What Makes A Good Listing

Property owners often ask how they can get more bookings, lead and inquiries on their vacation rental listing or real estate listing.  By following a few simple tips, your listing will stand out and encourage visitors to interact with you:

1. Visual Enhancements: Pictures form the visitor’s first impression. If your photos pique their interest, visitors are much more inclined to review the text and contact you.
   
   
   
   1. Make sure that you upload high quality photos for best results. Use higher resolution photos. Both 640 x 480 resolutions and 800 x 600 is the best compromise between size and download speed. Consider hiring a professional photographer or using an SLR digital camera for premium clarity and lighting.
   
   
   2. Include a variety of interior and exterior shots, along with lifestyle/activity and seasonal weather variation photos for a complete property perspective.
   
   
   3. Include interior shots with good lighting for your main living areas such as living or gathering rooms, kitchen and master bedroom. Also include entertainment photos, such as pool table, hot tubs, and/or entertainment centers. Any areas where people may gather such as breakfast bars, fireplaces, and resort features and facilities are also important.
   
   
   4. Visitors are turned off by websites that are cluttered with flashing, streaming or pop-up ads. The Leisure Linx collection of websites is designed with the visitor in mind. Our clutter-free professional designs lead to longer visitor sessions.
   
   
   5. Include a few local scenery shots –sunset, resort grounds, beach and surf, or ocean/lake scenic shots. These are important because they convey an important feature for buyers and renters: location.
   
   
   6. Add descriptive text to each picture. Although you may think visitors will intuitively know what they're looking at, it helps to highlight and point out features.
   
   
   
   


2. Create Inviting Text
   
   
   
   1. Whether you are renting or selling your property, the opening description is the most important piece of text to pique visitor interest. Keep it short and simple, around 2-4 sentences. Make sure to include text that is concise, authentic, and descriptive. Examples include:
   
   
   2. If your property offers mountain views, create an authentic and concise phrase such as “Sweeping long-range Smoky Mountain views from every room.”
   
   
   3.  “This beautiful home offers an architectural mix of Spanish and French Country style featuring a comfortable front porch with ocean view, inviting exterior courtyards, and two expansive rear yard decks. Offering 3 bedrooms and 2,562 square feet this home creates the perfect environment to enjoy the natural beauty of its coastal-close location."
   
   
   4. "Relax and enjoy this 2400 square foot vacation home built in 1999. It is single story with two bedrooms and two bathrooms that will sleep eight for true hospitality. The distinctive beauty and charm of Birdson Cottage Floor Plan sets this apart from the rest."
   
   
   5. You can also add special touches if your property is located in a lesser-known locale or in a newly developed area. For example, most people don't know that "La Jolla del Cabo" is located on the tip of Baja California, Mexico, next to the famous city of Cabo San Lucas. Your introduction should make this clear: "This beautifully appointed 1 bedroom 1 bathroom condo is located in the five star La Jolla resort. The La Jolla is a magnificently landscaped beach front resort just a few minutes from quaint San Jose del Cabo or 20 minutes from Cabo San Lucas."
   
   
   
   


3. Give your visitors plenty of options to contact you, including email address, website URL, phone numbers, and leading social network links (if applicable)


4. Provide guest/client testimonials to build your credibility. Authenticity is important, so ensure that your testimonials portray a real guest/client comment and are NOT pre-written by you.


5. Provide value-added opportunities for your visitor.  A special offer can be presented in the form of a discount or a reduced price OR consider other offers:
   
   
   
   1. For a rental property, consider packaging up amenities, meals and/or nearby attractions with your rental rates. Or think about providing gas cards or discount coupons for area attractions with every rental.
   
   
   2. For a property for sale, consider offering a discovery weekend package that includes a discounted stay either at the subject property or other accommodations nearby coupled with a personalized property/area tour in a one-on-one environment. Or think about providing an extended warranty package or home-improvement store discount cards to your clients.
   
   
   
   


6.  Amenities, Activities and Attractions
   
   
   
   1. The amenities section serves to describe your accommodations and highlight your property's best qualities. Write with a warm inviting tone to make your visitor feel welcome: Examples include:
   
   
   2. "Your home away from home lends itself to a relaxing, fun vacation in the Smoky Mountain area. The dining table seats eight in a bay-window area decorated with moose and pine trees."
   
   
   3. "A spacious open living room has a cathedral, vaulted ceiling of knotty pine, and rustic decor adding to the cabin atmosphere.”
   
   
   4. “A floor to ceiling wood-burning fireplace invites warm family gatherings.”
   
   
   5. “The kitchen is arranged to suit your cooking style while you entertain your guests with warm hospitality.”
   
   
   6. Many visitors may already know the activities and attractions associated with your location.  attractions in your locality, the purpose of this text is to reconfirm and reinforce the fact that guests can do these by booking your property because of your vacation home's great location. Keep your description short, including only the primary and nearby activities. Indicate distances in miles or driving minutes. Mini marts and grocery stores nearby are not as important unless your location is far-removed from civilization, so only include these less-significant features if they are important for visitors to know.
   
   
   
   

g.        Rental Policies and Conditions are important pieces of information to convey. Only present those that are essential to the guest experience such as minimum length of stay, pet policy, children policy, maximum occupancy, etc. Save the details of deposits, booking fees, form of payment and other details for your website.

 

 With a little time and creativity, you can create an appealing and informative listing to maximize visitor response, leads, and inquiries.