101 WAYS

TO INCREASE
TRAFFIC
TO YOUR VACATION
RENTAL WEBSITE
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INDEX

3 INTRO
4 ON YOUR SITE
9 ON SOCIAL MEDIA
15 ON MESSAGE BOARDS
18 VIA EMAIL
21 PUBLIC RELATIONS
24 IN PERSON
26 WITH SEO
29 ON OTHER SITES
35 VIA ADVERTISING
38 WHAT TO TAKE AWAY
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INTRO

The vacation rental industry is growing and expanding at an alarming rate: the industry was said
to be worth $100 billion worldwide in mid-2016, with the US accounting for a quarter of that,
and, according to predictions, this could go up to $170 billion by 2019.

With the rise of sharing economy sites like Airbnb whereby anyone can become a host
(provided they have the patience and resources to do so), the market is getting more and more
competitive. Being part of the competitive vacation rental market means you cannot simply rely
on listing websites to get bookings and grow your business.

Having your own website is an absolute must, but the work doesn’t stop there. What’s the point
of spending time crafting a beautiful website if you’re not getting any traffic? If your website
doesn’t get promoted, you will be missing out on opportunities to boost your bookings.

In this eBook, we have combined 101 different ways to increase traffic to your vacation rental
website. While you might be familiar with some techniques, you are sure to find a lot of helpful
resources to grow your website’s visibility and get more visitors, eventually resulting in more
bookings.

Read on to discover 101 techniques you can use now to increase traffic to your vacation rental
on your own website, on social media, through message boards, email, PR, in person or using
SEO, other websites or advertising.
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ON YOUR
SITE
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1. HAVE A MODERN WEBSITE DESIGN

Creating a website to showcase your property is essential in an increasingly competitive market.
But the work doesn’t stop there! To attract visitors and convert them into customers, you’ll have
to make sure you create a professional website which is easy to navigate, and with an optimized
design.

Create a logo to build a professional reputation, and use it throughout your website and social
media accounts. Use high-quality imagery to illustrate your property’s unique selling points or
the places of interest in the area. Draw visitors in with a clear and compelling headline, followed
by a call to action (typically, “Book now”).

2. HAVE A MOBILE-FRIENDLY WEBSITE

According to eMarketer, nearly 60% of travelers who book a trip in 2017 will do so using a mobile
device. Mobile-friendly designs, also called responsive designs, aren’t just a fad, they allow you
to deliver a seamless experience to you visitors, tailored to the device they are using, improving
readability and loading time.

Moreover, mobile-friendly designs help improve your SEO as Google now takes it into account
in its algorithm. They also fit in perfectly with the minimalist web design trend that has been
growing in the past few years.

3. HAVE AN OPTIMIZED DOMAIN NAME

Your domain name is important for SEO, but it’s also the primary interaction guests will have
with your vacation rental brand, so you want it to be memorable and unique, and to say
something about your lodging.

To find the right domain name for your website, start with some research and keep branding a
priority. Make sure you choose a short and memorable name, and use the appropriate extension
depending on the location of your customer base.

4. TRANSLATE YOUR WEBSITE INTO DIFFERENT LANGUAGES

Though English is undoubtedly a very popular language, it only comes in at number three on
the world’s list of languages by total number of native speakers. It’s also worth noting that the
United Nations World Tourism Organization lists Chinese travelers as the world’s top tourism
spenders, with German, Russian, French, Italian and Brazilian tourists all featuring in the top
10. In other words: you might be missing out on international bookings if your website is only
available in English.

Lodgify makes it easy to translate your website into 25 of the most common international
languages. Since our automatic translation relies on Google Translate, be sure to ask a native
speaker to double-check your translation to avoid mistakes.
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5. GROW YOUR EMAIL LIST

Building and growing your email list should be a priority for your vacation rental website as it is
one of the keys to online success. To grow your list of subscribers, make sure to let your visitors
know that you are sending interesting information. You can use the footer or the sidebar of
your website to invite them to leave their email address. It is good practice to say what type of
content you will be sharing, and how often, in order to avoid disappointment.

You can also use incentive to grow your list. Why not create a pop-up window to offer people a
voucher or discount on a future booking in exchange for an email subscription?

6. RUN A GIVEAWAY
Running a giveaway on your vacation rental website can be an excellent way to collect email
addresses in order to consolidate your mailing list and boost your traffic, both during the
promotion and in the long term.

Share the news on your social media channels on a regular basis and encourage your followers
to share and retweet. Get traffic from other sites too by asking them if they could promote
your giveaway – either on their own social media channels or directly on their website – if you
returned the favor (see point 89).

7. OFFER A FREE STAY (OR NIGHT)

Everyone loves freebies. Create a dedicated page for the offer on your website and share it with
your audience – using email, social networks, groups, forums and blogs. This will attract your
regular visitors back to your site, pushing some of them over the line, as well as new visitors who
will be entering your conversion funnel.

8. RUN A PROMOTION/SPECIAL OFFER

Running a promotion or a special offer is a good way to get some extra traffic. It is a perfect
opportunity to send out a newsletter, invite your regular subscribers to visit your website and
get more attention on social networks. You could also get in touch with deal listing websites
or travel bloggers and ask them if they would link to your promotion on their website or social
media channels.

