How To Set Up Your Website/Blog: Lesson: SEO

Lesson:  An Introduction to SEO For Rental Owner’s Website or Blog

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Some think that SEO is something that can just be ‘done later’ but SEO goes into the way your blog is setup and into everything that you write  – so it’s a good idea to get it right at the very beginning. Going back to correct mistakes later can be difficult, if not impossible, in some cases.

Why Bother With SEO?

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SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Search engines are an excellent source of free traffic that continues to pour in for years to come, but it normally takes a long time for a brand new site to begin getting traction in the search engines – another reason why it makes sense to consider it from day 1.

Here is an important point – blogs can build up a significant amount of search engine traffic over time, even if that blog does not naturally lend itself to SEO, due to the fresh content that gets posted to a blog.

New articles every adds up over time. In a year you will have around 60! Every single one can separately rank in the search engines and even though they may not all be individually optimized for specific keywords, they can bring in traffic.

The Importance of Backlinks

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On-page optimization is where you make sure that your post is optimized towards your chosen keywords. But that is only one (less-important) half of the SEO process. Off-page optimization is probably more important.When Google has two pages that are equally optimized for a keyword  how does it decide which  to rank higher? There are several factors(including load speed of your site) but one major factor is the number of and quality of backlinks to each page – links from other websites.

Grow your backlinks as much as you can to rank higher and higher. Quality is important, so NEVER buy links from a linkfarm (Google will then penalise you).You’ll attract some backlinks naturally from your posts – but you can generate more by posting yourself on relevant forums and discussion boards.

SEO is a huge subject, and it’s complex.  It’s an an industry in itself, with  SEO consultants charging  thousands to optimize websites because of the power it has to draw so much traffic. Don’t go there: you don’t need it, and they won’t achieve it for you. PR (Page Rank) takes time to be effective – think 18-24 months -and unless they are specifying a very ‘narrow’ set of keywords they won t achieve PR1 for you.

Optimising Your Pages and Posts For On-Page SEO

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The first step in optimizing is knowing what keyword phrase you want to target. It is possible to target more than one but it’s more difficult. Writing  about your property makes sense to optimize it to something that would be searched on in Google. Greece. Athens. Pelion, Meteora, Delphi as local places to visit. Villa. Spacious. Aegean sailing. Greek cooking. And, so on.

Pick the main keyword. There are several places where you need to ensure your keywords go:

1) The title – at the very beginning if possible. This is the single most important element.

2) The post content – you need to make sure you are writing about what you want to target! Don’t overdo it but make sure it appears a handful of times throughout.

3) Tags – WordPress and other blogging platforms allow you to add tags to posts and this is a great way to add keywords to any post.

4) The URL – if you are using WordPress then this is very easy to do because it has a feature to allow you to convert your post title into the URL .

These are the most important places to put your keywords and this is all you really need to know when you’re starting out.

What If You Have An Established Website or Blog?

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If you already exist and this is the first time you have thought about SEO there are some things that you can do to tweak things. One thing that you shouldn’t do is change your post URL’s because Google will still be indexing the old ones and if you change them you will have broken links (the effect will be visitors will go to a page and see the horrible 404 error message!)

What you can do is change your titles and the copy text in your posts.

You can go back and tweak old posts if you like. You can also check through the post itself making sure the keyword appears a few times and if your blogging software supports tags then make sure you tag it with your keyword.
Once you make changes it can take a while for Google to pick it up and act on it so don’t expect results overnight!

Note that if your URL’s are not optimized then it is possible to restructure them to better ones and do something called a 301 redirect to tell Google that the link has changed. However, it’s needs to be done carefully and it’s complicated: If you need help on this, email me to point you to resources where it’s explained well.

Optimize Your Vacation Rental Website Today.

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Vacation Rental Owner Booking Tips

You need a partner who can reduce your expenses and open doors for you that most owners are reluctant to work with.

Make Your Enemies Your Frienemies.

