Paid services: You need to first establish your advertising budget and select only those paid services which have a good reputation for “return on advertising investment”. For the local Cape Cod area WeNeedaVacation.com and the HomeAway Network (Advertise on all 4 sites - HomeAway.com, CyberRentals.com, A1Vacations.com and GreatRentals.com for $299) both have a decent track record with the property owners I know and help. The longer you keep your paid listings running the more visitors you will get from Google.

Free services: There are many places to advertise your vacation rental for free like the Cape Cod Summer Rentals section at CapeLinks and other sites like CraigsList or Kijiji can be very effective and if you are aggressive and crafty enough with your listings they can often outperform paid services. Some free listings may only run for a short period of time and may require relisting often or periodic editing to keep your ad up on the site. All of these sites will show up for Google searches, but the free listings that expire quickly without letting you reuse the same URL (web address) when you update will be short lived and will drop out of the Google index quickly.

When you add your property to different websites don’t be lazy, vary the text you use to describe your property. Do not use the exact same text descriptions on each site. If the site gives you multiple fields to fill out, take advantage of it. The more text and the more unique that text is across your listings will lead to more visitors and ultimately more weeks rented by you in the long run. This is the thing most often overlooked by property owners and is really a very simple way of increasing your exposure.

Take some time to gather your ideas for these unique property descriptions before jumping in to add your property. Using a text editor like notepad, write a few different titles and descriptions to use on the different sites. Also write some good keyword rich amenities and nearby attractions paragraphs. Mentioning nearby attractions will include these keywords in your text which is great for obtaining visitors from internet search engines. Detailing your properties amenities is also a great source of good keywords for your ad text. Like bbq grill, hot tub, swimming pool, internet access etc… If possible try to link your listings together. Not every one linking to every other one, but linking them something like listing A to B to C back to A or some other random pattern. The more links you can get to your listings the better your online exposure will be, but don’t over do it.

While adding your property to each site make a note of the sites URL (link) and any login info you will need to edit your listing later on. It may also be handy to jot down the length of time the ad will run for each site. Notice how the editing functions work as you enter your information and create your listing. This will come in handy later when you need to edit your property information.

Pay Per Click advertising: You can also drive eyeballs to your online listings by purchasing PPC advertising from Google Adwords or other similar services an sending visitors to your webpage(s). The thing to remember here is to refine the keywords that you target. Don’t just bid on “cape cod vacation rental”. That search is too broad, it will cost you alot of money and you will not get the right targeted visitors. You are better off choosing keywords like “town/village name rental”, “nearby attraction rentals”, “rental close to nearby beach”, etc… Also target the specific weeks that you have available with keywords. You may not get as many clicks as “cape cod rentals” but the visitors will be much more likely to rent because they much more targeted to your property. Plus, it will cost much less to use highly targeted long tail keyword searches rather than broad range keywords.

Offline advertising: As far as advertising your property in guidebooks, newspapers, etc… Don’t waste your money. This has been a loser for many folks I have talked with. Usually the person picking up a guidebook is already here and likely has a place to stay already lined up. They might look for a restaurant or maybe a hotel, but not a weekly rental. There is the chance that the guidebook may be brought back home and referenced at a later time, but don’t count on it.

If you need help marketing a Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket area vacation rental property contact me. I have managed several online rental property campaigns for my clients over the years. You can also advertise your Cape Cod Rental for free while you are here.

CHATHAM - For as long as anyone can remember, homeowners in Chatham have accommodated on their beaches the battered skiffs and dinghies of local fishermen. The dinghies were the only way fishermen could reach their boats moored just offshore. And so, small vessels littered the shoreline, nestled in the sand amid the scallop shells and seaweed, an accepted part of the landscape.

But Chatham is no longer a little fishing village. As in other Cape Cod communities in recent years, its beaches have become coveted addresses for wealthy out-of-towners. And recently, some people with waterfront property and out-of-state area codes have started demanding that locals remove their small boats from their beaches.

The latest demand - made this month in a legal notice by San Francisco homeowners looking to sell their waterfront land for a tidy $10.75 million - has sparked what longtime Chatham resident Ned Webster calls “the big dinghy flap.”

A fishing tradition keelhauled in Chatham—source

Updated: 3/13/08

Dinghy Removal Order Challenged - Cape Cod Chronicle
by Tim Wood
CHATHAM --- For 35 years, Edward Eldridge has moored a boat in Stage Harbor, just east of the Battlefield town landing.  For just as long, he tied his dinghy to a pylon he sunk in the sand above high tide, at the base of a coastal bank near his mooring.  No one ever questioned him or asked him to move the dinghy.

... He may have a case for a prescriptive easement, according to Edward Englander, a Newton attorney who has litigated beach rights cases, including a Wellfleet case that established the right to moor a boat between high and low water as part of the Colonial Ordinances allowing navigation, fishing and fowling in the intertidal zone. ...