If you’re short of ideas, you could advertise a “Special Rate” for Valentine’s Day, offer a special
“Christmas package” deal or offer complementary services to convince business travelers into
booking.
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9. WRITE AN EXPERT ROUNDUP POST

An expert roundup is a blog post that puts together the opinions, advice or quotes of influential
people in an industry or a niche. Start by choosing a popular topic or query, like “How To Choose
The Best Vacation Rental”, then get in touch with authority figures in the industry, like successful
travel bloggers or market experts.

Not only do expert roundups provide informative content in an easy-to-digest way to your
visitors, it also helps your link-building strategy, as the different people you interviewed in your
roundup will likely be sharing the article they appear in.

10. REVIEW COMPANIES AND PRODUCTS

Start reviewing companies and products that would be of interest to your audience, such as
local restaurants and cafés or places of interest in the area like museums or parks. This will make
your website an even more useful resource to your visitors, and it can bring you some additional
traffic, too.

You could also get in touch with the places you’ve reviewed to let them know that you are
publishing an article about them; if you’ve left a positive review of a local restaurant, they will
appreciate the publicity, and building relationships with other local businesses will be beneficial
in the long term.

11. PUBLISH CREDIBILITY BADGES AND HOSPITALITY AWARDS

Leverage social proof by displaying your certifications, badges and awards. This will reassure
potential customers and boost conversion as well as establish your reputation as a fantastic
host.

If you don’t have any credibility badges or hospitality awards to display, look into what you’d
need to do to get one and establish a plan, as it can be just the extra push needed for visitors to
make a booking with you.

12. CREATE A VACATION RENTAL BLOG

Running a thriving vacation rental business is about more than offering a comfy bed and a clean
bathroom; it’s about creating relationships.

A vacation rental blog can be a great tool to help you connect with guests, as well as promote
your business. You can use it to talk about the area, gauge the interest of your visitors (using
Google Analytics) and gain exposure through social shares and improved SEO. You could even
publish a calendar of local events and a FAQ to showcase your expertise and professionalism.
 ON YOUR SITE 8

13. WRITE BLOG POSTS FREQUENTLY

A simple blog with a few fresh posts every month is vital to keeping steady traffic and good
search engine rankings on your vacation rental website. While this may seem like a daunting
task, it is simpler than you’d think.

Blog posts don’t have to be very long, and you can limit yourself to two or three quality posts a
month. Think about what might be relevant to your audience: use your blog to showcase your
property, feature a few guest’s highlights from their trip, local activities and sights… If you run out
of ideas, head over to our blog for 25+ content ideas for your vacation rental blog.

14. HIRE A COPYWRITER FOR YOUR LISTING DESCRIPTIONS

Why not make your vacation rental website stand out by hiring an expert copywriter to write
your listing descriptions? Hiring an experienced wordsmith who can write copy that converts will
certainly help improve your website results.

Good freelancers can be found in various places, whether online or offline, but you’ll have to
give clear directions to make sure the copy suits your needs.

15. SHOW HOW YOUR PROPERTY IS SUITED FOR SPECIFIC TRAVELERS

Many people are looking for special features in their vacation rental. They might be traveling
with their kids or pets, or have disabilities meaning they’ll need accessible rooms. If your VR can
accommodate them, make sure to highlight this in your description.

Almost 20% of the US population have some kind of mobility issue, so making sure your rental
is wheelchair accessible can significantly increase your bookings, as well as your reputation
for catering to all needs. Head over to our blog for more reasons why you should adapt your
property for disabled travelers.
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ON SOCIAL
MEDIA
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16. SHARE ARTICLES TO TWITTER, FACEBOOK, AND LINKEDIN

That’s an obvious one, and as you’ve probably heard it before: social media is a great way to
boost traffic to your website. In fact, that’s one of the reasons companies, big or small, can’t do
without social media accounts.

Not only that, but it’s also a great way to publicize and market your vacation rental. Social media
is an ideal platform to advertise sales and deals, share useful information and keep in touch
with guests.

17. CREATE A FACEBOOK PAGE

Sharing your blog posts on Facebook is good; having a dedicated Facebook Page for your
business is better. With 1.71 billion monthly active users and one in five page views in the US
occurring on Facebook, the second largest website on the internet is not one your business can
keep away from.

Creating a Facebook Page for your vacation rental opens up new opportunities in terms of
customer reach, but there are many other benefits, including building a loyal community and
boosting website traffic.

18. RUN A CONTEST ON FACEBOOK

People love free stuff, and Facebook is an easy platform to run contests on. Contests on
Facebook come in various shapes and sizes such as “like to win”, “comment to win”, photo
caption contests or skill-testing questions.

To run a successful contest on Facebook, you’ll need to ask yourself what your objective is.
Are you trying to build awareness, increase traffic to your website, get more Facebook likes,
boost engagement? This first step will help you determine what type of contest you should be
running in order to achieve your goals. Make it easy for people to join and choose a prize that is
of interest to your audience. After the contest, you’ll be able to measure your success and learn
valuable lessons for next time.

19. CREATE A TWITTER PROFILE

With 319 million active users, Twitter is a very popular platform. It’s a great way to promote
yourself while building a community around your interests by following fellow vacation rental
owners and managers, travel bloggers, tourism information websites and local city guides and
media.

