Travel chatbots, direct bookings via Facebook, sales through friendship, effective email subject lines – this roundup is a powerhouse. My head is still spinning a bit. So much information, in so short a time.

I’m just back from a week at the beach – a week of swimming, hammocking, and reading my days away. I didn’t check email, didn’t flip through my feeds, didn’t even engage much on social media. I just dug in the sand with my kid, played lots of Pokémon Go, and drank plenty cold rosé. It was ataşehir escort perfect.

But wow. There’s nothing like coming back to the office and opening my Feedly to more than 1,000 headlines. Sifting through industry news for this post… well, let’s just say it’s been a task! I can unequivocally say it’s been a very busy (and productive) two weeks in the travel marketing & copywriting world.

Here we go:

Chatbots, Chatbots, and More Chatbots

Apparently, chatbots are in. But first things first: Hospitality Net (via EyeforTravel) wants you to know that travel brands don’t yet leverage chatbot technology’s full potential.

This is the part where we come to a screeching halt and back up a few paces. What the heck is a chatbot, and what can they do for travel? Tnooz has the goods, explaining why travel brands should invest in chatbots, right now. Bottom line: They’re what travelers want in today’s fast-response environment. They help close AND they save you time. Now, all that said, let’s circle back to Hospitality Net for a quick(ish) intro on how to make a successful travel chatbot.

How to Write Email Subject Lines that Get Opened

I love this post from Joshua at the TopRank Marketing Blog. Love it. It’s simple, it gets to the point, and it demystifies a lot of the well, mystery, behind writing emails that actually get opened. So, if you’ve ever worried you’re doing it wrong (and, hint: we ALL worry about that), then head on over. I definitely learned a thing (or five).

8 Tips to Boost Direct Bookings for your Vacation Rental

Savvy vacation rental owners know – direct bookings are the present (and future) of the industry. As travelers get more hip to booking site “service fees,” which can tack on 5-15% (or more) to a booking, they’re looking elsewhere. And that elsewhere focuses around direct bookings. So, how can you be sure your VR gets those bookings? Jess at Lodgify has 8 great tips to convert window shoppers into direct bookers.

No One Likes the Hard Sell

This may be one of my favorite “how-to-sell” articles ever. Yes, ever. I freely admit – I’m biased. This my preferred sales method when I’m buying, and it’s my preferred sales method when I’m selling. So it’s nice to hear outside support for it.

Sales guru David Meerman Scott has some advice for anyone who sells anything (including travel): “People just don’t want to be sold to.” In the age of the World Wide Web, very little information is proprietary. So, when you’re trying to get a booking, facilitate the sale; don’t try to control the information. David puts it perfectly when he says, act like a friend, not like a salesperson.

Facebook Ads, Made Easy

My clients tell me that Facebook is working for them. Facebook is driving engagement, helping small travel brands stay connected, and even facilitating bookings for vacation rentals, bed & breakfasts, hotels, and travel agencies. All great, in my book.

It stands to reason, then, that you may be looking to drive more likes and engagement to your Facebook page. And that’s why I’m sharing this great post (and podcast) from Michael at Social Media Examiner, on creative ways to attract more guests via Facebook, and also mistakes you really don’t want to make.

How to Get More Bookings from Facebook

Okay, so you have more Facebook likes and better guest engagement – now what? Now you get booking, that’s what! Thankfully, Net Affinity gets into the how of travel for Facebook, with this step-by-step post of 13 tips to get more bookings from Facebook. We’re talking everything from the most basic (write a spectacular About Us), to the more advanced (use interest targeting), so head on over and learn what you can learn.

If Video is King, Why is No One Watching?

We’ve all heard that video marketing is huge, especially in the travel industry. So, you poured your blood, sweat, and tears (plus lots of time) into making an awesome video to promote your destination, or your vacation home, or your hotel’s amenities, or your fill-in-the-blank. The problem: Your views are pathetic. Comments are nil. There is no wind left in your sails. But don’t worry: Hubspot has the sitch on why no one is watching your videos. There is hope!

