Hello. Welcome back to another great episode. My name is Sarah Karakaian.

I'm Annette Grant, and together we are. Thanks for Visiting.

Let's start this episode like we do each and every week, and that is featuring one of you our incredible listeners who are heading on over to strshare.com. Sharing everything you can about your property with us, so we can share you here on the podcast and on our Instagram account every Sunday. Annette who are we sharing this week?

This week we are sharing @asheville.signature.home, and this home packs a punch.

They've got literally everything, like

they literally have it all. Milk frother. Milk frother and giant chefs are two of the things

I'm excited about the milk frother.

Uh, see, in, in all seriousness, please go to their listing because they have stacked the amenities. There is not one thing that they have not thought of and did not buy for their property. But I, a couple of things I really wanna call out that can help all of you. Number one, they have this, uh, really great call to action in their, uh. Bio save 100, click now for availability. And they're offering a hundred dollars off of someone's first day.

Nice.

And I love that. The other thing that I really, really love is in their description, they, number one, go through, they, they've spent a lot of time and money on all their amenities, like their coffee bar, they go through, list, all of it. Also their kitchen because it, it, it sleeps. Um. I think it's 12. Uh, 16, 16, 16, 16 guests. They really go through the kitchen and give you a breakdown of everything from the air fryer, the blender, all the utensils, because most of these guests, it seems like they're gonna be staying there really enjoying the property and make sure they can feed everybody. But the one thing that I wanna call out that if you are doing this, I think you should let your guests know they do like we do. So kudos an inspection before. Each stay and they just highlight that there, that Hey, we will do a full dedicated inspection before each stay. Yeah, and I just, I love that. If you're going the extra, if you're doing that step, let people know. That is like peace of mind and peace of mind as priceless. Well done.

All right. So if you go to Asheville, yeah. That's the place to be. They get a pickleball court. You say that.

Here's, segway into today's episode. I wanna talk about one part of their current title that I love. It's fully fenced pickleball because they are pet friendly and family friendly, and I love that they're letting you know. That it's a fully fenced in yard because pet friendly, then they don't have to worry about it. And if you've got a lot of kids running around, I'm sure it is again, peace of mind to know that the yard is fenced in because there's a lot of amenities going on. Again, if they're 16 plus people, you'll wanna make sure everyone's corralled, fenced in. So I love that they're highlighting that for both, um, pets and potentially just family. And then pickleball. Um, again, I'm still. Need to look at all the stats on, on what the pickleball does, but people love it and they're calling it out. I'm sure there are very few places in Asheville that have one, so they're letting you know what they got.

But let's talk about the words that are silently killing your listing that are in your title. Because this today's episode, we wanna get really honed in on this one tight topic of your listings title. We're gonna focus on the fact that Airbnb allows 50 characters. Now, there are other OTAs like vrbo, your own direct booking site, booking.com, but for many of us, Airbnb is the lead guest generator for us. So it's a good place to start. And when you have 50 characters in your title, you want the entire title and all the characters in it to earn their keep. They all need to make sense and they all need to get someone to stop the scroll. And actually click on your listing opposed to all the other competitors' listings that are all around you, whether it's on the mobile version or the desktop version. So that's exactly what I'm gonna get in today. What, why the titles matter, what doesn't work, and what does work. And a few tips at the end of the episode to help you get back into your listings, do some really good work and change things up a bit.

Let's talk about the words that are silently killing your listing.

If your listing title has things like Cozy Nest and Tranquil Retreat, we need to talk. The title gets 50 characters. Every character needs to count. Here's the deal. When people get on Airbnb, they are scrolling, they are skimming, they are comparing, they are going by fast.

Right? So your photo, your title, and your price, think of that. That is your billboard. That is your time to stand out in a very crowded marketplace. Think about when you're driving down the highway, you see that billboard. It's so compelling because you are going to get off at the very next exit to, you know, maybe fill up on gas, grab a drink, grab something to eat, but you didn't have that. You know, you were driving down the road, you saw that billboard and it hooked you. It got you. That is what your listing title needs to do.