Powerful tweets that will drive your followers to your website or blog should include an
intriguing quote or interesting statistics, and, to stand out in a sea of tweets, they must feature
an image. Remember to use hashtags and mentions, and don’t be afraid to ask for a retweet!
Earn the trust of your community by liking and retweeting relevant content or asking questions
related to holidays and travel.
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20. CREATE A LINKEDIN PROFILE

A LinkedIn profile is a great asset to make you look professional online. Provide a clear
description of what you do and remember to regularly share updates about your business and
industry. Follow travel and hospitality experts so you can share their tips with your followers,
and build a community around your business. Make sure to add a link to your LinkedIn profile
on your website.

21. CREATE AN INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT

Instagram is a rapidly-growing social network, and it is particularly cherished by consumer
brands who use it to build their image and reputation. A recent study revealed that more than
60% of travel companies are using Instagram as part of their marketing, so it’s wise to keep up
with the trends.

Instagram is easy to use and is a powerful tool in the vacation rental market. Take swoon-
worthy pictures to excite your potential guests, create location hype and give your place a
personality. Once again, become an active part of the community by following others, liking and
commenting their posts, and you’ll be able to reap the benefits of a well-managed Instagram
account.

22. CREATE A PINTEREST ACCOUNT

Pinterest, the world’s favorite digital moodboard, is very popular in the US. Because each image
is associated with a link, Pinterest is great at driving traffic to your website or blog. Widely used
by retailers and event organizers, Pinterest is also popular with travel and holiday businesses.

Using different boards, you can share pictures of your property, the local area’s natural sites,
places of cultural interest, local events and tradition, or even the best local food. To make
Pinterest more efficient, remember to display the official “Pin it” button on your site so visitors
can pin your pictures onto their boards directly from your website even if they haven’t installed
a Pinterest extension.

23. ADD A LINK FROM YOUR TWITTER PROFILE

Use the URL field on your Twitter profile to include a link to your website. This way, people who
come across your profile on Twitter can immediately check out your website to learn more
about you and your business.

24. ADD A LINK FROM YOUR INSTAGRAM

Similarly, you can add a link to your website on your Instagram bio. It is actually the only place
on Instagram where you can share a link, as individual posts don’t support URLs.
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25. ADD A LINK FROM YOUR SKYPE STATUS

Whether you use Skype professionally or personally, it is as good a place as any to remind others
that you run a successful vacation rental business.

26. ADD A LINK FROM YOUR PINTEREST

Pinterest also allows you to add a link to your profile. Make good use of it by adding a link to
your website so people can discover your VR.

27. APPEAR ON A PODCAST

There are many content creators out there who use podcasts to talk to their audience. Find one
that relates to your vacation rental business: it could be a travel podcast or a podcast exploring
and promoting your local area. Get in touch with the host to be interviewed as a guest. You’ll be
able to link to the podcast from your website – building your credibility – and to score bigger
and bigger interviews as you carry on your research.

Make sure to mention your website during the interview, and ask the host to mention it again at
the end.

28. POST VIDEOS TO YOUTUBE

Videos are a must in 2017, and they are a great way to create engaging content. You could offer
viewers a tour of your property, share tips about the local area, or even create a tutorial for a
traditional regional recipe.

Optimize the description of your videos to boost your SEO, and share them on your website and
social media profiles.

29. ADD LINKS FROM YOUR LINKEDIN PAGES

Include a link to your website on your business’s LinkedIn page as well as your own. This way,
you will get more traffic from visitors on LinkedIn while building trust and legitimacy.

30. POST YOUR CONTENT TO LINKEDIN GROUPS

LinkedIn can be a very powerful tool, but many professionals don’t make use of all the available
features. Become an active part of the LinkedIn community by joining groups related to your
activity, target markets or readers. Like and comment other people’s posts, and share you own
articles in those groups in order to drive traffic.

People on LinkedIn are always eager to share interesting content with their audience, so you’re
likely to get even more traffic from posting in groups.
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31. LINK FROM OTHER NICHE SOCIAL NETWORKS

Don’t be afraid to use smaller niche social networks. You are more likely to meet your audience
on a dedicated travel social network, so go for it! And of course, don’t forget to add a link to
your website on your profile so other users can discover your property and local area.

32. SHARE ON GOOGLE+

Google+ has a solid community of users, and you should be using it to promote your business. It
is particularly helpful for small businesses; so don’t hesitate to share your updates on there.

Note that for maximum engagement, it is recommended to keep your headline below 60
characters. The site also categorizes contents based on tags, so make sure to use the correct
hashtags.

33. UPDATE YOUR GOOGLE+ PROFILE WITH A LINK TO YOUR SITE

Just like any other social media, having a link to your website on your Google+ profile will boost
your website traffic and improve your SEO, giving your website more legitimacy from Google’s
point of view.

34. SHARE TO GOOGLE+ COMMUNITIES

Google+ is a community-based social network, so you should become involved by sharing
content with relevant communities, related to traveling or to your local area. This will also help
you acquire new followers by giving you added exposure.

