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I found a good quote while reading other Vacation Rental Blogs.

Photos are the window to your property and are usually the deciding factor in a vacationer choosing to rent your home…Are they blurry? Do they reflect the updates that you have made to the property? Is there good lighting? Be sure to include a photo of the view, living room, kitchen, master bath, master bedroom, pool, and exterior.

This is a good point if you are taking pictures of your vacation rental property don’t just quickly take a few shots, take the time to make the pictures of crisp and clear as possible. Try decorating your rooms a little more, have fun with lighting, make your vacation rental look like a dream come true, don’t just settle for second best.

And clean up a little huh? Do we really need to see your mess?

Tricks of the trade

Today will be a brief but important lesson. We will go over a few important parts of a website that a lot of people who are building private vacation rental property websites overlook.

First and probably most important is your page title. A website without a page title is like a book without a cover. If you see two books on a shelf which are you most likely to pick up? The one that has the title on the spine and you know has what you want inside, or the blank book that might have what you want inside but could be a complete waste of time.

example:
<title>Untitled Document</title>

Not sure where to change your page title? It is pretty simple actually. Open up your website code in your html or text editor. Near the top of the page you will find something similar to the following:

Simply replace untitled document with the title you want. Preferably something very descriptive that will tell the view where they are and where you are located.

example:
<title>Beautiful Banff Vacation, Banff Alberta Canada - MyWebsiteUrl.com - Home Page</title>

Now the guest knows your rental is in Banff, what your website address is, and which page on your website they are view, whether it is the ‘Home Page’ or the ‘Contact Information’ page.

While having your page title right is important it can also help to make a list of similar keywords on your page. Keep in mind not to go overboard. DO NOT add hundreds of different variations and keywords to your website. This is a popular trend with a lot of shady spam websites out there right now, and it will not reflect well on your site. Some search engines may go as far as completely blacklisting your website. Try a maximum of 10 different keywords that describe your website.

example:
Banff Alberta Vacation Rental, banff national park, banff accommodation, banff springs, ski banff, banff lake louise, banff hot springs, banff lodging

By adding keywords like these to the bottom of your page you may get more visitors who are searching for these terms.

Finally try setting up a related links page or a resource. Find as many reliable links that relate to Banff as you can and post them on your website. I say reliable because you want to link to websites that are official and have reliable information on them. This will make your website seem more reliable and there is a chance your website will be found faster.

Organizing your ideas on paper

If you are a new vacation rental owner you may have ideas of grandeur. Perhaps you see dollar signs dancing in your eyes? Well if you want to be the proud owner of a successful privately run vacation rental home you are going to need to have some goals in mind. Today we are going to talk about some the basics of owning and promoting your vacation home.

- What is your goal to owning a vacation rental?

- Why should people want to rent your vacation home?

- Are there any restrictions?

- What are you charging?

All of these points are important when starting your own vacation rental website. If you do not know why you are charging three times more than other rentals in your area then why is someone going to want to rent your property? Having a well-organized plan of attack is key to being successful in any business, and don’t be fooled – this is a business.

We are going to assume you’ve already put in time and thought into how you are going to maintain your rental. Keeping everything in working order is very important however it is not today’s focus. If you have not thought about who is going to cut the grass, how you are going to deal with cleaning up after guests, and who is going to come down to fix your A/C unit for a guest you may want to take a few minutes right now to think about that.

Okay?

Alright let’s get started.

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A guide for Vacation Rental By Owner Advertising

There are two ways to go about advertising your vacation rental cabin, cottage, or house online. You can take the obvious route and sign up online for one or more of the hundreds of vacation rental websites. This may be the easiest way to go, although each site can cost from $60.00 a year to $60.00 a month. Paying out $60.00 a month can leave you with far less money in your pocket, which is important especially if you are on a tight budget.

The other way you can advertise your vacation rental is by setting up your own website. We think this can be a very efficient way to promote a new vacation cabin. Our ‘by owner promotion guide’ will discuss the best and the worst ways to go about setting up a successful owner-run vacation rental website. We will go over everything from how to decide what to call your website, to organizing your content, and how to go about promoting your vacation rental website once it is up and running.

Planning your own website is hard enough for most people without the added stresses of making sure your property is successful as a vacation rental. That is why this guide will be split into three sections:

1. Getting Started - Organizing ideas, your vacation home, and making a plan.

2. Building a Foundation - Creating a well thought out vacation rental by owner website.

3. Promote! Promote! Promote! - Getting your website out there.

Please keep coming back to VacationRentalsIntl.com for regular updates on this guide. Please leave us a comment if you have any questions or comments.