The heat map in this picture shows where visitor clicks are concentrated. Look at how most of the clicks are focused on the search box.

Getting travelers to your website is just half the battle. Getting their business once they arrive is just as important. At LiveRez, we pay special attention to how well our websites perform when it comes to conversion.

Wikpedia defines conversion rate as: “The ratio of visitors who convert casual content views or website visits into desired actions based on subtle or direct requests from marketers, advertisers and content creators.”

In terms of a vacation rental management company’s website, the end goal (most desirable requested action) is for a visitor to book a property. With LiveRez-powered websites, this process takes only three clicks, with the first click being especially important because it launches the potential guest into the booking channel.

The image to the right demonstrates just how good LiveRez-powered websites are at invoking website visitors to enter the booking channel. As you can see by this heat map (typical of LiveRez-powered websites), visitor clicks are highly concentrated on the search box on the front page. Combine this with excellent average bounce rates, which greatly outperform industry standards, and you have the makings of a high-conversion website.

As evidenced by our partners’ success stories (and through our own tracking statistics), LiveRez-powered websites have been shown to greatly increase web bookings through a combination of increased website conversion and higher search engine placement (as a result of better SEO optimization).

If you’re looking to expand your presence online and increase your web bookings, make sure you check out LiveRez. To learn more about LiveRez-powered websites, visit our websites page or call us now at 800-343-2891.

Does your website take online bookings? The ability to take online bookings (or web bookings) is an especially powerful tool for vacation rental managers.

One of the key things that sets LiveRez apart from its competition is that it offers a complete dynamic website with an online booking engine that is completed integrated with the back office (reservation system and trust accounting). One of the major inspirations behind LiveRez was to make vacation rental managers fully operational online and give them the ability to take online bookings (just like hotels).

We all know that online bookings are important and can help take a vacation rental business to the next level. But, it’s easy to forget the specific reasons that make online bookings especially important. Following are the top 6 reasons why the ability to take online bookings is so important.

1. Convenience – With online booking, travelers can shop AND buy right there online. With sites that do not take online bookings, travelers have to contact the management company to make the final purchase – an added inconvenience that in some cases can detour travelers from booking.

2.  Available 24-7 – Because your website is up online all the time, travelers can make reservations at any point during the day, especially outside of your normal business hours. You and your staff have to sleep some time, right? Well, your website never does, so giving it the ability to take online bookings means at least one member of your sales team is working around the clock.

• Did you know LiveRez.com’s end-to-end SaaS platform is available 24-7 anywhere there’s an Internet connection? Learn more about web-based software. >>>

3. Saves Labor Hours (and Money) – When a booking comes in over the phone or in person, your reservationist has to manually enter information into the reservation system and possibly answer questions that could have been answered online. Plus, a reservationist is only able to work with one person a time, whereas a website can handle multiple reservations at once. Speaking to a real person is always a great option to give someone, and computers and the Internet will never really replace that. But, if travelers can get all the information they need for their decision from your website, allowing them to book online can create significant cost savings and open up your employees to focus on other tasks.

• Find out how our reservation system can also save you time and money >>>

4. Avoid Awkward Conversations About Fees – Every now and then, a reservationist will get questions about certain fees charged by the management company. While these fees are generally very legitimate and standard practice for many management companies, sometimes explaining them can be awkward. When travelers book online, they tend to be more accepting of those fees – and less conversations are initiated (also saving you time and money).

5. Websites Provide Great Analytics – Knowing more about your guests is paramount to creating successful marketing efforts. When guests book online, it’s easier to track how they came to your website and to monitor their shopping behavior when they get there. Analytics can also help you identify any roadblocks that may be keeping guests from moving through the booking process, so you can take the appropriate action to remove these obstacles.

• Read our blog post on website analytics >>>

6. Travelers Stop Shopping – Perhaps the most important reason to take online bookings is because when travelers book online they stop shopping. This may seem obvious, but consider this scenario: A busy mom is planning her family’s vacation, but can only find time to look into accommodations late at night once the kids go to sleep. She is looking at your website and finds a few properties she likes. She’s ready to book, but it’s outside of your regular business hours and she can’t finalize the reservation. She decides to contact you first thing in the morning, but in the mean time she goes ahead and checks out some of your competitors’ websites. Turns out she finds some other houses that she likes as well. And, guess what? Your competitor can take online bookings, so the traveler decides that she will just go ahead and book with them.

