Whether you are new to the wonderful world of vacation rentals or you are just starting out, you likely know how competitive the industry can be. Getting your property noticed in the midst of all that competition can be a bit of a challenge but there are a few strategies that can certainly tip the scales in your favor.
Be memorable
One of the first things that you should consider if you want to be noticed as a vacation rental business is how you appear to those searching for places to rent. Branding goes a long way in making a first impression, and it is absolutely important for anyone in this business to create an image that looks warm and inviting while at the same time projecting a feeling of professionalism.
People looking for vacation rentals are shopping for an experience, and your branding tells them whether they will get that experience with you and your rental property. Therefore, you should choose a name for your business that is memorable and professional, present your listings in an attractive way, and make sure that at least most of your future guests’ questions are answered through the listings and brand image.
Improve your search ratings
Once you have the brand image and presentation set, it is time to concentrate on getting your vacation rental seen in search results. As we said before, competition in this industry can be quite stiff and you need to employ similar SEO strategies used by those more established within the industry.
A good SEO strategy includes a variety of features, but mainly it is used to get ensure that your business and website get noticed in search results. The higher your vacation rental shows up in searches, the better the chances become that business will come your way.
Creating a great vacation rental website is a good way to ensure that you have included all the necessary features of a strong SEO strategy. Writing solid property descriptions with all the necessary property-related information included provides the keywords future guests will be searching for, setting up payment options makes allows people to find you that way, and having a name that is trusted is also key. That last one is perhaps the most important.
No matter how nicely you have created your new vacation rental website, no one will see it if it doesn’t have better SEO than the bigwigs. That’s where going with a well-known and established website/platform. Have a look at the Lodgify vacation rental marketing guide here. It can be very helpful since they are already very well integrated into the industry and Google’s search algorithms.
Get noticed locally
In addition to creating a great brand and getting it noticed online in search results, there are a few other things that you can do as well. For example, making sure that your future guests can find you on all the popular map apps is key. For people looking into vacation rentals, location is always an important consideration. Making sure that your property is visible on, say, Google Maps makes it very easy for people to find you based on location. Is your property located next to any tourist attractions? Beaches? Famous museums? If so, all the more reason to make sure you are found in local, location-based searches – this is another helpful feature of going with a vacation rental platform like Lodgify.
Final thoughts
As you can easily see, there should be no question as to the importance of SEO for your vacation rental website. Without a solid SEO strategy, you simply won’t be able to come close to your earning potential because no one will be able to find you. Becoming visible online should be your top priority. Luckily, it isn’t difficult to create a great SEO strategy as there are many services that can help with the technical issues like on-page SEO configuration, image tagging, maps integration, and much more.
