Shownotes
Today I'd like to talk about blogging for a minute. Because I see so many businesses, including holiday businesses, that think it's dead and buried!
Look, I get it. You're busy doing changeovers, replying to guest enquiries, and trying to figure out Instagram reels (don't even get me started on that!). But here's the truth - blogging is still one of the absolute best ways to get Google to actually notice your holiday cottage or glamping site.
Think of each blog post as a brand new doorway for your ideal guests to find you. While you're sleeping, doing the school run, or mucking out the horses (yes, that's me!), your blog posts are working away in the background, pulling in website visitors who are actively searching for precisely what you offer.
I'm breaking down exactly how to create content that your guests actually care about, and talking proper SEO that works, choosing topics that convert visitors into bookings, and why you don't need to be churning out posts every single day to see results.
The best bit? This is evergreen content that keeps on giving. Write it once, and it'll be driving traffic to your website for months - even years - to come. That's what I call marketing smarter, not harder!
---
Key Takeaways
- Blogging remains one of the most powerful tools for boosting your Google visibility
- Fresh, quality content is essential for driving direct bookings to your business
- SEO is passive marketing that works around the clock (even while you sleep!)
- Write about topics your ideal guests genuinely care about, not random fluff
- One brilliant blog post per month beats ten mediocre ones every time
- Evergreen content continues working for you long after you hit publish
---
Further Training
Blogging for Online Visibility & Google Rankings
---
Connect with Sarah:
---
Are you ready to take more direct bookings?
Take Sarah's FREE quiz here to find out how ready you are with your marketing to ditch the likes of Airbnb! Put your business to the test...
Transcripts
You're listening to Get Fully Booked with Sarah Orchard.
Speaker A:Are you ready to master your marketing so you can ditch your reliance on the online agents and grow your direct bookings?
Speaker A:I'll be sharing with you exactly what it takes to grow your direct bookings and the simple marketing steps to get more profit in your pocket.
Speaker A:Hi, and welcome back to the Get Fully Booked podcast.
Speaker A:I'm your host, Sarah Orchard.
Speaker A:What are you up to today?
Speaker A:Um, do let me know what you're doing while tuning in to this episode.
Speaker A:It's great to have you here, so I'm gonna dive straight in.
Speaker A:It's a solo episode today, so it's just little old me.
Speaker A:And I'm gonna be talking about a subject that I am very passionate about, which is blogging for Google Visibility.
Speaker A:So I'm gonna ask you that.
Speaker A: , oh, Sarah, isn't that a bit: Speaker A:It's a bit outdated.
Speaker A:Or do you think about long and boring articles that sit on a tab on a website and no one.
Speaker A:No one actually bothers to read?
Speaker A:Well, let me tell you, when it comes to getting Google to notice your holiday rental, your cottage, or your glamping site, blogging might just be the one of the smartest tools in your marketing kit that you have.
Speaker A:And I promise you that I'm going to.
Speaker A:During this episode, I'm going to convert you into a blogging fan.
Speaker A:One of my club members, actually, she.
Speaker A:She did my.
Speaker A:My bootcamp training, and she discovered that blogging was the missing tool in her toolkit because of her ideal guest and the fact that they went on social media.
Speaker A:So it's like, how was she going to reach them?
Speaker A:They were very heavy Google users.
Speaker A:So blogging was something that she's used to grow from 100% Airbnb to over 70% direct bookings.
Speaker A:So I'm going to show you it's not outdated.
Speaker A:It's still an important thing to consider in terms of your marketing.
Speaker A:And I'll show you how it links to sort of getting visible and getting those direct bookings and what to focus on so that you don't feel like it's a complete waste of time.
Speaker A:So, firstly, why is blogging not dead?
Speaker A:In my opinion, for me, it's like SEO, search engine optimization, SEO Go Faster fuel.
Speaker A:Google thrives on fresh and relevant content.
Speaker A:And although everyone's talking about AI and I talked about AI in the episode last week, everyone's talking about the fact that people are using AI tools now to do research.
Speaker A:And actually Google is now incorporated, you've probably noticed an AI generated response at the beginning of search results.
