When your vacation rental properties are competing against so many others, it's essential that your listings stand out.
In order to make your properties shine enough to entice clicks, you need good, powerful titles. But do you know how to write great headlines for your vacation rentals?
The following tips will teach you all you need to know about how to write click-worthy headlines and drive traffic to your vacation rental listings.
Know how many characters you have to work with
Your first step to writing powerful titles is to figure out how many characters property listing sites, search engines, and social networks allow you to use. How frustrating is it when you have the perfect headline all ready to go, and then you discover you don’t have enough room to enter it all! Remember, “character count” is different from “word count” (those spaces and commas factor in!).
When you start writing, use your word processor to track your characters — this will give you a good idea of how many words you can use. If you use MyVR’s centralized vacation rental management software, you’ll receive an alert when your title will be truncated by a listing site for excessive characters. You will want to use the maximum amount of characters allowed to get the most bang for your buck.
Highlight the features that make your property special
When you’re learning how to write a good headline for your vacation rental, it’s important to think about the things that make your property unique. The most powerful titles contain this information. So, what makes your rental special? Is it the distance to the beach? Excellent stargazing? A private pool? A boat dock? Is it a haunted cabin? An enchanting cottage in the forest? Fresh fruit trees? Take your major selling features - including number of bedrooms - and use those to your best advantage. If there’s nothing particularly special about your property, capture a renter’s attention by making your headline funny or quirky to get people to click through!
This vacation rental headline does a great job of focusing on what makes it special and focusing on a segment that frequents the property:
Indicate the type of property
Even though you only have a certain amount of characters to use for your headline, you must include the type of property that you’re renting. Is it a farmhouse? A villa? A condo? An apartment? A townhouse? This is important for renters to know as they search for the perfect rental for them.
Think about your audience and what will make them click
Your property won’t likely suit every type of traveler, so think about who will most likely be your guest. If it’s a family, think about the types of things that will draw in those renters. Things like “safe neighborhood” or “family friendly activities nearby” might grab their attention. If it’s young professionals you’re trying to attract, use features like “close to nightlife” or “fast WiFI included.” Always remember who you want clicking your headline, so you can write powerful titles that will appeal to the right audience.
Here’s a great example of a vacation rental headline that clearly knows who its audience is:
Use your adjectives wisely
A great way to appeal to renters is by making your headlines emotional. Use strong words for most impact. For example, instead of describing your property as “a big house,” try saying “a sprawling farmhouse filled with charm.” Instead of saying you have a “small condo,” try saying “modern, intimate space in the city.” Words like enchanting, romantic, and cozy will appeal to readers because they will make an emotional connection.
Notice how the words in this vacation rental headline have such strong emotional appeal:
Think about bonus features
Now that you’ve thought about what makes your property special and making an emotional connection with your audience, think about the other bonus features that you could sneak into your headline. Is it close to golf? Is there a fireplace? A BBQ? Walking distance to amenities? If you have room left in your headline, try popping some of these in for an even greater impact.
This rental caption does an excellent job of adding in bonus features:
Don’t waste space with words that don’t matter
When you’re learning how to write powerful titles, you have to remember how precious that space is because of the character limit. Remember, a lot of detail about your property will be visible below the headline, so don’t waste space including it in your title. Things like how many people your property sleeps, how many bathrooms are available, and what city you’re located in can be found immediately below the headline, so don’t include them in your title.
Now that you know how to write a good headline for your vacation rental, it’s time to start writing! Don’t forget MyVR’s headline tips:
· Always be mindful of how many characters you have
· Focus on the most special features of your property
· Define your property type
· Keep your target audience in mind
· Use strong, emotional adjectives
· Add bonus features if you have space
· Don’t waste characters on details that can be found right below your headline
While it is important to keep property captions consistent, so returning guests and anyone who has flagged your properties as potential rentals can find them, don’t be afraid to tweak headlines to find the optimal titles for each property.
