Help, advice & information

Optimising your web listing

When you go to the 'edit my listing' button, you are faced with 4 options, the second of which is to specify your date and destination preferences.  The system allows you to specify up to five separate date periods, each with an unlimited number of destinations, so there's no reason why you can't be searching for five different trips at one time - perfect for those tied to school holidays for example.

Use of Anytime: Unless you are genuinely able to travel at any time, it's best not to use Anytime.  By stating the specific date windows in which you would like to travel, you will get much better targeted offers of interest from other members and reduce the number of unsuitable offers that you and all other members receive.  Also, by stating specific dates rather than Anytime, the results from member searches will be much more likely to

Destinations: Similarly, it is best to avoid the use of Open to Offers for destinations unless you are willing to consider offers from all over the world.  Many members are very flexible but for example do not wish to go to Australia.  Now that you can add continents, it would be preferable to state Europe and Americas.  We have also introduced the ability to specify regions within a country.  So if you wish to visit family in Sydney, you should add Australia >  New South Wales, thus avoiding members in other parts of the country contacting you unnecessarily.

Apart from the photos, the descriptive text that you add to your listing is the most important thing you can do to increase interest in your home.  Those members who spend half an hour or so adding further text undoubtedly get more interest.  Home exchanging is more location-driven than house-driven, so the key things to get across are attractions in your area.  Here are some suggestions as to what you might like to add:

a) House

• the aim is to make your house sound a comfortable and inviting place to stay
• mention any appealing features appropriate to the time which you'd like to travel e.g garden in the summer, log fire in the winter
• think about your ideal exchange partner and things which may be of interest to them e.g peace and quiet, access to city centre, infant care facilities, bicycles and children's toys.

b) Immediate vicinity

• give some indication about your local neighbourhood - mention leisure facilities, country pubs, shopping etc

c) Attractions that can be reached from your home

• this is the most important section so mention a whole range of things that your guests may do when they visit your home (remember that they probably won't know your area well) for example:
• stately homes and historic monuments / cities
• leisure attractions such as race courses, theme parks,
• access to countryside - are there National Parks or nature reserves nearby?
• transport links - remember, your exchange partner may use your home as a base, so explain how accessible your home is to other areas of the country

d)  Many members also add a paragraph about their family and perhaps a bit about what kind of trip they are after.  For example it can help if you say whether you are looking for a city home or something more rural or perhaps if you have a specific reason for wanting to visit a particular area.  Coupled with a family photo, this can help people put a face to the names that they're corresponding with.

To load photos, go to the ‘edit my listing’ function on the left hand menu in the main database area of the website where you will see a button entitled ‘edit photo album’.  Click on this and you will be able to load up to 20 photos onto your web listing and you can change these as often as you wish.  If you have any difficulties, do just let me know. A couple of points about photos:

• There is a maximum file size of 1MB per photo.  If you have larger images and need help resizing them, just email them to me
• Images must be in jpeg format
• If you have portrait photos and can’t rotate them, email them to me and I’ll do this for you (to save other members craning their necks!)
• You can add captions to your photos ­ just type your text in the box below each photo and click on the floppy disc ‘save’ icon on the right hand side. The text will be centred automatically
• You can reorder your photos using the arrow buttons beneath each image ­ the single arrow moves the photo up or down one position and the double arrow moves the photo to the beginning or end
• Only you can see the delete buttons below each image, so only you (or me) can delete your photos
• Sunny photos paint a much better picture of your home than those taken on a dull day!
• Many members include some shots of family, pets, etc which can help build a rapport with other members 

You can add a map link to your listing which is a great benefit to other members who may be viewing your listing.  I usually add the relevant link when you first join, however if this is incorrect or missing, here's how to do it:

• go go Google maps
• enter your address and postcode in the search box (usually just the first line of your address and the postcode is enough)
• check that the address shown is correct
• look on the right hand side of the screen and you will see a button called 'Link'
• click this and you will see two links, the top one of which is highlighted
• right click on the top link and copy it
• go to the 'edit my listing' page, place your cursor in the penultimate box (map link) and right click and paste
• preview your listing and update the database