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Runaway Rentals News and Homeowners
Resource Area
Article 1: Email Viruses
Article 2: Junk Mail Filters: You May Be Missing Rental Inquiries!
Article 3: Tips for Advertising Your Vacation Rental, B&B or Other Accommodations
Article 4: Getting Listed in Directories
Article 5: Email Address Changes?
Article 6: Rentals Wanted
Feedback: Customer Feedback and Success Stories
Article 1:
Email Viruses
An unfortunate reality of doing business online is the fact that some day, each one of us
may end up with a computer virus. Though not entirely inevitable, the best way to cope is
to scan your computer regularly for viruses, and be wary of opening files with the following
extensions:
Any-file-name.pif
Any-file-name.scr
Any-file-name.exe
For up-to-date scanning, repair, and removal of files affected by computer viruses,
we recommend the free and paid tools available at Symantec.com and McAffee.com
Both of these companies are extremely reliable and have an extensive database of
information about computer viruses.
Article 2:
Junk Mail Filters: You May Be Missing Rental Inquiries!
Check your junk mail boxes:
With the latest in SPAM protection by Yahoo!, Hotmail, and many other email providers, there
have been good and bad changes. A bad change is that some of you may not be receiving
rental inquiries to your inbox. To fix this problem, first look for emails from Runaway Rentals,
then set the emails as "this is not spam".
Please make sure in your spam filters that the following email addresses are
open to be delivered, as they are important.
@runawayrentals.com
YOURID@runawayrentals.com
Article 3:
Tips for Advertising Your Vacation Rental, B&B or Other Accommodations
Advertising:
Our customers often ask us how they can get the most out of their advertising dollars.
Any of you who have been keeping an eye on some of the changes that search engines have
made lately already know that these ups and downs can really hurt. To increase the amount
of potential renters you have coming in, we recommend advertising wherever you can afford
to, even if you are fully booked for the year. We say this because there are many different
ways that people browse the web. One company's marketing strategy may bring in a terrific
amount of visitors for certain keywords, but not for others. This way you are effectively
able to gauge your results with each site, and you have the most exposure possible.
Making the Sale:
A customer once, very wisely said to us that our job was only to bring in potential
customers for her vacation rental. It is her job to make the final sale. If you are
organized, and have all of the pertinent information available, you are more likely
to make a sale! Be friendly with the customers, a smiling face or happy, helpful rental
owner will undoubtedly bring back repeat business.
Last but not least, it is a good idea to keep track of the contact information you have
for each person who has sent you an inquiry about your rental. If you find yourself running
a special rate to fill in a period of time when you have no bookings, these are exactly the
people you want to contact, since they have already shown interest in your property. Keeping
detailed records also helps you to see first-hand just where your advertising dollars are
bearing fruit.
Article 4:
Getting Listed in Directories
Whether you have a website of your own, or a listing on a vacation rental advertising site,
getting the most exposure possible is imperative in this business. The phrase "never put all
your eggs in one basket" most certainly applies to getting the most out of your advertising
dollars. Search engine directories are one more way to put your name out there, and bring in
more web traffic to your rental.
It is not difficult, and only takes a short amount of time to submit your website, or your
Runaway Rentals listing to the many directories available. Below we have included a list of
some of the free and pay search directories available for you to submit to, along with
instructions to ensure your submissions to these directories are processed in a timely manner.
Free Submission Directories:
Pay Submission Directories:
Okay, now that you have viewed the list of search engine directories, let's get to the submissions process. It's easy, I promise!
Step 1: Finding the correct category:
First of all, you need to find the most relevant category for your site. This is the most
important step in the process. If you submit to the wrong category, it may be months or years
before your listing is added to a directory. When submitting to the Open Directory Project
(DMOZ), for instance, your best bet is to click on "Regional" from their main page. Keep
going down the list, the state your rental is located in, then and the city.
Once you find the right category, click on the "Add a Site" or "Add URL" button on that page.
If you had a vacation rental in Alabama to advertise (for instance) your search for the
correct category to submit to would something like this...