Speaker A:It's certainly a shift, but there still are trillions of searches on Google and people are still using a combination of tools for doing, for doing research and they're not just using AI.
Speaker A:And I think because we build, you know, we build our websites, that's our shop window.
Speaker A:And the danger is that you, you do it, you're quite relieved that you finished the web project and you probably want to go and lie down in a dark room when you finished it.
Speaker A:So you then never change the website.
Speaker A:It's like, you know, it's, you've got a booking system, you've got a PMS that does the sort of, you know, the updating and the sort of, you know, handling all of the guest bookings and then you just leave everything else on your website to be really static.
Speaker A:So Google wants to know that websites are updated frequently and that the content is relevant and it's timely and it's, it's up to date.
Speaker A:So blogging can be a great way of keeping your website alive.
Speaker A:It encourages Google to revisit again and again and to rank you higher in the search results.
Speaker A:It's almost like giving you more hits, more opportunities to, to get found.
Speaker A:So it's giving you more opportunities to rank in Google.
Speaker A:And every blog post is like another doorway into your website because every blog is an extra page on your website.
Speaker A:And Google we know, loves, although they never reveal exactly what's in their sort of algorithm.
Speaker A:We know that Google, you know, tends to rank websites that have more pages of good quality, relevant content higher than those that are a little bit thin and maybe only have like a single page website or maybe like five pages.
Speaker A:There was some research that was done by HubSpot of many years ago, but it, it showed that once you got to 50 pages and then 100 pages, it's almost like you're at 50 pages your web visits doubled and at 100 pages your website visits trebled.
Speaker A:There's something in the algorithm that is triggered by quantity of quality content that's on your site.
Speaker A:So for example, if just thinking about how you get people to your doorway, you know, if someone is searching for the best dog friendly walks in the Lake District or the best walks in the Lake District with kids as a family, because obviously some walks are not suitable for young, like maybe young children or like under fives, for example.
Speaker A:This is obviously a very UK example.
Speaker A:But you could apply, you could insert any sort of attraction or national forest in your particular country.
Speaker A:A blog that has content that answers that question is potentially going to bring people to discover the fact that you have accommodation in that location.
Speaker A:So, you know, we know and I've mentioned on previous podcasts that people will do quite long periods of research, up to 70 odd days of research in planning a trip.
Speaker A:So they may be looking at things to do that are suitable for their family in that particular location, like the Lake District that I've just said in the uk, and they may not at that point have finalised their decision to come and stay and they could be looking at accommodation and which accommodation is in the best spots for the walks they want to do.
Speaker A:That article on walks might actually dictate where they go and stay.
Speaker A:So obviously if you're writing that blog content, you want to make sure that some of the walks are near your accommodation and that you're perfectly placed to host them and have them staying with you.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:So blogging is not about rambling on and writing a boring, like focused on you type diary of content.
Speaker A:It's about creating helpful content that is focused around your ideal guests and what they are looking for from their trip.
Speaker A:So you're solving problems, you're inspiring things for them to do, you are giving them the, that inspiration and those ideas of how their planned trip or their weekend break, their short break, how you fit into that and the fact that you're a great place to stay.
Speaker A:So my second point I want to sort of look at, like, how do you pick topics that actually, you know, work for your ideal guests?
Speaker A:And as I said in last week's episode about AI, this is, you know, this is where AI can, can really help you with this sort of like brainstorming sort of content.
Speaker A:It's not going to write it necessarily correct first time, like your whole blog post, but it can help you with idea generation and it can help you with like first drafts that you can then tweak.
Speaker A:It makes the creation process so much quicker.
Speaker A:You know, guests don't want to read pages and pages about why your holiday cottage or your yurts are lovely.
Speaker A:Like I said, they want inspiration, tips, ideas for their stay.
Speaker A:I'm going to share some sort of examples of some blog post titles because I think people sort of sometimes struggle with this and think, what can I write about?
Speaker A:And I always approach these from a search engine point of view, Search engine optimization.
