new starters - pitfalls of using a holiday letting agency

[charles cawley]

It may be worth indicating emphasis. For instance SEO marketing for agencies is minor compared to main spending on ppc or similar on search engines.

The vast majority of bookings are generated from those ppc ads at the top of the page.

But very useful stuff.

Thanks Andy.

[HolidayHomeInformation]

Thanks, one of the most interesting considerations I hear from owners is how local the letting agent is.

For example here in South West England there are lots of small agents operating in particular towns or areas who have unrivalled local knowledge and a really personal service, but who lack the resources for SEO, sophisticated websites and long opening hours.

I'd be interested to know which is the most effective option, though I suspect it will vary from area to area and depending on the agent.

Andy

[charles cawley]

I know this is a bit off thread, so appologies to all:

The local bit is essential. When someone rings up I can tell them in detail about this and that... including something about the owners.

SEO is largely a dark art... we find that the number of pages from visits generated by ppc is, on average, double those from organic searches. Conversions are closer to four times and up to five times if you factor out organic searches for our web site in particular.

We manage a 9am to 10 pm service even though we are a Ma and Pa business. It can be a bit tough and, sometimes, we have to turn on voice mail but the coverage is pretty good. In these times and harder ones to come, there will be no alternative but to offer persistently good service.

Web sites? Our new one to start in a couple of weeks will be up there with the best. It is costing close to £15,000 and the developers we think, radically under quoted. Again, there is no choice: what sells is good presentation, easy booking and confidence.

As for options.. we are bound to be biased so local must be best.

Focus now makes it possible to compete head to head with the large nationals. (Google and Yahoo's ppc are particularly good at this where Facebook still has far to go). Our edge is with local knowledge, good relationships with owners and constant effective attention to detail. Without the latter, quality flies out of the window.

Our overheads are less than the national legacy agencies so our charges to homeowners are significantly lower. We can also operate on a non-exclusive basis... we encourage owners to get their own bookings.

The difference is radical.

End of advertisement.

[juliet]

Hi Charles,
I would be pleased if you could forward details of your new site when up and running if it is different from the one you are showing now.

[Jofos]

I would be interested in obtaining details of someone who could help with page ranking, SEO etc, downside of this is i am of the opinion that it may cost quite a lot of money and you don't really know if your getting value for money.