Unlock the Power of Your Vacation Rental Website with Jodi Bourne

Are you ready to turn your vacation rental website into a booking powerhouse? In this episode, we're diving deep into the world of high converting websites with the brilliant Jody Bourne as a website strategist. With a laser focus on direct bookings, Jodi reveals the key ingredients to making your site not just a pretty page, but a revenue driving machine. We'll share the secrets behind what makes a vacation rental website truly shine. Stay tuned.

You are listening to the Direct Booking Success Podcast bringing you all the information you need for your short term rental to stand out from the crowd. I'm your host, Jenn Boyles. As an owner and manager myself, I know how hard it can be to navigate the hospitality industry. I'm here to help so you too can have direct booking success.

You too as well. Jenn. I love it when we get to chat because we're both the two JB's.

That's right, that's right. So let's start at the beginning. How did you start working with vacation rentals?

That's right.

Or wishfully. At the time, you couldn't. Now there's some workarounds, not really great workarounds, but there are some workarounds anyway. And that's how I started. And eventually I just increased my scope and increased my expertise, and now I'm everywhere and I love it.

Yeah, I know this term direct booking, book direct. But before we even started calling it direct booking or book direct, there was that time where we were running our own businesses. So how did you first identify that need for this approach? It was the beginning, early days of Airbnb, and people were looking at it as the holy grail, if you will. And what was the initial reaction when you started with clients?

Well, honestly, most of the clients that I've started working with, I hate to say this, because I don't want all the property managers out there to hate me, but they were leaving the property management company. There was a change in ownership, a change in direction. Lots of bad reviews were coming in. And so these owners were saying, hey, I need my own business. I can't count on the property management company any longer. And the property management company at that time had not been on any of the VRBOs or Airbnbs because they were the only game in town, and this is a tourist area, and people were just looking for vacation homes on the river and everything. And so it never was even an option for several years for these people to be on a listing site. And then the first listing site that I did start helping people at was HomeAway at the time. Now, VRBO, which is headquartered right here in Austin. So they were hearing about it, and so it never was a deal. It never was like any kind of question at all. This is how you build a business. I've been marketing and building businesses for other industries for years, so it never even really occurred to me that now if I had a craft business, I wouldn't start out on Etsy. So when people start out this way, it's still even a surprise. I mean, I understand it's easy to get started with Airbnb and vrbo, but it's just not the way in my mind and yours, that you build an independent business.

Yeah, no, completely, completely agree with you, of course, because we are both JBs on the same page.

JBs on the same page. I remember. Also, I don't. I don't know, since you were in Canada, if you follow, or, you know, you were in the UK back then, if you followed Matt Landau much. But these were early days, Matt Landau, like 14, 15, 16. And I was one of his original group members and he was teaching the steps to listing independence. And that's what he called it, listing independence. And so honestly, that's what I called it forever. Because it's just about building an independent business. And for me that means all the channels. Yes. You want to book direct. Yes. I also promote having your own presence on the listing sites if you need them.

Yeah, definitely, definitely. But they need somewhere to book if outside of those, the guests need somewhere to book outside of those platforms. So. Brilliant.

Yeah, no, I'd love that. I love that. Let's check in a year with everyone and see how they're doing because no, I think that makes a lot of sense. Now you have stay at an impressive amount of vacation rentals. And this, I think, is not just you being in this industry for so long and working with companies, property management companies and owners, but you are probably the most experienced guest that I know about. So in the past 10 years or so, how many have you stayed at?

Oh, we're looking at 71 at this point, which we've really done a final count and my husband and I, we only stay in vacation rentals now. Unless it's we're going to be somewhere less than just like we're on the road, we're going to sleep somewhere overnight. But you know, we've even had a lot of one night stays at vacation rentals. And a lot of times it's just because I have this extensive list and we want to check out a new place. It's fun for my bowl, my husband and I both to do that. And it's actually part of my services now to stay at a rental and give my feedback. So it's fun and it does make a difference in my expertise. And what I have learned is just being able to stay in all those places.

