Spanish Property Advertising Guide
Getting the Most from your Property Advertising
Your Spanish holiday home will be displayed on our website as an advertising brochure with four photographs (basic advert). Photographs are extremely important in attracting booking enquiries, so please ensure the best possible image quality - the brochures with the best photos are the ones that will attract the most booking enquiries. Good quality photos will sell your holiday home and generally speaking – the more, the better!
The other main selling point is making sure the price is right. Obviously you are in the holiday rentals business to make money, but bear in mind that people browsing the internet for their holiday generally expect to pay less when they book a holiday property direct from the owner than they would if booking elsewhere. As many more Europeans buy property in Spain, so there are many more holiday properties to choose from – forcing rental tariffs down in the face of competition.
Searching other internet adverts will give you an idea of what other owners are charging for property similar to your own. There is little point comparing prices with holidays offered by agents as these are in a different category, but classified ads placed by owners may be a good starting point for you to get an idea of pricing. Also take facilities and location into account – a two bedroomed apartment with a portable TV showing only Spanish programmes, no other ‘extra’ facilities and 20 minutes walk from the beach, will not be priced in the same bracket as a similar property with dishwasher, air-conditioning, satellite TV and overlooking the sea.
Over the last few years, holidaymakers expectations have become higher – many require dishwashers, Satellite TV, microwave and other ‘luxury’ items to be included as standard. It may be worth that little bit extra to provide these items to give you an edge over competitors.
Advertising Copy
Think carefully about the wording on your brochure before filling in the details. It may be worth spending some time making notes beforehand. Never type in capitals as it will look awful on the resulting advert, and run it through a spell checker first! Advertising submitted to us is not spell checked and will reflect badly on both your property and Holiday Villas Spain if it is full of errors.
Although you are able to make changes to your brochure at a later date, it is always better to get it right the first time. The main title and summary are what will attract visitors to view the rest of the brochure. If they are not attention grabbing, visitors will look elsewhere and you will have lost a potential booking.
Example:
Luxuriously furnished 3 bed villa with private pool overlooking the Mediterranean on the prestigious Monte Pego Development
Main Text Areas
Here you will describe your property and location. Describe the best features of the property itself, local attractions, the surrounding area, nearest airport, historic sites or anything else your site visitors may find of interest.
Try to use key words and phrases within your copy. These are used not only for local searches on the Spanish Villas Spain website, but in our general internet promotions.
Double check that your email address is correct before submitting your advert. All enquiries will come direct to you from the link on your brochure and if your email is incorrect you will lose our on those precious booking enquiries.
Images
The photos are what is going to sell your property, which makes them the most important part of your advertising. The old adage about a picture painting a thousand words is particularly relevant in the property advertising industry. It is advisable to tick the ‘high resolution’ box when uploading the first image, as this is the one that will show up initially in searches, or in any of our ‘featured’ sections. There is no need to use high resolution for the remainder of the photos as these will show in full size when people click on the photo link.
People will generally expect to see a photo of the outside of the property, private or communal pool, views (if there are any), living/dining room, kitchen and a bedroom. Photos of toilets will not generally attract site visitors to book your property.
If the property is still under construction or undergoing restoration you can use local views, builders show house or a photo of a similar property in the same area as long as you make it clear on the advertising, and substitute photos later on.
The system will accept .gif or .jpeg files, but .jpg always produces the best quality for a photo. A maximum width of 350 pixels is advisable, especially if you have 10 photos as anything too large will slow download times and impatient visitors may click away from the page.
Images can be uploaded directly from the form or sent to us via email or post. Photos to be sent by email should be sent to: enquiries@spanish-villas-spain.com and should be sent as .jpg attachments, not embedded into a Word document or any other software programme. You can also post your photos to:Spanish Villas Spain, Avenida de la Marina 44, 03720, Benissa, Alicante, Spain
We cannot activate your advertising until we have received both your photos and payment.
Finally….
You can take a horse to water but you can’t make him drink! We can’t guarantee bookings, but we can ensure you that your brochure will be well presented and well promoted on the internet. Whether site visitors book your property or not is dependant on the way it is portrayed on the site – good copy, reasonable prices and first-class photos. Always respond to enquiries as soon as possible, even if your property is booked. Internet users expect quick replies and will go elsewhere if one is not forthcoming. A well-balanced and presented brochure will give the maximum chance to attract more enquiries.
Adding your property to our extra promotions links such as Holiday Villa of the Month, or Bargain Holiday Rentals which are featured on our home page, can increase your visibility to site visitors. If you want to give your bookings an extra boost, consider trying one of these links.
Please do not attempt to squeeze photos and descriptions for more than one property onto one brochure. The result will look confusing and messy to site visitors. Discounts are available for multiple property adverts. If you have your own personal website, you can add a URL link to it from your brochure. This facility is not available for commercial sites unless by prior arrangement with Spanish Villas Spain
We wish you every success with your advertising.
The Team at Spanish Villas Spain