You not only just lost a customer but also lost the investment that it took in getting her to your website. Maybe she came in through paid marketing efforts or a pay-per-click campaign. Or, maybe she came in through an organic search result. Regardless of how she got there, you probably made a big investment in getting her there – no matter what channel she came through.

• Learn how LiveRez.com’s 3-click booking process can increase website conversion and drive more bookings >>>

Learn More

These six points illustrate just how important online bookings are. They help you save time and money, offer your travelers convenience, give you a competitive advantage and help protect the investment you’ve made in getting travelers to visit your website.

Does your website offer online bookings? If not, check out LiveRez.com. We can make your business fully operational online and greatly expand your web presence. Even when switching from other software providers that allow online bookings, our partners generally see dramatic increases in their web bookings. You can learn more by visiting our website, watching our brief demo online or scheduling a guided product tour by calling 800-343-2891.

Carolina Beach Realty's partnership with LiveRez.com has allowed the business to dramatically increase its web presence.

Carolina Beach Realty
Location: Carolina Beach, NC
Website: CarolinaBeachRealty.net
Quick Quote: “In the two years that we’ve been dealing with LiveRez, the rate of growth in our business has doubled and our revenues have increased tremendously. I really attribute a lot of that to the presence LiveRez has given us on the Internet.”

Imagine taking a trip back in time – to a place that’s family friendly, with uncrowded beaches and where a business really hangs its hat on true customer service.

It’s not a dream – it’s called Pleasure Island. And with 45 years of experience in the area, Carolina Beach Realty has the inside track to a wonderful vacation there.

The company offers a wide variety of homes and condos for rent, ranging in size from one to seven bedrooms, with a variety of ocean front and ocean view properties, and at prices that can fit a wide variety of budgets. Its selection of properties is among the largest offered on the small island.

Every week during the summer months, the local chamber hosts a fireworks show. It's just one of the many family-friendly activities that visitors will find on Pleasure Island.

Pleasure Island is only about 8 miles long, but it encompasses both Carolina Beach, Kure Beach and the Fort Fisher Historic Area, the third-most visited historical site in all of North Carolina. All together the island offers a laid-back atmosphere, set amidst beautiful, unspoiled beaches.

“We just don’t have the crowds that you have to fight with,” said Jim Kitts, co-owner of Carolina Beach Realty. “But there are plenty of activities available – so it’s not like a ghost town, either.”

Those activities include, among other things, a fireworks show that takes places every Thursday night at the Carolina Beach Boardwalk during the summer months, and a family movie night at Carolina Beach Lake where families can bring their lawn chairs and blankets, and enjoy a family-appropriate movie projected on a big screen.

“It’s a very family-friendly and family-oriented beach,” said Kitts.“Our local chamber does a great job of providing family-oriented activities.”

Carolina Beach Realty itself is a family-oriented business. Kitts and his wife took over the business seven years ago from her father.  And, today they still offer that same old-school customer service that the business is known for.

One of the many beautiful views visitors can find out the window of their vacation home when they book with Carolina Beach Realty.

“To me that’s the most important thing – to offer that friendly, polite, courteous customer service that, quite frankly, isn’t easy to find these days,” he said.

Kitts said they try to offer people the same respect and same level of service that that they, themselves, would expect.

And, it’s not just service to the many guests that frequent Carolina Beach Realty’s vacation homes – it’s also a high level of service to the owners of these homes.

“It’s our job to make both sides of that transaction happy,” Kitts said.

Kitts said that balancing the needs of customers with owners can be challenging at times, but that his business works hard and, most importantly, tries to be fair at every turn.

“We don’t hit a homerun at every at bat, but we do our best,” said Kitts, a former NFL running back. “We figure if we get enough base hits, we’ll be successful, and that’s what we’ve done.”

One of the many outstanding vacation homes offered by Carolina Beach Realty.

The word “successful,” however, is an understatement when it comes to Kitts and Carolina Beach Realty. The company has experienced growth in every year since the Kitts have taken the reins, even through the recent recession.

And, according to Kitts, that growth took a shot in the arm when the company became a LiveRez partner two years ago.

“In the two years that we’ve been dealing with LiveRez, the rate of growth in our business has doubled and our revenues have increased tremendously,” he said. “I really attribute a lot of that to the presence LiveRez has given us on the Internet.”