Airbnb, all the OTAs are competitive, right? They want a listing to get booked, so you need to make sure that. Yours gets booked, and your title is a value packed preview of your listing. I'm gonna say that again. Your title is a value packed preview of your listing, and the goal is to get clicked on. And with Airbnb's algorithm always changing, the more you get clicked, the more Airbnb is gonna be like, huh. People like this listing, whether it is your price, aligning with the photo, aligning with the title, which has some previews of why your listing should stand out to that potential guest. So the goal is to get clicked. So that title really matters. We've gotta talk to that potential guest and hook 'em.

Words to delete immediately. Okay? These are wasting space. They are not helping you. Stand out and listen. Don't take this personal because. We've used these words, trust me, I've used every like, fluffy word there is,

I still, I still like, wait, Sarah, that's a fluffy word. Like, right.

It, it's, it's. Hard to just face the fact that these are not helping because you want to explain your space to your guest. You want them to know you have a modern loft that coziness like you really want to name it that, but they aren't value packed descriptions. Let's just know that it might be a little hard for you to delete these. It might be a little hard for you to face the fact that. These aren't getting you the bookings, but we want to make you more profitable and get you those bookings. So let's dive into again, what words to delete immediately.

All right. So really common words like cozy, tranquil, charming, relaxing. These are generic. And they're subjective fluff, right? We don't really talk about what makes it charming. What makes it cozy? So when you're thinking of these adjectives, that's good. Like if you've got, like right now Annette and I are curating a cozy cabin, but do you know how many other cozy cabins there are down in Hocking Hills of, uh, in Ohio? So many. So we're gonna have to really dig deep on what other words that we can use to describe why our cabin is cozy, like what makes it cozy, and how we can attract someone from stop the scroll and click on our cabin. Okay. Words like obsessed chef's kiss, dreamy, adorable, right? These belong in Instagram captions not in your title. Okay. They're kind of, I don't know. Cheesy.

Cheesy. Yeah. Again, they're not packing the punch. They're not giving the guest. Again, you've got to put yourself, this is where it is very different to sit in the host seat versus the potential guest.

It's hard.

When you are as a guest, when you are scrolling through, those words really don't mean anything to you. So that's where, again, you have to detach yourself from your property. And then think about what is the guest looking for?

Alright. The word the, or if you're from Ohio, the, unless it's part of a proper noun, like a city name, we want you to scrap it. Right? Because you,

it's wasted up valuable real estate.

Right? We said you have 50 characters as of today. And so every character, every word really has to matter. And the word, the doesn't matter.

This is the one we see so often are words that literally mean nothing to anybody else.

Oh, yeah.

So maybe it's. Uh, your unit is 16 A in the condo building. Maybe your, um, you have your team internally named the property

2B LK.

Yes. Like letters, numbers, things like that, that like are back, quote unquote, like back of the house. Things that maybe you, your team, um, your condo complex, your neighborhood, uh. These don't, these front facing mean nothing to potential guests at all?

Or even we've seen this a lot with you. Come up with a cute name like the, I'm trying to think of the Short North Stunner. So there's an area of our, of our neighborhood, of our downtown Columbus, it's called The Short North. And so people like to use alliteration, so the Short North Stunner, 'cause they, you know, short and stunner s or what? Like, like the, I don't know, the Hudson Hideaway, like. It's cute and it does roll off the tongue, but is that gonna get someone to stop the scroll? Like to you, you think maybe you know what the Hudson Hideaway is compared to your Short North center? But that's not marketing. That isn't gonna get someone to stop the scroll and explore more about your property. I encourage you to get more creative.

When we were talking about those like small local areas, again, remember someone not from your town, your city, your state may not have any idea what, let's say the Short North is, or any sort of pocket area that uh, people just aren't gonna know the name of it. We see that so often. So you just want to, obviously, obviously you can put that in the description if it matters. 'cause I know those. Areas are very important to guests, but not in, not in the title.