35. SHARE PHOTOS ON INSTAGRAM

Try to share photos on Instagram regularly, and be aware of the latest photo trends, as they are
particularly important on the image-centered social media. Start by defining your objectives
(increasing brand awareness, showcasing your property and local area, connecting with
influencers, growing your community), develop a content strategy and start snapping!

If your guests are on Instagram, you might want to consider curating their content to add a
touch of authenticity to your profile.

36. DO A “SHARE EXCHANGE” ON INSTAGRAM

Grow your audience by doing a “share exchange” on Instagram. Start by identifying an account
with a similar audience and size to you, and offer them to do a share exchange: you share one
of their posts, and they share yours. This is the Instagram equivalent of guest blogging and is a
great way to attract new followers and take part in the community.
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37. UPLOAD IMAGES TO FLICKR

Share beautiful pictures of your local area and details of your property on Flickr – the popular
image sharing website – to drive traffic to your website. Create a profile and upload your
pictures to get backlinks from Flickr. Think about optimizing the image descriptions to improve
your SEO as well.

Note that you probably won’t get as much traffic from Flickr as you would from, say, Facebook or
Pinterest, but it’s still good practice to have presence on the site, and a few more backlinks can’t
hurt.

38. ADD SHARING BUTTONS

Add sharing buttons to make it easier for your visitors to share your content – especially on
mobile. Website builders like Lodgify make it easy to integrate share buttons, so it shouldn’t be a
very hard job; don’t be afraid to contact customer support if you need a little help.

39. JOIN TWITTER CHATS

A Twitter chat is a conversation that takes place on Twitter via a dedicated hashtag, like
#SBizHour or #TravelChat. These chats are a great way to build and grow a community
on Twitter around a topic. Users can meet at a certain time to discuss a topic and join the
conversation by posting tweets that include the dedicated hashtag.

Not only will you be able to have interesting conversations with like-minded people, you’ll also
discover new profiles to follow, and are likely to gain a few followers yourself if you are actively
participating in the conversation. If relevant, don’t hesitate to link back to one of your blog
posts.
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ON MESSAGE
BOARDS
 ON MESSAGE BOARDS 16

40. POST IN YAHOO GROUPS

Yahoo Groups are dynamic discussion boards where people discuss anything from how to sew
a button back on a jacket to where to drink the best wines when traveling to California. Posting
on Yahoo Groups will give you exposure to a large audience who are potentially interested in
your rental, and will help turn you into an expert when you answer other people’s questions
accurately.

41. POST IN FACEBOOK GROUPS

Groups are a very popular feature on Facebook, and a very good way to find a cluster of people
who all have an interest in traveling. If you want to use Facebook Groups to promote your
business, you should remember that it’s important to become a valuable member of the group
first. Nobody likes a newbie who only posts to the group to advertise his or her business!

Comment on other discussions, ask people for their advice and, when relevant, do talk about
your vacation rental or your area. You can share some of your blog posts on there, but make sure
you’re doing so as a way to contribute to the community, not just to promote your business.

42. CREATE YOUR OWN FACEBOOK GROUP

If you can’t find a group of people looking to enjoy your local area, why not create one yourself?
You can invite your neighbors and friends to start with, and watch the community grow.

Creating a Facebook group is very easy, but if you need help, feel free to take a look at the Help
section on Facebook.

43. POST IN GOOGLE GROUPS

Similar to Facebook groups, Google Groups are a good place to share your content. Don’t
spam though: only share content that is relevant, and don’t inundate the group with your own
content. Become a valuable member of the community first by giving your opinion or advice,
commenting and liking other people’s posts.

44. POST IN NICHE FORUMS

Although they tend to be underrated in the age of social media, niche forums are a very
good place to find a large group of potential customers. Some forums have strict rules about
promoting your business, so make sure you are aware of the rules and respect them at all times.

Share your local knowledge by joining conversations, and ask questions to the community to
learn more about what your potential guests could be looking for when they go on holiday or
rent a vacation home.
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45. POST IN AIRBNB FORUMS

Post in Airbnb forums to establish relationships with fellow hosts, join conversations, give advice,
ask questions, and become a part of the community. This is a good way to connect with other
vacation rental owners and maybe get in touch with them for a bit of guest blogging or an
Instagram share exchange.

46. POST TO REDDIT

Reddit hosts tight-knit communities of passionate individuals. But beware: Reddit users aren’t
big fans of self-promotion. Don’t just go there just to promote your business in an obvious
way, or you will get ridiculed. You’ll have to genuinely want to join and engage with the reddit
community if you want to drive traffic to your website from there.

To be successful on Reddit, you’ll have to be relevant, only post quality content and be
authentic.

47. POST AND CONTRIBUTE TO DISCUSSIONS ON SMARTHOSTS

SmartHosts is a fairly new forum specifically geared towards vacation rental owners and
managers, and is a great place to meet fellow hosts, exchange tips, build business relationships
and keep up-to-date with the industry.

Post and contribute to discussion on SmartHosts to build a reputation for yourself and drive
traffic to your website.
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VIA EMAIL
 Via email 19

48. UPDATE YOUR EMAIL SIGNATURE WITH LINK TO YOUR SITE

This is an easy trick with a potentially very powerful impact. Why not let all your contacts know
about your vacation rental website? Simply set your name, an image or a logo to link to your site.
You could also include a call to action telling people why they should visit your website.

