Building a Website for your Holiday Home

Posted on 13. Jul, 2009 by Jane Sait in Investing Abroad, Owning a Property Abroad, Renting Your Property

This year has gone so quickly. It only seems like the other day that I wrote my first post for Eye On Worldwide, but it was back in January! As time goes by, October, the month of the delivery of our Cypriot property, draws nearer. This has made me realise that I need to seriously start looking into how I’m going to market our property for rentals.

As you know I have listed a number of sites to advertise properties for holiday lettings. I personally plan to use all of these for our property. My particular favourite is the free 3 months of advertising on holiday lettings if you book for a year. That’s 15 months advertising for the price of 12 months. All you need to do is quote the promotional code 45755 when registering with www.holidaylettings.co.uk

Another way to advertise for holiday rentals is to have a dedicated website for your property. I personally believe having your own website is an essential marketing tool and, if done right, it can look very professional and will help you to get extra holiday bookings.

What are the advantages of having your own website?

  • Professionalism. Having your own website adds an element of professionalism to your holiday home. It’s great for marketing purposes as well. You can get business cards printed with your website address. Business cards can be cost effective and are easy to distribute to friends, family and people that you meet or know. Everyone who has your card will have a direct link to your property. You can leave some business cards in your holiday home as well so that guests can grab a handful to pass on to their friends and family. Having your website address on your stationary also looks very professional so remember to include it in all your correspondences; letters and emails.

  • Detailed content and images. If you have your own website it will enable potential guests to see a far more detailed description of your property. Having quality content and images will mean that people will be more likely to book through you.

  • Advertising. You can now advertise on notice boards, your local paper, other websites, etc. Having your own website makes advertising so much easier for you. People are much more likely to look at a website rather than call a number.

    • Who to use?

    There are many website builders available on the internet, some specifically designed for overseas property owners. Of course you can build your website from scratch but if you’re not technical, which I’m not, then it may well be better to use a website that has templates you can choose from. Alternatively you can get a website specifically designed but this can be costly, certainly out of my budget!

    I have spent some time surfing the net to find the best service providers. I have been most impressed with a website builder specifically designed for holiday home owners called Holiday Site Builder www.holidaysitebuilder.co.uk The templates (styles) that they have to choose from are superb and the site is very user friendly with video tutorials. Holiday Site Builder has everything that I personally want for my website including the following pages: Home, Property, Gallery, Local Info, Prices and Availability, Directions, Guestbook, Contact Us, and Booking.

    The price is normally £149 per year but Holiday Site Builder is offering Eye on Worldwide property owners a £20 discount reducing the price to £129 for the first year. All you need to do is quote EOW when registering. For this price you will get: your own domain name, your own email address, choice of template designs, booking calendar, web statistics, search engine submission, up to 200 images, option to add up to 5 x 360 degree panorama of your property and option to add a video.

    Visit their website www.holidaysitebuilder.co.uk to view template designs and remember to quote EOW when registering to qualify for your £20 discount.

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    I have been working in the overseas property industry for a few years now and 2 years ago I emabarked on my first overseas property purchase, an off plan terraced house in Cyprus. My property will be coming to completion this year and I plan to keep you all updated with my experiences of buying overseas as well as the experiences of my friends and family. I will be covering issues that are important to me and my property investment and which I believe are also important to all investors such as; promoting your property for rentals, launching a website for your property, taking completion of your property, foreign currency and reselling your property. If you have any questions or would like to contact me please send an email to cyprusholidaylet@yahoo.co.uk

    3 Responses to “Building a Website for your Holiday Home”

    1. Schofields

      15. Jul, 2009

      Hi Jane,

      I agree, advertising on the main holiday rental portals is a great way to get enquiries when first starting out.

      In addition, a personal website can help you stand out from competitors. They are a great for adding further information on your property such as photos, the extras that make your holiday let special and details of local attractions, your favourite restaurants etc.

      Good luck with the lettings.

      Philip

    2. Keri

      16. Jul, 2009

      Very useful article! I think I am going to try holidaysitebuilder.co.uk for my property.

    3. Ian

      25. Jul, 2009

      Hi Jane,

      Very interesting stuff. I have a holiday home in Jamaica and based on the downturn in the economy, was looking at my options. Think I’ll explore this option for my property.

      Anyone interested in holiday home in Jamaican countryside (not the sun, sand & sea type) with access to attractions?

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