Life-long Resident Claims Easement On Private Beach—source

Chatham Bike Trail
8-mile Cape Cod Rail Trail extension from Harwich to Chatham, along main roads) Combine exercise with sightseeing as you cycle through parts of Harwich, along the shoreline and by such landmarks as Chatham Light, Coast Guard Station, and the Chatham Fish Pier. Parking areas can be found along the route, and Chatham’s quaint downtown village of shops and eateries is just a short distance from the route.

Cape Cod Canal Bike Paths
(14.2 miles paved, off-road trail; access the paths in Sagamore): These paths run along both sides of the man-made Cape Cod Canal. Cyclists can enjoy beautiful sea breezes and watch the ship and boat traffic through the Canal. The Canal Trail is a popular destination for cyclists, pedestrians, inline skaters and joggers. Park benches are also scattered along the path at regular intervals for rest and relaxation after a long walk or hard workout on the route. Bourne Recreation Area features picnic facilities in a nicely landscaped plot to the right of the parking area.

Shining Sea Bikeway
(3.3 miles of paved, off-road trails; access the trail from Locust Street in Falmouth): This beautiful path runs along some of the most breathtaking scenery on Cape Cod, including the Vineyard Sound shoreline and the Salt Pond Bird Sanctuary. Extending from Falmouth Village to the quaintvillage of Woods Hole, the path is ideal for casual and beginner cyclists.

Safety Tips (provided by the National Park Service):

• Massachusetts state law requires children younger than 13 to wear protective helmets when operating or riding as a passenger on a bicycle. It is advisable that all riders, regardless of age, wear protective headgear.
• If you have an unfamiliar bike, check your brakes, gears and steering before entering a trail
• Ride single file and stay to the right. All trails have two-way traffic and heavy traffic times
• Don’t speed and be alert for the unexpected (rollerbladers, hikers, dogs, windblown sand, etc.)

The Cape Cod Rail Trail is not the longest or the best. But the picturesque 22-mile pedal-hike trail remains a showpiece and one that certainly garners attention. It is one of the oldest bike paths in the United States.

Part of its appeal is that the trail lies on Cape Cod, perhaps the No. 1 tourist destination in the Northeast, an area that gets 13 million vacationers a year.

The rail trail stretches from state Route 134 in South Dennis to the east and north to South Wellfleet within the Cape Cod National Seashore. It runs through the towns of South Dennis, Harwich, Brewster, Orleans and Eastham to near Wellfleet—with a spur trail that runs to Chatham.

Background:
Before the first railroad tracks were laid, the Cape was a relatively isolated area, accessible only by packet boat or stagecoach. By 1848, the Old Colony Railroad Company laid tracks that connected Boston and Sandwich. Railroad track extensions continued and by 1873, Old Colony had linked Boston with Cape Cod’s outermost point of Provincetown, offering a miraculously short, five-hour journey. As the Cape’s popularity as a summer resort increased, the railroad was heavily used to transport visitors from New York and Connecticut, as well as other parts of Massachusetts. With the growing number of visitors came train loads of food and other provisions needed to meet their needs. But the railroad’s importance was soon surpassed by the automobile. Bridges to carry cars over Cape Cod Canal were opened in 1935, and in 1937 passenger service to the towns east of Dennis ended. Trains continued to haul freight until the mid-1960’s, but then the tracks were torn up and the station houses were razed or vandalized. If you look carefully as you ride along the trail, you can still see occasional relics of the Cape’s rail days.

By 1620, when the Pilgrims arrived on the Mayflower, Champlain had accomplished nearly everything for which he is famous. He had crisscrossed the Atlantic dozens of times (29 times before his death in 1635), he had penetrated deeply into the hinterland, and he had glimpsed—and named—most of the harbors, rivers, and capes that we rediscover every weekend of the summer. It is startling to return to his maps, and see the familiar contours of Cape Cod, Cape Ann, and Boston Harbor, all included as part of an American region that was anything but “New England.”

A stone memorial in Chatham at Stage Harbor, commemorates Champlain’s landing in that town.

The Indian names which are still to be seen on Cape Cod, and even the modifications of these names, such as Hyannis, bring to mind the days when Cape Cod was but a long stretch of sand dunes, beach grass and pine groves, an untouched place which the Indians called their home.

from Massachusetts Saltwater Game Fish Records

The current Official IGFA All Tackle Record Striper was caught by Al McReynolds on the Vermont Ave Jetty in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 21, 1982.
78-pound 8-ounces, Length 53 inches, Girth 34 ½ inches, Female; Year of “birth” determined by biologists as 1946!
Line: 20 lb Ande® Premium Pink
Lure: Rebel 5-½” Black-back Silver Minnow
Time Required to Land Fish: 1 Hour 40 Minutes

from New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife and StriperSurf

The hoards of gold that this buccaneer is supposed to have buried in various remote locations are still talked about. Cape Cod is popularly regarded as one of the most likely scenes for Kidd’s caches, and to Hog Island in Pleasant Bay is accorded the honor of being the exact spot. The southern end of Hog Island is known locally as “Money Head,” and a large rock and hole once found there are referred to as evidence of repeated excavations.