Now, you could argue with us that if it's a really popular nook mm-hmm. Like soho in Manhattan, like that has it's popular, it's famous, maybe, you know, but then I might argue, well, if someone's already narrowed down their search to that Soho area. Maybe you're next to a landmark, but I just really want you to think about nooks of neighborhoods, and if that really is gonna get someone who's never been there, or maybe they're traveling there to visit someone, but they don't really know the ins and outs of the area, if that's gonna get them to stop their scroll.

This is a segue into abbreviations, like Sarah just said, Soho, which by the way is soho, south Hoboken?

South of Houston.

Oh, see, I didn't know. Is there even that like this is, this is. Case in point, like using abbreviations in your title. Also, people don't know what those are, so maybe you're, you know. We see this all the time, like an easy one that most people would know is like Atlanta, a TL or like certain beaches have a lot of their own, uh, abbreviations in slang for what they need, but the abbreviations in the slang, we wanna leave those out too because again, to the potential guest, they don't know what that is, that they need to come to your town first so they can learn that.

Now, this one I can, I, you can argue with us on this one 'cause I'm gonna argue too, but I just want you to be thoughtful and intentional If you repeat amenities in your title. For example, if you have a hot tub and you have it as the first words in your title, and then you have it again, maybe in your description below, and a lot of times people mark off and filter for the amenities. I would just caution you or we'll get into this later on, switch it up and try it out. If you see that the word hot tub works, when you use it at the front end of your title because you're getting clicked on and you're tracking those stats, then fine. But I would change it and test it and see, because you might be repeating information where real estate is really valuable and you could be sharing something else in that space. And then last but not least, too many adjectives in a row. Lux, cozy, modern, private retreat. Right? That's just, there's no info there. It's a lot of clutter because we can get lazy because you're like, I've changed my title 10 times already this year, and I have, I am out of ideas. We're gonna get into how you can get more ideas so that you can hone in on who is traveling when and what they want. So hopefully they can see it in your title. Stop and click you. Let's dive in now to what to write instead of Fluff, because you want to answer the potential guest's unspoken question, why should I click on you instead of this the other? Eight people that I'm scrolling past in this moment, right?

I wish there was only eight.

Okay. More than that. You're right. But, but like in that moment, in that one scroll, there are you, you got people above you. People below you. If you're on the phone, if you're on the desktop. I mean, it's even more cluttered. So we have some examples here for you. We want you to highlight unique features. We want you to maybe highlight. This is, this is a great one. When you really get lost in terms of what to use next for your title, go through your reviews, what are your guests saying? Especially the ones who write like a paragraph or more. What words are they using? What are they pointing out? That is like marketing 1 0 1 in terms of how to then market to the next potential guest because you're attracting a certain kind of avatar. What is the what? What are they using? And let's use their words, right? Location can sometimes be helpful, but we're gonna go over specifically what to use in that location.

How to use,

yeah. How to use it. And then event based availability is really great. We've done that a few times and it's helped us get booked up. So let's highlight a unique feature. Lakefront Dock Kayaks. Okay. Especially if Airbnb doesn't have the filter for the thing that, the amenity that you have like a specific amenity. I know that there are hosts out there that have like specific arcade games or like what, what are those some speci specific things that people comment about in your reviews? That you could use in the title that might stop the scroll.

And like the example that Sarah just said right there, like lakefront doc kayaks, that's like stacking those amenities too. So you can just see them like they already like, they're like, yep, I know I wanted lakefront. Even better, they've got doc and kayaks like, it's like boom, boom, boom. So you're stacking those unique amenities, which is awesome.

