Optimizing your listing on B-I-F.com
Here are some useful tips on how to promote and maintain your listing on Buy-in-France.com.
To make the listing attractive to potential purchasers and easier for the search engines to accurately "index"your advert, you need to ensure that you have included:
- a full description of the property in question
- the price
- a description of the location and its desirability
- the main attractions for buying the property
- information about fixtures and fittings included in the sale
- good photographs - you can have up to 20 - with captions
- documents - such as floor plans, safety certificates, local maps, etc
Once you have uploaded your listing, check it carefully using theh "View Public Listing" link and fine tune as required. Amending your addvert regularly will also encourage the search engines to rank your listing higher.
Meta title
The title of the webpage/advert should be a precise, accurate description of the property in question, the title is the customers first contact with your property so it should be something that a customer would type into a search engine....some examples could be
3 bedroom villa with pool for sale in the Dordogne;
or
1 Bedroom Apartment for sale Nice;
or
Restaurant/Bar for lease in Avignon;
or
2 Bedroom Brittany villa close to beach - Offers invited;
Remember to bear in mind that the meta title has a maximum of 70 characters; any more will probably not be displayed in search results.
Short description
The advert short description is a brief summary of the properties main features, how many guests, location, does it have a pool, is it close to amenities, restaurants, shop. This is basically a place to elaborate on the advert title remembering to use the same keywords. Try to avoid comma delimited lists of features though.
Description
The main description of the advert is where you describe in detail the features of the property, size of the property, views from the property, features, the garden area, whether it has a swimming pool, etc. Perhaps describe the reasons that made you purchase the property initially; is there a golf course nearby; fantastic walks or cycling paths; perhaps a lovely restaurant or bar. Write the main description with great care. Potential purchasers will then be keen to ask for more information.
Meta keywords
The meta keywords box is basically a list of keywords or phrases separated by a comma in no particular order, for use by search engines such as Google and Yahoo to classify your listing in their indexes. An example list of keywords for a "3 bedroom villa for sale in St Tropez with a swimming pool" might be......
3 bed villa for sale, St Tropez, holiday home in St Tropez, 3 bedroom villa, house for sale, villa with pool, France, South of France villa, Cote d'Azur property
Remember to separate and end each keyword or phrase with a comma. Do not repeat any word more than 4 or five times. Try to use the key words or phrases exactly as they are used in your main description text - exactly word-for-word!
Location box
In the location box click the drop down menu and choose the relevant region for your property, then select the department for your property, then enter your town or commune for the property in the Location Text box. This information, along with the address and postcode will enable Google Maps to display the exact location of the property.
Feature Fields
There are ten of these boxes where you can enter key selling features about your property. This information appears as a bullet-point list, at the top of your advert. A minimum of three of these boxes should be filled. The information should be concise - not flowery superlatives! Good, relevant content will ensure that your property will be well-ranked in search engine results.
Other information required
Underneath the feature fields boxes there are a number of boxes to fill in, contact details, closest airport, railway station, ferry terminal, beaches etc, These are followed by a series of drop down menus where you can select certain features that the property has, Internet, WI-FI, Gas cooker, private garden, swimming pool, SMS enquiry alerts. Remember to fill in as many relevant fields as possible to providie the maximum amount of information to prospective purchasers.