Color is Important

We touched on the importance of color (namely, color contrast) just recently, in my post on travel calls-to-action, but here’s a more fleshed-out explanation: Brielle at Convince and Convert tells us why color is so important to web design, marketing emails, and other content. To start, it influences user psychology and actions; it increases conversion; and it says something about your brand. And that’s just the beginning.

SEO for New Travel Websites

If you’re building a new website for your vacation rental, inn, travel agency, or other travel offering, chances are SEO is bouncing around your brain. You know that SEO is important, but you’re not sure quite what it is, or how to make it “good.” Well, SEO darling Yoast knows all about the business of optimizing websites for search, and they’ve published a great how-to on SEO basics for new (and, honestly, even established) websites.

20 Not-so-Common Tools for Your Content

If you’re in the content-creation game – and ALL travel brands should be creating their own content! – then you’ll appreciate this post from Irina at the Content Marketing Institute. Because any writer knows that writing sometimes feels like a shot in the dark (will they read it? will they like it?), all writers can also appreciate these 20 lesser-known tools to evaluate your content. Analyze your headlines, brainstorm better ideas, and overall create better content that will attract (and convert) more guests.

The post Travel Marketing & Copywriting Roundup (July 18) appeared first on The Travel Copywriter.

Narrowing down this week’s list was no easy task. From huge shakeups in the vacation rental industry, to leaps in mobile travel bookings, to shortcuts to better social media, the past two weeks have been jam-packed with great travel marketing and copywriting advice.

I won’t keep you waiting. Dig in:

1. Guest Psychology & Your Content

It’s well known that psychology influences our decisions, so it should come as no surprise that a traveler’s decision-making process is also deeply rooted in psychology. Moving from the theoretical into the applicable, Coschedule offers up a great template to delve into traveler psychology: identify feelings, convert them to desires, and then relate them to rewards (= what you offer). In other words, a template to frame every piece of your beşiktaş escort content.

2. Video is a Powerful Travel Marketing Tool

If you believe that a photo speaks a thousand words, then how powerful do you think video can be? Hospitality Net has the answer: Extremely powerful. In fact, did you know that, while 20% of web users will read your content, 80% would be willing to watch your videos? And how can you pass that up?

3. Now You Can Easily Create Your Own Videos

While we’re on the topic of video, Social Media Examiner has pulled together an excellent guide on how to easily edit video. Seriously, all you need is your phone and some free software, and you can pull together quick videos to showcase your hotel, destination, vacation rental, or any other travel offering. Bottom line: Your videos don’t need to be professionally shot and edited, in order to tell a good story.

4. HomeAway/VRBO Changes – And What You Should Do Next

HomeAway recently released some major changes to their platform – required Online Booking and no contact information pre-booking, to name two of the favorite (= sarcasm) changes – and in the process, unleashed plenty of owner frustration. Instead of stewing in your rage, Lodgify has four suggestions on what to do instead. Be proactive!

5. Alternate Vacation Rental Listing Sites Emerge

Since we’re talking HomeAway changes and your options in the aftermath, let’s discuss one I’ve heard quite a bit about over the last few weeks: alternate listing sites. Many vacation rental owners have begun migrating their listings to smaller sites that operate in the old style, so you can vet renters before they book, book however you want, share your website information, etc.

Most recently, Villa Marketers announced their new offering, BreakAway Vacation Rentals. Other grassroots efforts, including HomeEscape and VacationRentalByOwner.net (with its many regional sub-sites), are also gaining ground. Only time will tell if these sites can gain traction among travelers (and therefore actually send you bookings), but they’re definitely starting off on the right foot.

6. 26 Shortcuts to Better Social Media

Are you anything like me? I love the idea of social media, but not the implementation. There just aren’t enough hours in the day. Which is why I also love any kind of tip, hack or shortcut to more social in less time. So, a big thank you to Buffer Social (my social productivity tool of choice, by the way) for their collection of 26 apps to create social content with just a smartphone. Because when do I not have my smartphone?

7. In 2017, 40% of Travel Sales Are Purchased on Mobile

Did you know that this year, in the U.S., an estimated 40% of digital travel sales will be the product of mobile bookings? The B&B Team does. This is big news, not only in the grand scheme of things but in practical terms. But, it also means that if your website isn’t mobile-optimized – and by that, I don’t mean that it just kind-of works for mobile, but that it’s spectacular on a 5″ screen – then you’re losing out on 40% of nights you could have booked.

