Is Content King in Travel and Tourism?
July 1st, 2009
The topic of “content” comes up time and time again in discussions about online presence. I’m not sure who coined the phrase “content is king,” but I have customers continuing to ask the question: Is Content King in Travel and Tourism?
The answer is, without a doubt, yes – especially for smaller outfits and organisations with limited online presence. Sure, there is plenty of free content out there – and judging by the traffic numbers of sites like Wikitravel and the forums on Lonely Planet, free content is here to stay. But the content on your site is your vehicle to present your message and portray your brand. And if you offer the ability to book online or at least direct customers to contact info, the content might be the last stand between you and a booking. Consider:
- a frustrated mother can’t decipher if your tour offering is suitable for children will decide to book something else. Worse, if it is clearer on your competitor’s site, they might get the sale instead of you.
- a last minute client who doesn’t see your contact information cannot call to see if there is space for an extra booking.
- a referral customer visits your photo gallery and decides not to book because the images don’t reflect the experience his friend described.
The worst part about each of these scenarios is two-fold: 1) you’ll never know that it happened, and 2) the problems were easy to fix.
Here are some easy questions you can ask while browsing your content. Do you like the answers you get back?
- Is it easy to find all the available mediums for contacting you (phone, email, post)?
- Is it easy to see the types of services available, the details on the offering, and availability/cost?
- Are images or video professional and reflect the reality of your offering (In this case, less is more.)
- Do you display important certification information?
The European online travel market alone is expected to reach EUR 67 billion in 2009 (source: eMarketer.com) , never mind the exploding success in the US. Is your online presence sending the message it should? Content is king in travel and tourism, so I hope the answer is yes.
Photo courtesy of jenlight.
Andy Hayes is a professional travel writer and photographer based in Edinburgh, Scotland. He helps small businesses in travel & tourism embrace online technologies. To learn more, visit his website, Sharing Experiences where you can download a free copy of his recent eBook, Preparing for Takeoff: 7 Common Mistakes Businesses Make when Going Online.
Subscribe to RSS
July 1st, 2009 at 8:16 pm
It’s also a question of targeting your content. To what extent can any content writer make a site *perfect* for everyone?
It’s definitely important to know if there’s a “frustrated mother [who] can’t decipher if your tour offering is suitable for children” but it might be more important to know how big an audience the ‘moms who want tours’ is in the first place. 1/10 or 1/100? How much money does that group represent?
There might be low hanging fruit in some cases, quick changes that can be made to capture those “on the fence” groups who are almost ready to click Book Now.
July 2nd, 2009 at 10:45 am
Absolutely Jeff – I’d dare say many companies don’t know what their USP and target customer is? If you don’t know if you’re looking for moms or pensioners, how can you target your content/marketing/messaging?
And totally agree with the fruit – sometimes a tweak is all it takes.
Thanks for your comments.
July 28th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Great post! No doubt that the content is the key for the success of any website and the main responsible of the webmarketing, specially in tourism and travel websites. We are improving our website (http://www.curitiba-travel.com.br/) as much as we can to make our content the best for the travelers searching and looking for our destination.
Just found the blog and I’m sure it will be very usefull for us.
Good job!
July 31st, 2009 at 10:37 am
No doubt that, content is the most important role in success of any website and web marketing is totally responsible any losses.
July 31st, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Take a look at our site: http://visitpiedmont.blogspot.com
A travel in Piedmont cuisine, between Piedmont tipical products.
August 4th, 2009 at 5:45 am
It is great to see that content still relevant in regards to travel and toursim as it is with other types of websites.
Thanks again for the info!
August 10th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Content is definitely relevant but you can enhance your sites through the uses of social networking and social media.
I’ve just released a free guide to social networking and social media aimed at the tourism market (http://bit.ly/2u4Rjf) – it doesn’t talk about content as much as it does the relationship that can be built
Content always will be relevant, but it’s the relationships that will pay dividents.
September 4th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
I agree with those expressions. especially on the topic of travel and tourism. and course content contained therein has a value which must selling will become king.
September 6th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Me to agree that content drives every website and content is really the king. Try to include more and variety information, than the typical informations.
September 10th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
I think content is the most important thing. However what is important is not just the content, but the quality of this content.
If the content is well focused and of high quality it will bring visitors and of course link love.
Also important in travel and tourism is to cover just a niche, be specialized in one field.
September 17th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Quality content is important for any type of website because without it, it’s difficult to get people to link to your site.
September 18th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Yes, content is king, no doubt on that one, but in my humble opinion, I would say that images are more important in the travel and tourism areas
September 24th, 2009 at 8:44 am
agree with you zmurfu, content is the king. but make sure to make it as a king, the content must be a quality content, which visitors are looking for!..
December 31st, 2009 at 5:22 am
Content, Content, content!!! Yes pictures definitely help entice readers to read. But if you have good content and a lot of it, you can keep them coming back for more!
January 22nd, 2010 at 8:32 pm
In case of travel and tourism you need to get just travel photos and share your experiences with other travelers.The more you will travel the more you will share so you have to just describe your journey in your own words.
February 4th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
I agree that “content is king,” but the question is who are you targeting your content for. When putting together your content you need to do some research first. What type of clientele do you attract?? Who spends the most money? These are things to consider in order to make your content useful to its purpose of closing the deal aka making a sale. The example about the mother being frustrated if she can’t figure out if a tour is kid-friendly is a valid point. Yes, I agree that readers should never be frustrated when viewing your content. But is a mother your targeted clientele?? If not, then this issue isn’t huge in the big scheme of things. However, if you are trying to attract families, then this is a problem that needs immediate attention because once someone is frustrated and has to do more work to determine information you’re loosing a sale.
May 18th, 2010 at 2:41 pm
content is only king if it is relevant with the customer in mind, not the search engines.It is of course possible to please both at the same time, but it muct be written primarily for the end user
Rich
Farm and Cottage Holidays