49. ADD AN AUTORESPONDER WITH A LINK TO YOUR SITE

In the last few years, delivering an outstanding customer experience has been a main
focus point for many businesses and industries. Even when you’re not available, setting an
Autoresponder allows you to provide a quick response to your contacts, letting them know
when you will be able to reply. Take that opportunity to redirect them to your website or even
some specific pages like your most popular blog posts.

You don’t even have to be out of the office to use autoresponders: it can be a good way to help
you manage your time without keeping your customers on hold when you’re having a busy day.

50. DIRECT, TARGETED EMAIL OUTREACH

It takes a special strategy to use outreach emails for link building. First, make sure to target
the right person by doing a big of research on the website or organization you are contacting.
Make good use of the subject line by ensuring it’s enticing and exciting instead of generic and
boring. Personalize the salutation and write a short and direct message. Don’t forget to keep it
professional by using a branded email address and using an appropriate signature.

51. SHARE PROMOTIONS VIA EMAIL

If you’re running a promotion, don’t hesitate to use many different channels to let your audience
know about it, including social media and email. To create a successful promotional email, make
the offer clear (write short, snappy sentences and use typography to highlight your message) and
create a sense of urgency: you’ll want to give your readers a reason to act quickly, rather than an
excuse to close the email and come back to it later (because they probably never will).

52. EMAIL OUT NEW BLOG POSTS

If you’re publishing quality content on your blog, then you should let your subscribers know
about it! Most people don’t come back regularly to check on a blog (unless it’s one of their
favorite ones), so send an email to your mailing list subscribers. That will give them an incentive
to visit your website and read your latest article, providing a great surge of traffic.

If you need help getting started with an email marketing platform, take a look at our Beginner’s
Guide to MailChimp for Vacation Rental Owners.
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53. ASK YOUR CURRENT READERS TO FORWARD

Remember to include a forwarding link in your emails, so your visitors can forward it to a
friend. Add a little note kindly asking them to forward the email to relevant friends and family
members: it’s likely they’ll know someone who might be interested. It can’t hurt to ask!

54. ASK YOUR READERS ABOUT WHAT ELSE THEY’RE READING

Harness the wisdom of the crowd by asking your audience about what else they read. This will
let you know what they like and what type of content you should be producing to capture their
attention. It could also lead to interesting and constructive discussions with your readers. You’ll
win extra points for asking them in the first place, as people always appreciate a chance to voice
their opinion.

55. DO AN EMAIL LIST SWAP WITH SOMEONE ELSE’S LIST

Having more email subscribers is a great way to drive traffic to your website. In order to do that,
you could work with people who have a similar audience to yours, and offer to swap email lists.
You’ll email a piece of content to the other person’s list and vice versa. It’s the equivalent of
guest blogging for email marketing. To make it as effective as possible, make sure your content is
relevant to the email list in question.
 Public Relations 21

PUBLIC
RELATIONS
 Public Relations 22

56. GET LISTED ON GOOGLE NEWS

Google News is a source of information for many, many people, with over 1 billion unique users
per week. Getting listed on Google News can therefore become very profitable in terms of
traffic, backlinks, SEO and visibility. However, it is not an easy task. You’ll have to follow Google’s
stringent guidelines before submitting a request to be listed on Google News.

Start by following SEO best practices, using Google News metatags properly and writing your
URLs in a unique and consistent way. You’ll also need to post original, high-quality content on a
regular basis, have several authors, and some authority.

57. USE HARO TO BE FEATURED IN ARTICLES

HARO stands for Help A Reporter Out and is a service connecting news sources (like you!) with
journalists. Users subscribe to HARO for free and receive queries from journalists and bloggers
looking for sources to share their experience and expertise or a certain topic.

Subscribing to HARO will increase your PR opportunities by letting you know what journalists
are looking for (almost) in real time. If you want to reach out to a journalist, make sure you to
get in contact as soon as possible, introduce yourself and explain why you are an expert on
the matter. If you’ve already appeared in popular publications or been featured on a blog or a
podcast, it’s a good time to mention it as this will build your credibility and encourage them to
interview you.

58. GO ON THE RADIO

You can get in touch with radios in a similar way, by presenting yourself as an expert. Start by
researching radio shows relative to travel or your location and get in contact. Offer your own
expert viewpoint about certain news topics, or suggest a topic that could be covered in the
show.

Start small, by contacting local or niche stations to build your credibility and expert status, and
mention your domain when you’re live on air.

59. GO ON TV
TV is often even more powerful than radio, and can be a great opportunity to put your business
in the spotlight. You can use the same strategy as the one described above to find some
television opportunities.

Pick the right outlet, one that has an audience similar to yours, and offer your expert advice and
analysis on a specific topic. Most importantly, make sure your efforts fit in with your overall PR
strategy, and that you can mention your website during your appearance!
 Public Relations 23

60. REACH OUT TO TRAVEL BLOGGERS IN YOUR AREA

PR is about making the right connections. Do some research and establish a list of travel
bloggers in your area with whom you could work to boost your PR and promote your vacation
rental business. You could request a guest blogging opportunity, ask them to promote your offer
to their readers, or work together to produce an exciting piece of content about your local area.