8. Attract More International Bookings

Whether you’re a major hotel, or a small inn, of a travel agency, or a single vacation rental, international guests likely make up at least a part of your bookings. And that’s why you should read up on Siteminder’s 5 ways to attract more international guests. (Note: The article is targeted toward hotels, but the information is applicable to almost any travel biz.)

9. Effective Responses to Negative Reviews

Look, they happen: Negative reviews. We’ve all had one, at some point or another, but what gaziantep bayan escort separates the hospitality winners from the losers is how you respond to negative reviews. Search Engine Watch has some good advice that, while not strictly relating to travel, is perfectly applicable to the industry.

10. Airbnb Gears Up for Luxury Vacation Rentals

If you haven’t heard, Airbnb is gearing up to enter the luxury vacation rental business. Tests are expected to begin, in select markets, by the end of 2017. And experts are warning luxury hotels to brace for impact. Are you ready?

The post Travel Copywriting & Marketing Roundup (July 5) appeared first on The Travel Copywriter.

They’re baaaack! (I hope you just read that in a Poltergeist II voice.)

Yes, The Travel Copywriter blog and my bi-weekly blog roundups – that’d be, travel copywriting and marketing tips, advice, and insights from around the blogosphere – are back in action. And I’m pretty stoked about it.

It’s been a busy few years for me, and while I haven’t been blogging, I have been listening. I’ve been keeping up-to-date with the latest copywriting, SEO, marketing, and other related happenings in the travel industry.

That’s why I know it can be overwhelming. There are simply so many experts out there, with so much free (and wonderful) advice, that it’d be a full-time job just to read it all. So, that’s the idea behind these roundups: If you don’t have time to read it all, just hang with me. 

Every two weeks, I’ll post a quick roundup of my favorite recent reads: copywriting, marketing, SEO, and other stuff important to the travel industry. I won’t link-bait you; there will always be enough info to determine whether you want to click for more information. And I’ll keep it short and sweet, with just a short summary for each article, followed by my thoughts (but only if necessary).

Now, let’s get to it:

1. Get More Social Shares

If you’re in travel, you use images. Lots of them. But, did you know a few small tweaks to your images could snag more clicks and more shares? Travel Research Online brings us some great, simple and, most importantly, actionable research into the psychology of images and social sharing – specifically, how to get more shares for your travel images.

2. Are You Marketing to Bleisure Travelers?

Nope – not a typo. Tnooz is talking about a new travel movement dubbed “bleisure,” which is exactly what it sounds like: the intersection of business and leisure travel. The essential question is, are you marketing to this growing segment of moneyed travelers – a huge jump from 3% in 2015 to 17% in 2016 – who book leisure travel with antalya escort a business component?

(Note from Erin: If not, get your foot in the door NOW. Be one of the first hotels / B&Bs / inns / other business travel accommodations to market bleisure travel for your destination and/or market.)

3. Jumping Ship: Brands Flee Snapchat for Instagram

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When you’re a small- or medium-sized travel business, you prioritize. You simply don’t have the time or the budget to be everywhere online at once. And that’s why you’ll want to know what HubSpot already does: brands are leaving Snapchat in favor of Instagram stories. Why? There are many reasons, among them better audience targeting (= reach the right traveler), more discoverability (= let travelers can find you), and greater scale (= potential audience, as Instagram has 700 million users).

4. You Can Add Links to Your Instagram Stories

And speaking of, did you know you can now add swipeable links to your Instagram stories? Social Media Examiner reminds us to use trackable links (like those tied to your bit.ly account), so you know how many swipes you’re getting, and to use your Instagram link opportunities effectively: not every story needs a link, and those that do, don’t need to link directly to book, book, BOOK! pages; instead, link to new blog posts, updated room descriptions, or other information pages that complement your story.