And how has that shaped the way you design websites for vacation rental owners?

I think most importantly, not only about the design of the website, but also just about the design of their business. It's understanding their Avatar and I preach this and preach this. All of us here in the industry preach the importance of understanding who you're creating a space for and how to market that space to that avatar. And so for me, staying at rental, staying at all these properties, I have seen how they have elevated their experience for particular, you know, particular people. So one of the most favorite places that Michael and I have ever stayed at, I forgot the name, but it was something. It was a fishing shack in south Louisiana. We love to fish, apparently. We love shacks. But I mean, it was a really cool experience. Right on a swamp, fish from your deck, alligators behind. I mean, we saw an alligator standoff. It was super cool. And Annie, who was the owner, it was her grandfather's cabin. She made the experience for us and her listing was written for us, no pretense, just a sweet lady with her grandpa's fishing shack. And everything about it was fantastic, from the homemade biscuits she had left for us in Boudin the first morning to just everything about it, the hammock that swung out over the swamp. And so I'd already been working with hosts about their avatar and creating the space for them. But what she did that really helped me is the way she wrote her description. And that's when. And this was early. This was 14. This was maybe 15. 20. 15. 14, 15. And that's when I really started adding copywriting services as part of the overall website design, like really honing in on the guest avatar and everything I do with their website now. And so that's really what I say is my differentiator is I brand and build their website for those people, specifically for the people that are going to find it the most appealing.

Yes. So, first of all, I'm going to start with the digital front door and what that kind of means. It's when they get to your website, they should see professionalism and the overall experience. It's like you wouldn't have a photo on your website or listing, or you wouldn't even do this, Have a messy entryway or dead flowers in the flower bed. You create an. A visually appealing space. And so often this as well As I do, you see a website that looks, I mean, does not look visually appealing. So when you have a digital front door website, then you have a website that appeals to them instantly. Within 30 seconds, they're like, okay, this place is perfect. This place really has some pizzazz to its fomo. So that's how that FOMO comes through. I also really believe in photography. Big, bold sliding imagery galleries that pop up on your screen that creates FOMO as well as the copywriting that you use to create that FOMO using words. It's not just about your home away from home or some of those same words over and over again. It's really about elevating the writing and making it easy to understand, but also really pop for the user, the website user immediately. Also with fomo, it's important to show lifestyle photos. I think that that's something that a lot of people have missed out on. And it's definitely something that I believe in. Whether that's influencers or photos of your own family or whatever it is showing. It's not just about a swimming pool, it's about kids playing in the pool. And when people see that as part of the website and as part of even their listing photos, it puts themselves into that space. So that's the FOMO part of it. The trust part is, and this is another big thing, people are so hesitant to do this throughout. But when someone goes to Airbnb or VRBO or any listing site, they've seen advertising, they've seen marketing messages, they know of these businesses, they're in the stock exchange, there's instant trust. And that's why they're willing to pay service fees, that's why they're willing to go through the process, because that trust is there. But if they are booking directly with you, there's always going to be a little hesitation unless you have that really professional, trustworthy setup and design. I mean, they want to look modern, they want to see the messaging and the emblems and the pages that really mean, hey, we're a website, we're a business.

Mm. Mm. And I think also building that trust is about showing your face, isn't it? And it's something that Airbnb, you know, we know who the head of Airbnb is, but that's about it. He's not every property, he's not cleaning them, he's not seeing them, they're not his. So showing how you build that trust is showing your face. And we know that an About Us page is so important, isn't it? I think it's the second most viewed, usually. Page, I know it's one that I always go to right away. I want to know who's behind the company.

