Naming my Website

[hungarianhotdog]

Hello all,

My first post here.

I have a couple of questions:

I am in the process of naming my property. I was thinking of `Stag`s Rock`. Without knowing anything about the property, what does this name suggest to you?

Also, does anyone know of a company that provides a website template and all the tools necessary for running a vacation rental business? I am prepared to pay well for such a service as I want the best. Do such services exist?

Many thanks,

Charles

[Dotty]

Its a nice name and to me it suggests away-from-it-all beautiful scenery & nature.... BUT....
Are you aiming at the stag party market????? Think search engines and wild parties.
If not I personally would choose a different name.

[hungarianhotdog]

Hadn`t thought of the stag party angle..definitely don`t want that.
I do want the name to suggest beautiful scenery and out of the way countryside, will have to think again though (there`s nothing worse than stage parties, can`t stand them - not even my own)

Thanks for the input Dotty.

Charles

[Joanna]

I suggest that you go for 'something' villa or cottage, or chalet or whatever best describes what your target market are searching for. That way, whenever anyone links to your web site one of your key search words will be almost guaranteed to be in the link text as well as in the URL itself and that will help boost your site in the search engine results. The key is to put yourself in your customer's shoes - what will they type in Google? We decided to aim at people searching for "holiday cottage" (amongst other phrases) hence bakerscottage.co.uk. Also, if you are in the UK then I suggest choosing a .co.uk domain not a .com as people sometimes use UK to narrow their search.

[Harborfields]

Yes, adding cottage/chalet/villa/etc... is a good idea.

Stag's Rock -- is that the actual geographic name of a place, or just something you came up with? Is your cottage/chalet/villa located on a rock, or hilltop? What species of animals are the stags? Deer? Elk? Antelope? For example, would "Elk's Rock" work?

Just some ideas.

In terms of website names, you also have to make sure your name is not already taken by searching the DNS database (I use Dynadot.com).

[Alvaro]

Think also about the search words and if they can appear in the web´s name page.

[Alvaro]

I forgot about the second part of your message.

I´ve been asking for prices for a professionally designed webpage and I must say I have found that prices were a bit too high. Then they will ask for another amount for SEO, then you have to pay hosting, etc...

So I have started with a company that was recommended in this forum called promotemyplace which are specialized in holiday rentals. You can use your own domain. They only have three or four templates but more will be available soon and maybe you´ll find the webpage doesn´t look as great and professional as one would desire but they do look pretty similar to every rental webpage and they have great customer support.

So I think they are good enough for a starter.

[dizza2560]

I also used promote my place for my website www.yorkholidaycottagerental.com they were very professional.and had a great customer service department.
I went for the option whereby they did the whole site for me as I am not very good with computers, the cost was very reasonable.
Others more able hatters have used the design your own option and apparently it is quite easy!
For my domain name I decided to be straightforward, hoping that the search engines would pick up the key words. My property is called "Chateauneuf" but I decided not to use it in the domain name.
Have a look at my site if you want to see what can be done, but I do need to tweak the text, so more for layout research/headers etc.
Good luck to you, hope it all goes well.

[Nemo]

You need to remove the comma at the end of the link in your post dizza.

[dizza2560]

Thanks Nemo, edited now

[booboo]

I would second promotemyplace, I am near the end of finishing mine.

dizza2560 your place is gorgeous! Did you get professional photos taken? When the sun comes I am seriously thinking about getting in a professional.

[dizza2560]

Hi Booboo,
Thank you!
Yes, I did get a pro in to do the photos, Tracey Bloxham from inside photography has her own business and covers our area, but she also works for cottages4you (found out later).
She was very good, especially in positioning, ideas etc and the cost was £250 for 10 photos.
I have a gardener and now the garden looks a picture, the ones on the website were taken last May before any real work had been done, so I am thinking about getting more external shots done.
Well worth getting a photographer to do the photos, it is all about trying to present our holiday homes to the best of our ability, and good photos definitely help!

[pizza-salsa]

Stag`s Rock
both words would suggest to me a place for stag parties with lots of rock music...

if your target market is more "family" or couples, I agree with above posters and add cottage, or villa or retreat to the name of the holiday home