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Everything to do with using your own website to advertise your rental property. Design, usability, hosting, getting listed on the search engines, optimising your site, pay-per-click, etc, etc.
djfwells
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Mr Grumpy's Life in Spain

Post by djfwells »

My Blog about the many mistakes I make living and working in Spain >> http://tinyurl.com/3pn9yzk
gam
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Post by gam »

Posted with some trepidation following feedback to my thread "Too soon?".

My blog: Escape to the Country

Very pleased to have any feedback. Please bear in mind if you've not read the "Too Soon?" thread, that I'm putting together a blog and website well in advance of buying a holiday cottage.

I've chosen Wordpress for the blog so I'm currently learning how to use it and how to tailor it - so at the moment there's not much customisation evident. It will change considerably once I'm proficient. What I'm particularly keen to have is feedback on the writing style. Normandie and Jimbo amongst others suggested a light/witty style so that's what I've attempted to do - it's also more my preferred style anyway so that's fine with me.

Feel free also to try out the RSS feed with your reader (only tested with Yahoo so far). Don't worry, I don't expect you to stay subscribed! Comment too if you like. I wasn't sure whether to have name and email compulsory or not and decided not to for the moment.

No social "network" stuff yet and minimal SEO but that will come when I'm more confident in the blog style and content.

Thanks :)
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kendalcottages
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Post by kendalcottages »

Looks like a good start, gam.

Thinking longer term on the assumption that you buy a property, I'd be trying to put in more about what there is to see and do in the area. Perhaps if you visit a beach, take photographs and document it. Talk about what the various places are like in different seasons. Write up a walk if you go on one. If you visit an art gallery, go surfing or whatever... write about that.

In short, anything that might be of interest to tourists (and would-be renters) rather than necessarily the buying process that would be more of interest to LMHers. (I'm not saying don't do the latter necessarily, but just that I think the former could ultimately be more rewarding when it comes to trying to pull the bookings in.)
Kendal Holiday Cottages Ltd., Kendal, Cumbria - between the Lake District & the Yorkshire Dales.
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kendalcottages
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Post by kendalcottages »

Ooops... sorry. I actually meant to go and post this in the other thread. Will go and do that now. :oops:
Kendal Holiday Cottages Ltd., Kendal, Cumbria - between the Lake District & the Yorkshire Dales.
Darko Kontin
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Post by Darko Kontin »

I also have a blog, but in Croatian for more than a year, which is meant for renters and people interested in new technologies. A lot of Croatian renters helped grow that blog with their posts and advices on how they do business with their guests.

So I decided to open an English version of this blog as well so we can reach broader public than we can in our small country.

So if you are interested feel free to visit it at www.renting-out.com

All advices, topics suggestions or evan guests post are very welcome :)
mitchellbryson
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Location: UK

Post by mitchellbryson »

I've just started a blog for marketing holiday homes in general, let me know what you think to my first post... http://blog.holidaylodger.com/post/1099 ... ts-a-hotel
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kendalcottages
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Post by kendalcottages »

Don’t worry about the noise - Feel like throwing an all-night party? Or looking for a quiet holiday with the kids in bed before 8pm? Whichever you fancy, you can holiday in the knowledge that you can be as noisy or as quiet as you like, and not have to worry what the people in the room next door want!
:shock:

I'm sorry, but I don't agree with this. I'm sure there are many owners here who wouldn't be happy if their guests threw all night parties or made as much noise as they liked.

For me, two key reasons why holiday homes are better than hotels are missing. More privacy and more space.
Kendal Holiday Cottages Ltd., Kendal, Cumbria - between the Lake District & the Yorkshire Dales.
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Nemo
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Post by Nemo »

I agree completely KC. All night parties - please not! Privacy and space - two absolute essentials.

BTW mitchell the "e" on the end of "home" in the title comes and goes as you scroll up and down.
lorca
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Post by lorca »

There seem to be quite a few generalisations here that certainly wouldn´t apply to all holiday homes...and quite a few that are missing
If not now, when?
mitchellbryson
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Post by mitchellbryson »

I'm sorry, but I don't agree with this. I'm sure there are many owners here who wouldn't be happy if their guests threw all night parties or made as much noise as they liked.

For me, two key reasons why holiday homes are better than hotels are missing. More privacy and more space.
the main point was not worrying about the neighbours. This implies privacy and space to do what you want.
So my point still stands :)

p.s. luxury/remote rentals are great for parties! just because it's not your market, doesn't mean it doesn't exist - think stag/hen parties e.t.c.


lorca - yes it's a generalisation, I'm comparing all holiday homes to all hotels and saying they're a better option for a holiday. Thanks for reading.
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kendalcottages
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Post by kendalcottages »

mitchellbryson wrote:
I'm sorry, but I don't agree with this. I'm sure there are many owners here who wouldn't be happy if their guests threw all night parties or made as much noise as they liked.

For me, two key reasons why holiday homes are better than hotels are missing. More privacy and more space.
the main point was not worrying about the neighbours. This implies privacy and space to do what you want.
So my point still stands :)
Frankly, I wouldn't be happy if people renting our place had little or no regard for the neighbours and felt it was OK to do whatever they liked. I would want them to have respect for the people living near them, just as I would want my neighbours to have respect for our guests.
mitchellbryson wrote:p.s. luxury/remote rentals are great for parties! just because it's not your market, doesn't mean it doesn't exist - think stag/hen parties e.t.c.
The post would seem to be about holiday homes in general. If you are talking about a particular kind of rental (you don't appear to specify), you need to say so!
Kendal Holiday Cottages Ltd., Kendal, Cumbria - between the Lake District & the Yorkshire Dales.
mitchellbryson
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Post by mitchellbryson »

I think you missed the point, it's a post about the benefits of a holiday home over a hotel. The focus is on benefits to a potential guest, and whatever they may want to do. It's not about disrespecting your neighbours (I dont know where you got that from!), but actually the lack of neighbours compared to a hotel room. neither is it about the finer details of home rental etiquette - but maybe i'll write about that next!
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kendalcottages
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Post by kendalcottages »

mitchellbryson wrote:It's not about disrespecting your neighbours (I dont know where you got that from!), but actually the lack of neighbours compared to a hotel room.
Errmmm... I thought I made that clear... but I got it from here:
Whichever you fancy, you can holiday in the knowledge that you can be as noisy or as quiet as you like, and not have to worry what the people in the room next door want!
You seem to make the assumption that if you're in a holiday home, there's nobody next door, but that's very often not the case.
Kendal Holiday Cottages Ltd., Kendal, Cumbria - between the Lake District & the Yorkshire Dales.
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Jimbo
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Post by Jimbo »

mitchellbryson wrote: ... I'm comparing all holiday homes to all hotels and saying they're a better option for a holiday.
Not how it reads to me. Your list 'holiday home' seems highly specific and appears to describe a biggish property with a private pool, with no close neighbours and an absentee 'landlord' (but who's close by for advice) where guests can do pretty much anything they fancy without having to consider other people. I'm sure that such 'ideal' properties exist - but holiday rentals come in a myriad of guises and many will be city apartments, gite complexes, villas cheek by jowl with close neighbours or houses shared with owners, where respect and responsibility towards other people is highly relevant and desirable.

Your list contains some useful stuff but I assume that you've posted to check it against the opinions of LMH's experienced professional owners - otherwise why bother? As a number have told you that No. 5 on your list is a real clunker, why continue to defend it so robustly? If you really don't understand owners' antipathy to No. 5, you might spend a useful hour reading some of the 'disrespectful guests' horror stories on here.

Jim
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Windy
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Post by Windy »

"like"
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