5. Instagram Inspiration

While we’re [still] on the topic of Instagram, WordStream just reviewed 13 of the best Instagram ads ever. And, while you may not have the equipment for professional-quality photos, or the budget for huge Instagram ad campaigns, chances are these examples will inspire your own Instagram efforts. Remember – it’s not always about having mersin escort the sharpest photo or clearest view; it’s about telling a great travel story through photos.

6. Updating or Building a Vacation Rental Website? Know This.

Cottage Blogger recently published a short-but-helpful podcast episode on what your vacation rental website needs – and what it doesn’t. Heather’s conclusion, in particular, really resonates with me: “You can provide a huge amount of content on your website. You just have to make it accessible for the people who want it, but not too cluttered for the people who don’t.”

7. Two-Minute Website Review: Don’t Leave Travelers Guessing

Who doesn’t love a tip you can execute (or start to execute, at least) in two minutes? Hotel-Online offers just that with a quick “two-minute tuneup” for your hotel (or vacation rental, or travel agency, or …) website: don’t leave travelers guessing what to do next.

(Note from Erin: The easy answer is to be sure that every piece of copy you write, every blog post you publish, every email newsletter you send ends with a call-to-action. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that CTAs are pushy or annoying; they’re not. Just the opposite, in fact: Your calls-to-action help interested travelers do what they already want to do, with minimal effort: book, make an inquiry, contact you, or even navigate to other sections of your website.)

8. Quit Targeting “Millennials”

If you think your target audience is “Millennials,” now would be a good time to rethink your personas. Search Engine Watch offers up this brilliant analogy: thinking that “Millennials” – by the way, a generational designation that encompasses an estimated 75.4 million in the U.S. alone – share a universal set of attributes (travel wants, needs, pain points, etc.) is like thinking that you can use astrological signs to market directly to Geminis.

(Note from Erin: Instead of focusing on a generational audience, hone your marketing the right way with clear and detailed personas.)

9. Social Media for Traveler Loyalty

The trap we often fall into, is in thinking that social media’s primary purpose is to get bookings: If people aren’t clicking your Facebook ads and immediately booking, then your social strategy isn’t working. Right? Wrong, at least in part.

Social media is key in building customer loyalty, allowing you to regularly interact with travelers (and see what images and experiences most pique their interest) and re-share your best content (which should be optimized with CTAs to direct bookings, contact, and other goals), among other benefits.

10. Local SEO is Important for Travel

SEO rockstar Yoast interviewed other SEO rockstar David Mihm about local search, and the insights are very relevant to the travel industry. I appreciate that they call out three things you can do to improve local SEO with a limited budget: focus on your website, build offline relationships (whoa), and work on getting great reviews. C

(Note from Erin: “Local SEO,” in case you’re gaziantep escort unaware of the exact term, refers to Google search results for a given location. Ex. Google “hotels in New York City,” and you’ll see a map with location pins; that’s local search.)

The post Travel Copywriting & Marketing Roundup (June 20) appeared first on The Travel Copywriter.

Can you believe it’s already May? Here in Costa Rica, for more than 100 years the country has celebrated the coming of May – my favorite month! – with an official holiday: Labor Day (el Día del Trabajador). For most, it’s simply a day off of work – a thank you for a year’s worth of jobs well done.

So in the spirit of Labor Day, no matter where you live or when you celebrate the day officially, I congratulate you on your hard work and perseverance. Building a better website, writing enticing blog posts, and creating a stronger, more effective travel marketing strategy ümraniye escort isn’t easy. My hat is off to those who dedicate their days to these pursuits!

Happy Labor Day!

How Google Knows What Sites You Control – And Why it Matters

Cyrus Shepard has a great contribution to Moz’s Whiteboard Friday, detailing Google’s take on related websites and in this case, websites that share administrators in common. Cyrus doles out the good, the bad and a bit of the ugly – and tells you why you should care.

But Google, over the past decade or so, has spent an incredible amount of energy trying to figure out administrative relationships between websites, both to help you and sometimes to discount links between those sites or potentially some negative consequences. The reason that this is so important to Google is because, if you think about the link graph and relationships between sites, links between sites that are controlled by the same person probably shouldn’t count as much as links that are editorial and controlled by other people…

9 Plugins for Growing Your Email List

It’s no secret that I’m a big, big fan of email marketing. It’s a great way to build a list of warm leads, keep your brand in front of people, share content, become a trusted resource, and… well, email marketing is great for a lot of things. But if you’re stuck on how to actually grow your list, Adam Connell of Boost Blog Traffic recommends 9 WordPress plugins to help.

