After years of writing quality travel content for a plethora of clients across print and online, the World Words team has learnt a few tricks of the trade. And we are happy to share our knowledge with every other travel writer, copy editor and content creator striving to improve their craft. That’s why we regularly publish advice posts on this blog.
Recently, several of our advice columns have been republished by third parties, from travel tech news site Tnooz travel industry media platform Media Kitty. We’ve collated the best of our travel advice articles below, with more to follow next month (in Part 2). So whether you are a budding writer or the brains behind a travel site with dozens of contributors, keep reading for tips on scheduling your work, advice on editing and a list of travel clichés to avoid.
TIMING IS EVERYTHING FOR HOTEL CONTENT MARKETING, TNOOZ
When creating online travel content, it is tempting to come up with brand new ideas as you go along. After all, travel is all about spontaneity; it’s the off-the-cuff experiences that often make the greatest impressions.
However, as anybody who has found themselves in Alaska armed with nothing but tiny Speedos and factor 50 sunscreen will attest, a little forward planning can go a very long way.
Having a good content marketing strategy for your hotel will often mean juggling dozens of different tasks.
Your social media statuses need to be updated, online chats and conversations need to be monitored, blog posts need to be written, edited and scheduled, images need to be sourced and uploaded, websites need to be updated, videos need to be produced… and so on.
With so much different content to produce, it’s very easy to let something slip your memory, yet there’s little more detrimental to a hotel’s brand image than stagnant blogs and sluggish social feeds.
So what’s the solution for combating future content drought?
Click here to continue reading our article for Tnooz
10 CONTENT WRITING CLICHÉS TO AVOID, HOTEL SPEAK
When it comes to hotel marketing, the words you choose matter. Often, they are the thing that convinces customers to click the ‘Book Now’ button. They should be specific, carefully chosen and right for your brand, not lacklustre catch-all clichés. The goal of your content is to make your hotel stand out from the crowd and to secure bookings, right? Stereotype cliché-riddled writing will do just the opposite.
Sure, everyone has reservations about certain terms like ‘off the beaten track’ or ‘unique’, but individual qualms shouldn’t mean a blanket ban on these phrases. Some clichés can be a convenient shorthand – a way of succinctly conveying a concept or idea to your target audience without having to reveal all the details.
However, other clichéd phrases are so frequently bandied about in hospitality and travel marketing materials, they fail to even register with readers. We’ve put together a list of 10 of the worst offenders below.
A home from home
Hotels frequently rely on this old nugget to hint at how welcoming and comfortable they are. But most potential guests won’t be wowed by this overdone cliché. While a dose of home-style warmth can benefit a B&B, domesticity usually has its limits – travellers want something a little more enticing than their own home.
Click here to read nine more regularly offending clichés on Hotel Speak.
FIVE TOP TIPS FOR EDITING YOUR TRAVEL CONTENT, THE INSTINCT BY MEDIA KITTY
In content, editing is everything. The writers may have the ideas and put them down on the page, often with great panache, spot-on metaphors and a killer turn of phrase, but even the best can benefit from an editor. Editors will translate writers’ shrewd observations and wandering thoughts into the best and most readable version possible.
The best travel content inspires its readers. For travel publications, that means keeping the reader captivated with a compelling narrative, while for travel companies it’s about inspiring readers to the point of purchase. In every case, editing is an essential way to ensure your content does its job as well as it possibly can.
As travel content experts, World Words’ in-house editorial team have lots of top tips for ensuring the effectiveness of the editing process. Here are our top five.
Avoid overusing adverbs and intensifiers
The goal of editing is to tighten up the copy. Unnecessary words make content flabby. One of the best ways to firm things up is to begin with adverbs (words that modify a verb or noun, such as ‘ran quickly’ or ‘move snappily’) and intensifiers (words that make adjectives stronger, such as ‘very’, ‘really’, ‘extremely’).
Click here to read the rest of our tips on The Instinct by Media Kitty.
More of our best content writing advice will be featured in Part 2, published next month. In the meantime, check out our blog for more advice on writing travel content from our expert team, or follow us on Twitter.
Image credits: Scissors, CC image courtesy of Ivy Dawned, via Flickr.
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