Promotion Tips For Vacation Rental Owners This page offers some ideas for what you can do to promote your property whether you employ an
agent or not. We get more and more requests for this type of information from rental owners who want to get ahead of the competition and get more bookings. Our most popular and effective product is a virtual tour web page. What’s Included: our virtual tour is a web page we produce for you which contains one or more interactive 360 movies, multiple still photos; and descriptive text, logos, contact information, etc. See a list of example virtual tours on Emerald Coast Tours. We perform all photography, produce, and upload your tour to the web. We then send you the web address (URL) of your tour so that you can link to it from your site or other sites. It’s that simple. If you have a rental agent, most are happy to link to your virtual tour because it helps them book your rental. You’ll also want to link to
your virtual tour page from other rental web sites that allow it (like vrbo.com), and you’ll be able to use any of the still photos in your tour for other purposes online, or for print. Just cut and paste, or right click on the photo and click "save picture as" to save to your hard drive. More information and examples can be found on our virtual tour page. Even if you already have your own web site, you should get a virtual tour and
professional photos. Click here to see pricing for virtual tours, web sites, and advertising for vacation rentals. With a virtual tour purchase, we automatically advertise your rental on EmeraldCoastTours.com. Then you can link to your tour from your own web site, your agent’s web site, other web sites, newsgroups, and bulletin boards. As a bonus, your tour will also provide you with
high-quality, interior and exterior photos that you can use on these other sites as well as for printed brochures, postcards, etc. When we produce your virtual tour page, it will have the web address (URL) of www.emeraldcoasttours.com/yourtour. But you may decide that you want your own domain name (www.yourname.com). The advantage of this is ease of use for you and your prospects. It is easier to tell someone to go to yourname.com, and easier to use on the web and printed materials.
Having your own domain name will also help you get registered with search engines and directories so that people can find your rental site when searching from sites like AOL, Google, and Yahoo. Here are some examples of rental websites we have done for owners, some have one rental unit and some have multiple units:
www.graytonorange.com
www.allabouttwins.com
www.rentmybeachhome.com
www.saltwatercure.com
www.beachbreezerentals.com
www.oldfloridabeachhouse.com
www.sandestinbeachrentals.com If you decide to
purchase your own web site, extra costs involved are registration fees, creation, and hosting fees, but these are minimal in relation to what just one extra booking will bring in. You can also add pages to your web site, such as directions and maps to your rental, area activities, a contact form, etc. Once your property web site is live on the internet, you will want a way to update it at least a few times a year to keep it up to date. Moon Creek Studios will host and make changes for you as
needed. Once you have a virtual tour page or web site for your property, you may want to pay for listings (with a link to your tour or web site) on web sites that list rental properties. We operate several rental web sites. There are other sites that list rentals that we are not affiliated with, such as www.vrbo.com, that you might want to consider. Most sites charge $10-$30 per month to be listed. A small price to pay to get more bookings. We suggest getting on every site you can as long as you feel you’ll get at least one booking.
Once you have a virtual tour or web site, go to Google.com and click on “groups” There you can search for relevant newsgroups to promote you rental. Try to read and observe as much as you can so that you can be seen as helpful, rather than a “spammer”. When you get the opportunity, post your web address (URL) with a description of your property. Also, keep a lookout for free classified directories and
bulletin boards on the web, such as The SoWal.com Forum, where you can post your rental web site or virtual tour page. Be sure to use traditional “offline” methods to promote your rental. You might place a sign on your property with a flyer box, and keep it stuffed. Many people search for their next rental while they’re on vacation. Also, keep a stock of flyers inside your rental. You may also want to post
flyers or postcards at local businesses. Remember to put your tour or website address on all your printed materials. Click here to see an example of a flyer we offer for our customers. Keep a guest book in your rental and make sure that there is a space for people to write their mailing address and E-mail address. Many of your renters will be repeat customers, and you’ll want a way to keep in touch with them. Offer repeat renters special deals. Word of
mouth is very important. Happy repeat renters will sell your rental to friends, family, and coworkers. Consider adding renters testimonials and comments to your rental web site. Happy customers will help you sell your property to others. Potential renters love to read what others have to say about your rental, vacationers are usually helpful to one another and share a trusting bond. Click here to see pricing for virtual tours, web sites, and advertising for vacation rentals. Also see our page of tips for general web site promotion strategies, more good info for vacation rental owners. | 
