Why Are Blog Posts Important?
The more visually engaging your blog post is, the more people will read your content and engage with your rental properties. Also, the more user-friendly your website is, the more likely they are to book your rentals over the competition. That’s why we were not satisfied to keep doing the same style of posts but worked to innovate and challenge ourselves to provide the best blog posts for our clients and their guests.
Using WordPress for Vacation Rental Websites
RealTech specializes in building custom WordPress websites for vacation rental management companies. Designed to make website design and management easy, WordPress has increased in popularity because it offers developers an easy way to integrate features. But WordPress also offers less tech-savvy users an easy way to update content. It is the best of both worlds, which is why we use it as the main building block for our vacation rental management websites. Our sites are built to engage and convert users into guests.
Exploring New Possibilities with the Gutenberg Update
WordPress recently launched an update called Gutenberg. Along with an introducing an easy drag-n-drop interface, the update also included options including featured image blocks and functions like embedding YouTube videos.
Initially, there were a few kinks as the update was rolled out, but WordPress has ironed out the bugs with the help of beta testing. The company has announced that Gutenberg will eventually become the default editor, but transitioning is still optional at this time.
RealTech developers and marketers have been testing these new capabilities to develop a new way to serve the modern traveler. As a result, we have developed a new design for our site’s blog posts.
New Blog Post Features
Now let’s get to the good stuff. Through a collaboration between RealTech developers and marketers, we were able to engineer several new features to add to our blog posts using Gutenburg. All of the below features are rolling out to our marketing clients, so here’s what you can expect to see.
Large Feature Image
Why We Use It to Set the Stage
Capture a user’s attention from the moment they land on your blog. If you have access to great photography, a large featured image at the top of your blog article immediately sets the stage.
Our Favorite Design Blocks
Pullout Quotes are a great way to draw a user’s eye to a key piece of information. We can format these quotes with different font styles and brand colors to match your unique business personality.
Media + Text is a block that makes it simple to pair an image with a box of text. In the example above, you can see the grey box connected to the image of a little girl riding on her dad’s shoulders. We love how obvious it becomes to readers when you link a photo and a description this way. This feature is also very important for how it stacks, aka looks, on a mobile device.
Group is a more ambiguous option. It is a mystery box that allows you to create different elements that all belong in the same cluster. Admittedly, this is more for a developer’s purposes than the novice user, but through this feature, we created our absolute new favorite blog graphic. Do you see the script font “Plan Your Vacation” above? That blue outlined box is a group of elements tied together with code to entice readers to take the next step to book vacation accommodations.
What Else Can RealTech Build For You?
Do you have a custom-built website? If you’re curious about what we can offer, keep reading!
Blog Sidebar
In posts, we have explained why blog articles are a good marketing strategy for vacation rental websites. Content about restaurants and things to do are frequently found by travelers planning a getaway, and funnel potential guests straight to you. When users land on an article, make it easy for them to learn more about your company and even book their stay.
Adding a sidebar is a great way to do just that. Add a calendar search or a search-by-date at the top along with links into your most popular rental landing pages.