61. REACH OUT TO INSTAGRAMMERS IN YOUR AREA

You’ll also want to establish meaningful relationship with popular Instagrammers in your area.
Thanks to the introduction of a new Instagram algorithm last Summer, you don’t have to go for
the biggest names to get popular on Instagram; instead, you’ll be better off prioritizing niche
Instagrammers with a smaller following, because they get more engagement.

Partner with them and ask them if they’d be interested in holding an Instagram takeover, a
competition to win a free stay at your vacation rental, or teaming up to create exciting content
about your local area – all of these ideas will help drive more users to your website!

Check out Lodgify’s blog for more information on how to develop a successful PR strategy in
order to promote your vacation rental business.
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IN PERSON
 In Person 25

62. CREATE BUSINESS CARDS WITH LINKS

Though business cards aren’t quite as popular as they used to be, they still come in handy when
making business connections in person. They are an ideal place to put a link to your website;
better yet, you could forego other contact details to make sure people have to go through your
site to contact you.

63. FEATURE YOUR WEBSITE ON YOUR PHYSICAL PRESENCE

If and when you have a physical presence – if you have a booth at a rental fair or even just on
the fencing of your property – you should make sure that your are using this opportunity to
promote your website. People aren’t always ready to engage immediately, so they might want to
visit your website first.

64. MAKE CONNECTIONS WITH LOCAL BUSINESSES

Build partnerships with businesses that are local to your vacation rental. These could be
anything from day spas to mechanics, local tourism offices to bike rental shops. Simply get in
touch with any local services or places that could be of interest to your guests, and ask for a link
– you’ll be pleasantly surprised how many say yes!

Not only will this get your more visitors, it will also improve your local SEO.
 With SEO 26

WITH SEO
 With SEO 27

65. ADD KEYWORDS IN YOUR HEADERS/TITLES

Keywords are essential to SEO, and you need to use them throughout your site, but make sure
you’re using them correctly. Choose the right keywords (do a simple search with a keyword
finder); avoid stuffing your content with too many of them (the content should read easily,
without like it was only ever created to put the keywords together on one page) and use them in
the right places.

For optimum SEO, you should be using keywords in your page titles, meta descriptions, headers
and sub-headers, body paragraphs and image alt-tags (see 66). These are the sections that
search engines scan, so you’ll need to use relevant keywords in order to be indexed properly.

66. ADD NAMES TO YOUR IMAGES

This one is a very important rule for SEO. Naming your images correctly can make a big
difference for the SEO of your vacation rental website. Use the appropriate keywords and don’t
forget the alt tag (the alternative text shown when an image can’t be properly displayed, which
you can usually see by hovering over the image). These can help your pictures show up in search
results, driving traffic through to your website to see where they’ve come from!

But note that optimizing your images doesn’t stop at naming them. Read our guide on how to
optimize images for better SEO for your vacation rental website to for practical and easy SEO
advice.

67. OPTIMIZE YOUR CONTENT FOR RANKINGS

In a competitive market, it is crucial to optimize your website and its content for search engine
indexation so that you rank high in Google’s results. You’ll have to make sure your content is
well organized (using different headings) and include your keywords in the first few lines. Ideally,
the first paragraph of your article or description should summarize what the rest of the copy is
about.

Longer content does tend to rank better in search result pages, so your property description
should be at least 300 words. Include images (see point 63) and links to other websites as well
as internal links.

68. HOST GUEST POSTS FROM AUTHORS WITH HIGH SEARCH VOLUME
Get in touch with writers and bloggers who receive lots of searches on Google and ask them to
write a guest post on your site. It will be an opportunity for them to speak to a new audience,
and for you to benefit from their popularity, as people Googling them might stumble upon your
website.
 With SEO 28

69. INTERLINK YOUR BLOG POSTS

Whenever you publish new content on your vacation rental website, take the opportunity to link
to other internal pages on your site. By getting into the habit of this practice, you will improve
the search value of those other linked pages and keep visitors engaged on your site for longer.

Ideally, you should include three internal links per page, leading the user to topically related
pages. Remember to pay attention to the anchor text and use keywords that are relevant to a
particular resource.
 On Other Sites 29

ON OTHER
SITES
 On Other Sites 30

70. BE INTERVIEWED
Contact owners of websites that are relevant to your vacation rental business and ask them if
they would like to interview you for a special feature on your local area or other subjects you
can position yourself as an expert on.

Aim small at first, and build on your “portfolio” of interviews to contact progressively more
popular websites to drive traffic back to yours!

71. COMMENT ON RELEVANT BLOGS

Become an active part of the online blogging community and comment on other blogs’ posts.
You could use an RSS feed to know when new posts are available and leave comments on
articles that are relevant to your vacation rental business and have an audience similar to yours.

Don’t just leave meaningless comments with only a link to your website. Instead, provide
interesting points of view and insights, and that is what will make people become interested in
visiting your site.

72. BE INTERVIEWED FOR EXPERT ROUNDUPS

If you’ve been successful at joining a community of other bloggers and website owners,
someone might contact you to ask for a quote or interview you for an article. This will be a good
way to promote not only your website, but also yourself as an expert.

Ask them to link back to your website if they don’t offer to, and you’ll likely find they will be
happy to do it.