I would say too, if you are in some sort of ocean town or even a lake community and some properties get lake views and others don't. And you have one. I would use that. That's something that I search for often. Like, yes, I know I see that I'm by a body water, but do I see it while I'm cooking? Do I see it while I'm in the dining room when I wake up in the morning? Things like that. Like what? How can you stand apart again from other people in your area? Okay. Uh, show off what your guests are already raving about. I was actually helping one of our Hosting Business Mastery members with her title. She was like, I feel like I can, I'm too close to it, Sarah. I need help. So I got, I went into her listing and I was going through her reviews. And truly, I know that a lot of you rock out the whole cleanliness thing, but when I tell you every single guest mentioned how immaculate her place was. Or super clean. I mean, I was like, you need to talk about this, but how do you say that in a title and not look again generic.

Yeah. It's like, why are you just re. It's how it should be clean.

So we came up with this one. Guests rave colon, super clean plus game room. So guests rave, super clean game room. And here when you see that title, it's like. Oh, well here are what my past guests are saying about my place that we're super clean for me and a lot of people, cleanliness really matters. And for you to highlight that, the title, I don't see that too often

and that the guests are saying this. Right. So it's that testimonial and it's very easy for, uh, a guest to fact check you. Guess rave. And then, you know, you've got it backed up right there with all of your reviews. They're gonna see it immediately.

Alright, so call out location. I know you're like, but Sarah, you just said don't use like location to title. Well, right, but what about a distance to a landmark? Okay. Uh, so we have example here, five mins, MINS. So minutes to Dollywood and then, and then an amenity, right? Maybe it's like pet friendly calling up at your pet friendly or.

Or let's say you are like, you are literally 10 steps from the beach. Like tell them exactly like there is some stuff like that that highlighting Yeah. The exact distance or like two minute walk to stadium, you know? That type of stuff right there is like, that is appealing to, to your guests. Like that is your billboard. That is a huge moment for you to be able to advertise the awesomeness of your property.

Right. Capture event based availability in this one. Do not sleep on this tip because we've used it before and it works South by Southwest ready Walk to venues. Derby Week, available sleeps eight. F1 weekend pool. Like if you stop, 'cause here's the thing, you don't wanna be the first one booked when there's a big event in your town 'cause if you are, you priced it too low. So you might be seeing that occupancy is filling up and you're not yet booked. You've got competitive pricing. You're holding out a little bit longer for it. So in your title, let those people who are currently shopping for a place know that you're still available for that weekend.

And the kind of underlying, um, to all of this is answer those questions that the guests might have as they see your photo, as they've already drilled down with, um, their requests via Airbnb. You know, when they put in all their specifics like. What are those questions that they might be ha as they're scrolling through? Go ahead and answer those ahead of time, right? Here's some bonus tips that are gonna move the needle for you.

All right, so you want to be changing your title pretty often, and if you feel like you're gonna forget, just put a recurring task. Whether it's on your calendar or your project management software on your refrigerator, whatever you gotta do on a, a post-it note on your desktop or your laptop computer reminding you every two to four weeks, change your title up.

Yeah. This is not a set it and forget

It is not.

But there's like, you can look at this in two ways. Number one, you're like, what ladies? Now I have to change my title regularly.

Yeah.

You can also. Find comfort in that, that there doesn't have to be this one perfect title.

No.

You are gonna constantly be testing your titles.

And I think that's what hosts think that there's this like, because we'll meet new hosts and they really stress over the title, which is well stressing is never worth it, but they really think about the title, which is great. But it's coming from this place of, I've gotta come with this title and it's never be there, move it. Never change it. And that's not true.

Right. So again, we're gonna give you some tips here.

Yeah.

To help that not feel so burdensome to you.

Yes. So when it comes to, we're gonna go back to using this new tool that is at our fingertips, and there are free versions, chat GPT, or there's clawed, or there's a lot of 'em out there, but some sort of AI tool that can help you generate titles for your listings. And things that you can do are copy all of the reviews or a lot of them that you've gotten for your property and paste them into chat GPT, and then say, I've got 50 characters. I don't wanna use fluff words. I don't wanna use words that are too common, I don't wanna use, uh, too many adjectives, and I'd like to highlight this, this, and that. Come up with 20 title variations for this property.

