October 2011 Newsletter
Updates to the website
Additional Selection Boxes: To make it even easier for visitors to the site to find the exact cottage they’re after, we will add a further 3 Selection Boxes on our front page to join our other 12 buttons. We’ve done this partly in response to user feedback and partly as a result of analysing the number of times potential bookers use them to start their searches. We will soon add boxes for ‘Cottages that allow smoking’, ‘Newly listed properties’ and ‘Favourite Favourites.’ The most recent 20 cottages will appear in the Newly Listed Properties, so if you own another cottage, why not add it for a further £4, which will appear in our box?
My Favourite Favourites
Still in its test phase, you may have noticed a big red button on our front page called “My Favourite Favourites Login”. To make it easy for people to bookmark and rate a property, visitors to the site can create their own property portfolio. Whenever someone comes across and adds a property to their portfolio that they like, it will get a red teapot with a number that appears on your listing in the search results. The more people add your cottage to their Favourite Favourites portfolio, the bigger the number, which is an additional endorsement. It’s a different type of search function – whereby people look for kindred spirits with similar tastes. Why not set up your own FF portfolio? Let us know what you think and how we can develop it. We will let you know once it’s finished.
‘Email Owner Button’
We will soon make the ‘Email the Owner’ button more prominent on every listing. Having looked through the website, we felt that this needed to be brought further up the page to make it as easy as possible for visitors to your listing to email you and (fingers crossed) make a booking.
How to appear at the top of our Search Lists
We all know that the nearer the top of your property’s list appears, the more attention it will attract. But do you know how to secure top rankings on My Favourites Holiday Cottages? It’s easy! Every time you log in and amend your listing, it will be placed back at the top of the search results in which it appears. So, to ensure you stay on top of the search results, keep your listing up to date. It’s as easy as that. By the way, you must leave seven days between updates to get the benefit.
Renewals
If your listing is set to expire and you haven’t yet renewed, there’s still time to take advantage of our current offer: renew now for £25 for your first cottage and £4 for each cottage after that and receive an extra six months for free. Our offer ends on October 31st, so if you still need to renew, log into your account and click ‘Subscription Renewal’ to keep your listing live. Your cottages will then appear on the website well into 2013.
October Competition
We’re on the lookout for photos of your cottages in the snow. With last year’s bitter winter, it was an excellent time to take some pictures of your cottage in the wintertime. The best photo submitted wins a 2-month featured favourite for any two months of your choice and may be used in further publicity we’re planning. Email your pictures to dan@myholidaymarketing.co.uk, and the competition closes on November 4th.
We also found an excellent article on preventing frozen water pipes at your holiday cottage from Schofields Insurance.
If you have an idea for a blog article, send it in. We’ll credit you with a link to your site.
Finally...
As always, if you have any comments or questions, we’d love to hear from you. We look forward to hearing from you…