What’s in a blog?

What’s in a blog and why are they useful?

When you see a blog, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? For most readers, it would be the hope that it has some new and interesting information that speaks directly to you. And, of course, that is a great answer. But there are many other purposes to blogs, and specifically for us, there are more purposes for the Polynesian Cultural Blog than I could comfortably list here … don’t worry, I’m not even going to try. I will just provide you with 5 good reasons for the Polynesian Cultural Center to produce their own blogs.

First, a quick overview – The Polynesian Cultural Center actually has 4 separate categories of blogs: News of the Center, Cultures of Polynesia, Eat Polynesia and Hawaii Travel Tips. The main reason for such a wide range of topics is because there are many different people with completely different likes. We looked at what the Polynesian cultures have to offer, along with the most popular subjects of the general public in various age groups – and developed these categories to help us achieve our goals:

Bring interesting information specific to our Polynesian cultures to ‘the world’.

The Center is one of the most diverse Polynesian organization on the planet. We not only represent our six island villages of Hawaii, Aotearoa, Fiji, Tahiti, Tonga, and Samoa – we showcase many other Polynesian countries, such as Rapa Nui and Cook Islands. We proudly showcased Marquesas for many years (more on that in a later post), and we have artifacts, visitors, and cultural and entertainment representatives from across the Pacific sharing their culture.

Historical value

We create a permanent library of historical events (i.e., the opening and dedication of the Hukilau Marketplace,  and the graduation of many of our lifetime Ohana). There really is no way to measure the documented significance of articles that can provide the date and time, those involved, and direct quotes. Many thanks to Mike Foley for his years of dedication attending and writing about these experiences.

Engage viewers as we introduce them to the Polynesian Cultural Center.

One of our best examples of this is through our Eat Polynesia series where we provide instruction and video for many of the beloved dishes around the Pacific. With such blogs as panipopo, palusami, poke, and shoyu chicken, this category is our most popular series.

Introduce our readers to the Polynesian Cultural Center and build their desire to come visit this special place.

We are, after all, the Marketing Department. It is our job and our honor to highlight this amazing effort, and introduce our guests to the beautiful people of Polynesia. Writing detailed reviews of specific cultural practices and highlighting our staff and student workers is one of our highest priorities. Like all of us, we can’t wait to roll up our sleeves, get the word out and open the gates to welcome our Ohana back.

SEO and keyword identification

According to wordstream.com, “Your SEO keywords are the keywords and phrases in your web content that make it possible for people to find your site via search engines. A website that is well optimized for search engines “speaks the same language” as its potential visitor base with keywords for SEO that help connect searchers to your site.” We spend almost as much time identifying what the keywords are and how to place them in the article as we create a compelling article. This goal fits into each category. Our readership is rising and we couldn’t be more pleased.

 

Do you want to get involved? We are always looking for stories to share! Contact us with any ideas or questions at jonesn@jp-staging.polynesia.com.