4 Photography Tips for Getting Your Rental Listing Noticed
According to our friends over at HomeAway.com, vacation rental properties with 4 or more photos get twice as many inquiries as listing with 4 photos or fewer! Check out these tips below to learn how to best capture your home as you're sharing it with travelers around the world.
1. Travelers Do Judge a Book By It's Cover (Unfortunately!)
You have just about 30 seconds to nab the attention of a traveler trying to find the perfect place for their upcoming trip. So it's incredibly important you choose a photo of your property that stands out in a crowd. Choose a 'profile' image that is vibrant and captures the spirit of your place. Keep the image size in mind too; your pic might look great as a full-size photo but how does it look as a thumbnail?
2. Capture the Whole Property
Be sure to capture all the essential components of your property, including the interior and exterior. We recommend usually having at least 8-12 photos per property listing. And don't forget to use descriptive captions. Remember: this is your chance to really showcase all that your property has to offer - whether it's the fantastic view from the balcony, the comfortable master bedroom or the hot tub on your back porch.
3. Use a Digital Camera and Take Lots of Photos
Digital photos allow you to take a plethora of images at once - easily. You want travelers to see all that your property has to offer and photos are the best way to get them excited. So don't be shy if you don't have any experience. Just make sure you take lots of photos of your property and you can always select the best ones on your computer; you'd be surprised - sometimes the shots you think didn't look incredible on your camera's screen turn out best.
Be sure to put yourself in the shoes of a potential guest and also think about what you really love about the property. Prefer not to rely on your point-and-shoot skills? Ask a friend who's got mad photography skills and a nice camera to help - or even a professional photographer.
4. Lights, Camera... Perfect!
Lastly, it's important to stage all your photos. You don't want to mislead travelers, but you do want to be sure to capture the beauty and essence of your property. To do this, make sure their is plenty of light in your images and that you choose angles that really compliment your place.
Keep in mind that little details like having fresh cut flowers or a bowl of fruit can really bring out the life in a space. You can check out some examples of great photos and additional tips here.
Have any of your own tips for capturing your property? Be sure to share them in the comments below. Happy travels Trippers!
For more inspiration, you can also check out listings in 36,000 cities: www.tripping.com/search.
Inspiration:
http://www.flipkey.com/blog/2011/08/11/5-ways-to-make-the-most-of-your-flipkey-listing/
http://www.homeaway.com/webdav/site/ha/shared/OC%20Images/form_widget/HomeAway_eBook.pdf
http://community.homeaway.com/docs/DOC-1410