Compete By Cooperating

New vacation rental owners see other owners as competition, and with good reason, but there is a way for you to benefit from your competitors. If you deploy an effective marketing campaign, you will have times when your home is booked and someone else would like to book it, but you’ll just have to turn them away.

Or do you? What the average owner does is disregard the inquiry or replies back to say, “Sorry, we’re booked,” and that’s the end of it. But you don’t want to earn an average rental income, do you?

I assume you’ll want to truly maximize your rental income. I don’t suggest that you work with other owners in “shared marketing.” You’re likely to get the short end of the stick. What I do suggest is for owners to offer another home owner’s property when they are booked. Why not? You’ve already spent the money on the advertising.

Negotiate a commission or special rental rate for you when you book their property. Sometimes you can make more money with a higher return from these bookings than you would from renting your home out because there isn’t any wear and tear of your property, paperwork, or utility usage. In return, another owner can offer your home when they’re booked, benefiting you in two ways.

You can easily connect and create partnerships with other owners on www.trolltraveler.com.

Want To Skyrocket Your Rental Profits?

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Investing In Marketing Your Vacation Rental Investment.

You’re only going to get out, what you give into your vacation rental investment property.  If you sow sparingly into your property you will reap sparingly. How much do you want to reap? It’s imperative that owners invest in marketing their vacation rental properties.

Where Should I Invest My Marketing Dollars?

With the Global marketing power of the Internet you can make your resort or vacation rental home easily available to vacationers who are traveling all across the Globe.  The Internet has turned the tables back in the favor of the little guys. Meaning the smaller vacation rental companies and vacation rental owners now have the access to get their villas rented out on their own. The internet has proven to be the way to go when looking for the best marketing results for vacation rentals. You should spend the large majority of your vacation rental marketing budget into online advertising, however you shouldn’t ignore offline efforts.

How Much to Invest in Marketing a Vacation Rental Investment Property?

According to Coldwell Banker’s real estate suggestions a vacation rental home owner should invest approx 10% of their target monetary goal in their advertising. For example if you’re looking to generate $30,000.00 in rental revenue you should consider investing $3000 in marketing.

If this sounds like a lot, take into consideration that a booking agent may charge 15 to 35% (depending on the agency) for booking your property on your behalf. In the future you may be able to reduce the marketing investment as you develop return business and an established history in the vacation rental market.

How Much To Invest In Marketing If I Want To Improve My Current Marketing Results?

If you’ve been marketing your vacation rental and its just not bringing in enough bookings, it’s highly probable you’re not investing enough in marketing your property. I know that’s the last thing owners and investors want to hear but its the first thing that needs to be addressed.  The saying it takes money to make money is true in any business and the vacation rental market isn’t exempt.

Advertising and marketing statistically offer the best return on investment, this is why you’ve got to get your marketing right. Your vacation rental marketing investment is directly related with the return on your investment property.

I suggest you break out the books and see how much income your vacation rental investment is bringing in . Also take a look at your current vacation rental marketing budget and see if it lines up with the recommendations made by Coldwell Banker. If your marketing budget doesn’t line up you’re likely not maximizing your rental return.

The good news is, you can adjust your marketing budget and correct your investment returns, just don’t wait until its too late to correct. You first need to know what the income potential of your vacation rental is. Once you’ve done the market research you can set up a realistic monetary goal and then correct your budget and consequently your marketing.

For example if you’ve set up a realistic goal to make $100,ooo.oo annually in bookings and your only earning 60,000.00 you should consider reinvesting an additional $4,000.00 to make the additional $40,000.00 in bookings.

Need Help Marketing Your Vacation Rental Investment? We Make It Easy!

Contact Us Today www.villamarketers.com

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Why Does Your Vacation Rental Need A Slogan In Advertisements?

