Have you just started a blog for your destination, attraction, or hotel, or are you wondering how to ensure that your current blog effectively supports your overall strategy and marketing goals?

A blog can be one of the most powerful tools in your marketing arsenal.

It is digital communications that YOU control – different from social media platforms that are constantly changing to suit themselves, not you.

A blog’s frequent, fresh content helps your website SEO (Search Engine Optimization) sometimes for years, as people keep finding you through your popular and/or timely posts.

Make no mistake, it can be challenging.

A writer writes.

A blogger writes, shoots photos, shoots video, operates publishing software, and also knows how to distribute her/his work via email, social media, and savvy SEO.

Take some comfort in the fact that all of that work is in direct service to YOUR platform and your organization.

The information and ideas in a solid blog post should also be repurposed and amplified in your email newsletters and your social media posts – here are ideas for turning blog posts into social media content, in our guest post for the Main Street America blog.

What topics should you blog about?

The most important thing to do first is to make sure you create those evergreen posts, the anchor content, the “gifts that keep on giving” in terms of website traffic.

That means to focus initially on:

1. Blog posts that answer each of your top, most common questions from visitors, guests, or customers, both online and offline, and
2. Blog posts that improve and expand upon what your analytics tell you are already your most popular, most-trafficked posts.

For #1 – Make sure there is at least one blog post that directly answers your top 10 most common questions, including the most popular search queries.

Give people exactly what they are Googling for!

Take a close look at your website Google Analytics to find the search queries or words that people use the most that land them on your site.

Related post – 4 ways to do simple SEO research

Make sure that those top 10 blog posts include answering top questions people ask in person at your Visitor Center, your front desk or welcome desk, via email, over the phone, and even in the comments on your social media.

Yes, some of those will be the same as search engine queries, but some will not, and you’ll cover more search possibilities.

Plus, if they’re asking in person, they’re Googling those questions, too.

For #2 – Write more blog posts about the stuff that is already popular.

Dig back into your analytics to find the most popular pages/posts over the last year or so, especially those that convert the best.

For example, if one of your popular posts or site pages is “places to eat in YourTown,” then write more posts with variations on those food searches:

• Places to eat with kids, or family-friendly places to eat
• A photo essay on places to find vegan or gluten-free food
• A custom Google map as part of a post on where to eat near your convention center and/or primary meeting venues
• A video post on local craft breweries/brewpubs
• Local places to eat breakfast or brunch
• Local coffee shops with WiFi and a chill vibe for working
• Best restaurants for a romantic dinner (keep it updated because it will be one of your top posts around Valentine’s Day every February)

Again, I know that all of this can seem overwhelming.

That’s why it is important to focus first on laying a solid foundation of evergreen blog posts that work hard for you immediately. Get yourself into a “publish for myself first” mindset.

After that is done, it will be easier to do some experimenting with more niche topics, or knock out quick posts to jump on travel trends that fit your destination.

How often to publish a blog post?

Aim for one post per week to start.

If that seems overwhelming, make it every other week or twice a month.

Monthly is perfectly OK if you are a Mighty Team of One or Two people, juggling eleventy-billion other things.

After a year, you’ll have 12 more blog posts than you had before, right?

Related post – Tourism blogging best practices from Visit Austin

Be patient.

A blog often takes 6-9 months to really get traction and traffic, but too many give up just as it is beginning to return big dividends.

I’ve been blogging since early 2006 and I’m STILL learning things.

Do you have a favorite blogging tip? Tell me about it down in the comments.

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