading to higher rankings for those terms.

Long-tail Keyword Targeting

Blogging allows you to target long-tail keywords—specific, niche phrases that potential guests may use when searching for information related to your hotel or destination. Long-tail keywords often have less competition than broader keywords, making it easier to rank for them and attract targeted traffic to your website.

Establishing Authority and Expertise

A hotel blog provides an opportunity to showcase your expertise and knowledge about your destination, local attractions, events, and travel tips. By consistently publishing valuable content, you can establish your hotel as an authority in your industry and build trust with both search engines and potential guests.

Internal Linking Opportunities

Blogging allows you to create internal links from your blog posts to other relevant pages on your website, such as your booking engine, accommodation pages, or amenities. Internal linking helps search engines understand the structure of your website and can improve the crawling and indexing of your pages, leading to better overall SEO performance.

Local SEO Benefits

If your hotel targets local guests or tourists, a blog can help improve your local SEO efforts. You can create content that highlights local attractions, events, restaurants, and activities, which can attract local search traffic and improve your visibility in local search results.

Content Sharing

Compelling blog content is more likely to be shared on social media platforms and other websites, which can generate valuable backlinks to your site.

Backlinks

Backlinks from reputable sources are an essential ranking factor in search engine algorithms, and they can significantly improve your website’s authority and search engine rankings.

Additional Opportunities for Conversions

Effective hotel content includes clear and persuasive calls to action that encourage users to take desired actions, such as booking accommodations, signing up for newsletters, or exploring special offers. These additional conversion opportunities should be strategically placed and prominently displayed throughout the content.

Drawbacks of Maintaining a Blog

While maintaining a blog on your hotel website can offer numerous benefits, there are also a few potential drawbacks to consider. Despite these obstacles, many hotels find that the benefits of maintaining a blog outweigh the challenges. By carefully planning and executing a blog strategy tailored to your hotel’s goals and audience, you can maximize the positive impact that creating content can have on your marketing efforts. Keep this list in mind prior to establishing your hotel blog.

Resource Intensive

Creating high-quality blog content requires time, effort, and resources. From researching topics to writing and editing posts, managing a blog can be a significant commitment for hotel staff or may require outsourcing to content creators. Additionally, maintaining a consistent publishing schedule can be challenging amidst other hotel operations.

Content Quality Control

Poorly written or irrelevant blog content can reflect negatively on your hotel’s brand image and credibility. Ensuring consistent quality and relevance across blog posts requires careful planning, editing, and oversight. Without proper content management, a blog can become ineffective or even detrimental to your marketing efforts.

SEO Maintenance

While blogging can improve SEO, it also requires ongoing optimization efforts. This includes keyword research, on-page SEO optimization, and monitoring performance metrics. Neglecting SEO best practices or failing to adapt to search engine algorithm changes can diminish the effectiveness of your blog in driving organic traffic.

Risk of Outdated or Inaccurate Information

Travel-related information can quickly become outdated due to changes in attractions, events, regulations, and other factors. Maintaining accurate and up-to-date content on your blog requires regular monitoring and updates, as well as potentially revising or removing outdated posts. Failing to do so can frustrate visitors and harm your reputation.

Competitive Landscape

The hospitality industry is highly competitive, and many hotels have blogs or content marketing strategies. Standing out amidst the competition requires creativity, unique insights, and strategic positioning. Without a clear differentiation strategy, your blog may struggle to attract and retain readers.

Measuring ROI

While blogging can contribute to overall marketing goals, measuring its direct impact on revenue or bookings can be challenging. Determining the return on investment (ROI) of your blog efforts requires tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) such as website traffic, engagement metrics, and conversion rates. Without clear metrics and analysis, it may be difficult to justify the resources allocated to blogging.

Hotel Blog Ideas

When you’re ready to begin building your hotel’s content library, be sure to focus on quality over quantity. Google prioritizes content that seems “the most helpful” and demonstrates expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. Here are 15 hotel blog ideas to get you started:

1. Monthly events in your area, like concert series and markets
2. Seasonal events in your area, such as festivals or holiday attractions
3. Annual events in your area, like conferences and celebrations
4. Entertainment and attractions nearby your hotel
5. Best way to spend a week or weekend in your area 
6. Top family-friendly restaurants, events or things to do close by
7. Indoor activities for a rainy day or cold destination
8. Answers to amenity-based queries, such as hotels with a bowling alley or hotels with a spa
9. Answers to early-funnel queries, like hotels near ‘X’
10. Top restaurants in your area, by cuisine, areas, cost, or view
11. Seasonal packing guides or lists that may be specific to your destination
12. Top wineries, breweries, and distilleries in your area
13. Nearby nightlife that may suit your target audience
14. A comprehensive travel guide for your area
15. Curated trip itineraries for trips like bachelorette parties, family reunions, and more

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Hotel blog content should provide value to site visitors, and prioritize high-quality writing and accurate information. A blog is a useful planning tool that can help hotels generate additional revenue, as well as build a reputation as an area authority. 

If you don’t have the time to create content for your hotel, let the experts at TravelBoom help. Contact us for a free evaluation today.