Everyone knows that online photo sites like Flickr and Photobucket provide a centralized location for housing innumerable photos.  How does this present an opportunity for vacation rental property owners to market their property?

Answer: They are a gold mine for allowing you to post targeted keywords and links back to your web site or ad listing.

Sounds good….where do I get started?

1. Start by creating a dedicated account for your property (please resist the temptation to post personal photos as well!)

2. Use many more photos than you would on your site or ad listing.  Because this site is designed around photo albums, more is better.  You don’t want to overdo it, but it’s a great opportunity to show a lot of detail.   Besides pictures of your property, you might consider albums for local events, wildlife, and/or guest photos.

3. After you have uploaded all the pictures for your first album, you want to create a name that is both search engine friendly (See Chapter One of the Booked Solid Blueprint if you need guidance here), and descriptive for your reader.  So, for example, you don’t want to say “Beach Cottage Photos”.  You would name it after a keyword you’re targeting, such as “Carmel Beach Front Vacation Rental”.

4. When you complete your upload, you’ll see two fields for each photo that you can add content to.  Don’t skip this step….this is gold for ranking for search terms and linking back to your site….so take advantage of this opportunity!  These two fields include:

Tags and Description

“Tags” are simply search terms that Flickr uses to organize and categorize photos for search.  So here you want to put relevant keywords and search terms that apply to this photo.

The “description” gives you the opportunity to expand on a descriptor of the photo and to really create an experience for your renter.

So, for example, here’s a picture that generates a lot of traffic for me.

Most people on Flickr would just add a description that says “View” or  “View from the deck”.   Since my goal is to be search engine friendly and create an experience for my renters, my description for this picture reads:

“Bodega Harbour View from your private deck at “The Bay’s Edge” on the pristine Sonoma Coast in Bodega Bay. Enjoy a glass of wine as you watch the sunset, or watch the fishing boats coming in to unload the day’s catch.”

Note: These albums are not a replacement for the maximum number of photos in a paid ad listing.  They are really an opportunity to enhance your overall search engine strategy, and to give your renters additional ways of finding out more information about your property.  These should enhance your other advertising efforts, they don’t replace them.

By understanding how to use these online albums to showcase your property and drive traffic to your site or ad listing, you’ll see results.  Have fun, and remember to update your albums with new photos of local events, or new amenities that you add to your property!