After switching to LiveRez, Kitts experienced increases in search engine placement, and his website traffic received a considerable boost.

“The hits on our website have probably increased 65 to 70 percent, if not more, since we started using LiveRez,” said Kitts, who also noted a big increase in web bookings.

Kitts said this web presence has not only helped them pick up new customers, but also attract new owners.

“Obviously when people buy property and they’re looking for someone to manage it for them, the first place they’re going to go is the Internet – just like the people that are looking for a vacation,” Kitts said. “When we come up first and show a strong presence online, it gives us good credibility.”

Some of the stunning accommodations offered by Carolina Beach Realty.

According to Kitts, the interest from owners wanting to list their homes through his management company has been almost overwhelming. Right now his business is growing about as fast his infrastructure can handle.

“We’ve grown tremendously in just a short period of time,” he said. “We’ve got to the point where I kind of have to throttle back on the properties that I take on.”

The rush of traffic to CarolinaBeachRealty.net and the rapid growth of the business provide a perfect contrast to the quiet splendor of Pleasure Island.

You see, the most crowded part of Pleasure Island could very likely be Kitts’ LiveRez-powered website.

Cocoa Beach Best Condominium Rentals experienced dramatic increases in search engine placement, website traffic and web bookings in just its first few months with LiveRez.com

When Sheila Hobart of Cocoa Beach Best Condominium Rentals signed up for LiveRez.com’s SEO/SEM service, she had a clear plan in front of her for the customer demographic she wanted to reach – she just wanted a little helping getting her company in front of them.

After working with LiveRez.com SEO/SEM Manager Sam Martin to nail down her target audience, Hobart let LiveRez.com’s SEO/SEM service design and execute a custom plan.

And, in just a matter of weeks, Cocoa Beach Best is starting to see results.

“Our website is hitting its targets, and our numbers look good,” Hobart said.

In just over one month with LiveRez.com’s SEO/SEM service, Cocoa Beach Best’s search engine placement for seven strategic keyword phrases increased by 316 percent. On May 19, Cocoa Beach Best had an average search engine ranking of 75 among those seven keyword phrases. But, as of July 1, its average ranking has increased to 18.

Quick Stats on Cocoa Beach Best's success with the LiveRez SEO/SEM program.

Thank to LiveRez’s efforts, one of those keywords phrases – “Cocoa Beach FL Vacation Condo Rentals” – has moved from a No. 83 placement to a No. 8 placement, essentially skyrocketing the business from an eighth-page placement to a first-page placement in just over one month.

These results have given Cocoa Beach Best some great search engine visibility, and have helped monthly traffic to cocoabeachbest.com more than double.

“We were unknown before, and now we’re on the first page of Google,” she said.

These elevated placements – along a mix of intelligent in-house marketing and the addition of Martin’s Google Adwords campaign – have helped Cocoa Beach Best yield some astonishing increases in online business. From May to June, Cocoa Beach Best’s web bookings exploded, yielding a 2,900 percent increase in bookings and a 3,855 percent increase in nights stayed.

With her online business booming, Hobart couldn’t be happier with the value she’s getting from LiveRez’s SEO/SEM service.

Said Hobart: “Sam has been worth every penny.”

Recently I had a conversation with a vacation manager about her strategy of week-to-week rentals.  We agreed that although that was a good strategy in the past, it might not be what she wants to do for 2009.  As a matter of fact, she already changed her business model to adapt to the changing traveler booking habits.

Here are some noteworthy stats - based on 2007/2008 bookings:

• For 1 Week 25% 
• For 6 days 20%
• For 3/4/5 days 15%

My expectation, and what i am observing across our many vacation managers is that the % of 7 day rentals is decreasing and travelers are looking for more flexibility.  While not being able to afford the full 1 week vacation, they do not want to forgo the vacation completely and a few days is much better than no vacation home at all.

So my advice is, put the old 'week-to-week' rental only strategy on the shelf while the economy and travelers are in recovery mode.

Ralf
www.LiveRez.com

Now this guys looks like he knows his SEO facts.

If you are like me, and most of the vacation home rental managers I talk to on a daily basis, you are always looking for an edge to get visitors to your website.  In the spirit of getting an edge, I ran across a great educational post about walking the fine line of kosher SEO tactics.  Beware the risks.