Do you want to know the secret to turning a casual reader into a blog subscriber? Show them an opt-in form and get them to complete it… The good news — dozens of WordPress plugins are available for you to choose from for creating high-quality opt-in forms (in fact the Boost Blog Traffic team have developed their own — Unpop). The bad news — dozens of WordPress plugins are available for you to choose from! So how do you choose the right one?

12 Critical Metrics to Help You Build a Data-Informed Content Strategy

Remember when we talked about your traveler personas? Understanding your demographic is one of the most important elements of building your travel content strategy. But how can you actually get to know these personas? Simon Penson of Search kurtköy escort Engine Watch details 12 critical metrics, like social engagement and inbound links, to help you discover what kind of content your audience likes best.

We now share more data than we ever have in history. To put that into perspective, consider that in the past two years alone we have “created” 90 percent of all of the data in the world. And for marketers that’s gold dust. The ability to accurately map the other interests, loves, and hates of your audience, how old they are, and what they are doing is rocket fuel for your content strategy (and wider marketing plans).

Inbound Marketing Trends for 2014

Inbound marketing is, essentially, the measures your travel brand takes to attract new visitors to your website and convert them into paying guests. Popular methods of inbound marketing include blogging, social media, and your website. Kurtis Bohrnstedt of the Moz Blog dishes up 2014’s inbound marketing trends – the things you should care about today, so you don’t fall behind tomorrow.

Marketers reported that demand for content creation increased by 70.94% in 2013, falling in line with most projections from early 2013. This trend is also expected to continue throughout 2014. Analytics was the second highest in demand, with an increase of 64.46%.

The 7 Worst Types of Headlines (And How to Fix Them)

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A blog post headline is, without a doubt, the most important part of a blog post. Why? Because in 70 characters or less, you must convince Internet strangers that what you’ve written is worthy of a click. And that’s a lot harder than it seems. Luckily, Hubspot’s Ginny Soskey has the details on seven of the worst headline mistakes – and how to remedy each.

When people first start trying to create content that’s supposed to be easy to find with search engines, they’ll often keyword-stuff headlines. A simple guide to Facebook for marketers becomes something like “How to Generate Leads With Facebook, Run Facebook Ad Campaigns, gaziantep rus escort and Get More Likes on Facebook.” Holy keyword stuffing, Batman!

Do You Understand These Digital Marketing Acronyms?

This statistic hurts: According to Hospitality Times, the average hotel website converts only 2-3% of visitors and approximately 95% of would-be guests abandon the booking process before completing their reservations. Yikes. So how can you boost your conversion rate? Aileen Hoang of E-Marketing Associates has five answers. pendik escort

Instead of leading your potential customers through a lengthy and complicated booking process, it is highly recommended to shorten the amount of time and steps required to successfully make a reservation. By decreasing the number of obstacles between a customer and a sale, you greatly increase the likelihood of acquiring more reservations.

Additional Reading

Wait, there’s more! Don’t miss these excellent and informative posts from around the web. bakırköy escort

• Vacation Rental Marketing Makeover Session 1.6: Creating A Website
• 5 Responsive Design Trends That Will Revolutionize Your Business
• Monitoring your travel company’s online reputation
• Is Your Hotel Website Responsive to Meet Google Requirements and Boost SEO?
• 10 Keys To Dominating Your Local Market
• 8 Stops on the Path to a Better Blog
• 6 Emerging European Mobile Trends To Boost Sales Of Your Travel Product
• 5 Must-Have Social Media Tools to Help You Meet Your Goals
• 10 Mistakes VRBO’s Often Make – #5 Will Kill Your Business Before It Gets Started
• 5 Ways to Give Your Blog Content More Visibility
• How Smart Marketers Are Sabotaging Their Calls-to-Action
• How To Write A Mission Statement For Your Blog

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The post Travel Copywriting & Tourism Marketing Roundup: May 2, 2014 appeared first on The Travel Copywriter.

