With travel opportunities on the horizon again, it’s important for businesses in the industry to keep up with the latest marketing trends and stay competitive. Consumers now have access to more information on travel opportunities and destinations and are likely to spend time researching trips to maximize their travel abroad. Content marketing is still a growing trend and blogs are popular sources of online information for travel. Check out Nomadic feet for interesting blogs. This article explains what a blog is and considers why people read them, why bloggers write travel blogs and summarizes the latest trends in blogging.
What’s a travel blog?
A travel blog is an informational website or page that centers around traveling. It’s written in the informal style of a journal and usually documents a person’s experience of traveling in a specific location. Travel blogs typically provide valuable information on all aspects of traveling from booking the journeys to finding local attractions, recommending accommodation and reviewing cafes and restaurants.
Why do people read travel blogs?
Many users read blogs regularly and there is a huge range of travel blogs available online. The main reasons consumers read travel blogs are listed below:
- They offer valuable information
- Blogs are instructional and often show people how to get to places off the beaten track or how to get a guide
- They are often anecdotal and entertaining
- The information is authentic
- Blogs are highly visual and feature beautiful photos and images
- They are personal and resonate well with readers.
- Discounts on travel purchases are sometimes available
- The style and content is usually engaging bloggers are passionate about travel
- Might make travel simpler
- They are usually topical and up to date.
- Blog forums are now more interactive and can be great sites of information exchange.
Why do people write blogs?
There are several reasons why blogging is so popular. Some of the reasons for writing travel blogs are listed below:
- Bloggers are genuinely passionate about their subject and blogging can be a great way of keeping a written record of exciting travel experiences.
- It’s a way of sharing travel experiences online so friends and family can follow their travels.
- It’s an easy way to share travel news.
- Successful bloggers can monetize their blog and make money from blogging. Income streams often come from affiliate marketing programs and percentages from selling products.
- Interesting blogs drive traffic to their websites.
The key to writing a lucrative blog is to ensure that it stands out and gets attention. Blogs need visitors who will linger on their site. Bloggers are following some of the latest trends in digital marketing to stay ahead of the competition. Blogs have evolved and have changed in the following ways:
- Bloggers are aware of the need to optimize their content for mobile to match the growing customer trend in mobile web surfing.
- Their visual impact is appealing. Visual material is much more memorable and easy to process. Blogs often include short form video content, infographics, interactive content in the form of quizzes, surveys and even little widgets.
- Content is often supplemented with podcasts.
- The content really has improved and competition has pushed standards way up. To survive and keep visitors coming, bloggers are producing original and more valuable content.
- Bloggers are using more analytic tools and data to guide their material and content and help their page or site rank on search engines.
- Bloggers are becoming increasingly aware of what the public need from their blog and are providing relevant information.
- The public’s enthusiasm about learning new things has meant blogs are becoming increasingly instructional.
- Bloggers often promote and adapt their blog posts on social media.
- They optimize content to show up in visual searches.
- Although short form content is a growing trend in digital marketing, bloggers realize the importance of long form content for ranking. Blogs will usually offer key takeaway sections for people that don’t have time to read the entire blog.
- User experience is an essential today in sales and marketing, and blogs will often advise users how long it might take to read the blog. This advice is priceless for time crunched readers.
- Email marketing is still a valuable marketing strategy and bloggers offer good incentives for readers to share their email addresses and subscribe to their sites or webpages.
- Guest posting is a popular strategy among bloggers. It basically means posting an article on someone else’s blog or inviting a blogger to post on their blog. Guest writers can review products on each others’ sites. Guest posting is a great way for bloggers to build their reputations and increase website traffic.
- With the rise in fake news, internet users are more wary about who they trust online so bloggers need to get credibility. They are more aware of accountability so better bloggers will often back up their claims with statistics and links to official sites.
Blogging is a trend that’s predicted to last. Bloggers just need to keep up with changes in digital trends to stay relevant. The quality of blogs is getting better and information is now more likely to be verified so great news for blog fans.