Speaker A:So if we were thinking about walking guides, so maybe we're aiming at the couples market, so we might have a title like 10 stunning walks near and then insert your location for couples who love adventure.
Speaker A:So you could then put in a selection of walks that are roundabout where you're based that would appeal to that particular audience.
Speaker A:So for couples, if they're adventurous, these might be longer walks.
Speaker A:They might also have somewhere like a pub to stop off on route or an attraction like a vineyard or somewhere maybe unlikely, but think about what a farm shop maybe even or a nice cafe that they could call in and have something really tasty for lunch.
Speaker A:Okay, let's think about pubs.
Speaker A:So often when people go out, particularly in the uk, this is quite a UK example.
Speaker A:People might want to.
Speaker A:And actually being close to a pub can be quite a key influencer.
Speaker A:I know Aid and I sometimes love it if we find a holiday cottage and it's got a pub within walking distance.
Speaker A:So we can pop out for dinner and not have to argue over who's driving the car.
Speaker A:But we often take our dog as well.
Speaker A:So if you're a dog friendly accommodation, you might want to do a blog post around like the best dog friendly pubs in insert your location because that's the sort of thing that people will be thinking okay, we're taking the dog.
Speaker A:Where can we go in this area that's sort of like if we spot the dog friendly pubs we're going to then want accommodation that's maybe close by, etc.
Speaker A:Okay, I'll give you another example.
Speaker A:Maybe think about like family.
Speaker A:The family audience.
Speaker A:So obviously not all activities and things locally we're going to appeal to families, but there may be some.
Speaker A:So if you're fam.
Speaker A:Family audience you could be thinking about like the top seven family friendly days out in insert your region.
Speaker A:So you can see we're sort of, we're writing articles a bit like a publisher, like a magazine, you know.
Speaker A:This blog would be hugely invaluable to parents planning their trip.
Speaker A:And if you know that you your site for example, maybe you've got a glamping site and it appeals to families that have maybe like under fives.
Speaker A:You then might do your top five family friendly days out in your location for the under like with under fives.
Speaker A:Or it could be teenagers.
Speaker A:That's another one that's quite challenging.
Speaker A:You know, if you've got teenagers, they just want to sit on their tech and on their devices.
Speaker A:So you might actually want to create some content for that.
Speaker A:Another one could be rainy days.
Speaker A:Obviously we're in the uk, We've had a glorious summer at the point of me recording this in September.
Speaker A:But however it can rain a lot.
Speaker A:So if you're a glamping site, you might want to have like your top five rainy day activities in your location.
Speaker A:It's practical.
Speaker A:You know, parents will be frazzled that they'll be worrying it's a pain point.
Speaker A:They'll be worrying that they're going to come glamping.
Speaker A:They're staying in a safari tent, so they're under canvas.
Speaker A:Oh my God, what happens if it rains and we're stuck indoors for like the whole holiday, the whole short break.
Speaker A:So by giving that content.
Speaker A:The other thing I love about blogs is that this content is like multi purpose because it's.
Speaker A:I'd start with it from an SEO perspective to get found and to boost your visibility.
Speaker A:But I also think it makes great content for your guest guide.
Speaker A:So if you've got a digital guest guide like we use touchstay these this is like gold to put into that with a link to these articles.
Speaker A:It is.
Speaker A:It's also can answer like frequently asked questions that your guests might be asking you for in terms of itineraries.
Speaker A:So you know, you start from an SEO and a blogging visibility point of view.
Speaker A:But this is fantastic content for your guests that have booked with you and also great for things like email campaigns.
Speaker A:So if you've ever sat and scratched your head and thought well I'm doing an offer for X month or like for romantic couples, it's like suddenly you've got some content for your email that is like completely written for from their perspective and you sort of get my gist.
Speaker A:I mean we could go on about dog friendly.
Speaker A:You could do like an ultimate dog friendly guide to the area, et cetera.
Speaker A:So it very much approach it from the SEO perspective and if you haven't listened to it, do go and check out where I talk about that.
Speaker A:SEO is like marketing in your sleep.
