NJShore-Rentals.com Blog

There are many vacation rental owners who ask the question: “Which vacation rental portal should I be using?”  With literally thousands of rental portals available for owners, this can be a confusing question.  By the way, I define a vacation rental portal as a website such as this one (NJShore-Rentals.com), where owners of rentals pay a fee to advertise their rental (sometimes free).

I like to classify portals into 2 categories: Those that are world wide and those that are specific to a certain geography (such as NJShore-Rentals is specific to the NJ Shore).  My suggestion to all owners is that you list on a minimum of 2 different portals.  I would do 1 global site and 1 local site.  This is the bare minimum.  Some of the larger portal sites get a large volume of traffic, but not all of it is targeted to your specific area.  Although there are many renters that use the larger global sites.  There are also many renters who will search more localized portals before the larger ones.  This is all targeted traffic.  For exmaple, most who visit NJShore-Rentals are seeking Jersey Shore Rentals.  If you could afford more advertising that is even better.  I am just suggesting that you place your rental in at least 2 portals. 

As I review the stats of this website on a daily basis, there is one thing that really stands out everyday.  Owners who have not uploaded any photos get far less page views than those who have uploaded at least 1 photo.

When a potential renter does a search, the photo is shown on the search results.  This is very important in optimizing your listing for maximum benefit.

This is applicable to this site and any other vacation rental portal site where you list.  Most vacation rental portal sites work in a similar way where search results are displayed with a picture.

At least 1 photo = more page views!!

Here are just a few quick tips for owners who list their vacation rentals.  These tips apply to all rental sites not just this one.

• If you list on multiple sites, use unique descriptions and titles.  This is actually very imperative.  I see a lot of owners copying/pasting their descriptions and using them on every vacation rental portal site out there.  This is a bad idea.  Your goal should be to get your individual portal page indexed by the search engines.  Search engines don’t like duplicate content.
• Provide pictures.  When I review the stats of the website, those listings with pictures have far more traffic.  I still see many owners out there who don’t use pictures.
• Provide your cell number if possible.  While the message is sitting on your answering machine, the renter is calling the next owner on his/her list.
• Keep the calendar updated.  This could save you a lot of unwanted calls around dinner time especially from people interested in weeks that you are already booked.