Online Travel Content That Sells

ExpediaWhat’s the key to creating successful online travel content?

From blogs, photos and videos to competitions, surveys and social media campaigns, travel companies are very adept at creating content that brings traffic to their websites – but are surprisingly poor at converting those visitors into customers.

So what should these companies be doing differently? In my new role as Editor-in-Chief for Melt Content, I spoke to three travel experts to learn how to create great content that sells.

The interview article was written for Melt Content and published on Travolution. Read the complete article here.

City Vacation Guides for Expedia

ExpediaWe have some exciting news, and it has been a long time coming! Our city vacation guide for Christchurch in New Zealand, which was written back in July, has finally been published on the Expedia website. You can read the overview by clicking on this here link, or check out one of the POIs, Lyttelton Harbour, here.

In fact, Christchurch is just the latest of several city vacation guides we have created for Expedia. We’ve previously written about city destinations in more than a dozen countries right around the world, including Albuquerque (USA), Friedrichshafen (Germany), Hua Hin (Thailand), Rarotonga (The Cook Islands), Edmonton (Canada), and Hong Kong.

You’ll find a selection of our completed guides in Projects. Or click here to see all Expedia’s guides in one place.

Our Latest Private Air Articles

Cities TalkingFor the last year or so, the World Words team has been contributing articles to Private Air Luxury Homes Magazine. And the most recent issue (November-December ’13) has a total of seven of our articles featured. That’s a new high!

In every issue of the magazine we write on a range of topics, from lavish travel to investment destinations to cultural events… and this edition is no different.

The travel destinations we’ve featured vary from the winter wonderland of St Moritz to the watery delights of The Finger Lakes, while other topics covered include London’s Silver Mine, Rossetti’s Proserpine and Harrods’ new whisky.

You can read all our latest contributions on our Projects page, where you’ll also find our work for previous issues, stretching back to November 2012.

Pimsleur Approach Blogs This October

Cities TalkingSince World Words was born back in late 2012, our expert writing team has contributed more than 50 SEO-friendly articles to the blog of the leading language learning company Pimsleur Approach. This October alone, we wrote five articles covering a variety of topics, including tough triathlons, creepy courtyards and – naturally – a little language learning.

You can find all of these blogs, along with a selection of our previous Pimsleur pieces, on our Projects page. Or you can read them individually now by clicking on the links below…

OCTOBER’S CHATTERBOX … Published October 25 … “Welcome to the real lowdown on language learning…”
THE MOST HAUNTED PLACES ON EARTH … Published October 15 … “Discover the planet’s spookiest places…”
OCTOBER’S TOP TRAVEL LINKS … Published October 11 … “Your guide to the best online travel-related stuff…”
THE 10 BEST RACES AROUND THE WORLD … Published October 4 … “From tiring triathlons to Tough Mudders…”
TEACH CHILDREN A SECOND LANGUAGE … Published October 1 … “It’s key for kiddies to learn another lingo…”

Editor Interview with Cities Talking

Cities TalkingWorld Words editor Joseph Reaney was recently interviewed by one of our clients, Cities Talking, outlining all the skills, tips and tricks required to compose great audio travel guides that entertain and inform the listener. Here was one of the questions…

Q. HOW DO YOU TACKLE A BRIEF TO WRITE A CITIES TALKING TOUR?

A. Cities Talking is a wonderful client. They provide a clear brief about the tour they wish to be written and have in-house researchers who send over a long document outlining each and every attraction en route. We’ll then scour these notes, pick out the interesting information and use this to create an entertaining and informative audio script. We also supplement this research with some of our own. In particular, we try to find interesting characters and dig into their personalities.

You can read the interview in full of the Cities Talking website. You will find some of the audio city guides we have written for this client, including on the beautiful European cities Amsterdam, Budapest and Prague, in our portfolio.

The Marketing Might of Music Streaming

spotify[ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON 24TH SEPTEMBER 2009 BY RED C MAGAZINE]

Do you like music? Okay, stupid question: I might as well ask if you like converting oxygen into carbon dioxide, or Christmas Dinner. Everyone loves a good tune – with the possible exception of Andrew Lloyd Webber – and there’s nothing better than getting it for nothing. Remember how the holy grail of free music lured an entire generation into the open paws of that creepy Napster cat? Until the Recording Industry Association tied the bugger up in a burlap sack and chucked it in the Mississippi, of course.

Now, after a miserable half-decade of having to fork over cash for music, the free tunes are back; and it’s all thanks to applications like Spotify, we7 and Grooveshark. Music streaming services like these have become incredibly popular in an impossibly short amount of time, and they’re already having a big impact on the way music is made, distributed and charted. But forget all that. The important bit for us to realise is this: with all new forms of music consumption come all new advertising opportunities… Continue reading