Speaker A:I talk a little bit in that episode about why SEO is important and my sort of three point structure that I use when I'm thinking about optimizing a website.
Speaker A:But ultimately that gives you pointers for what to blog about and you could use that as prompts for AI to help you create that.
Speaker A:At the end of the day blogs are a fabulous source of visibility and discoverability and being found.
Speaker A:And if you think about one of the primary goals of your marketing, the first goal before sort of being remembered and being is being front of mind so it's being discovered so that discovery and people becoming aware of your business so that you're not like the best kept secret on the Internet is Your first marketing goal always.
Speaker A:And then obviously we build on like, you know, creating interest and desire through our website so that people actually then decide that they want to book and then obviously like loyalty, etc.
Speaker A:Etc.
Speaker A:But ultimately if you're never discovered in the first place, it's pointless.
Speaker A:And Google does like to match up when people are what we call these long tail keywords.
Speaker A:So people often put quite long descriptions into a search engine in terms of what they're looking for.
Speaker A:And that's what we call these long tail keywords.
Speaker A:So it's like, you know, dog friendly pubs near X location.
Speaker A:You know, it's not short and sweet searches, they tend to be a little bit longer.
Speaker A:So I've got an interesting fact for you.
Speaker A:Did you know that according to HubSpot research, websites with blogs get 434% more indexed pages in Google than those without?
Speaker A:So this was my point about, you know, blogs create additional web pages, they then get indexed by Google and you then just have more chances of being discovered.
Speaker A:It's more doors opening maybe.
Speaker A:Think about it as like you've got four times as many lottery tickets in the million pound drawer, but maybe this is just in the SEO draw.
Speaker A:So you've got more chances to be found and booked, which, you know, ultimately is what this is all about.
Speaker A:So my last point is around, okay, so you might be thinking, okay, I might give blogging a go.
Speaker A:It sounds like it could be beneficial to my business.
Speaker A:But how do you blog without like getting completely burnt out or feeling like this is just another thing that's been added to your to do list?
Speaker A:So blogging doesn't mean that you have to do daily or weekly posts.
Speaker A:I mean even one quality blog post per month, it all compounds over time.
Speaker A:And the point about a blog is it never goes away.
Speaker A:So you probably spend hours creating social posts.
Speaker A:Reels, stories, even stories disappear in 24 hours.
Speaker A:Reels very quickly slip down the algorithm.
Speaker A:Posts disappear in people's feeds.
Speaker A:So although now some of that content is being indexed by Google, ultimately social activity is quite a busy thing to be doing.
Speaker A:You know, it keeps you busy.
Speaker A:We probably all feel like we spend too much time on social media and that content doesn't hang around, it doesn't continually work hard for your business.
Speaker A:It doesn't get rediscovered all of the time.
Speaker A:And as I said, the other thing about the blogs is that they can be repurposed.
Speaker A:You know, you can turn a blog post into email content.
Speaker A:You can take snippets of a blog post and use it for stories A reel.
Speaker A:You can use it on social media.
Speaker A:You can also use photographs that you've already had and you have for your business to put into those blog posts.
Speaker A:So you're not constantly reinventing the wheel.
Speaker A:But blogging is definitely about quality over quantity.
Speaker A:It's not about, as I said, using an AI tool to just rapidly generate 30 blog posts and sticking them up there.
Speaker A:You want that content to be what we call evergreen.
Speaker A:So think about like that best dog friendly pubs or walks near your location.
Speaker A:That will work for you for years potentially.
Speaker A:And you know, obviously you might need to just check that the pubs or the walks, walks are still open and the pubs haven't shut, but it will potentially be there.
Speaker A:Doing marketing for you while you sleep, my best form of marketing.
Speaker A:But I do think that you can definitely use, as I said, I'm not being down on AI.
Speaker A:I definitely think this is an area where AI sort of comes to the fore to help you brainstorm those ideas.
Speaker A:So hopefully today's podcast episode has given you some food for thought.
Speaker A:You, you've hopefully customized your AI tool and you've got some good prompts, then you can get it to brainstorm some outlines for both.
