Five simple tips on promoting your holiday home

IF you run a gite in France then there is a good chance that you are taking a few weeks rest after a busy summer.

But if your mind is already drifting to next year and you want to make sure your website is pulling its weight, then here are some very simple tips you can use.

Some will involve making tweaks to the site, or asking those overseeing it to do the changes, but the smallest of changes and simple promotional steps can really make a difference.

1. Website address in emails
One of the simplest ways is to ensure that your website address is placed at the end of every email you send.

If you tag it alongside a catchy line to describe the location of your holiday home or what visitors may experience, few people will be able to resist clicking on it.

2. Visit message boards and blogs
Another easy way of getting your site in front of people is to visit message boards and forums where you can answer people’s questions and leave your website address in your signature.

Some message boards will ban you from including your site address and if this is the case just move on to another one.

Also with the rise of blogs follow these sites and if you can add something to a piece then leave a comment, your name or gite will usually be clickable from the comment.

Use your common sense here, there’s a fine line between offering useful advice and trying to spam someone’s website.

3. Start your own blog
You can start a blog for free, or for just a few euros a month, but if you update it regularly and write about what’s going on in your area then you have a good chance of being found.

It also provides potential customers with a ‘face’ and builds up trust, remember you are asking holidaymakers to hand over a lot of money to stay in your gite so make it easy to break down people’s worries.

4. An address on your website
A useful trick website builders use is to place the address of the property on all the pages of the site, usually in a footer at the bottom of the page.

This will allow search engines to hook in to any people who specifically ask for ‘gites near Gourdon’ for example. If you are worried about security at least have the village name and post code.

5. Postcards for your holiday home
Don’t forget offline promotion, for example, the cost of printing 200 postcards with a picture of your holiday home and website address won’t break the bank.

And every changeover you just leave half a dozen behind for people to send to their friends.

You can easily imagine people writing: “Hi Mum, we are staying at the lovely place on the front of this postcard…”

These simple ways to promote your website won’t take much of your time and most importantly take up even less of your cash.

Please feel free to leave your own tips and ideas via the comment form below.