Find your angle to create converting destination descriptions

We are excited today to start hosting on our blog, some interesting and very useful insights from the content world, curated by some of the most relevant opinion makers in this industry, as guest bloggers. We start with Wouter Kiel, Global SEO Manager of Travix International.

I get it.

Writing copy is hard. Writing interesting copy is even harder. Writing interesting copy that converts is extremely hard. On top of that, it takes a big bite out of your or your team's time. What's a marketer to do?

One way to tackle the capacity issue is to hire external help. Get a freelancer or an agency to do the writing for you. It helped us scale up our content effort.

But just creating generic destination descriptions won't cut it if you really want your site to rank and convert.

You need a unique angle.

Here's how you can find yours.

Prerequisites

Before you start writing, there are a couple of ground rules to take into consideration. Rules on how to structure your content.

Because let's face it:

No matter how brilliant your content is, if you format it in one long paragraph then no-one's going to enjoy reading it. At all.

To avoid premature oblivion, think about these four style elements

Keep it short and sweet

People don't usually have time to read extremely long pieces.

Break up your content

The trick is to present your content in small, scannable sections. Don't make your paragraphs longer than absolutely necessary. Be liberal with line breaks (!!!)

Target multiple types of interest

Not everyone wants to consume content in the same way. Some of your visitors will be triggered by bulleted lists, others prefer full sentences. Mix it up a bit.

Focus on action

Always think about which problem you're trying to solve, how your content will help your visitor to reach their goals.

Challenge: How to be unique

Do a Google search for "Barcelona". Review the first 10 results and then come back here.

Go on. I'll wait.

How many of the results were talking about either one of these subjects:

• Las Ramblas

• Sagrada Familia

• Camp Nou

• Park Guell

What's your angle?

• Don't try to be Tripadvisor. You can't win. (unless you ARE Tripadvisor, of course).

• Don't try to be Wikipedia. There's no room for so many encyclopedias.

• Don't be a copycat. Copying your competitors is not just morally wrong, it can get you in legal trouble, too.

Examples of angles

Here are some examples of these angles:

1. Selling ads

 Maybe you should be both as exhaustive and relevant as possible. Use as many relevant sources as you can possibly find, and then create your own ultimate guide. Brian Dean at backlinko.com wrote a great article on how to employ this skyscraper technique (https://backlinko.com/skyscraper-technique).

2. Selling hotels

Your content should probably cover things like which area of Barcelona is good for budget hotels, which part of the city for more expensive places, which hotel is most centrally located if you calculate a typical walking route through the city, and so on. 

3. Selling flights

Maybe you should think about the airports that cover the city, which transportation modes there are to the city centre, which airlines fly there, how often, from which departure airports, and so on.

See? There's always an angle.  

A winning content strategy