I definitely do. And as the Gen Z and younger millennials grow older and start booking, it's very important to them to know who they're booking from. They're there to book from a small business, typically many of them, and they want to know who that business owner is. And it's so hard to get some of the hosts that I work with to put themselves out there. And I get it. But it is just so important on that About Page to really spell out who you are, why you're doing this, why you love hospitality or hosting. Or maybe you don't love hospitality and hosting, but maybe you love decorating and investing and creating a business for yourself. There's so many reasons. Everybody out there has a story of why they're in this business. And those stories, they just tell people that you're real, that you're honest. I'm also a huge proponent of business values and having those values front and center on your website because they also tell people that you can be trusted. Somebody that. Well. Tyann, who? You know Tianna Mars. I forgot about her. I know her last name, but she's got a married name. Hammond. Diane Hammond works with Touch Day, and she's worked in business, had her branching family retreats forever. Check out her about page because it tells the story of her love of this industry. Starting out as a kid with her family rentals, building her own business. It's such a great example of a host who puts themselves out there and shares their story in a great way and also shares their value. She shares that. She gives money to casa, which is a great charity we have in the United States. I don't know if y'all have that in Canada, but it's a child advocacy program. It's just got a great mission. So many other hosts that I've worked with, they give money to. Maybe it's the sea turtle rescue or something like that. Those values are so important to people. And sharing the values, creating the values is something that I highly recommend putting on that about page, which I call the trust page. I call the about page. The Trust page. The Trust page.

We'll link to Tyenne's website in the show notes so you can check that out if you want to have a look. She's a great storyteller, so I can imagine that her About Us page is top notch and so creating that FOMO and building that trust, is that what really converts visitors into bookings?

It definitely is the start of that. I mean, the FOMO makes them stay on the site and get excited. The next step is trust. And it's much more than just the about page. But also, do you have a secure booking? Is your site secured? Is it using the HTTPs instead of the HTTP? Do you have social media sites? That's a trust builder. Do you have reviews? All those things are trust builders. And then that makes the conversion step easier. But conversion steps can't happen if you don't have your site really built for conversions. That means it is easy to find a booking button. You don't have to go through 14 pages to see all the things about your property. That happens a lot where reviews are on one page. The booking form is by itself on a page. Maybe there's a gallery on one page and it's just a jumbled mess if you want them to go, click, click as soon as possible. And so conversion optimization is actually a real thing. It's an industry. I've worked for a conversions optimization specialist part time in the team on 14, 15 and 16. So I work for. His name is Chris Mercer. He's one of the leading conversion optimization specialists. He sent me to school to learn conversion optimization. And so that is an important part. The navigation is important, like I said, how easy it is to find the call to action and understand the call to action and what that means and have a PMS set up, hopefully. Or at least an easy to use booking system so that they feel and see how it's easy. You find your dates, you book your dates, you pay for your dates, you sign a lease agreement. Yay. This is a professional setup.

Yeah, yeah, no, brilliant. So I know you've worked with a lot of vacation rental owners and managers and I know that you have probably seen even more websites out there in your research, in your daily life. What are some of the common mistakes that you see out there on, on the websites that really hurt that trust building and those conversions, what mistakes do you see out there?

Top mistake, non professional photos. I'm good with an iPhone, I can take my own. Lighting is important. The breadth, the width. Forgot what that piece of equipment is with a camera, but wide angle lens, using tripods. Also making sure that your home is staged for guests. Smooth your sheets out. And I say these things and I harp on these things as well as I do. We see this all the time, even today. I mean, I did two websites this year where I now look at their photos before I even agree to the site because it is so important. And I. A lot of times the images are so tiny, you pop them up on the screen and they're this big and you can't see any details. So I would say photos are super important, but super big mistakes. Not having video footage, if you can get it at all, is also, I think, a mistake moving forward. Video is so super important that I think not having video is a mistake. Not very many copies on the site. It will never be seen by Google if you are not using copy. And then using a very generic copy is also a huge mistake. And then other mistakes are technical. Not having that secure site at HTTPs site, not having a fast site. So when people get to the site, it takes more than 30 seconds to load. They're out of there, they don't have time. They're at work and their boss is looking over their shoulder. They don't have time to deal with that, especially on mobile. I have a blog post actually with website mistakes that people can look up on my website that goes through. I think there's about 15 or 20 of them that I have listed there. But I would say these are the biggest.