The large majority of vacation rental owners never even think about implementing a slogan on their vacation rental websites, advertising, or other marketing material. It’s probably because owners think slogans and logos are reserved for big businesses. A slogan is a crucial point in branding any business no matter its size (read more on the importance of branding your vacation rental here).

Why Should You Use A Slogan

A slogan combined with other branding elements like a professional vacation rental logo, will go a long way in building trust and credibility in the mind of your potential renter. These days skepticism is high in the vacation rental market due to scams, so anything you can do to add to your credibility will prove to be helpful and make selling easier.

Using an effective slogan in your vacation rental advertising can grab your travelers’ attention and hold it for a moment, by that time you’ve delivered your message.

Your slogan is your chance to pierce the hearts of your potential customer or tell your potential guests why you and your services are better than others. Your logo can help you deliver an emotional message which can make vacationers respond to your rental advertising.

Let’s have a look at a great example of a slogan.

                                                            ”You’re in Good Hands with Allstate”

This slogan says a lot with very few words. The emotional trigger of security is a basic human need and we all want to feel safe. This emotional need to feel safe leveraged in a slogan can be an extremely powerful advertising tool.

Think about it, someone looking to purchase insurance wants to be protected and prepared. This slogan embraces the raw need of the client and uses it in their advertising, its a brilliant slogan.

A slogan can be used to set your brand apart from others. Here is a classic example of how Wendy’s made their burger stand out from their competitors.

This Wendy’s slogan suggests that other companies are using something other than 100% real beef.  The slogan makes their product appear superior and their competitors inferior.  A slogan used correctly can make your vacation rental stand out from your competitors.

What Is A Slogan?

A slogan is basically a brief advertising message that is consistently displayed with your business name and advertisements.

A slogan is an important part of vacation rental advertising which is often overlooked by owners, even by those who design a logo for their vacation rental. A slogan is a marketing element only a few owners are utilizing.

Your slogan should be used on your vacation rental website, business cards, email signatures and online advertisements.

Beef up your vacation rental advertisements by adding a slogan within your website and ads.

Need Help Coming Up With a Powerful Brand Message or Logo, We Can Help!

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Villa Website Design Secrets

This blog is part of our villa website and vacation rental website design secrets series. This is villa website design secret #3

 Villa Website Design Tip # 3: Consider Your Villa Website Colors When Designing Your Site.

Have you considered why McDonalds uses the colors red & yellow in their logo? Is it because they only use ketchup and mustard on their burgers? Or do the colors have a much deeper psychological purpose? Ever thought why fire trucks are red or why taxi’s are yellow.

Did you know that the first two colors the eye processes and sends to the brain is red & yellow. That would make an excellent reason for McDonalds to make all their signage in red & yellow wouldn’t.

Colors are of the utmost importance when designing a villa website. Did you know colors have a physical affect on our bodies?

Did you know colors also affect our emotions and the way we think? Are you using your villa website and colors correctly in your vacation rental advertising?

Consider the geographic location and culture of your villa’s target audience when determining your vacation rental advertising colors. The same colors in different locations can have different emotions attached to them. Example: The color white symbols purity in the U.S. but is a symbol of death in China. Two totally different signals, so if you’re trying to reach Chinese travelers you may want to use another color other than white.

Many villa owners create a website with colors that they like, but can this be a recipe for a villa website disaster? Yes, if you’re not considering your color selection when creating your villa website design you’re probably sending the wrong messages.

In my popular Vacation Rental Marketing Secrets Book I give some examples of feelings associated with colors. Each color of the rainbow has a different affect on the emotions of people. Now, consider that a study indicated the human eye is capable of seeing 10-million colors; that makes a lot of room for error.

Need Help Turning Your Vacation Rental Into A Booking Machine?

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Best Villa Website Design & Marketing Services

U.K. Villa Web Design & Marketing Review From An Elite Owner Caught On Video

Meet Kim Kox

Kim and I have been working together for years, so when I was invited to her Florida vacation property to enjoy a cup of tea poolside, I was happy to see her again.