Regional > North America > United States > Alabama > Localities > Fairhope >
Travel and Tourism
(Or you could just search for your city with the search box provided).
Step 2: Writing a Proper Title and Description for Your Submission:
If you are submitting a Runaway Rentals listing, the correct format for your URL
(the address your listing is located at is:
http://www.runawayrentals.com/usa/florida/1.html (this is just an example).
You can find the address of your listing, or of your website, in the top bar of your
web browser, as shown below.
A proper title for your submission would look like this:
Title: Pete's Oceanfront Villa
Each directory has guidelines for submissions. If you submit your site with the title
"BEST VACATION RENAL EVER the editors will change it, and it will most definitely take
longer to be listed. Most directories require that the name of the business and/or the
name of the vacation rental in this case, be used as the title for the listing.
Writing a Good Description:
The correct way to write the description is:
Description: Home with 4 bedrooms, 2 baths and screened pool. Includes description,
pictures, map, and contact information.
Keyword stuffed titles filled with hype will also be changed by editors of many directories,
and this can also slow down the process of your site being listed. The best advice
I can give you is to accurately describe what the potential visitor will see on your website
or your Runaway Rentals listing. Be brief, yet informative. Also, never type your site title
or description with the CAPS LOCK key on. Check your spelling and grammar.
Step 3: Click the submit button, and you're done!
Submitting your website or Runaway Rentals listing helps increase the Google page rank
of the page your property is on. It can also bring you more visitors. The major search
engines use most of the directories listed earlier in this article, which means one
listing with a directory can also get you listed in the search engines. Remember that
every bit of exposure you get counts!
Article 5:
Email Address Changes?
We cannot stress this enough! Please make sure to check with us to update your email
address or other contact information whenever there is a change. Every couple of months
there are usually 3 to 10 invalid email addresses that need to be updated among our customers.
If you are a customer of ours and you are going to be changing your email address,
please let us know! We like to keep everyone's information fresh and working properly.
This way we can make sure you do not miss any inquiries from potential renters.
Article 6:
Rentals Wanted
Make sure to stop by our "Rentals Wanted" page, you just might find a potential renter
looking for accommodations in your area.
Runaway Rentals Feedback and Success Stories
Runaway Rentals Customer Comments and Feedback:
"I am getting such a good response from your service, I am increasing the rate on my
property at Lake Hawkins, TX. Need to know what procedure is available for changing the
information on the ad."
..."I have 4 ads in place and at least 80% of my rentals
have come from Runaway Rentals. Could not be more pleased."
Thanks
Glyn - (Rental in Lake Hawkins, TX)
Hi ! My husband and I loved the ad for
the condo and the way the pictures were set up and
everything. Nice job. Your web site is easy to use, which I like, and also the fact that
Florida is broken down into sections, so it makes it easier to view the area you are
interested in. The price is great, so even if we get one rental it will pay for itself.
We'll keep you posted.
Sincerely, Kathy - (Rental in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands)
I certainly understand that
you like to see, and you like us to see how many people come to us through you, and I must say, you do very well for us, especially this last six months. We
get as many responses from you, and possibly more, than from any other source.
Thanks for everything,
Denise - (Rentals in Ojai, CA)
You have done a great job in putting my villas on your site, not only very well done, but
with amazing speed! I also like your form which will show me the source of some inquiries,
and of course, your site will be creating other inquiries that will come to me from my site
where I will not know the source. Either way, your site is a winner and I am pleased to be
on it. Not having prices published will make it easy for me to keep up with it and incentive
for me to renew.
Incidentally, one of the main reasons I choose to be on your site is the straight-forward
approach you offer for easy navigation to the listings, and the fact that you do not have
any flashing nor pulsating distractions on your site. Keep up the good work. Again - Thanks
Thanks and regards -
Henry - (Rentals in Turks & Caicos Islands - Caribbean)
Hello Chris and Michelle
Happy New Year and thank you for your great site, it has helped enormously
to keep our cabin booked.
John - (Rental in Ottawa, Quebec)
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