Great. Oh no, there's some good ones there. And give me that link and I'll. I'll put that in the show notes as well. That's good, that's a great idea. And you were saying at the beginning today that you want guests to come to that website and say this is the place, that first impression, this is the place that we want to stay at. And can you maybe talk us through why that is so important, but also how that allows us to be different from listings on Airbnb or VRBO.

One thing that I think people need to think about as they're thinking about their website is the difference in how the user found your site. So when someone goes to VRBO, they are there, typically will put in their dates, they know the availability, they see a selection of properties and they get this little snippet of maybe a couple of photos, maybe a real quick headline. They pop in there and they can decide based on photos, the description, whatever. Different people do different things first. Many people want to look at the rates first. Many people want to read the description first. I'm a photo person. I want to slide through the photos and read the captions. So that is one of the ways that you can differentiate yourself from the listing sites is not. And differentiate isn't the right word really. The word is stay competitive. You want to be competitive with the listing sites. You want it to be just as easy for somebody to come to your site quickly, see the rates quickly, see the availability, and know that. That the property is there and available. Until then, they can decide. Then they can see if there's enough bathrooms for all their eight kids or the beach is just a few steps away or whatever it is that they are looking for.

Great. Yeah. No, wonderful. And what about the future? We've talked about the past, we've talked about what's going on now and how to sort of stand out and stay competitive with the big sites. But what do you think of the future in vacation rental website design specifically? Is there anything coming up on the horizon that is going to help us little guys?

Yeah. That's a space to really watch, isn't it?

Yeah, it's not an emerging thing anymore. It's something that needs to be on the websites.

Definitely, definitely. And drone footage is fairly inexpensive now too, to get and it's, I think, super important. A lot of photographers now are also, you know, offering that as a service. So it's pretty easy to get that while you're doing the photography.

Yeah, yeah, no, it's really great and it's just lovely to see the space, isn't it, to see the surroundings. There's no crazy surprise when you get there and you find out that there's a building right up against you or something like that. You have the full picture.

You have a full picture. And, and even, I mean, a lot of people say, well, I don't want to show the building right beside me, or I don't want to show the ugly or whatever it is. But you want your guests to know what's to expect? There's going to be people that are going to choose your property regardless. You want to be honest and upfront with them in your imagery and videos. So show it at your best light, but also be truthful.

And I know it's, it's hard. You know, I've heard, for years from clients who've said, I don't know what to say, you know, and that fear of oversharing or being too out there and there is a way to do it. It's an art form. So I love that you've created these tools. It's amazing.

One thing about it too, that I go through a lot of the businesses I've worked with and some that I haven't. Like Tyenne's page is linked in there and really show, like, here's a really good example of what I mean by values. Here's a great example of a story that connects your audience with, with your rentals. So that's another really great part of that is it's not just here, write this. It's, let's see it in action.

Love it. Thank you. Jodi. Thank you so much for coming on today.

That's awesome. No. And yes.

Yours is so fantastic. Anybody's listening that didn't go hasn't been. There's so many great speakers that people may not have heard a lot from in other places, which I think is brilliant that you do that. And I listen to almost every video. Usually I listen to all of them because people are really smart and have different experiences and skill sets. And I think it's, it's really such a great thing you've done for the industry by creating that. And I remember talking about it before you even started it. You and I talked through it. So, yeah. Cheers to friends.

Well, thank you so much for your support. Really. It means a lot. And the check is in the mail. I'll send that down to you for this wonderful compliment. So thank you again, Jodi, and we'll be seeing more of you this year. Thank you.

A huge thank you to Jodi for coming on the Direct Booking Success Podcast. It was great to see you and you gave such amazing advice. Now, until next time, go out and take action for your own direct booking success.

Hey, thanks for listening to the Direct Booking Success Podcast. For more information about this episode and others, head to the website directbookingsuccess.com/podcast. See you next time.