Six Ways To Keep Them Interested

Now the the core content of the website's been completed and optimized, everyone can just sit back and wait for the traffic to roll in, right? Not so fast. The fact that travelers and search engines alike are looking for the same thing in a travel website doesn’t end with core content. Keeping them interested requires that new pages of content are added on a regular basis. Fortunately, there are a number of ways to repurpose content that can help accomplish this without dedicating every waking hour of every day to the effort. As each method deserves detailed discussion, we are simply including brief descriptions here and saving more in-depth instructions for future issues of The Wanderlust Report.

News Releases

Not to be confused with press releases (which are designed to gain media coverage), news releases are simply keyword enhanced announcements of interest that are posted as new pages on the website. They can also be published elsewhere on the web using distribution services.

Online Newsletters

Assuming the email addresses of customers and prospects are being captured, a periodic online newsletter is a great way to add pages to a site and reach out to those who have shown interest.

Blogs

It’s still surprising how few travel brands have embraced blogs, considering how much potential content they have to offer. A travel website could have a single corporate blog, or several that come from different points of interest: the concierge, the special events coordinator, the chef, the wedding planner, the head of the ski school, the golf pro, the list goes on. With the ability to post comments, customers and prospects will join the conversation.

Podcasts

Have a subject that can be serialized? Informational and educational content like tours, reviews, lessons and the like make great podcasts. They can be hosted on site and distribute through iTunes, too. And if dialog is transcribed, it can be published as keyword optimized content on new web pages.

Embedded Video

What skier hasn’t checked conditions on a mountain’s webcam? Who among us has never seen an embedded YouTube video? (Now that we mention it, how many are aware that YouTube is not the most popular video site?) If your destination has interesting things to point a camera at or footage in the can and it fits the brand position, we recommend using it. The cost is negligible compared to broadcast media, and someone will surely be paying attention.

Online Communities

On the simple end, an online community can be a guest logbook much like those found at a small inn or a bed & breakfast, where visitors can share their experiences. A little more involved would be a photo/video of the day section, where visitors upload and then rate and comment on each others’ content. Still more involved (and potentially more interesting) would be a section of the site where frequent visitors and those with upcoming reservations could share personal experiences, just chat or make plans to meet up.