Another local spot rumored to be where some of Kidd’s booty was stashed is Nomans Land Island (aka Nomansland Island). A uninhabited island South of Gay Head on Martha’s Vineyard.

Subsequently, Captain Kidd was arrested in Boston, sent back to England for trial, and executed for piracy in London in 1701. Legend has it that when Kidd was about to be hanged, the ropes broke on the gallows. But Kidd was hanged a second time, with more success.

Cape Cod Cemeteries Map

Cape Cod Cemeteries List

If you are into Cape Cod graves and graveyards, you may want to check out Cape Cod Gravestones. Gravestones Dated 1683 - 1880 in Barnstable County, Massachusetts - Gravestone Records from the Towns of Cape Cod

Bassett’s Wild Animal Farm, Tubman Rd., (Off Rte. 124), So. Brewster.
Adults and children alike will truly enjoy their visit to this outstanding attraction. Here you will find scores of wild animals caged along the scenic woodland paths of the farm. You will certainly enjoy viewing the many unusual animals here including the Llamas, foxes, deer, ocelot, monkeys, peacocks, kinkajou, coyotes, hawks, and owls to name just a few. There is a special section of the farm in which children can feed and pet some of the tamer species. The grounds here are always immaculate and you may stay all day and bring your lunch or snacks and sandwiches may be purchased on the premises. There are also horse and pony rides, and old-fashioned hay rides offered. An educational experience for the entire family and one of the finest sights on the Cape. Open daily 10-6.

Bassett’s has been closed for a few years now (maybe since 2001-2002). Back in 2000 a Bengal tiger at Bassett Wild Animal Farm attacked a teenage worker when the girl entered the cage’s feeding area, apparently unaware trap door was open. The girl was treated for puncture wounds to leg.

When I was younger, we used to go to Bassett’s Animal Farm to check out the animals, most of which were not native to the Cape Cod area. I remember one incident when the mountain lion apparently did not like the way I looked at it. The big cat was lunging at the cage towards me in a very aggressive manner. I was asked by the staff to move away from the area because the cat’s actions were scaring others in the crowd. I hope I never run into a mountain lion in the wild…

National Seashore Tour: will depart mid-cape 2 days a week with a stop at The Natural History Museum in Brewster.

Chatham Tour: will depart mid-cape 2 days a week and you will have an option of a fun Seal Cruise Tour.

All tours include a picnic lunch and entrance to museums.

Try to locate yourself or your vehicle, see if you were out in your yard when the photos were taken. 

Together we can create authentic dwellings that reflect and inform our true selves.  Please join me.

Thank you,

Katie Hutchison
Registered Architect & Design Writer

For the rest of this article, please visit www.newenglandshores.com

Anyhow if you want to try to find your car/house from space use the search form below. Once you hit the results page you can toggle between street map, satellite, and hybrid modes. If you need to get really accurate GPS coordinates for a dog house, a specific parking space at the Cape Cod Mall (updated:check it out in Aerial/Birdseye View) or anywhere else, you can use our GPS maps

Even a preacher about whose orthodoxy there should be any suspicion could be arrested by a justice of the peace and required to answer upon matters of faith and doctrine. And before a man and woman could marry, their intentions were to be proclaimed at three religious meetings during the preceding fortnight.

Most Overrated (and Underrated) Destinations 2006 (12/15/2006)

Cape Cod, Mass. What has always made Cape Cod special is its emptiness. Buffeted by sea and wind, the narrow peninsula was famous among artists for its lonely, blustery landscapes and shimmering, ocean-reflected light. These days, though, the dunes and seaside bluffs are covered with hulking mansions and condos; in summer, traffic is unbearable and car exhaust fills the air. The worst may be yet to come—a plan to build more than 100 giant wind turbines in Nantucket Sound. If you really want the kind of unspoiled, coastal-New England experience Cape Code used to offer, head to Maine’s Blue Hill Peninsula, above Penobscot Bay. ---S. Audrey

As a Cape Codder, I can agree a bit with the reference to trophy homes messing up some of the views, however I think they really gave the Cape a beating. The traffic? Yeah it can be bad if you don’t play it right. They should have read the avoiding Cape Cod traffic tips. The reference to car exhaust filling the air is a bit over the top, but who knows? The author may have hit the bridge on the Friday of 4th of July weekend at 5 pm and decided to take Route 28 from Woods Hole to Ptown the following morning at 9 am.

I still think there are plenty of artists here and places with lonely, blustery landscapes. Especially lonely and blustery in the off-season.

Also notice the use of Cape Code in the article. Maybe Fodor’s is trying to capitalize on a common misspelling for Cape Cod: Cape Code. Just to cover all the bases they might as well fit CapeCod in there too.

Other places mentioned as overrated include:
Florence, Italy
Florida
Great Barrington, Mass.
The Loire Valley, France
Mar del Plata, Argentina
New York, New York
Palm Beach, Florida
Pompeii, Italy
St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
St. Tropez, France
Tuscan Hill Towns
Zakynthos town, Greece

Hat tip to The Liberal Avenger.