How Does Your Rental Ad Fare Against the Competition?

In this economy especially, it is important to offer potential renters a price they can afford within the parameters of your listing. It’s equally important, then, that you provide the features of your property in an accessible location. With Rent Shout it’s easy – just fill in the fields within our template and send your listing off automatically to the various targeted directories we syndicate to.

Every now and again we come across listings that have been successful in capturing a good amount of leads, and we like to highlight those ads to show you the results you could be receiving for your own listing.

This successful ad comes from Arlington, Virginia. Along with our standard package, this customer purchased our Premier Exposure upgrade for $29.99, which places his listing on some of the top directories such as RentalHomesPlus, HomeTownRent and HotPads.

But what really makes this property stand out above the rest is the quality with which it was made. Here are a few things to keep in mind when creating your ad:

• A list of property features and amenities – anything that will entice potential renters to take the next step toward your listing should be included in your ad.
• Competitive pricing – based on results from Craigslist for listings with similar features, this property certainly stands out from the crowd. Does yours?
• At least five photos that highlight key rooms in your property (kitchen, master bedroom, master bathroom, any special rooms, etc.) – if you have more, don’t stop at five photos. The more you include, the better your listing will be received.
• Both phone and email contact information – a means of reaching the property manager is essential. A second contact outlet just gives more opportunities for people to reach you.

If you’re not receiving the desired outcome from your rental ad, consider the key details that may be getting left out. Taking these factors into consideration can only help improve your listing’s success, so that the next time you have a property for rent you may just be seeing similar results to those above.

Click here to visit the listing.

Successful Lead Capture From RentShout Advertising

We like to highlight a few ads every now and again that have been successful in terms of gaining an impressive number of leads toward their listing, either by phone or email (or both!) We have three ads to showcase this time around, each located in a different state. Along with the ad, we’ve included a few of the things the customers did right in creating their listings.

At least five quality photos that cover the most important aspects of the property. A property description that is pleasing to the eye (little or no grammatical errors, not overly lengthy or too short) and contains information that is relevant to the renter’s needs. This customer purchased our Premier Exposure upgrade (an additional $29.99), which syndicates your listing to even more directories. View Listing

Contact information is easily visible upon seeing the ad, making it as easy as possible for the renter to contact the property manager. Property address and other property information is clearly visible on the ad and filled out completely (no missing information from the address or contact). The listing is priced competitively when compared with other properties in the same area, giving the renter further incentive. View Listing

All the essential information is located right in the property description area, so renters don’t need to search for it. Both a phone number and email address are included, giving the renter more than one outlet of connection if one is preferred. Features and amenities are included in the ad, which gives the renter easy access to all the perks of the property without having to contact anyone. View Listing

Because our prices are based on a flat fee rather than a pay-per-lead fee, lead capture like those above is attainable without breaking your budget. If you aren’t getting the results you were hoping for in your rental listing, we encourage you to consider these tips when creating your next ad.

Rental Advertising Google Search Story

We decided to create a search story of our own using the Google’s Search Stories Video Creator.

Watch our quick search story to see just a few of things the RentShout.com rental advertising platform can do you you.

Rental Advertising Success in Stockton

From time to time, we write about our customers’ rental ads that have experienced success. We hope that the examples we highlight will give you ideas and inspiration on how to be successful with your rental advertising efforts as well! This time, we’re featuring a single property rental ad in Stockton, California. Before we go into the reasons for the success, let’s take a look at the results of the success:

In case you missed that, this ad attracted 6 email leads and 45 phone leads… not bad for a single rental ad! Now let’s take a look at how this advertisement succeeded:

• Plenty of well-taken photos of the property.
• Detailed description combined with informative links about the property and local area.
• Easy access to contact information (phone and email).
• Competitive price and offering for the area.
• Exposure on multiple places around the web (via RentShout’s optimization and syndication).

Now, that last point is key! You never know where your next lead will be searching, so it is important to be in as many places online as you can. Take a peek at a few of the places this ad attracted leads from:

How are your rental advertising efforts measuring up? If you find yourself struggling to attract leads to your rental ads, be sure to keep these tips in mind!

Do You Make it Easy For Rental Prospects to Contact You?

When you advertise your rental property online, do you make it as easy as possible for prospects to contact you? And by “as easy as possible”, that doesn’t mean as easy for you as possible, it means easy for them. Even if you’d rather potential renters call you instead of send an email, or vice versa, that shouldn’t be the only line of communication you leave open. In fact, you should provide multiple ways for people to get in contact with you so they can reach out the way they feel most comfortable doing so. Here are a few examples to look at for comparison:

Example #1:

Duluth, GA – Home for Rent
3 Bedroom, 2.5 Bath
$1050 per month

15 email leads
1 phone lead
1 click-to-call lead

Example #2:

Bentonville, Arkansas – Home for Rent
3 Bedroom, 2 Bath
$800 per month

5 email leads
13 phone leads

As you can see from the amount and types of leads each property received, there is no “one way” that prospects will contact you. The first rental property even made click-to-call available, giving their ad maximum accessibility. Of course, if you are going to allow people to contact you via phone, email, or text message, you should also make sure to have an efficient lead follow-up process for each method of contact. A lead left hanging is a lost lead!