I’ve had a lot of feedback since the launch of Mental About Rental, both in forums and privately on email. One of the recurring themes is directory statistics.
There seems to be an accepted view that directories are under no obligation to divulge their traffic data, and some people believe that the statistics are useless anyway. I believe both of these assertions are incorrect.
When you’re trying to decide where to advertise your rental property, a variety of factors will influence your decision on whether to advertise on a specific directory. These include;
1. Is it the right ‘type’ of directory for your property type
2. Does it target the right country / countries for your target audience
3. Does it give you a professional looking listing
4. What additional features does the directory offer (SMS alerts, calendar etc)
5. How much does it cost?
6. How many bookings am I likely to get?
You can glean 1, 3, 4 and 5 by looking at the website, but none of this information is of any use without 2 et 6. What’s the use of the listing if it’s infront of the wrong people, or worse, is in front of too few people?
In any professional advertising medium (internet included), viewership figures are critical to purchasing decisions. En fait, the internet is better than any other medium for it’s ability to analyse and segment readership accurately. Any directory worth it’s salt will have a web stats package installed, and so they have the information. It’s just that most of them aren’t giving it to you, or are presenting it in a misleading manner.
One comment in a forum suggested that the stats information is commercially sensitive and that the detailed stats aren’t something that could be shared. Fine. All customers need to know to make their purchasing decisions is;
1. How many unique visitors per month
2. How does that breakdown by country
So why are directories not publishing this information? In fairness, one or two are, and they tend to be the big guys, some of whom are listed and have a legal obligation to disclose. Others however are running scared of the stats, or are in the process of building their business and feel that the truth would discourage rental owners from listing with them.
There’s a chicken and egg situation; if your stats are low, nobody will spend with you, so you can’t afford to build your traffic to a size where people will want to list with you. That may be so, but it’s unfair that the unsuspecting rental owner is having to fund this growth, whilst being unlikely to see bookings as a result of their listing. Some directories are building their traffic the professional way; free listings until such point as the traffic is high enough to start charging for it and that should be encouraged.
The irony is that there’s no reason to be scared of the stats. As several people have pointed out, they’d rather have 1 booking than 1000 views of their property on a directory, and that’s true. Sometimes a niche website with relatively low traffic can generate a high number of bookings for it’s rental owners. These sites should celebrate that fact, be up front with all the figures, and let the consumer make an informed choice.
Répertoires voudrais juste dire la vérité
I’ve had a lot of feedback since the launch of Mental About Rental, both in forums and privately on email. One of the recurring themes is directory statistics.
There seems to be an accepted view that directories are under no obligation to divulge their traffic data, and some people believe that the statistics are useless anyway. I believe both of these assertions are incorrect.
When you’re trying to decide where to advertise your rental property, a variety of factors will influence your decision on whether to advertise on a specific directory. These include;
1. Is it the right ‘type’ of directory for your property type
2. Does it target the right country / countries for your target audience
3. Does it give you a professional looking listing
4. What additional features does the directory offer (SMS alerts, calendar etc)
5. How much does it cost?
6. How many bookings am I likely to get?
You can glean 1, 3, 4 and 5 by looking at the website, but none of this information is of any use without 2 et 6. What’s the use of the listing if it’s infront of the wrong people, or worse, is in front of too few people?
In any professional advertising medium (internet included), viewership figures are critical to purchasing decisions. En fait, the internet is better than any other medium for it’s ability to analyse and segment readership accurately. Any directory worth it’s salt will have a web stats package installed, and so they have the information. It’s just that most of them aren’t giving it to you, or are presenting it in a misleading manner.
One comment in a forum suggested that the stats information is commercially sensitive and that the detailed stats aren’t something that could be shared. Fine. All customers need to know to make their purchasing decisions is;
1. How many unique visitors per month
2. How does that breakdown by country
So why are directories not publishing this information? In fairness, one or two are, and they tend to be the big guys, some of whom are listed and have a legal obligation to disclose. Others however are running scared of the stats, or are in the process of building their business and feel that the truth would discourage rental owners from listing with them.
There’s a chicken and egg situation; if your stats are low, nobody will spend with you, so you can’t afford to build your traffic to a size where people will want to list with you. That may be so, but it’s unfair that the unsuspecting rental owner is having to fund this growth, whilst being unlikely to see bookings as a result of their listing. Some directories are building their traffic the professional way; free listings until such point as the traffic is high enough to start charging for it and that should be encouraged.
The irony is that there’s no reason to be scared of the stats. As several people have pointed out, they’d rather have 1 booking than 1000 views of their property on a directory, and that’s true. Sometimes a niche website with relatively low traffic can generate a high number of bookings for it’s rental owners. These sites should celebrate that fact, be up front with all the figures, and let the consumer make an informed choice.
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