Speaker A:I've used it for like blog titles just as I've used it for email subject lines and to give you like an outline.
Speaker A:But it's very much your first draft.
Speaker A:Do not copy and paste that directly into your website, into your blogging section of your website, especially if you're on web.
Speaker A:You know, Most people use WordPress.
Speaker A:Do not copy and paste it because it won't be right straight out of the box.
Speaker A:It needs, it needs to be edited and polished and put into your tone of voice with your personality.
Speaker A:And also you're going to have a local perspective on a lot of this stuff in terms of like, you may have your favorite pubs to go to, your favorite walks.
Speaker A:You know, you live like a local.
Speaker A:That's what people love about coming and visiting your glamping site or your holiday cottage.
Speaker A:They might actually be visiting your holiday cottage or, you know, your rental and actually thinking, I would love this to be my, my country home that I've got and they want to live like a local.
Speaker A:So your personality and your perspective needs to be put into the content.
Speaker A:So what have we covered today?
Speaker A:Blogging is a great fuel for SEO.
Speaker A:I describe it often as Google Juice.
Speaker A:It's, it's what feeds Google and keeps it happy.
Speaker A:It gives it more reasons to, you know, to show up and to come and see your site again and to show your site to more people you want to.
Speaker A:Secondly, you want to.
Speaker A:So that's the first point.
Speaker A:Secondly, you want to choose topics that your guests are actually searching for.
Speaker A:So you'll know your guests potentially you'll know maybe look at the I always say the guest book is a great source of if they write in the guest book or they write in reviews like what they went and did and the things they like doing and you'll know what your selling key selling points of your business is.
Speaker A:But you know that that will need to tie into the content that you create.
Speaker A:So, so think about creating that planning support for them in terms of either problem solving things they might be worried about, those pain points like rainy days with the kids or how to keep teenagers happy.
Speaker A:Dog friendly walks that don't involve going on a road.
Speaker A:For example, you know, when we've gone to places and then we've been told there's some good walks and then we find out that most of the walk is on main roads and the dog's got to be on a lead.
Speaker A:It's not really enjoyable, but if the host had given me some walks that were more doggy suitable, that would have been really, really helpful.
Speaker A:So think about how you can inspire them, solve their and help them with their trip planning.
Speaker A:And thirdly, be a bit more strategic about how you approach blogging.
Speaker A:Like I said, don't think about just churning out vast quantities of content.
Speaker A:Think about creating one quality post a month that is going to be around what your ideal guests are looking for.
Speaker A:And you may have multiple ideal guests, but if you're struggling to attract one particular type of guest, obviously create more content around that audience and what would be appealing to them and what they would be searching for.
Speaker A:Because then you're more likely to find more of those people are going to find you.
Speaker A:So my final thought is that blogging is not dead, but it does need to be done smartly.
Speaker A:And what I love about it is that it is evergreen.
Speaker A:So I would encourage you to maybe think about your ideal guest like one ideal guest profile and think about five topics that would be of interest to them and how you might be able to turn that into blog post content to add to your website.
Speaker A:So that's your homework for this week.
Speaker A:I'm not the only one that has to do all the work doing these episodes.
Speaker A:I want you to go and think about, you know, five blog post topics that you could potentially with a bit of AI help.
Speaker A:So thanks for tuning in today.
Speaker A:I will be back next week.
Speaker A:I have a guest episode and it is an absolute cracker.
Speaker A:I'm not going to reveal much about it, but but it's a really interesting business model and you're It's a really interesting conversation that I had with the owner, so you're going to want to tune into that one next week.
Speaker A:If you've enjoyed this episode, I'd love it if you could leave me a review.
Speaker A:You know how much us hosts love those five star reviews.
Speaker A:I'll see you next week.
Speaker A:Thank you for listening to Get Fully Booked with Sarah Orchard.
Speaker A:If you want to see if you are ready to ditch the likes of Airbnb and grow your direct bookings, put your business to the test with my free Direct Booking Roadmap quiz.
Speaker A:Head to my website get fully booked.com quiz and let's get you more direct bookings and more profit in your pocket.
