At first glance, starting a travel blog might seem like just another task on your already overbooked schedule. But don’t make the mistake of viewing a business blog simply as a time commitment. When properly executed, a blog’s benefits can far exceed the time invested.
Travel blogs can boost your travel program’s image of authority, generate leads, improve the business website’s Google standing and encourage word-of-mouth promotion. Once blogs become part of your schedule, they can help you sell tours long after you have hit “Publish.”
Blogging Goals
The goal of a business travel blog is to foster loyalty to your brand. That doesn’t mean that every time you finish a blog post, you will get a flurry of people signing up for your tours. Instead, take the longer view and craft each post to nurture the relationship between your travel program and your potential customer. Travel blog posts often revolve around revisiting the latest tour and promoting upcoming trips, but other topics can focus on tips or other useful information about your organization. For example, bank travel programs could write posts with financial tips. Alumni travel programs could highlight a new professor. Any information that the reader would find engaging or useful can work as blog content.
Think of questions your members ask frequently, then write a blog post answering each one. Once a reader has come to your company’s blog for expertise, they will be more likely to trust your organization with their travel plans in the future.
Blog posts don’t have to appear on a website separate from your company’s main business page. Housing them on the same website can help achieve another benefit of blogging: driving traffic to your website. The more you post, the more reasons people will have to return to your website. Regular posts on your website also increase its SEO, or search engine optimization, so that your website will rank higher in online searches.
Access to posts that promote your travel program can also save you time with other marketing efforts. For example, instead of searching for social media content, you can post your latest blog entry. These posts can also show up in your company’s newsletters, frequently asked questions page and other marketing materials.
