The online marketing industry is constantly evolving, and the cycle from “next big tactic” to waste of time moves pretty fast.
If you’re using any of the content marketing strategies listed below, it’s time for a fresh approach.
1. Generic, Churned-Out Content
Content marketing used to be about bulk. It was a question of creating as much keyword-rich content as you could in a bid to dominate the search results page. Whether the content actually helped anyone? Not so important back then.
But search engines have come a long way, and our content needs to evolve too. These days, the pages that win high ranking in the SERPs feature content that is actually of real value to its intended audience. Overly broad, generic content generates few clicks and high bounce rates, signalling to Google that your pages are of little value to its users and pushing your hotel’s website down the rankings.
Change Your Approach: Now, more than ever, content is about quality, not quantity. High quality content that actually interests and engages your audience takes longer to create, but encourages guests to spend more time on the page, explore your website further and book. Win win!
2. Keyword Stuffing
Back when bulk content was king, marketers would stuff keywords into every title, paragraph and sentence whenever they could to climb the rankings. It worked, in terms of generating traffic, although it made for painfully dull reading for users.
Now though, spammy keyword stuffing tends to have precisely the opposite effect. It’s actively penalised by Google, which means if you’re still using this tactic on your website your content won’t be getting seen by as many people as it should be.
Change Your Approach: Don’t plan your content creation efforts around a single keyword. Begin with researching topics with proven search demand. Next brainstorm a group of keywords, similar terms and long-tail alternatives. Use this research to create the outline of your content. Since you’re aiming for interesting, relevant “best answer” content, you’ll find you naturally include the keywords without forcing them in. The result? Great content that pleases your guests and Google alike.
3. Focusing Only On The Sale
Obviously the real reason you spend time creating content is to promote your property and generate bookings. But realistically, most of your audience are going to be in the early stages of the holiday decision making process. If every piece of content you create comes across as overly salesy, it lacks sincerity and authority and gets boring pretty quickly too.
Change Your Approach: Strike the right balance. Focus the majority of your content creation efforts at guests at the top of the booking funnel. They’re still comparing locations, weighing up different properties, and want to see informative, relevant content about your local area, events and attractions. Content of this kind is valuable and doesn’t push your promotional message down your audience’s throat. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t create content highlighting your great facilities, a new feature or anything else exciting going on at your hotel, but you should keep this stuff to a minimum if you want to gain your audience’s trust and lead them further down the booking funnel.
What do you think? Are you ready for a fresh approach to content marketing in 2018? Let us know in the comments below!
RELATED PAGES AND BLOG POSTS:
- 5 'Must Haves' Of A Hotel Blog That Converts
- The Common Blogging Mistakes You Cannot Afford To Make
- How To Push Your Hotel’s Blog Posts Up The Search Rankings