Kim Kox is a super successful vacation rental owner from the United Kingdom. Kim purchased and owns an amazing villa rental at the Emerald Island Resort in OrlandoFlorida. After purchasing her vacation property she needed some help marketing her first villa in Florida. She also needed someone to help with designing an amazing villa website. She was looking for a rental company who could help handle her marketing while she is thousands of miles away in the U.K.

I don’t want to be braggadocios but in a way I am applying for a job (as your ferocious vacation rental marketer) so it’s important I prove why Villa Marketers is the best solution for your villa website design & marketing needs. But instead of me telling you that Villa Marketers offers the best villa web design & marketing services, I’ll let Kim do the talking for us. What better way to know if we are as amazing as we say we are, then by getting the truth from our owners.

During my visit to Kim’s rental property we talked about alot of things, while we were shooting the breeze. One of the things we discussed was shooting a meet the owner video, where Kim can tell travelers why she and Oliver purchased their holiday home and why they and their guests love their Florida villa so much.

We were discussing how powerful video can have a powerful result when marketing villas online. So it was only natural that we get Kim talking about Villa Marketers and what we’ve helped her accomplish with her vacation rental investment.

Join The Rule Of Elite Vacation Rental Owners

Contact Us Now 1-800-856-8641

Visit Us Online www.villamarketers.com

Vacation Rental Rates, Pricing
& Profits

How To Increase Vacation Rental Profits By 11% Without Pricing Your Rates Too High.

I regularly write about value pricing with experiences. Know your ideal vacation rental guests, what is important, meaningful and relevant to them, then set your vacation rental prices accordingly. This is not a one-shoe fits all approach, but  customized to your target market.

Dr. Rafi Mohammed, author of the 1% windfall: How Successful Companies Use Price to Profit and Grow, gives a few things to think about — and if they resonate with you – go on line and buy the book. In a nutshell, a study of 1200 companies “Found that if companies increased prices by just 1% and demand remained constant, on average operating profits would increase by 11%”.   This book is not written for the vacation rental industry, but I like the cross fertilization of ideas and thinking.

1. Stop marketing up costs and set a price that reflects value.

2. Create a value statement and go a step further and make sure it is aligned with the customer experience statement.

3. Be cautious with discounting – but understand different customers have different pricing needs — again it comes back to knowing your ideal guest.

The message here is not to be formula driven, but customer driven.

 ( although the image looks like me it isn’t)

Have you wanted to advertise your vacation rental on Google?

If you would like to see your vacation rental on the top of Google’s search engine results in seconds, try using Google Adwords. It really is possible for your vacation rental property to be seen in the top of Google’s search results in seconds, but you have to pay Google to get you there.

I do have a way you can try Google Adwords advertising with $100 ( one huunndred dollars)  in free Google Adwords coupon. Google Adwords is a powerful advertising platform created by Google for Google users (and that’s just about everyone).

You’ve seen those ads on the top of the Google search results page, after you’ve typed in a set of keywords in Google’s search bar. Now, imagine your vacation rental’s website being at the very top of the Google search results, when a traveler searches for a vacation rental where your property is located. Can you say…. cha ching!

Since Google is the most popular search engine, your vacation rental home can be seen by millions in minutes.

If you haven’t tried Google Adwords now is your chance to try Google Adwords for free.

For a limited time Google is offering advertisers a free, $100 advertising credit to help vacationers find your vacation rental business.

Here is a Google Adword code that’s good until June 30^th 63YD7-PVUN7-E6TC

If you found this vacation rental marketing blog after June 30^th simply call this phone number 1-800-903-0274. If you ask for a Google Advertising coupon a Google representative will often provide one via email following your request.

You can sign up to Google Adwords here www.google.com/adwords

If you use Gmail you can easily sign into Google Adwords by logging into your Gmail account. Once you’ve logged into Google Adwords you will be prompted with instructions to get you started with Google Adwords. Upon setting up your Adwords account you will be given an option to enter a promo code and wa-la you have $100 free Google Advertising credit.