73. SUBMIT YOUR BLOG TO AGGREGATORS

Submitting your blog to various blog aggregators will promote its content to thousands of
people who may have never heard of you. If your content is good and performs well, you will
rank higher and get even more exposure.

Alltop.com is the most popular of blog aggregators and submitting your website is easy, but the
selection process is very strict. Thankfully there are other websites you can submit your blog to,
so try to target as many as you can to get the most exposure.

74. SUBMIT YOUR SITE TO TOURISM BOARDS AND LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS

Make a list of tourism boards and local organizations that could help promote your vacation
rental website and get in touch to ask if they could display a link to your website on theirs. Not
only will this help you get additional traffic to your blog, it will also build your reputation.

If they’re happy for you to use their logo on your website, that would be a good way for you to
leverage social proof.
 On Other Sites 31

75. LIST YOUR WEBSITE ON TRIPADVISOR AND COLLECT REVIEWS

TripAdvisor is the world’s most visited travel website, so you really can’t ignore it as a platform to
promote your vacation rental business and drive traffic to your website. Creating a listing is easy,
and good reviews will definitely help your business! So remember to ask your guests to a review
on the site, as well as on your own website.

76. TAKE PART IN A CASE STUDY

Get in touch with companies that help auto-entrepreneurs promote their businesses and ask if
they’d be interested in doing a case study featuring your business. You could be using a software
to build a website, a photo-editing tool or an SEO widget.

The company might be keen to share the story of how they helped you promote your business
with its audience of potential customers, or might be willing to offer some guidance in exchange
for a feature on their own website.

77. USE SOMEONE’S PRODUCT AND LET THEM TELL YOUR STORY
Companies love sharing stories of people who enjoy using their product or services. Why not
take advantage of it by contacting the marketing team at a company you like and tell them how
much you like their products and how they’ve made your life or vacation rental better?

They may want to write about it and feature it on their blog with a link to your website.

78. BE USED AS AN EXAMPLE

If you’re using the services of a professional photographer, web designer or marketing
consultant, you could ask them if they’d mind displaying your website on theirs, as an example
of their work.

This will improve your SEO as well as your chances of attracting new audiences you aren’t
already targeting.

79. ADVERTISE YOUR RENTAL ON MARKETPLACES

Listings websites are a fantastic way of driving more traffic to your vacation rental website
and help you achieve the ultimate goal of booking more nights. While some of these listings
websites have become so famous they’re now household names, there are a lot of other
fantastic options out there which are too often overlooked.

80. ADVERTISE YOUR RENTAL ON CRAIGSLIST

With 80 million monthly ad postings and over 60 million users, Craigslist is still the number one
classifieds website in the US.
 On Other Sites 32

Although it does sometimes attract scammers, Craigslist gives you more visibility and the
opportunity for more (real) guests to discover your vacation rental. Moreover, it can help you
direct traffic to your website – simply add a link to your advert – and collect email addresses
of potential guests. Add your email address to your listing so you get some inquiries straight to
your inbox; you’ll then be able to collect these and add them to your mailing list!

81. LIST YOUR PHYSICAL BUSINESS ON GENERIC DIRECTORIES SUCH AS YP,

YELL, YELP, FOURSQUARE, MAPQUEST
Promoting your business on niche websites is an effective way to get more traffic, but don’t
neglect the bigger players that are general directories such as: YP, Yell, Yelp, Foursquare or
MapQuest. Listing your vacation rental on these websites will not only help you gain some more
traffic, it will also improve your SEO.

82. LIST YOUR BUSINESS ON ADVENTUREPADS

In fact, add your property to as many directories as possible. Adventurepads is one of the most
popular vacation rental directories and you can list your website for free.

83. LIST YOUR BUSINESS ON ANGIE’S LIST

Angie’s List is an online directory helping over 3 million American households find local service
providers. It’s free to join, so go ahead and get listed to boost your traffic, SEO and reputation.

84. LIST YOUR BUSINESS ON BBB

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is a nonprofit organization that collects and provides business
reviews on millions of companies in the United States and Canada in order to help people find
businesses they can trust. Joining their directory will mostly have a positive impact on your
business reputation, but will also help drive traffic and get you bonus SEO points.

85. LIST YOUR BUSINESS ON FHBO

FBHO (Furnished Housing By Owner) lets you join its directory for free and connects you to
people from all over the world looking for a furnished vacation rental. Provide an optimized
description to boost your SEO at the same time.

86. LIST YOUR BUSINESS ON HOMEAWAY

HomeAway is one of the world’s leading marketplaces of vacation rentals on the Internet. There
are over a million properties listed on HomeAway in more than 190 countries, so make sure to
list your website. According to their figures, listing your property on HomeAway will give you the
potential to reach over 44 million travelers a month.
 On Other Sites 33

87. LIST YOUR BUSINESS ON HOTFROG

While getting your vacation rental listed on specialized travel directories is a must, don’t forget
to join general directories as well. Hotfrog lets users search for businesses by topic and location.

88. LIST YOUR BUSINESS ON PETVR

PetVR lists pet friendly vacation rentals all over the globe. If you’re happy for your guests to
come with a furry friend, let them know by listing your property on this website.

89. LIST YOUR BUSINESS ON MANTA

Get more backlinks by listing your vacation rental on as many directories as you can, including
Manta, a website that lists US small businesses by categories and provides them with expert
advice.