Your prompt is what's so important with chat property.

The prompt is very important and really lean into, if you've got any big events that come to your town, whether it's every year or you've got a special event that you know that's coming this year. Also have it like we told you in the tips, uh uh, before. To use that in your title. So for example, Taylor Swift weekend or Football Saturday, free parking, something like that where if you're not booked yet,

marathon Festival.

Marathon Marathon weekend, availability.

You've got something in your town. Yeah, and this is where this will help you If you have 5, 10, 15 things in your town. This is will automatically help you regularly switch up your title.

Our next tip is to avoid duplicates too close to each other. So what I mean by that is you have the title of your listing and then you know in your listing where you have that area where you can start writing the description of your property, and then you can click show more and get more into the description of your property. We call that section above the fold means you don't have to click in to read more. That is pretty close to your title. Okay. So you've got your title, and then above the fold section, I would use that valuable digital real estate to highlight different things about your property.

Yeah. You don't wanna regurgitate what you had just told them in the title.

Right. So one of our big tips is we already told you the title. Don't use words like the or filler words, or too many adjectives. Why would someone want to learn more about your property? Put that in your title. And remember, your title is always changing. And then above the fold section go into more, what else do you offer or more detail about that thing that you just shared? Right? But try not to use the same words or duplicate words 'cause you wanna really maximize that digital real estate.

And we'll see some hosts crush the title and then they go into this fluffy mess in the description.

Oh yeah.

We just helped someone last week with this and it was like. Basically that whole digital real estate that was so valuable was just a bunch of fluffy words that told me nothing more about their property at all.

Yes. Alright, we can go, we can actually have a whole episode on descriptions, which we won't right now. We're gonna stick to title, but they are related in this instance. So I wanted to dive into that. Uh, test titles, if you're not getting clicks.

Gotta look at the analytics.

So we encourage our, the members of our mastery, we have this spreadsheet and you can create one too, where it has your first page impressions, your search to listing conversion, your booking conversion, your overall conversions, so you can, Airbnb will tell you in the analytics section if you're getting clicked or not. And if you're not, that's one of the first things I would change is whether it's the photo. Or the title test it and you wonder how long should I test it for? Well, it depends. Are you in your high season where you're getting a lot of views right now? If you are, you don't need too long of a timeframe to test it. But if you're in your slower season, fewer eyes are on your listing right now 'cause just few fewer people booking in your market, you might wanna test it for a little bit longer to see if it's really getting people to click or not.

And then last but not least, learn from your competition. Uh, we love to make swipe files AKA, just a folder in your Gmail where we'll have a document where we see other titles that we love. Search your city, search your State. Do your own research. When you're looking for vacations, what titles stick out to you? Just start to group them together. It's almost like having a Pinterest board for your titles. It's just a swipe file, and you can pull all of those in and a look at them when you go to create new titles. And then again, you can help your AI with the prompts. You can say, Hey, these are some of my favorite titles. How can we incorporate these into my listing? So remember, your title is a billboard. It is your sales tool. So this year, if you wanna get more bookings, we've gotta stop with a fluff and we've got to. Let the guests know what we have to offer. We gotta get clear about it. And if you don't have anything to offer, well we need to work on that. Okay? Clarity is kindness to your guest. And listen, we wanna help you so below drop your current listing title and we're gonna help some of you rewrite them. We'll help you rewrite 'em in the comments.

And if you want to continue get listing. Uh, tips, hacks, tricks. If you need help with your design, if you need help with your Airbnb business in any way, shape or form, make sure you hit that subscribe button 'cause we come at you with new video content twice a week. And if you wanna continue the education, you gotta check out this video that people are loving. It is a secret Airbnb setting that can help improve your bookings by 300%. With that, I am Sarah Karakaian.

I'm Annette Grant, and together we are. Thanks for Visiting.