It’s happening.
Travel restrictions are being relaxed. Mask mandates are being lifted (or soon will be) in many places. We’re beating COVID-19, and things are returning to normal. This is particularly good news for travel bloggers. For the past year, you’ve been doing all you can to keep an audience engaged using all kinds of tactics, steering around the concept of actually traveling… if your blog is still alive and kicking, kudos! There are lots of competing bloggers who can’t say the same right now.
If you’re thinking about making a shift to travel blogging, your timing couldn’t be better. There is a great deal of excitement among travelers right now. People feel less constrained about where they go and what they do this summer and are looking for this kind of content. Where are some good places to soak up some rays? Where is the surfing going to be best this year? People are making their plans now, and they need your help.
Whether you’re trying to keep up the momentum with your blog or give a new blog a solid, well-received launch, the advice that follows is for you. I will give you some sound advice that will set up your summer travel blog for a truly warm reception.
Research Current Travel Restrictions
Your success in travel blogging in 2021 will hinge on the timeliness and relevance of the information you deliver. Don’t start out by blindly choosing destinations for your blog based on popularity or a family-friendly atmosphere.
While these are great topics upon which to focus great blog content, they aren’t as important right now as their accessibility. COVID is on the decline in some parts of the world, but others are still struggling. Before taking up a specific water fun destination, be sure your readers can get there.
This is especially important if your blog represents a travel agency, but I’m going to assume you knew that already. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has information for international travelers on its website.
Know Current Travel and Pandemic Guidelines
It isn’t enough to know if a destination is accessible. What can travelers expect in terms of laws, rules, and local mandates when they book a trip somewhere this summer? The U.S. State Department website has you covered with this one. There, you will find even more information provided by the U.S. State Department website, including COVID-19 country updates that cover travel restrictions, guidelines, and other valuable information about pandemic conditions worldwide.
Between that link and the one to the CDC website above, you have some real, trustworthy, and up-to-the-minute relevant information to use when planning content. I recommend bookmarking both of those links right now. They will prove to be invaluable resources for you until the global theater has a flat COVID-19 curve.
Stay Centered on Social Distancing (For Now)
While many are casting off their masks with vigor, there are still plenty of people out there who are still masking up. There are those who are either still not vaccinated, not getting vaccinated, or just plain apprehensive about being in popular tourist areas just yet… and still intend to travel.
For that segment of your audience, I suggest producing content on topics like secluded beaches and other off-the-beaten-path vacation ideas. Content about small group and family beach house vacations will get some good play this year, as well content related to activities like coastal RV travel, kayaking, or other water-based or maritime activities where social distancing is either built-in or easy to achieve.
Depending on your audience, you can either bill this content as COVID-19 guideline-friendly or just put it out there on its own merits. People liked secluded beaches before 2020. It was a thing. This year, though, you might want to expand the amount of this kind of content you include in your blog.
Keep the Content Flowing
Get busy with split-testing and fine-tuning right now. Summer travel is, pardon the pun, heating up as we speak. The most successful bloggers out there will be the ones that consistently deliver top-quality, well-presented, and well-branded content. As restrictions continue to ease, you want a well-established audience that is in the practice of consuming your content as travel markets all over the world reopen.
Write to Your Specific Audience
Even if you are in a part of the world that is still struggling to contain the virus, you can, and should, still capitalize on this kind of content. Just be sure to target ads and other promotional content like emails, social media, and texts to potential readers who will find the information useful and beneficial.
Also, be sure that if you are marketing to a specific audience, you are presenting the content the best way possible. You might want to consider collaborating with a copywriting company like BeezContent to edit or create content that will get you good results.
The United States, in particular, is coming out from under some very stringent COVID-19 restrictions. Many states and locales are easing restrictions and encouraging people to make summer and even fall travel plans now. This is where you and your content creation partners at BeezContent come in. We can help you develop great content geared toward audiences that are well-positioned to consume and engage with your content right now.
We are eager to hear from you and help you polish up your content for maximum reach or help you build a beach and water sport blog and marketing strategy built on outstanding support content to get it seen. Contact us today to learn more about what we can do to make your summer travel blogging plan a success.
