Are you looking for ways to market your holiday rental without having to spend a fortune? We’ve created a simple guide including 10 of the most cost effective ways to help increase your bookings during 2012 and beyond.
1. Create a website. Your own dedicated holiday rental website is an important part of a well-balanced marketing strategy. It allows you to stand out from the crowd, project a more professional image, appear on internet search engines and ultimately generate more bookings. Renters now expect holiday rental owners to have their own website and if they don’t find one there’s a good chance they’ll book elsewhere.
2. Start blogging. By creating an interesting and informative blog you can attract a good flow of traffic to your website and increase awareness of your holiday rental. Make sure you update your blog on a regular basis, including plenty of information about your property and the surrounding area, plus local knowledge and special events.
3. Start Tweeting. Twitter is a micro-blogging site and is great way to interact with the holiday rental community and increase awareness of your accommodation. It’s the perfect place to add links to your website and blog as well as share photos. Use Twitter to network with past guests, other property owners and the tourist industry as a whole.
4. Create a Facebook Business Page. It’s easy to create an attractive Facebook page with plenty of images and information about your property. Again use the site for networking with past guests and increasing leads. Make sure you add links to your other online profiles such as your website and blog.
5. Video marketing using YouTube. YouTube is a fantastic website which allows you to upload your own videos for free. Create a profile page and get creative with your handheld camera. You don’t need professional film makers anymore, there is plenty of free software available to create a slick looking videos to demonstrate why your holiday rental is such a wonderful place to come and stay.
6. Get listed in the directories. There are numerous online holiday rental listing sites that allow you to enter your details for free. Add your property’s details, including images and videos if available, to as many sites as possible. Check out the best ones by searching on Google with your chosen keywords, to see which appear higher up on the first page of results.
7. Engage with Email. Create a simple email marketing campaign using the services offered by one of the many email marketing services online. You may need to pay a small amount for this service, but if you use it well it will be worthwhile. Create an opt-in/opt-out service and send out newsletters with information on latest deals, upcoming events and news about your holiday let.
8. Get on Google +. Google + is one of the newest social networking tools which should be considered. Use it to add links to your website and try and add as many people as possible to your circles. Google use Google+ in their algorithm to determine page ranks in the search engines.
9. Consider Pinterest. Not all businesses can make easy use of Pinterest, but the tourism industry certainly can. Add all your images from your website and blog to Pinterest. This adds a link to your site and takes anyone clicking on the image directly to your pages.
10. Think about your offline marketing too. If you’re advertising in shop windows, newspapers, or magazines, remember to include the URL of your website, blog and social networking sites in your advert.
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