Content marketing strategy for travel niche blogs
Everyone can become a blogger these days, but not everyone can be a successful one. In fact, it’s getting harder every year. It’s not enough to choose a niche you’re good at – you have to do something to stand out, especially if you pick such a crowded industry as travelling. More and more people value experience over material possessions; they prefer to travel and learn instead of buying and hoarding. Most of them will go online to find inspirations and necessary information – that’s why travel niche blogs are growing not only in popularity but also in numbers. According to PNC Solutions, when travellers go online, they visit an average of 38 websites before booking a vacation. How can you make sure that some of them decide to follow your page? A good website copy is already half the battle. So how to write a blog to avoid boring people to death and to create relevant and helpful content?
Pick a niche
Unfortunately, you can’t be just a travel blogger – that’s definitely too broad, and most readers who find something interesting in your content will eventually be too bored by the rest to stick around. Of course, a narrow niche means a smaller audience but also less competition. Think about your travelling style and write for people similar to you. Maybe you always travel on a budget, you hitchhike your way through the world, you are environmentally-friendly no matter what, or you buy books everywhere you are – use it to create something unique. Of course, you can sometimes write a more general post but try making it entertaining, informative and personal.
Be helpful
If you travel regularly, you’ve probably encountered many various problems on your way – don’t be afraid to share your experiences. Make sure that your readers don’t repeat your mistakes and that they are able to deal with a lot of different obstacles. Thanks to that, you will establish yourself as a helpful expert that can be trusted. If you are willing to go one step further, you can think about writing step-by-step guides. Help your readers be sure that they know what to do even before they decide on anything – how to pick a destination according to a budget, what should be arranged before departing, what to pack, etc.
Write useful and relevant content
When you have a blog, it’s obligatory to write regularly, but it doesn’t have to be too often – remember always to put quality first. People are picky these days, mostly because they can. There are so many blogs that they will always have many to choose from. Your readers have to know when they can expect something new, but you want them always to be excited about it as well; that’s something you won’t achieve by writing mediocre content. Blog posts should not be about selling anything. Of course, ads are by all means allowed, sometimes even recommended. First and foremost, though, you have to write for people. Inform, solve problems and entertain in order to gain their trust and become an authority in your field. That’s how you can get loyal readers who very often turn into customers and, what’s more, are more likely to recommend you to their families and friends. Apart from all that, if you want to be a successful travel blogger, you have to pay attention to the visual side of your website. According to research, more than half of travellers who go online get inspired by beautiful pictures. You can’t really recommend a destination without showing it.
Don’t forget about SEO
SEO (search engine optimization) is a kind of magic you really can’t do well without these days if you care about how you rank on SERPs (and you should). In fact, it’s not magic at all but a lot of hard work and patience. There are some detailed guides on how to rank high on Google that may help you do it yourself, but you can always hire a professional if you feel like you already have enough on your plate – either way will work but you should never ignore SEO. There’s no good marketing strategy without it. Plan your keywords research right and then implement them into your content; remember, though, that it still should sound natural. Don’t stuff your posts with keywords – the readers will be able to tell and you might get penalized by Google.
Develop partnerships
Getting partners is one of the best things you can do for your brand. It’s vital from the marketing point of view – that’s how you improve your rankings on SERPs (by link building) and reach a whole new audience. You can partner up with other travel bloggers and influencers (for example, those writing about a different niche or even the same but from a different perspective), restaurants, hotels or travel clothes and accessories sellers. They can share your posts on their websites while you do the same on yours. Then you can organize contests or giveaways – there are many marketing possibilities here. Don’t ignore the existence of blogs that are more popular than yours and don’t try to compete with them – it would be better to get them to work with you; that’s how you can reach your target audience.
Embrace user-generated content
Always interact with your readers and customers. Enable them to comment on your posts and share their reviews, and spark up the discussions. It will help you gain their loyalty and let them know you. People trust what they think they know, so they are more likely to follow you and choose your products or services in the future, as well as share your content and recommend you to those around them.
You don’t have to do everything by yourself. There are many content marketing agencies out there who are ready to help you choose and pursue the best possible strategy. Just make sure you always have the readers on your mind – provide them with everything they may need and look for online. After all, it’s all for them and it can only keep going because of them.
