Ready to delight your guests? Work on these three things to stand out online with your short-term & vacation rental and reach your ideal audience.
A lot of property owners struggle to reach an audience and build an online following because they’re focusing on the wrong things from the start.
Your online presence is the first thing anyone who books you will interact with. A carefully designed online presence attracts your ideal guests and turns away any unwanted lurkers. Saving you from guest pains later on.
But how to stand out in the short-term rental market?
Three things you need to do to stand out in the short-term rental market online
Invest in high-quality photography
Present your property in the best possible light on your website, listings, and social media with these tips:
Your shots
- Avoid wide-angle lenses: These can distort the space and lead to disappointment as the home will appear smaller in person.
- Capture the whole room — and the details: Include a mix of full-room photos and close-ups of special details to add warmth and make your property feel more personal. This also works well to highlight features and amenities throughout the home.
- Clean up before: Many people overlook this. But a cluttered room makes potential guests feel uneasy, even if they can’t pinpoint why. Clean up bowls, put away cords, and remove anything that’s not intentionally placed before taking photos of your rooms to give an open, clean feel in every shot.
- Give a home tour with your listing: Organize your photos as if you were entering the home with your guests. Start with the front and work through the back in a way that feels natural. This helps your visitors picture themselves in the space from the start.
Lighting
- Use natural light: Open up the windows and play with the exposure on your photos if editing to make sure your home feels light and bright.
- If you’re using a DSLR camera, use a tripod if natural lighting isn’t the best. This way, you can adjust your settings to a slower shutter speed and let in more light.
- Keep editing consistent & subtle: Apps like Lightroom (available for your phone) make it easy to edit your photos subtly and keep a cohesive feel throughout.
- Avoid built-in flash: Unless you have a proper photography flash (not the one on your phone), stick to natural light. Built-in flashes on cameras make for harsh lighting that feels forced and fake.
Implement SEO on your website
Platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo are great for reaching broad audiences. They make it easy for guests to safely book and pay for their stay and give you added trust.
But you can’t customize your listing beyond photography and content. Launch a website for your short-term rental business and:
- Make sure your website is responsive: A responsive website is a website that looks great on all devices. Visitors can see it on a computer, tablet, or smartphone and their experience will be seamless on every screen. Google prioritizes responsive websites because they have switched to mobile-first indexing — meaning that websites that perform well on mobile rank higher on search results.
- Check your design for accessibility: A lot of people choose colors and fonts based on taste. But your website needs to be accessible to all users. In an effort for inclusivity, Google prioritizes websites with strong color contrasts and fonts that are easy to read for users with visual impairments. Tools like A11y Project Resources conduct online audits to help make your website accessible for a wide range of visitors.
- Use keywords on your homepage: Brainstorm the terms or words your ideal guest is looking for and include them organically in your wording. Amenities, number of guests, and local attractions are good starting points to shape your message. Prioritize the most common deal-breakers on your homepage (pet-friendly, downtown/suburbs, or near public transportation) to let potential guests know exactly what to expect from you.
- Review the technical side of SEO: Include relevant information on places like headings, images, and even your URL (your links) to make your website relevant for your target audience.
- Headings: the main title and lower-level section titles on your pages need to include key information about your STR. They need to be short and to the point.
- Images: Clean up your files by adding relevant names (think Living Room instead of IMG0004). Add Alt text to every image, as this is the text that will display when your image doesn’t load and the text that TTS (text to speech) software will read when interpreting your website.
- URLs: Your domain and every link should clearly indicate what the page is about. Contact, About, and FAQs are some of the most common pages you will need for a short-term rental website.
Search Engine Optimization is a lot more than keywords. Devote a little extra time to set yourself up for success with a website that will provide a delightful user experience and you’ll stand out from the STR crowd.
Unify all your platforms
A lot of people do cross-searching when looking for a short-term rental. Make it easy for travelers to find you by presenting a unified profile across all platforms:
- Your name: Use the same spelling for your name on social media, your website, and everywhere your property is listed. This helps prevent confusion and makes it easy for guests to book you.
- Your images: Everything from your logo to your property photos on every platform so that your visitors can identify you anywhere.
- Your wording: Keep your messaging cohesive on your listing, website, and marketing materials to help your target audience connect with you. Make your selling points clear from the first interaction and you’ll attract the right audience from the start.
Make your short-term rental stand out online & get ready to host!
In the world of online search, make sure to stand out online from the moment anyone finds you. Carry your brand experience across all platforms and you’ll earn loyal fans who are excited to keep coming back.
