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Hi @luckytxn
Hmm. It’s surprising that some people find Airbnb works well for them, and others don’t. Any idea why Airbnb isn’t working for you? And when you say “ABB seems to be little used right now and unknown”, I’m not sure what you mean. Airbnb seems to be the most widely used company of its kind.
And are you paying for Google ads? That sounds like it would be expensive.
What I mean is that ABB is little used in my area by hosts and/or guests. I also have a whole house for rent and not just a room or rooms. A whole house costs a lot more than a room.
Yes a week ago I started using Google adwords to see if it helps getting people interested. I plan on 2 weeks now and then when the busy season starts in a month or 2 to do a 2 week run and then look at results. It is expensive but I need to see if it is effective as I have possible plans on bringing other properties for rentals. Also my wife and I are looking at buying property and possibly putting some one room units on it and furnishing them and renting them out. If I was like most here and had extra rooms or small places and get little rent to cover ads then I wouldn’t be doing it. If we don’t see a market in doing this then we will just pursue other avenues.
Today is one week and I can post the results I have gotten so far if any would like to know in case they may want to do ads.
Hey Faheem. I decided to set up both a website and Facebook page and it has seemed to help. I ran a campaign on fb and set a specific demographic target and to my surprise the likes just kept rolling on in. I don’t actually post many things from my fb page as I don’t want to annoy people but I know that many people search for us and find us on fb so just having hundreds of likes lends it credibility I think.
As for the website, I got it done professionally as I wanted it to look professional! I once made the mistake of using fiver for the design of a logo and honestly it looked like it was done by a child. You get what you pay for.
Here’s my site: www.thecoogeerest.com.au
Oh. Is Airbnb use location dependent even within the US? That surprising - to me, at least.
Should that be “room”?
I hope this is not a dumb question, but how would you determine effectiveness? Is there some way of determining where a booking originated from? I suppose you could ask the guests themselves.
Sure, that would interesting. My feeling is that Google Adwords is too expensive (not enough bang for the buck) but it would interesting to see some hard numbers. If you can tell us how much it is costing you that would be even more interesting.
Love your site uselessmini! I might PM you soon if you don’t mind. I need a better calendar for my own site. I also was going to start a thread about Fiver for help with other things. Not today though.
I agree faheem. I do not recommend anyone not using the listing sites and just going on their own…unless of course this is just rainy day money for some. I recommend using and abusing all the sites to your advantage until you can become independent on your own. Maybe it is through enough repeat guests, word of mouth, Craigslist, other advertising venues, etc.
I use them to my advantage to show potential guests my reviews- and if they want to book through them and pay the high booking fee they can. But they always come back to me to save the money instead.
When word gets out that travelers can save money by not paying ridiculous booking fees, they will begin to seek out properties directly. For those who only accept credit card…the guest’s credit card already protects them from fraud. No need to give Air $100 when I could take that for myself.
OK here is the 1st weeks stats from Google ads. Tonight is the 1st week.
Views were about 8800. The clicks on my ad were 22. Those 22 clicks cost me almost 20 dollars so far. The clicks came from 91% smartphones and 9% tablets. The ad was viewed by breakdown 36% smartphones, 8% tablets and 55% computers.
Out of the 22 clicks not one inquired about rental. I was expecting 15-20 dollars a week on ads and I plan on one more week and then stop until the season starts which should be about the time school lets out and summer vacation starts. At that time I plan on using ads for 2 weeks again and compare at that time. I will use all data I receive and then try and determine if it is cost effective. Some things I have to infer and others will be plain.
That was really good advice!
I personally don’t mind using booking sites if they bring me bookings. I will even add more properties to any booking site that can keep them booked. This past month I have received very little inquiries though so I am looking at other avenues. I was thinking about using VRBO and HA but from this forum it seems to be a losing proposition to do so. Why pay a fee to use a booking site if they fail me?
Personally I am trying to see if going STR is a viable alternative for me at all right now. I have the properties and can get more if wanted. At the moment I am using ABB with mixed results and trying to tweak the site and get more inquiries.
Making a website will be a general site where I can place one or more properties listed for rentals. I can actually advertise to any that use a search for accommodations in my area. To do this I will need a CC vendor of course and need to learn to use the CC vendor effectively.
Hi @Uselessmini,
Thanks for writing. This is very interesting information.
Could you post a link to your Facebook page?
