How to Get More Boatsetter Bookings
There are some basic techniques that will help you get bookings on Boatsetter, and then there are the advanced strategies that can help you get even more bookings. It’s important to start at the beginning and then add the advanced strategies after you have the basics down.
Why? Because there’s no sense in driving tons and tons of traffic to your boat’s listing until it is in tiptop shape.
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Make sure your boat listings are ready for action.
You need to have the basics in place: a good, long description of the boat and its features; many photos showing the boat from various angles, with people on board for scale (read 5 Tips for Creating the Perfect Boat Listing to help you get started with this); and at least three great reviews from customers.
Just getting those key pieces in place will take effort. It’s important to make that effort, similar to laying a strong foundation when building a house.
“It’s hard to get out of the gate sometimes,” says Erik Holm, head of owner success at Boatsetter. “Getting those first three bookings and reviews is big.”
Once you have those basic elements of your listing solidly in place, it’s time to start thinking about advanced techniques for getting more bookings. This is the time to learn about optimizing your listing for owner rank—which means improving where your listing comes up in searches.
Understand the basics of how to optimize your listing for search.
A Boatsetter team member can help you with this part. For starters, it includes understanding the basics of search engine optimization (SEO), which also works in places like Google and Facebook (if you plan to advertise there).
Generally speaking, search engine optimization means that your listing includes the exact keywords that potential renters are typing into their computers when they’re searching for boats. If people are typing in “water-skiing boat,” then you want the term “water-skiing boat” to be in your listing—not the term “watersports boat,” which the computer algorithms won’t recognize as meaning the same thing.
Optimizing your listing for search engines can help you make a listing stand out, and the Boatsetter team can help you learn which terms are ideal for your listing.
If you want to try and do some of this SEO research on your own, the free Google Trends tool is a good place to start. It lets you type in various keywords and see how popular they are at any given time.
Outside of internal Boatsetter search results, you can also take steps to optimize your rentals for Google search. Read 3 Local Marketing Strategies to Advertise Your Boatsetter Rentals to learn more.
Keep your Owner Response Rate above 85 percent.
Another way to get more bookings by optimizing your listing for owner rank is to keep your message response rate above 85 percent. Boat owners who respond to inquiries faster get a higher ranking in the listings, because Boatsetter wants customers to feel seen and heard when they reach out to Boatsetter owners with questions.
Utilize Boatsetter features like Instant Book, or update your calendar availability.
Some other tips to help optimize your listing for owner rank include keeping your boat’s availability calendar up-to-date, and turning on the instant book feature in your settings. These types of things let the Boatsetter team know that you are an actively engaged boat owner on the site, and thus the kind of owner who should turn up higher in search results.
All of these advanced techniques can combine to make your listing the kind that gets more bookings. Remember: Put the basics in place first, and then optimize your listing to get more eyeballs on it. An increased number of bookings will then follow.
What’s next? Continue on to learn How to Create a Great Day on the Water for Your Renters.
Looking for More Tips and Tricks for Boatsetter Owners? Visit our Boatsetter Owner Resources Hub
Boatsetter empowers people to explore with confidence by showing them a world of possibility on the water. Rent a boat, list your boat, or become a Boatsetter captain today.