Today’s roundup is incredibly inspiring – info-rich, actionable posts you can really sink your teeth into.

But that’s my opinion. I’d love to hear from you. What kind of inspiration is most helpful for you? What kind of content do you want to read in these roundups? What are you favorite blogs for travel & hotel marketing, copywriting, and social media? Let me know, fatih escort and I’ll scour the the nets every other week in search of what you want to read most.

So seriously, please hop on down to the comments and fill me in: What do you most want to read in these weekly roundups?

Do You Understand These Digital Marketing Acronyms?

Do you know the difference between a CMS and your CTR? Or how CPC is related to PPC? You may not be familiar with the acronyms, but you’re hopefully familiar with the terms: content management systems, pay-per-click, retweets, and more. Hop on over the Blue Magnet for Michelle Laing’s post on the acronyms and terminology every travel marketer should know and understand.

How to Spend the Big Bucks – or Just $100 – on Facebook Ads

Are you advertising on Facebook? If it’s something you’re considering, Noah Kagan has some great insight on where and how to spend your first $100. Considering he’s spent $2+ million buying Facebook ads – and riding their success – this is some solid advice for anyone looking to get their fındıkzade escort toes wet advertising on the web’s largest social network.

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16 Content Marketing Campaigns That Are Getting it Right

A little inspiration can go a long way. You know you need travel content marketing, but if you’ve ever struggled with ideation, creation or implementation, Econsultancy’s Chris Lake has a whole list of companies that are doing it not only right, but well.

How to Beat the Odds of 81% Booking Abandonment

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What do the right email subject line, the right content and the right time have in common? They can help you beat the industry standard of 81% guest abandonment rate at the time of booking (holy say whaaaat?!). Email marketing is one of the most effective sales methods, but it’s important to do it right – starting with that subject line, content and the time you click send.

4 Important Takeaways from Google’s “The 2013 Traveler” Study

Did you know that 42% of leisure travelers and 55% of business travelers read reviews before booking? Or that 25% of travelers book hotel rooms on their smartphones? No? Then you should check out Google’s “The 2013 Traveler” study or, in the absence of time, at least give a thorough read through Hospitalitynet’s insightful takeaways. gaziantep escort

How to Contract Out Dynamite Content Creation

Call me biased, but as a travel content marketer I believe that a professional writer can add a lot to your company’s content campaign. Moz’s Mackenzie Fogelson offers up an excellent guide to hiring an expert blogger, creating efficient and scalable content, and working together to create strong deliverables that propel your business, boost conversions, and drive bookings.

The post Travel Copywriting & Tourism Marketing Roundup (March 6) appeared first on The Travel Copywriter.

Happy 2014! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, and are transitioning well into this new year of travel marketing, copywriting, content marketing, and all that jazz.

This week’s roundup is probably what you’d expect from a first-of-2014 post: lists, roundups, and reflections on 2013. But don’t write these articles off as banal: there are a lot of fascinating stats, interesting insights, and inspirational thoughts in these mersin escort posts. And if a new year is what you need to jumpstart new initiatives, run with it.

So again, Happy New Year! Here’s to a 2014 filled with joy, success and greater profits.

14 Hotel Marketing Trends for 2014

A few weeks ago, Netaffinity rolled out an infographic on 14 etourism marketing trends for 2014, and now Frederic Gonzalo is following up with some discussion on each of those points. Have a look, and see what you think about these predictions – and how you can prepare for each.

How to Produce Killer Content in 2014

My goodness, there is so much to love about this post. In 2014, we need to be innovative. We need to think differently: the email marketing we’ve written for years doesn’t work anymore; keyword-stuffed copy isn’t hip (or effective) anymore; and no one has time to read 1,500-word blog-post novels anymore. Search Engine Watch’s Erin (gotta love her name) delivers big with five ways to revitalize your content and kick some tush this year.

4 Tips for Renting Your Vacation Home – Stress-Free

Vacation rentals often fall through the cracks of travel marketing: if you’re a rental owner, you may not have the big budget of a hotel or the manpower of a travel agency. Not to worry, Cottage Blogger Heather offers up four budget-friendly, low-stress ways to rent your adana escort vacation home (and keep guests) happy.

