VRS126 – 5 Habits Every Vacation Rental Owner Should Develop

The Vacation Rental Success Podcast: Property Management | Marketing | Passive Income | Heather Bayer

Renting out a property professionally is no walk in the park. It’s arduous at times. It eats up hours with marketing, activity on social media and keeping abreast of changes in the marketplace.

And sometimes it feels as though all that work is for nothing, when the enquiries you answered don’t convert into bookings, and there’s no response to newsletters or social media updates.

Bookings may come in but you aren’t sure where the guests came from. Was it a listing or a post on Facebook? Perhaps those hashtags on Instagram captured some interest and someone shared it.

You eventually accept that a scattergun approach seems to be working, if you are getting weeks reserved. So you continue to waste spend time doing marketing activities and hoping for the best.

There’s a better way.

Can you imagine how liberating it would be if you knew just where your traffic came from…and where it didn’t, so you could quit doing the social media stuff that clearly isn’t doing anything for you.

The better way is to learn how to track where your enquiries are coming from and use that information to guide your marketing strategy.

In this episode I talk about the five habits that could take you from scattergun marketing to precisely targeted strategic planning.

No more flogging a dead horse.

These 5 habits are:

Using analytics to find out who is coming to your site, where they have come from, the keywords they are using, how long they stay on your site, and which pages they spend most of their time on.

Regularly updating static content so that search engines such as Google stop by your site more frequently; adding timeless articles or images to get you noticed, and continually posting top quality material rather than key-word stuffed content.

Writing new blog content consistently and regularly that delivers timely information, answers immediate questions and garners social engagement. Structuring an editorial calendar that delivers on the information gained from the analytics results.

Collecting email addresses so you can create a permission-based email list and then target the list with appropriate newsletter and broadcasts. Developing an easily digestible lead magnet and using landing pages to divert traffic.

Communicating frequently so you don’t leave your guests high and dry. Creating a regular communication strategy to keep guests updated about things happening in your area gives them the opportunity to share your communications with their friends too.

Sites mentioned in this episode:

Beginners Guide to Google Analytics

Creating an Editorial Calendar

Aweber

Mailchimp

Infusionsoft

Google Analytics