Need Help Setting a Successful Google Advertising Account? We Can Help.

Contact Us

CALL US 1-800-856-8641

http://www.villamarketers.com

You have a great vacation rental right? Why not let vacationers know how nice your vacation home really is, with an interactive floor plan of your vacation rental.  If you have an interactive floor plan designed for your vacation rental property you can accurately present your property to would be vacationers.

Pictures alone don’t tell the whole story about your vacation home. A floor plan will give them the information they really want to know. The birds eye view of the property helps travelers to become accustom to your vacation home.

What’s the first thing you do when you have a new welcomed visitor to your home? Tell them to come on in and you show them around. That’s exactly what an interactive floor plan will do for your vacation home website.

(You can see how an interactive floor plan works by clicking here  http://www.villamarketers.com/starlake/layout.php)

If you have an interactive floor plan you can increase the time a renter will engage with your vacation home. Of course, the longer a visitor spends on your website the more investment of time they spend with your vacation rental business. The more time they spend on your vacation rental website the better your chances are, of getting them to invest their money and make a reservation.

After all who takes the time to invest in their vacation rental? Owners who are serious about their rental business, that’s who! This touch of professionalism will also translate to your vacationers and build confidence in your vacation rental’s brand.

Since pictures are the first thing a traveler looks for when they are considering a vacation home, an interactive floor plan is a great way to captivate your customers attention right from the start.

I’ve included an example of a floor plan we’ve developed for an owner in Formosa Gardens Estates. As you can from the example below, a floor plan was designed to represent the layout of the villa. A visitor to this home owner’s websites can click on any area of the floor plan such as the pool area. When the customer clicks on the pool area an image of the pool will appear with a brief description, this description can have a selling feature mentioned.

A renter using this floor plan can get a really good feel of how the vacation home is laid out and where everything is. Vacationers can begin to imagine themselves in the home and even begin discussing sleeping arrangements or better yet imagining themselves walking out to the pool deck. Whenever you can get your vacationers to dream and imagine themselves in your vacation home, you are moving toward a sale.

If you increase positive engagement with you and your business you’ll increase your bookings. The idea here is to capture the attention of your visitors, make them stay longer, learn more and want it even more!

Create your own floor plan designed specifically for your vacation home website and you’ll welcome more vacationers in.

We develop powerful yet affordable vacation rental websites and marketing tools for owners and managers.

Get a free quote today.

CALL US 1-800-856-8641

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Myrtle Beach vacation rentals are a great way to experience all the Myrtle Beach area has to offer.  A Myrtle Beach vacation home or condo provides a comfortable place for vacationers to retreat after a jam packed day in the famous Myrtle Beach area.

There is no better way to convey this message to vacationers then by showing them. However, since it isn’t practical to show vacationers around Myrtle Beach every time some one inquires, the next best thing is to show them around with a video tour of Myrtle Beach.

But it cant be just any video, you need an exciting video of Myrtle Beach to entice vacationers to take action. In this vacation rental marketing blog I have included a video of Myrtle Beach that you can use in your own rental marketing free of charge.

That’s right, free! The only thing I ask is if you do use the video, please mention the video was produced by Villa Marketers and link back to our website. This Myrtle Beach video has over 10,000 views at the time of this blog post. The Myrtle Beach Video is becoming increasingly popular with more people commenting and liking the video on YouTube.  It makes it much easier for you to get vacationers to engage with your vacation rental, if you use this Myrtle Beach video in your own vacation rental marketing.

All you have to do is copy and past the YouTube code to add it to your own vacation rental website.

I am dedicated to the vacation rental market and my goal is to help vacation rental owners do more with what they’ve got. I hope you enjoy the video and make more bookings with it.

Need Help With Your Vacation Rental Marketing?

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Your Vacation Rental Experts

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