Dirty SEO tricks you should avoid by Rich Cherecwich

Getting reinstated in the search rankings takes time, and the search giant has a four-step process for getting back on track:

1. Determine what went wrong. In most cases, it's a Google webmaster guideline that has been violated.
2. Solve the problem.In the case of doorway pages related to domain buying, get rid of them. With link buying, it's a much harder and lengthier process. If you purchased links on a blog, you'll have to contact those bloggers, and they in turn will have to remove the links to your website.
3. File a reconsideration request.Within Google's webmaster tools, there are full instructions for a filing a reconsideration request. You'll want to explain what happened, notify them that it's fixed, and tell the search engine that you won't use that deceptive trick again. A team from Google then reviews the request and checks your website to make sure any violations have been cleaned up.
4. Stay away from the tricks."This is probably a given -- don't it again," Lasnik says.

Stay clean and say 'No' to bad SEO practices.  My advice. 

All the best.

Ralf
www.LiveRez.com

"Thank you, I am fine.  I am just looking."  We got them all the way into our store (vacation home rental website), and they are 'just looking'.  Let's put our salesperson hat on and 'make the sale'.  We know they are not just here for fun (they are interested in booking a vacation home, or at least getting more information for a future vacation home).  They could be having fun on www.hulu.comwatching TV shows and movies, or playing web boggle at www.wordsplay.net. 

In our house, CTR stands for 'Choose The Right".  Boosting CTR (Click Through Rates) is like helping our web visitors Choose The Right. : )

So what can we do to actively sell to them on the web?  Here are 10 ideas (which I think are pretty good) from Reid Carr - an eCommerce expert published on iMediaConnection.com.

Read the full article:  10 ways to boost falling click-through rates by Reid Carr of iMediaConnection.com

1. Test
I wanted to cite this as tactic No. 1 because it should be at the forefront of any advice or recommendation that I outline. While there are "best practices," we've concluded through experience and testing that things are always changing and each case is unique. You have to establish appropriate rules for testing to give everything a fair shake. But once you've done that, establish a hypothesis and go.   Rule nothing out. You will be amazed at what is successful. But beware: Don't let any finding become your secret sauce that you turn to for everything. Every campaign, client, product, placement, and timing causes your targets to react differently -- so be on your toes every time.

The folks at Marketing Experiments are focused on eCommerce - which also includes online vacation rental vacation bookings in my definition of getting online bookings. 

I have always liked their 'Conversion Index':  Conversion = 4m + 3v + 2(i-f) - 2a is a great way of looking at how to dissect the various aspects of what gets prospects to book a vacation on your site. 

Here are the definitions for the Conversion Index (above) there are four elements that are critical to increasing conversion:

•  Motivation (m) of the prospect visiting your website to make a purchase.
• The clarity with which Value Proposition (v) is expressed. After motivation, it’s the most important factor in determining whether a customer buys from a site or not.
• Incentives (i) such as specials, rewards, etc. are used to mitigate Friction–producing (f) elements such as finding information, clicking many buttons, etc. in the conversion process.
• Anxiety–causing (a) elements, such as asking for personal and credit card information.

Evaluate your vacation property rental website with these principles in mind. 

Thanks.

Ralf
www.liverez.com

OK, I am back from a crazy April of traveling, moving, and all the excitement that comes along with that.  First of all, let me get the move out of the way.  Last week, my family (my high-school sweetheart wife, and four kids ages 13-3) moved from Salt Lake City to Boise, ID.  The most amazing part is not all the stuff I realized we had, it was that we consciously chose to move so much of it.

In April I had the opportunity to attend the Eastern VRMA, Western VRMA, FloridaVRMA, and the Atlanta Vacation Home Expo.  I will go into some detail about all these show in future bog entries.  However, one overriding observation I have is that there is an incredible opportunity for our industry.  This opportunity comes from two direction:  (1) we have a great product, and (2) we are currently very much under-utilizing the power of the Internet and the ability to create a public movement for the vacation rental market.

One of the things I am trying to do is help educate the vacation rental community on some web marketing basics that can help us drive more bookings and awareness.  Last month I hosted a webinar on Driving Website Conversion,  this month I am hosting a webinar on Search Engine Marketing Basics.  If you are interesting in attending this free webinar, please register and join us.