IF you have a website for your holiday property getting it noticed can be a challenge.
But there is a way of promoting your site, helping potential visitors and you do not need to spend any money.
Exchanging links between other websites can be a useful way of getting your own noticed.
Because the key to increasing your site’s visibility is the search engine and it loves to find links in a site.
Many property websites consist of a few pages with text that rarely changes and which search engines will only visit occasionally.
So you need to find a way of convincing the search engines that your site is different and this can be done by exchanging links.
All you need to do is find complimentary websites and approach them by offering to highlight their site on your own.
The easiest way to do this is to have a links page and on it you can categorise external websites providing a short description and a link to the site.
If you do this first then contact the complimentary site and say you would like them to return the favour – it helps both sides of the partnership.
Lets take an example:
Your gîte website has a links page ready so you need to find others to link to.
First stop could be a local golf club, bike centre or water sports company.
Then what about tourist associations, smaller attractions and restaurants that you can find by searching through Google or picking up leaflets.
And what about other holiday home owners, if you have a two-bed gîte you are not likely to compete with a chateau or homes in other parts of the country.
If you prepare a short email in advance then it will be easy to contact people.
Say you’ve put their site on your links page, and provide the URL for them to see.
Then provide them with a description of your own site they can simply copy and paste onto theirs.
An example could be:
Title: Dordogne property to rent
Description: A large family property with pool and spectacular views for rent in the heart of the Dordogne.
If they do not get back to you and you don’t find a link to your site on theirs then remove it from yours, but give it a couple of weeks and a polite reminder.
If you are consistent and provide relevant links, not only will your page prove useful for potential clients, it will start getting your site noticed.