ArdecheGite Posted February 17, 2007 Share Posted February 17, 2007 Hello,I'm new to the group and have recently aquired a gite to let in the Ardeche. I'm looking for the best free sites to advertise my property. Can anyone assist? I did hear of a site called JustDirect.Net - has anyone tried this? Or are free sites a waste of time?Thanks for your help!Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted February 18, 2007 Share Posted February 18, 2007 Well my observation is that there are no properties of any kind for France on the website and they don't appear in the first 10 pages of any search engine so as to them being any good I think that others can draw their own conclusions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimportequoi Posted February 18, 2007 Share Posted February 18, 2007 [quote user="ArdecheGite"]Or are free sites a waste of time? [/quote]Most of them are not worth the time it takes to put your details on. There are a couple of exceptions which do bring in bookings, but if you are serious about letting, you need to be listed on the bigger rental listing sites. Doing a search on google using the key words you think people will use when looking for a gite like yours/in your area will give you some idea about which ones will be suitable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted February 18, 2007 Share Posted February 18, 2007 [quote user="Susan"]Doing a search on google using the key words you think people will use when looking for a gite like yours/in your area will give you some idea about which ones will be suitable.[/quote]The best advice. [:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdecheGite Posted February 18, 2007 Author Share Posted February 18, 2007 Hi, thanks for your help, I'll do the google search. I think someone mentioned to me JustDirect.Net, because they apparantly create your advert for you and grab the property information from an existing website. I'll have a look at the paid sites. Thanks again!Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo Taylor Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 When you do the test seaching, imagine you're the typical customer, rather than the typical person on this forum (who knows what they're looking for)...Free advertising sites are worth a go, if you have your ad and pics ready-prepared. Cheap ones are the ones to avoid.The more expensive ones (like Chez Nous) are more likely to have good web optimisation, press advertising, glossy brochure and brand awareness working for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 Hi PeteThis is our first year in gites and we advertise with both french and english sites, some free some pay, and we have received bookings from the pay and free sites. We also get a lot of refferals to our website from the free sites. We have a very good success rate with the French sites which in comparison to the english ones, are very cheap. Whilst I agree with others on this forum that free is not always best, I am in the camp of any advertising be it free or pay can only be good and I am quite happy to put my info out there[:) Happy GooglingKimberly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 I agree with Kimberly. If it works, it doesn't matter if it's free or paying. We found most of the paying sites are dreadful at targeting our market - we do it better ourselves. We are not in the market for people looking for "a place to stay in France" - we are a bit more focussed than that - as indeed most internautes are once they start to refine their search to cut through the rubbish vague searches like that produce. Nevertheless, we got a worthwhile number of bookings from free sites last year and it continues this year - I'm not saying how much. [;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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