Following Paolo's Advice!

OTA = Online Travel Agency, which means those sites that sell the booking and take the payment for you.
ash-sp
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Following Paolo's Advice!

Post by ash-sp »

I've started following Paolo's article on "How to find the best listing sites to advertise on" and it is beginning to give me RSI! :shock:

I've made my list of likely search phrases and also location names which gives me a total combination of 42 phrases to Google! I've got as far as about number 8 and my shoulder is killing me! Is 42 too many or too little? How many have other people used when doing theirs?

I must say though that it appears to be a superbly thorough way of comparing sites, can't wait to see the final results! :D

Ash.
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paolo
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Post by paolo »

42 sounds too high. Maybe the top 20 phrases would be enough. Beyond that you are probably looking at very few occurrences, so not worth factoring in.
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Loopy Lou
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Post by Loopy Lou »

Hi Ash,

Please would you share your results when you have them?

Thanks,

Lou
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Post by la vache! »

Lou,
I'm afraid that a lot of choosing listing sites is trial and error. As has been said lany times, what works for some rental owners doesn't work for others. I have no luck at all with Frenchconnections, but other people do. If sites are offering free trials, take them, otherwise look at some of the info already posted regarding sites, set your budget and then choose a few - if they don't work, then ditch them next year and try another. I (and I'm sure most people here) review their listing sites annually and choose new listing sites to replace those that no longer bring in the required bookings. It is venturing into the unknown a little when you list on a new site, but there is plenty of good advice on LMH which should help you choose some of the better ones and fit them to your advertising budget.
ash-sp
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Post by ash-sp »

Lou, I shall certainly post my findings when I eventually reach them! It may be some time!

Paolo, I breathed a sigh of relief when you said 20! I was hoping you wouldn't say 60!

Already I am beginning to see a pattern emerging with some sites cropping up far more than others. Some are also ones that I hadn't seen before when I tried my own bit of research a few weeks ago before coming across this thread.

Ash.
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Giddy Goat
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Post by Giddy Goat »

I think, if income is super important in your first year to recoup set-up costs etc, set your budget a bit higher initially Ash. And as Susan says, your own research, plus the search facility here will give you plenty of hints as to which listing sites to target first. Despite a bit of similar research (nowhere near as thorough as yours is,) if I'd known about LMH when we first started to market our property we could have made a considerable saving!

Thanks Paolo - salaam smiley.
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