Hi, I have added my listing to my profile, so hopefully, it shows up.
I joined in April and had our June holiday covered quickly. Now I have one in less than a month and nobody is interested. I’ve added new photos, updated the wording and have approached a few people with no luck.
At this rate I’m going to have to pay someone to sort out the animals. It isn’t what I expected.
Any ideas?
This could be another one of those listings that because it shows cat AND poultry, anyone that just has cats ticked as their sit preference won’t see it. It will show to sitters that have specifically ticked ALL pets or any preference that includes poultry, but it won’t show to a sitter who has simply ticked cats.
We don’t tend to think of poultry when we tick the boxes. If I’m looking specifically for a cat sit, I will tick all pets EXCEPT dogs, then the poultry will show also. But if I ticked just cats as my “actual” preference, I wouldn’t see your listing because of the poultry.
Have I confused you yet? 
I’d suggest you put another pillow (or three!) on the bed and re-take the bedroom pic. I took a quick look and thought it was a single bed, which might immediately influence couples not to apply. Also, since this sit is for Leo and the chooks only, I’d recommend you remove the 2 pics which include your lovely dog, as this might be misleading for anyone just glancing through pics. Take another pic with the piano stool tucked under and the same with the dining chairs, to make the room look more spacious. Remove the paper bag from behind the hob and move the worktop saver.
Your pets look lovely, by the way!
Best of luck with it!
Your house looks lovely, and I can tell you’ve put a lot of thought into your listing.
You might include some helpful information as to how sitters without a car would get to and from your house by public transport, and/or if you would be willing to pick people up at the bus/train station.
I concur. Sitters who filter will run into the broken filter function. Remove the poultry, just mention it in your heading.
As @DianeG suggest, a few Words on how one would get to you. You mention that Banbury is closest larger town with railway station, but I don’t think you mentioned (?) how far it was and how one can connect to you with public transport or whether you can pick-up. Is anything walkable - groceries, restaurants? Although cat/chooks - maybe mention how long one can be away for outings.
It shows that you have worked on your profile, just a few tweaks. I search for all animals, so no worries with chickens. I think I remember that the dog was mentioned in the initial text (?) and then under responsibilities that the dog wouldn’t be there. Maybe consider taking away the dog in the introduction if it isn’t part of the sit?
@CazFi - This looks a lovely sit, but I’m also confused about the pics of the dog - as gorgeous as Doggo is! . . . 
Also, perhaps your lack of applications are being affected by the time of year.
I don’t know how these things work with Home-Owners, but is there any way you can refresh the listing so that it comes up again as ‘new’ just in time for the weekend, when many sitters have more time to browse listings?
Hi @CazFi
I’d lead with one of your wonderful pictures of Leo.
I too was confused by the pictures of your lovely dog but no mention of the fact you take the dog with you until I read your full listing.
Having the main photo of a field 30 mins walk away is rather misleading. Make the main photo one of the lounge or kitchen. Also another of the bedroom, unless the only furniture is the bed? You don’t need so many photos of fields. Leo looks lovely.
Hi there, took a look for you. Overall, your listing appears bright, friendly and relaxed. Here are some suggestions for improvement though:
1: Definitely remove images with the dog so it’s not misleading.
2: Change your profile picture - while your profile picture is scenic, it doesn’t make sense for your sit, automatically giving the impression that your sit is quite remote, on a farm with lots of land! Remember that your profile picture is the first thing a sitter sees, and is what they see in a preview before ever clicking on your listing for further information. Change it to one of Leo, or a lovely image of your home.
3: Your title is okay but isn’t overly exciting. Try something that excites and states what’s on offer here, such as ‘Explore the Cotswolds; nature, village life & serenity.’
4: Your intro is nice but quite long and much of these details about your home & local area should be in your home & location section, not the intro. Try just 1 - 2 sentences of stating what’s attractive about your area and why somebody should visit, not paragraphs. Also state who you would be open to sitting for you - people with other pets, is it family friendly, etc.
5: Your home & location section talks only about the local area and says nothing about your home. Describe your home, the amenities available, where sitters will sleep, and don’t forget to mention how close (on foot) public transport and amenities are to your home and if a parking space (and car) is available.
You can also cut down a little on the info about the local area - remember to list things that are suited to a broad range of people, ages & backgrounds, not your own personal or quite specific interests such as the church and quaker house (and this is only likely to interest locals, not travellers). Stay broad & general only - sitters from anywhere and everywhere could be viewing your listing.
6: Can you be a little clearer about the responsibilities - how many times per day is the cat fed? Where does the cat sleep?
When the cat brings ‘guests’ in, are they usually dead or alive? How do you expect a sitter to manage this? It’s good that you have been honest and disclosed this, but always give solutions, not just a problem, or many will skip the listing. Simply saying (sorry!) won’t do anything for a sitter - tell them how they can manage or prevent this.
When you say poo pick - do you mean for the chickens? I imagine that poo picking all over the garden after 3 chickens would be a lot of work, and isn’t very clear how this is managed.
Have a read of this blog to help you:
Hope that helps! 
Thank you. I’ve removed the dog pics. I’ll do some different photos ASAP.
Thanks. I’ll bear that in mind.
I am struggling with that ethically but will bear it in mind, thanks.
Thank you. I’ve put the bus info higher up. Good idea about picking them up. I’ll add that.
Wow that’ll keep me busy.
I love the ‘Quacker’ (actually Quaker) bit, I put that in because a previous enquirer asked about churches.
Thanks for the comprehensive reply. I’ll work through it, and take some new photos.
Best wishes
Carol
Understood but if you add the chickens into the title you’re being up front and honest. Otherwise you’ll lose all those sitters who would happily look after a few hens (generally regarded as very easy!) because of a tech hitch with the THS listing system. #loveafewchooks
Right, but that was 1 sitter out of hundreds, from a particular religion with a personal interest in something, which would have been a private discussion between you & the sitter. You cannot assume that just because 1 sitter asked you about church, everyone else will and therefore it should be mentioned in the listing. Another sitter might ask you about fishing spots, tennis, or a Jewish Sinagouge 
For best results, I would strongly suggest to keep a listing broad & applicable to many different audiences, listing top key attractions for travellers such as nature, hikes, gastronomy & nearby towns. If a sitter has a particular interest in something quite specific, they would research it themselves or ask if you know info about it. It is quite odd and somewhat out of place to see a mention of a religious group in a listing and this may make it appear as though your listing is intentionally directed towards a certain interest or religious group, meaning it may be skipped by many sitters not interested in or comfortable with that.
@ziggy I don’t think the filter is broken. If I only click cats that means I want to see listings with only cats, not listings with cats along with any other animal. If I’m looking for cats and/or poultry, I would click both cats and poultry. If I want to search for cat only sits and the search brings up every sit with a cat including those with dogs, horses, turtles, etc, then the filter is useless.
Perhaps it would be a good thing to have both an “include” and an “exclude” feature. If I were looking for cats and didn’t want crocodiles, that would come in very handy…
I agree on this occasion THS programming is not broken , it’s not a bug , a hitch, a glitch or a tech issue and doesn’t need fixing.
If sitters want to see cats only they select just cats .
Sitters searching for “cat “ sits don’t want to see sit with “cats & dogs” so the sits with only cats come up in the results .
If sitters want to see the sits with cats
plus other pets they can go down the list selecting the types of pets that they will look after .
Sitters who are happy to sit for both cats and dogs select either “all pets” or they can go down the list selecting the types of pets that they will look after .