Spring Cleaning Your Travel Content

The world of travel is always changing, and what you once thought was evergreen content can become outdated in the blink of an eye. If you or your brand produces or commissions travel content, it’s vital to regularly take stock of what you’ve already got, what you still need, and what can be retired. This will help keep things neat, fresh and relevant. And if you are going to do some content spring cleaning, well, surely there’s no better time than spring?

If your website is home to a travel blog, destination guides, tour itineraries or any other types of travel content, we have some top tips for sprucing it up (and all just in time for the big pre-summer booking rush). Read on for more…

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Bad Content Advice: The Common Travel Writing Tips that Are Complete Nonsense

Since the advent of the internet, everyone and their uncle has been quick to offer advice on travel content writing. However, as content writers ourselves, we know that while they may be well meaning, most of the advice is also outdated, ineffective and misinformed, perpetuating the same untruths and mistakes across the world of content.

Therefore, we’ve decided to help redress the content advice balance, by highlighting the common travel writing tips you should ignore. By pooling the extensive travel writing knowledge of our writers, we have come up with a shortlist of questionable tips that are regularly regurgitated online. From declarations about the death of list posts to nonsense about the vitality of keyword density, here are four common content writing tips you can just ignore.

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Travel Content and Cultural Sensitivity: How Should You Depict Other Cultures?

After returning from a trip, travellers are usually consumed by an overwhelming desire to tell everyone about the amazing experience they have had. This is what a travel writer is paid to do in the most eloquent way possible. However, it can also be the hardest part to master when it comes to depicting and representing other cultures.

Cultural sensitivity should be paramount when writing travel content, but it is often sorely overlooked. Mariellen Ward of the Breathedreamgo travel blog has discussed the dangers of cultural imperialism (or the belief that your way of life is better) in travel writing, while photographer Bani Amor has criticised colonialism in travel literature.

When writing about location, ethnicity and society, there are certain to be complicated politics that come into play. Although there’s no one-size-fits-all phrasebook to help travel writers avoid all controversy in their content, there are helpful tricks for traversing this complicated terrain. Scroll down to read the advice of the World Words team.

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The Fine Art of the Travel Content Brief: How to Write One… And How to Follow It 

In travel writing, as in all content production, a clear and unambiguous brief should always be the starting point. For writers, knowing the brief inside out before you start typing is key to knowing exactly what the client or editor expects and meeting their expectations. From the perspective of clients and editors, meanwhile, getting the brief right will mean less editing work, a quicker writer delivery and – most importantly of all – a better finished product.

So how can clients craft the perfect travel content brief? And, from the other point of view, how can writers ensure they answer it in the intended way? Scroll down to read top tips from our staff content editor – and writer – Eilidh.

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