Name of your website?Villasbook
Your name?
Lefteris Solomou
Your Location (city, etc)
London
Please give us a short summary of your website?
Free advertising for holiday villas all over the world.Rent a villa direct with the owner or book on-line now.A superb selection of villas in the Mediterranean with private swimming pools and much more. Our aim is to help you find and book your villa from the comfort of your own home without having to pay inflated prices either in the form of commission to agents or additional costs to enter the booking system.
We have created a user-friendly advertising and on-line booking system which is easy to navigate and which contains the right amount of information relating to each individual private villa and it’s surroundings, in order to assist you, find and select a villa with confidence – safe in the knowledge that you have made the right choice and paid the correct rental price directly to the villa owner or villa provider.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
I feel that I found a unique idea on how to help Villa owners to rent out their Villas at no cost.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
My first website was launched in 2006 and it is a Real estate site specializing in overseas properties. www.elegantpropertiesgroup.com
How did you decide on a name for your website?
Relevance to the product and easy to remember.
What makes your website different from other, similar offerings?
Other sites offer advertising at a cost and no booking system. My site offers advertising free of charge and a booking system at a cost.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
My first goal is to make it successful and a big player in the market and then I might consider selling it.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
Right now my investment of time is far greater than the fincial success of the project.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
First I would invest in marketing the site through all search engines, Local advertising in Countries/resorts to attract more Villas and finally spend more money in advertising to attract more buyers.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Yes absolutely. First the technology is quite advanced and therefore physical requirement is very low and secondly we are a small team with ability, knowledge and hard working.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
Search Engine Optimization and increasing the links in order to get better listed.
What has been your biggest challenge?
To convince property owners to advertise their Villas on my site.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Personal contact and targeting specific properties.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
Not much. I expected what it takes to make a site successful.
How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?
I have been running this site for a year and I will keep doing it for as long as it takes to get to my Goal.
What is your website address?
Villasbook
