It doesn’t matter how beautiful your vacation rental property is if you don’t know how to sell it right.
These days, with various websites providing listing services for everyone to real estate developers listing villas in the Maldives to Average Joe’s renting out their converted garages, your site needs to be able to stand out from the pack.
Read on for some vital tips to direct traffic to your Vacation Rental Site, and get them renting once they’re on it.
Search Engines Tip #1 – Keywords
Other than advertising campaigns, search engines are the most likely route that tourists will find your site.
With that in mind, search engine optimization – essentially the manipulation of sites like Google in order to get your site to appear higher up in the search results- is utterly crucial.
One of the best-known ways of doing that is by using keywords. These are words that your web copy ought to repeat in as many places as possible without sounding forced.
Keywords also need to be broad enough to guarantee enough people will actually use them in searches, while specific enough that people will be directed to your site.
For instance, if your rental property is a house by the beach, “oceanfront rental” or “self catering accommodation” are appropriate keywords to use on your site as often as you can.
Search Engines Tip #2 – Meta Descriptions
If keywords are intended to get your site to appear in search results, the “meta description” is the first thing the user sees on the search engine.
In other words, this is the paragraph that appears directly below the link in a returned search.
Therefore, it’s totally vital that it hits the nail on the head, or else a user will keep scrolling and click elsewhere.
Be succinct. This is your opportunity to strap on the advertising and marketing brain. Try out buzzy lines like “look no further” but don’t make your site sound too good to be true.
Professional Photo Session
For a fee, some DIY sites offer professional photo shoots for a vacation listing.
No matter the price of your listing or how legitimate your rental site, hiring a professional photographer is the way to go.
There are considerations that are taken when doing a professional shoot that regular folks would never think of. But those same regular folks can spot an amateur shoot a mile away.
Lighting and staging are just two examples of what a pro-photographer brings to the table, and are just a part of a craft that is very difficult to imitate.
Add the Pieces Together with a Blog
Finally, consider adding a blog to your vacation rental site. This is the perfect place to use keywords, over the course of many posts, without anyone noticing that you’re trying to play the SEO game.
Use your blog to show off some of those fancy professional photos.
A Blog is also a great place to link social media sites to. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are essentially free advertising.
Lastly, a blog is a place for guests to write about the incredible experience they had while vacationing at your listing.
Home Away from Home
At the end of the day, you got into this business for a reason. You are a person who wants to provide a home for people, one booking at a time.
After all, sure it’s a business. And sure it’s about making money. But when all is said and done, you’re in the business of giving people a story to tell and a place to rest their head.
So what are you waiting for? Use these tips today to ensure that as many people as possible will have the pleasure of staying in your home away from home.
