Many of our clients ask us questions about blogging, and whether they should start a blog. We always say yes, yes, and yes to all of our clients.
For serviced apartments and accommodation providers, blogs are a powerful marketing tool. Here are our top 10 reasons to start a blog.
Read Also: Do you need A Social Media Marketing Blog?
Blogs are content creators
You can add new pages to your site by starting a blog. Every new blog post is an entirely new page that can be indexed by the search engine.
The current consensus is that a longer blog will be more useful than a shorter one. We recommend a minimum of 300-400 words, and ideally, over 1,000 words. Longer blogs are more search engine friendly and allow search engines to find the pages’ content.
Your blog article should be focused on one topic to rank high in search engines. Your blog should be well-structured, easily readable and divided into sections when you write a long blog.
Blogs are great for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
You can also use keywords to attract the right audience. This will help you with search engine optimization. Google’s AdWords Keyword Planner can be used to check how popular keywords are and how frequently they are searched each month. We recommend that you always concentrate on long-tail keywords, which are less competitive but have better quality traffic.
Before you begin writing, make a list of keywords that you want to include in your blog. However, ensure they are natural and don’t over-stuff them. It is important to avoid using the same keywords across multiple pages. This can lead to keyword cannibalization. Search engines can become confused when there are many pages that cover the same topic. This causes all pages to score poorly. It is better to have pages or blogs that are focused on different topics. They all score well.
It’s also acceptable to publish occasional posts that aren’t keyword-focused but still provide information.
Blogs enable you to keep your content up-to-date
Serviced apartments or websites for holiday accommodation can often be quite static because the information about your apartments and services doesn’t change much over time. This makes it difficult for service apartment or accommodation providers to update content, unless you have a new property.
Google and other search engines value freshness and high-quality content. Writing a blog will allow you to add new content regularly to your website, which will make search engines happy and improve your ranking!
Must Read: Remarking vs Retargeting: A Beginner’s Guide for 2023
Blogs can help you create a brand personality for your website and brand.
A blog can be a great way for your brand to express its personality. If you offer chic serviced apartments in the heart of a city, your blog should reflect this. You can write about your local neighborhood, as well as the restaurants, bars, and street art that are close by. Use great images that reflect your brand and position.
Blogs allow you to speak up and inform your customers as well as peers
You can inform your customers as well as your peers by creating your own blog with more information about your local area and great things to do there. Your blog can also be a great source of information about your local area. You can tell everyone about your business, the place you operate it in, and more about yourself. Is there a trendy new bar in your area, or a popular ice-cream parlour just down the street? These things will increase the appeal of your brand and make it more attractive to customers.
Blogs encourage you to think outside of the box and give you an opportunity to review your local area.
Blogs can be a great way to take a step back, see the big picture and reflect on your experiences. Talk to your neighbors and go out on the streets. If you don’t have a local restaurant, go to one. Talk to their customers to learn more about what motivates them. Perhaps your neighborhood is a great place for emerging artists. You can support these artists by offering your space or commissioning art for them to display at your home.
Blogs can give you something to talk about and share on your social media channels
A blog can also be used to promote your social media. Blog articles give you something to share and talk about. You can choose topics people will share and then post them to Twitter, Facebook and Google +. Add your blog to the email signature
Review a local attraction, or discover a new restaurant in your area. Use the keywords to find the most popular hashtags and spread the word. Your blog should reflect your personality. Write about your personal experiences and stand out from others.
Blogs encourage links from third parties
Blog about the businesses of your neighbors to build a relationship with them. You can get to know your neighbours and keep them updated about the progress of your business by sharing blogs. You should often refer to the blogs of other members of your community and engage in conversation on others’ blogs. You never know, they might offer you a special deal, create a reciprocal blog, or set up reciprocal links from your website. All of these are great opportunities for your business.
Blogs can drive traffic that you wouldn’t get otherwise
You have the potential to attract new visitors when you start your blog. Blogs about local bars or emerging artists will attract different visitors than those searching for accommodation in the region. They are still potential clients. Your blog should contain links to other blogs as well as stories from the community. This will make it easier for them to book your “destination” before the rest.
Blogs provide a point of contact at the heart of the DM process as well as the path to purchase.
One of the greatest things about starting your blog is the ability to create content that will reach people right at the beginning of the decision-making process.
“Think with Google” has a great article that summarizes research done by Luth Research to determine the micro-moments necessary for someone planning a trip. According to the research, Amy had 419 digital moments while researching her trip in 2 months. Most of her digital moments were on her phone (87%), while the rest were on her desktop. She viewed 5 videos, visited 385 web pages, and did 34 searches.
You can reach people like Amy by starting a blog.
When planning a trip, Google categorizes four phases of micro-moments.
- I would like to go away
- Time to plan
- Let’s make it happen!
- We can’t wait for you to discover!
You can draw people to your website by providing useful information about your locality. While your blog should not be sales-oriented, it can contain a strong call to action at the end. You could, for example, say
We recommend this if you plan to visit the region and want to have something to say. . . . “
A blog is not just there to generate bookings, but also to provide valuable information that will help spread brand awareness and local knowledge. You can capture potential guests during their exploration phase, before they even consider looking for accommodation.