Can you give some details about this? I know very little about Facebook, but I’ve heard that there is something called an "“Page Post Targeting Enhanced”. And approximately how much does something like this cost? Another possibly dumb question, but would potential guests care about Facebook likes? Wouldn’t they care about reviews?
People search for you how? As in “The Coogee Rest”?
Your web site looks good. Just a minor comment - at the bottom of the page there are round buttons “SLEEPS FOUR”, “KITCHEN” etc. At first sight, these look like they should be clickable (the fact that they enlarge when the mouse in on them adds to that impression), but I tried in two different browsers, namely Chromium and Firefox, and they don’t appear to be. The location itself looks super fancy. I hope you don’t have problems with people messing it up.
Another minor comment, I hope this one doesn’t offend you. So, pedant mode on. In your profile (assuming it is your profile) you use the word “it’s” three times. Two of the three times the usage is incorrect. 
Namely, “it’s hidden gems”, and “it’s natural beauty”. The word “it’s” expands to “it is”. In its possessive form, unlike many other words, no apostrophe is used. Pedant mode off.
Sorry about the many questions - I’m just trying to learn. I hope it isn’t annoying. Thanks for sharing. I appreciate it.
Hi @luckytxn,
Hmm. I don’t quite follow this. Are you saying that out of the Airbnb page views, you can distinguish the people you arrived there via your Google ad? How? Also, I read recently that the Airbnb page views are only counted if they are by people who are logged into their Airbnb account, though Airbnb itself does not state this. As I recall, the discussion I read linked to an Airbnb tweet. I can try to dig this up if you want.
Thanks, that is interesting. Another possibly dumb question: what are “views” defined as? Google searches that contain a link to your ad? Or something else? Anyway, this gives me some idea how Google makes its money.
Regards, Faheem
Hello from sunny Wales, UK,
I have just published our new web-site so am waiting to see what results we get.
I have done this as we want to do more than B & B and AirBNB are careful to hide any possible links to FaceBook etc.
I have used Wix to build the site and provide hosting. It has been quite a task even though Wix have a very usable “drag & drop” creation system that I have been very impressed with. They also have an add-on (everything other than basic stuff comes through these add-ons - naturally including add-on cost!) called Wix Hotels which provides all the facilities for booking and taking payments. I won’t know just how good this is until I have had some bookings and can talk to customers about their experience. It has been a significant task both with researching and creating the pages, taking at least a week, but I am happy with the end result.
Initial responses (via FB) have been very positive although we have yet to have a booking - very early days yet though. Wix promote themselves as being “SEO friendly” (Search Engine Optimisation - or being found by Google etc.) but I have yet to have any hits - again, it’s very early days - I only published on the 2nd & didn’t add SEO details 'till the 3rd.
I looked at a couple of other web site creation offerings - Square Space and Create - and these were harder to get to grips with. Hence my choice of Wix.
Regarding FaceBook, I have also set up a page (Hafan Cerniog) there to add to exposure and this has had a lot of initial response to the web-site posting, from friends of course. I’ll update
I’d be very happy to have any feedback if anyone has the time to have a look. I don’t feel that FaceBook is the best overall though for reaching our possible target market. I look forward to seeing results! 
www.cerniog.co.uk
I hope this info is useful to anyone contemplating similar.
With very best wishes, Rog & Bee.
Views are when any ad you posted could possibly be seen as it right there on the page. Also I am paying for sponsored ads and they are at the top and says it is sponsored. Google makes its money from clicks. Same way that media always have made their money since there has been a media. I also had used ads on our other businesses. Before the internet I used to have ads in the local newspaper or a sign that can read by people driving by and seeing my billboard.
Thanks Mark! Had it done professionally!
How much did it cost?
I’m pinging this old thread. Maybe some more out there have information to share about their sites?
Bear in mind that in 2014 it was estimated that there were 876 million websites online. Doesn’t this make you wonder how your own website is going to be found?
It’s great to see how you grew your reach beyond AirBnb by adding your own personal website.
I can see how this extra resource is great for building your personal listing brand.
I have also seen hosts bringing in free traffic to their specific listing by throwing a blog up on their website and utilizing SEO on their posts. So when someone searches “Ft. Lauderdale AirBnb” or “Bed & Breakfast Ft. Lauderdale,” you could drive traffic to your website and then to your listing on Airbnb for them to book. A little more work, but it pays dividends
Hey Curtis! Were you ever able to get your website up and running? I’m curious to hear how it increased your bookings