Potential customers want to know exactly what they’re being offered when they visit your hotel. Therefore, having the facility to answer their specific questions could really get you a step ahead. A recent study conducted by Google highlighted the importance of being there for consumers in their time of need. When potential guests have questions, your hotel should be at the ready with answers.
Useful, educational content will gain you attention and inspire guests to book. There are many ways you can strategise your content. It’s not enough to provide information to customers when they ask for it. Your website needs to include valuable information in a short space of time that is sufficient enough to convince them to make a booking. Google calls this an opportunity for ‘micro-moments’. Rather than offering a hard sell, instead this tactic aims to educate the customer.
Consumers are 69 per cent more likely to buy from a mobile-optimised website that answers their questions. The answers could be as simple as what your cancellation policy is, to an updated list of popular local attractions. Wherever your potential customers first see you online, educational content can entice them to visit your website and convert.
There are many tools you can use to predict the type of information that your customers want to know, which if used correctly can really boost the positive reputation of your hotel.
Google search
These days, when someone is looking for an answer they tend to just Google it. Google’s search facility can therefore offer the most searched-for questions. For example, if you start to search for ‘best hikes’ in a particular location, Google then auto-populates common similar searches. It lists other queries users have searched for, which can be very useful for giving you ideas about what your potential customers are thinking about. This information can then be used to create relevant and educational content for your customers. It’s a good idea to stay up to date with the searches that Google prioritises, as it could be particularly relevant to your hotel or the location where you are based.
Google Adwords
You can find many free tools on Google Adwords that can help you to create content. The Keyword Planner gives you the ability to search for keywords related to topics you’re interested in writing about. By checking how many average monthly searches a keyword or phrase receives you can gauge its popularity as a search item. Also, if you have a paid subscription with Moz, you can use Moz’s Keyword Difficulty Tool to discover how competitive a search term will be in the Google rankings. This will help you to establish the best types of content to create.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a free tool that allows you to track how users interact with your website. Using this, you can see the words and phrases that customers are using to discover your website. If you’re getting traffic from customers who are asking questions that you don’t currently provide content for, then this can create brilliant opportunities. In addition, you can use Analytics to track the type of content that is proving most successful for conversion, and is performing best on social media. It could be that you have a really interesting piece of content but it isn’t relevant and therefore isn’t creating any conversion. It’s important to continuously track if your current strategy is creating the best results.
Yahoo Answers
Many people use Yahoo’s question service to ask for advice about travel and activities. This effectively creates another platform that your hotel can use to share content and promote itself. If someone is asking for advice on an event or activity in a location near your hotel, then by answering it and directing them to your website for a more in-depth article, you are creating additional opportunities for potential customers. Not only is the person who asked the question now a potential conversion, but anyone who were to read that question is too.
BuzzSumo
BuzzSumo is a top social listening platform. It allows you to search for any topic and find out what the most shared pieces of content are. This can both show you types of content that are particularly popular with consumers, and highlight topics that you could adapt for your own content. It’s important to note that if you literally take ideas and rewrite them, then this content won’t perform as well as it could. Rather than directly copying an idea, see how you can take that topic and turn it into a new piece of content.
FAQs
The simplest way to communicate answers to your customers is in the frequently asked questions section of your website. You can use this as a basis for creating larger pieces of content, and you can track which are most often viewed through your Google Analytics. By closely monitoring these areas on a continuous basis, you are giving your hotel the best opportunity to create engaging and educational content that will convince your customers to convert into sales.