Email Marketing Works (40x Better than Facebook & Twitter)

Is your inbox as stuffed as mine? Probably, because marketers know that email marketing just works – at a rate 40 times better than Facebook and Twitter, combined. The key, however, is that not just any email will do. Nora Aufreiter, Julien Boudet, and Vivian Weng of McKinsey & Company deliver some great insights on what works best in email marketing.

Position Your Travel Brand Through Memories

Derrick, of Branding Strategy Insider, discusses the direct relationship between frequency of contact and guests’ memories of your brand. In travel, we don’t often see guests on a day-to-day basis, so these memories need to be stronger and more enduring… but how do you do that? Click on over to share your thoughts.

7 Tips to Renovate Your Content to Better User Experience

Don’t hate me for throwing yet another essential into the fire, but Ricardo Bueno makes a point that travel businesses just can’t ignore: design is just as important to content as your actual content. Though his blog is targeted for real estate, we can glean a lot of goodies from what he says about usability and intuitive design.

Six Brands Rocking Their Content Marketing

You know that travel content marketing is key; you’ve read the books and the blogs; but you’re still not sure of how your brand should do it. That’s okay – sometimes we just need to be inspired by a few good examples of actual implementation. Shanna of Hubspot dishes up six companies that are doing right by their content marketing efforts.

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The post Travel Copywriting & Tourism Marketing Roundup (January 9) appeared first on The Travel Copywriter.

Top 5: Travel Copywriting

1. Mike Davis over at the YouMoz blog has a great post on content creation for small businesses. It’s a long one, but full of solid information: outsourcing writing, social istanbul escort marketing, and quality vs. quantity. Fun excerpt: “One piece of well written/insightful content is worth more than 50 piece-of-shit blog posts.”
2. Sometimes it’s the little things – things as tiny as one word. Smriti Chawla over at Visual Website Optimizer offers up an excellent lesson on the importance of headlines, with an example of how one word increased sales by nearly 90%. Now quick, go check out all the headlines on your website!
3. And speaking of headlines, Sean D’Souza has the deets on how to write great ones: three core principles of writing headlines that trigger curiosity. (Piqued your interest, right?) Sean gets bonus points for calling headlines “time bombs.” Yes, indeed!
4. Have you ever wished you could get the inside scoop on potential clients – what they like, what makes them click the “BUY” button? Copywriter Karon Thackston says you need to do some detective work. I love – and cannot agree more – with her advice to write less about you and write more for your visitors.
5. Panda and Penguin slaughtered the status quo of search engine positioning, sex hikayeleri but now that we’re on the other side we can see that the end result is worth it: better quality, more relevant search results. So how do you get onto Google Page 1? Eric Enge at Search Engine Watch says that after Google Panda, exceptional content is essential. It’s not just about producing original content; you have to eliminate “sameness” – differentiate your website from all others.

Top 5: Tourism Marketing

1. The Wall Street Journal recently hosted a webinar on the latest trends in hospitality technology. Hotel News Now has a nice summary of the findings, but be sure to also snag a copy of the webinar white paper.
2. Wondering how Google Business Photos can send you a landslide of new bookings? Jaqueline Binion over at Blizzard Marketing has a short and sweet how-to on grabbing bookings with Google Business Photos. You can see a good example of the practice in action with the Regency Suites Hotel. Snazzy!
3. Facebook Graph Search rolled out to all U.S. users this week, which means you probably should have been preparing for it yesterday. But no worries, Tnooz has a review of the new features and explains why hotels will be one of the first to benefit from Graph Search optimization.
4. Over on eCornell’s Hospitality Blog, Greg Bodenlos proffers an excellent post on Pinterest best practices for hotels. Love his advice to “spread the wealth;” after all, Pinterest is a social medium and that means it’s not all about you.
5. Restaurants often get overlooked in the tourism marketing sphere, but this week Social Hospitality has the sitch on how restaurants can use Google+ to get more business.

The post Travel Copywriting & Tourism Marketing Roundup (July 11) appeared first on The Travel Copywriter.

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