STR Websites can help your short term rental be found online by vacation planners, re-booked by returning guests, and used as an owned-and-controlled platform that outlasts booking platforms.
Some short term rental owners want integrated websites that allow you to book directly (like iGMS or OwnerRez or Guesty) but typically those “all in one” websites do not also allow for great SEO content indexing or creation. Nor are those platforms typically very fast.
So because our team members actually own and operate STR’s that have websites that are converting visitors into leads – so we wanted to share 5 tips and how STR websites can help your short term rental be found online. Our new one-page str websites are specifically made to help you easily get a Google Business Profile launched, a website secure and capturing leads, and help your SEO (search engine rankings) grow for your STR with just one page.
Top 5 Ways A One-Page Website Can Help Your STR Occupancy Rate Improve
#1: Connected Google Business Profile
If someone searches “vacation home rental in destination-town” and Google sees an indexing Google Map Pack Listing, you’ll be rewarded with being in front of a potential visitor.
In order for that to happen, you need to get a verified Google Business Profile with the proper category live and verified with Google. Typically “vacation home rental agency” will allow you to set up a listing with Google. You can then control the info, link to a live site or third-party platform, and collect reviews.
#2: Tell Your STR Story
Many short term rental properties have more to tell than what a third-party platform will allow you to share. It might be in a historic home, a unique town, or full of charm that is hard to share on the STR platform profile.
Having our own website at Freedom Home STR has allowed us to share the story of the history of the home, so it becomes more interesting for people to stay and not just a decision based on amenities.
#3: Highlight Things To Do In Your Area
With your own website, you can link to local attractions and even charge them to advertise on your website. Your website also becomes a resource for your visitors to explore things to do as they plan their stay.
The SEO benefit of this is that it can be done as blog articles – which index and rank with Google about “things to do in xyz”.
#4: Capture Leads of Interested Guests
Not all vacation hunters are ready to pull the trigger and book a stay – but with your own website, you can easily capture their information and follow up in the future for booking a stay.
#5: Index With Google and Re-Book With Ease
The best reason to have your own website is it will allow you to share a (dot)com with your visitors, be indexed locally with Google as a place to stay, and allow guests to easily contact you again to re-book and potentially save some booking platform fees. Even if you manually sent them Venmo or QB invoices to capture payment, it can be a win without an integration with iGMS or OwnerRez or Guesty.
The point of our offering of a one-pager website for STR owners is that it will help all these benefits grow your brand over time.
