Getting Started with Your Holiday Let Blog

Having a blog on your website can be hugely beneficial to your holiday rental business, for a number of reasons.

It can help with:

• Driving more people to your website
• Building trust and relationships
• Converting website visitors into future guests
• Having content to share on multiple channels e.g. social media
• Establishing yourself as an authority
• Providing a free marketing tool

The problem comes when, after your initial foray into the world of blogging as ideas come at you left, right and centre, inspiration and motivation starts to dwindle.

What then?

Should you just stop blogging?

No!

Stopping will eradicate all the hard work you’ve already put in, and anyway, it’s really not all that hard.

Blogging for the holiday rental market offers you a ton of ideas without having to put too much effort in.

The real problem often lies with planning and scheduling.

But get that in place, and you’ve got a goldmine of opportunity.

So before we get into the wealth of topics at your fingertips, let’s discuss planning.

How much time can you honestly afford to set aside? Once a week? Couple of times a month? Once a month?

Only you can say. Just make a decision.

Next, decide when that time will be. Say you elect to write two articles each month. Knowing that initially it may take you a couple of hours to draft and finesse each article, and that Wednesday afternoons are clear since the kids are at after-school clubs, set aside that time twice a month to write.

And physically block out that time in the calendar.

That way you’re more likely to stick to it.

Once you’ve established this, we move on to creating a schedule.

Before Wednesday rolls around, take some time to generate ideas for your blog.

Why?

One of the reasons most people give up blogging is because they sit down to write and their mind goes blank.

They literally can’t think of one single idea.

Yet, by simply taking the time upfront to create a list of article topics that will see you through the next 12 months, it removes the need to think. Leaving you with only the need to write.

12 months’ worth of articles may seem a lot, but that’s only 24 articles, if you decide to publish 2 each month.

And before you say that coming up with 24 article ideas is impossible, it’s not. And here’s why …

You’ve got your property to write about:

• What type of property is it?
• Does it have something outstanding – great view, hot tub, swimming pool?
• Any other cool features – under floor heating, wood-burner, home entertainment centre?
• What’s new for this season?
• Future planned improvements?
• Why it’s perfect in summer, winter, spring, autumn?

And you’ve got your ideal guest to write about:

• Facilities specific to them
• The welcome pack goodies that are awaiting their arrival

Then you’ve got the location of your property to write about (and this is where the ideas will start to flow):

• Local area amenities
  • General
  • Focused to your target market
  • Planned town improvements that could benefit your guests
• Activities
  • Nearby
  • Further afield
  • Seasonal
  • For children
  • For adults
  • For the family
• Events
  • Local
  • Further afield
  • Seasonal
  • For children
  • For adults
  • For the family
• Attractions
  • Local
  • Further afield
  • Seasonal
  • For children
  • For adults
  • For the family

Now you’ve got at least 20 article ideas.

But that’s not all.

For activities, events and attractions, one article could be dedicated to one activity. One article to one event. One article to one attraction. Do you see how many ideas you now have? Certainly enough to cover an entire year, probably more.

And remember, activities, events and attractions are constantly being created. So always revisit each of these categories when you sit down to create the following year’s blog schedule.

Another great tip if you live in the same area as your holiday rental, or even if you don’t but you visit often, is to put yourself in the mind-set of your guests …

You’ve never been before. You don’t know what to expect. But you want to make the most of your holiday time.

So as your guest would do, head out to the local attractions. Take part in the local activities and events. And when doing so, take plenty of notes and photos. Not only will this provide you with loads of fresh blog content, it will help you think first and foremost about your reader i.e. your potential guest, ensuring you write with them in mind.

Why’s this so important?

Greater engagement. If your readers are engaged in your content, they’ll be more receptive to it. And they’ll more likely take action from it.

So what are you waiting for?

1. Add a blog to your website
2. Decide on how often you’ll blog
3. Diarise your article schedule
4. Generate 12 months’ worth of ideas
5. Get writing!

Oh and one last thing, don’t forget to include photos with your articles – not only does it break up the text a little, but a picture speaks a thousand words …