Winter 2008 Owner E-Newsletter
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Welcome to our Winter 2008 Owner E-Newsletter! 
This is our first ever E-Newsletter and we had a great time putting it together for you! This year is already proving to be a very exciting one for Surf to Ski Retreats. We have made a number of updates to the website including giving you the ability to move the map marker for your map making it 100% accurate, an updated email template with a hip look and feel, launching our first questionnaire, and establishing the Link To Us program! We are very much focused on making our website easy to use and we listen to your feedback. In this edition, you will find information on how to attract more renters to your listing, convert more inquiries into bookings, learn more about a special product, read about our current promotions, how you can link to us and earn $10 and finally learn how you can help us improve Surf to Ski Retreats by answering five quick questions online. We hope you enjoy this E-Newsletter and thank you for being a valued customer!  Attract More Renters (Part 1) We know you want more people looking at your vacation rental listing and this miniseries will help you formulate a winning strategy for compiling your listing content to reach the most renters.
Understanding How Renters Search How renters search and find your listing is a critical first step in developing a well formatted and written listing. Ask yourself: If I were looking for lodging how would I search? Go to Google and perform that search! You will find some links that match what you are looking for and many that do not come close. What you have just done is a keyword search. The search engines index website pages based on words on that page and rank the relevance so that when you search for those words, the pages you are presented should be on target with what you are seeking. Your first step in writing effective Surf to Ski Retreats listings is to figure out how people search. Here is a very small sample of Google searches from renters who found Surf to Ski Retreats:
kihei alii kai #a306 one bedroom ocean view Our highly optimized website, along with your content (text and images) allows renters to find your listing on the first page for these Google searches. Surf to Ski Retreats has done its part in building a competitive website that ranks right along side with, and in many cases above, the well established services. It is now up to you! Writing a well structured and documented listing description is what you need to do, and we will present a few tips and tricks to help. Find Your Keywords Some renter searches are very specific, some very broad. In order to cast the widest net possible, write as much as you can about your vacation rental. Describe the interior, exterior, location, local activities, nearby attractions and more. Think of a large number of keywords, or key phrases and put them into your listing. Do not write your content purely for the search engines, write it for renters, but keep in mind that the sentences, phrases and words you write are all important for search engines. In part 2 (Spring 2008) we will dive deeper into keywords and their optimal location within your listing description. This will help you understand why Google has one listing ranked #1 and another further down the list. If you want any specific pointers for your Surf to Ski Retreats listing please contact us! We will be happy to help you. Convert More Inquiries Into Bookings A constant debate surrounds how much content do you add to your listing? Some believe more is better, others believe less is better. In the less is better camp, these owners believe it is time consuming to write all that content and that renters will not read everything, or they are put off by too much content. In the more is better camp, these owners believe in a well structured listing that gives renters as much information they can so that the renter can determine which vacation rental to inquire about. Surf to Ski Retreats is biased in the more is better direction for several reasons. First, we like content! The more information you present, the better the chances are for your listing to be on page #1 for a Google search. This greatly helps you because more people will find your listing. Secondly, with more information the renter will have a much better idea as to what your vacation rental has to offer and when they inquire about it; you have a better chance of converting that inquiry into a booking. Many of our owners have received inquiries and we have noticed a trend from those inquires, and in speaking to a number of our customers. The top 3 pieces of information you should present on your Surf to Ski Retreats listing are:
- Rates (how much per night/week) Surf to Ski Retreats gives you the ability to update and manage all your vacation rental information as often as you like. There is a special page to list your rates and include the date range, minimum stay requirement, and nightly, weekly or monthly cost as well as create a special discount to advertise a rate cut. We offer a Google map for every listing and you can move the map marker to any location on the map to better illustrate the actual location of your vacation rental. If you prefer, you can instead upload your own map! Additional location information can be described such as any local beaches, marinas, golf courses, ski mountains, airport as well as the type of location such as oceanfront, beach access, ski in/out etc. As for pictures, you can upload an unlimited number of images and we recommend you showcase not only the interior, but views and nearby landmarks to give the renter the ability to imagine themselves in your vacation rental. Beyond these three key pieces of information, many renters are also interested in:
- Availability (use our calendar, or point to another website) By keeping the details of your vacation property current, you will receive more inquiries that convert to a reservation. With more information available to the renter to decide whether or not to inquire means you will not have to spend hours upon hours replying back with a similar message each time. Invest that time up front with full and rich vacation rental listing content.
Product Spotlight: Featured Listing Did you know that many of our products are limited? This is the case with the Featured Listing product. Only 100 vacation rentals can be a Featured Listing! This means you are not competing against every listing on our site and your vacation rental gets more attention instead of being lost in a sea of featured listings. With a Featured Listing, your rental listing is displayed on the home page, in the right hand column and on the top of any search that matches your listing. This product attracts more vacationers to the listing, thus giving you additional opportunity to get more inquiries and bookings. There is also a specialized report that shows you how many visitors your listing received as a result of being featured and you can compare it to normal searches. Consider adding a Featured Listing product to your listing to increase its visibility and inquiries. Like many of our products, the Featured Listing product is available for different lengths of time: from one month to one year in duration. We recommend the one year Featured Listing as this is the best value for you. Please contact us with questions about this product, or any other we offer. Our goal is to make Surf to Ski Retreats an easy and PROFITABLE place for you to list your vacation rentals! Current Promotions & Discounts For a limited time, the one year listing is only $50. This is before any special discounts, including the multiple listing discount we offer. Visit our website and learn about our other promotions that will save you money and increase visitors to your listing page. Our current promotions include discounts for the Featured Listing and Activity Destination products. Earn $10 Link to us and you will get a $10 credit on your account that can be used for anything. This is a special offer for just our customers. Find text and/or images, along with the code, to link your website to ours. http://www.surftoskiretreats.com/LinkToUs We encourage you to link your website to us as this will increase our rankings and traffic which in turns means more people are able to find your vacation rentals. Please contact us to obtain this credit. If you have questions about this program or require any technical assistance. Answer Five Questions Log in to your Management Center and click the top banner image to help us improve the overall usability of Surf to Ski Retreats. We have five easy questions for you and your input will greatly help us identify and make improvements for all our customers! Thanks For Reading! We hope you found our first E-Newsletter insightful and enlightening. Feel free to contact us about any of these articles. Look for the Spring 2008 E-Newsletter to arrive in three months! |
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Copyright © 2008 Surf to Ski Retreats - Vacation Rentals For Every Season, All rights reserved.
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