90. LIST YOUR BUSINESS ON RENTALSPOT

RentalSpot allows users to search for a vacation rental anywhere in the world. Getting listed on
their website will help drive more traffic to your website.

91. LIST YOUR BUSINESS ON MERCHANT CIRCLE

MerchantCircle lists local merchants in the USA and boasts two million merchants and
100 million consumers. Get listed to increase your visibility and build your reputation as a
trustworthy business owner.

92. LIST YOUR BUSINESS ON TRIPZ

Getting listed on various directories will provide you with increased visibility, a better ranking in
search engines, and direct some more traffic to your website. Try listing your property on Tripz,
one of the newcomers on the vacation rental listing market.

93. GUEST POST ON RELEVANT SITES

Guest blogging is a fantastic way to drive more traffic to your website and to promote your
vacation rental business. Even if it requires more effort, getting one of your stories published
on a popular website’s blog might be your chance to go viral and get thousands of shares. Get
the attention of the editors by pitching different ideas and, when you get a gig, be sure to do
your very best to impress them by being on time, proofreading your article and sticking to their
guidelines.

Include a link to your website in your author’s bio and optimize your landing page for these new
visitors. Try to convert them by getting them to subscribe to your newsletter or read more of
your articles.
 On Other Sites 34

94. ACQUIRE SOMEONE ELSE’S NEWSLETTER

If you find a relevant site that is no longer active, you could try getting in touch with its owner to
purchase their email list. You could end up adding thousands of new people to your mailing list
which will boost your email strategy and, in turn, drive more traffic to your website long-term.

95. DO A CROSS-PROMOTION WITH ANOTHER SITE

Make a list of websites that are similar to yours, then contact the authors to ask them if they
would be interested in running your promotion on their website in exchange for running their
promotion on your website. This could take different shapes, like a link in a newsletter, a blog
article, or a social media post.

A cross-promotion is a good opportunity to drive traffic as well as create relationships with

other relevant website owners.

96. CREATE A WIKIPEDIA PAGE

Wikipedia is the 5th most popular website in the world, so having a link on there would provide
a massive boost to your SEO and website traffic. However, Wikipedia has a very strict content
policy and its contributors do not like people creating pages to promote themselves. Instead,
you could try creating a page about a local area in order to promote it, but remember to stay
neutral.

Before you start writing your first article on Wikipedia, check out their recommendations and
guidelines.
 Via Advertising 35

VIA
ADVERTISING
 Via Advertising 36

97. RETARGETING ADS

Retargeting ads use cookies to target people who have already visited your website with your
ads. They tend to be more efficient than regular ads since you’re only targeting people who have
expressed an interest in your website in the past, and they are a very powerful tool to improve
brand awareness and get more of your visitors to convert.

You can also use retargeting on specific platforms such as Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, which
might be more efficient for parts of your audience. For more details, you can read this detailed
blog post, explaining how retargeting works and how to use it.

98. MOBILE ADS

Now that mobile drives more traffic than desktop, mobile ads are no longer just a “nice to have”.
However, providing a seamless customer experience is so important that you shouldn’t attempt
to run mobile ads if your website isn’t optimized for mobile navigation (see point 2), as those
who clicked on your ad would only be frustrated.

Make sure your site is mobile-friendly before heading over to Google’s mobile advertising pages.

99. BUY ADS ON NICHE SITES

Buying ads on niche websites is a fantastic investment because if you choose your websites
well, their audiences should be very similar to your target audience, which means you will be
attracting the right people. It’s also a good way to start since most websites will usually offer
relatively cheap advertising space if you get in contact with the owner directly.

It’s a win-win deal because the website owner knows they will be displaying relevant advertising
to their readers, instead of random adverts that might put them off.

100. BUY OUTDOOR ADS

Buying or renting physical advertising space is easier than you think, especially for a small
business like your rental. Think about your advertising strategy and make sure to do your
research so you get as much exposure to your audience as possible.

Outdoorbillboard.com is a great place to start if you’re looking for physical advertising space to
buy or rent in your local area.
 Via Advertising 37

101. PRINT ADS

One efficient way to promote your vacation rental is by getting an ad printed in a local
newspaper, event magazine, “what’s on” guide or tourism booklet. Simply contact the publisher
(there are usually contact details at the back, or on their website) and ask about advertising
deals.

Local print advertising is quite cheap compared to web advertising and can be very effective
depending on the audience of the publication and how well targeted and executed your advert
is.
 WHAT TO TAKE AWAY 38

WHAT TO
TAKE AWAY
Whether on your own website or on social media, through message
boards, email, or PR, in person or using SEO, other websites or
advertising, there are many ways to drive traffic to your vacation
rental website in order to promote your VR, attract new visitors and
get more bookings.

Growing a successful vacation rental business is within your reach

It requires a lot of steady work to run and develop a successful
vacation rental business, but with our help, you now hold the key to
driving more traffic to your website.

Take the time to approach each step at your own pace and, before
you know it, you will be getting new visitors enquiring about your
vacation rental.

We hope this eBook will give you the confidence to create or

develop your own vacation rental website to achieve your goals, with
the assurance that Lodgify will be there to help you along the way.
 WHAT TO TAKE AWAY 39

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