7 easy ways to boost your holiday letting blog

Last Updated on August 19, 2016 by admin

For a long time now we’ve been told that content is king; not only does Google love it, potential guests enjoy reading it and engaging with what you’re sharing in your holiday letting blog, whether that’s information on places to go in the local area, images of the latest stunning sunset or sharing a few guest reviews.

You don’t need to be an expert in online copy to create great content, you just need a bit of knowledge on what your existing and potential guests like to read about. Alongside this, you’ll need attention grabbing headlines.

If you currently have a blog for your holiday cottage business, we know it is more than likely that you spend hours labouring over a fantastic post then rushing a headline without giving it too much thought. You may not realise, but this could cost you visits to your holiday letting blog and as a result fewer bookings.

Research has shown that 8 out of 10 people will read the title of your blog, whilst 2 out of 10 will read the whole post. So it is worth spending time on a great headline and making a first impression that grabs attention.

To help you get started, we’ve compiled a list of 7 tips on creating the perfect blog title for your brilliant post.

1. Use power words

Adding words such as ‘brilliant’, ‘easy’, and ‘fun’ lets the reader know that your post is interesting and worth reading. They target human emotions which makes people more inclined to take the time to read your blog post.

2. Include a number

Research shows that blog post titles get a much higher click-through rate on search engines when it includes a number. This is because we have short attention spans, particularly when it comes to browsing online. A quick skim of a blog title and we can find out that we’ll get 7 fun family activities in North Cornwall.

3. Make it odd

Experts aren’t entirely sure why, but odd numbers in blog post titles are more popular than even numbers.  Research from The Content Marketing Institute found that titles which included an odd number led to 20% more clicks. We may not know why this happens but it is definitely worth doing!  We seem to have seven points in this one!

4. Show you can help

Readers are always after blog posts that will benefit them in some way. From the headline, they need to know that what you have written can help them and benefit them in some way.

Instead of a simple title like “Devon coastal walks”, add in a benefit (and an odd number and power word!) to make it more appealing. Something like “6 beautiful Devonshire coastal walks for the whole family”.

5. Keep it short

Google can currently only show 65 characters in its search results (which are taken from the title of your blog), so a long title will be cut off and your hard work will be wasted.

We recommend keeping it below 45 characters for maximum impact. If you really can’t get it any lower than this, make sure your key words are at the start of the headline so that if some is cut off by Google, readers will still know what your blog post is about.

6. Read around

If you want to know how to be successful with blog headlines, then take a look at those at the top. By spending just 10 minutes looking at popular blogs, you can start to see what techniques they use with their headlines.  Before you know it the creative juices will be flowing and you’ll be inspired to write some great headlines!

7. Test it

If you think you’ve done a great job but want to double check, then try out this great free headline analyser tool. CoSchedule  checks your headline and scores it for relatability and emotion.

Boshers offer specialist holiday home insurance to owners across the UK. For more information on how a specialist insurer can help and support your holiday home business, please give us a call on 01237 429444.