Any cottage owner will be aware that the Internet is an ever-changing market place. We all want advertising to be as cheap as possible and ideally free.

The cottage advertising business is increasingly dominated by several large companies, one of the largest appears to be the American Wyndam Group which operates brands in the UK such as Blakes Boating, English Country Cottages, Scottish Country Cottages, Country Cottages in Ireland, Country Holidays, Country Manors, Hoseasons, cottages4you, Welcome Cottages, Stillwells cottages , Cottages Direct, James Villa Holidays,  Chez Nous, Canvas Holidays, and Landal GreenParks, Novasol, Dansommer and Cuendet across Europe, also Holiday Homes Africa among other familiar names.

Gradually smaller companies are losing the battle on the web because they do not have the resources to compete with larger agressive companies. Most cottage owners cannot make their own websites generate enough enquiries for them and have to resort to paid-for advertising through other means. Those means may be Google pay-per click ads, advertising portals and other media.

The web is going the way of the High Street which is dominated by multi-nationals. We have all abandoned corner shops for convenience and now have to live with the results.

If you want to help keep your advertising portals alive and avoid paying commission on bookings, support your advertiser's websites by placing a link from your own website to theirs. You can always link to your own record on their site so that you promote your own property. Use sensible key phrases that someone might enter in a search engine such as 'cottage in Cornwall' or whatever applies to your own holiday accommodation.

Once the smaller comanies have gone, the larger companies will be able to raise their charges to whatever level they wish.

A co-operative approach is required urgently to keep competition and competitive prices for advertising on the web.

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