Help!   My Pictures look bad!!!

Do your pictures look bad?  The reason your pictures may look bad is because you're using bad pictures to start with.  The web site has a built-in program that resizes your photos to the proper size.  A copy of your original is available if the thumbnail is clicked.  If you click your thumbnail and you are brought to a small postage stamp-size photo, or a poor quality photo, then you have found your problem.  The problem is the quality of the original photo. 

The solution is to use a good quality image to start with.  The image you upload should be approximately 600 pixels wide.  You should resize your image on your computer before you upload it.  It would be nice if you also "optimize" the image for the web before you upload it to.  Most graphics programs have the option to "compress" or "optimize" an image for the web or email.  Many times the program will resize and compress the image at the same time.  You should keep trying the different optimization features of your graphics program until you end up with a very nice looking image that is approximatelly 600 pixels wide.  Once you nail down the steps, do it to each of your photos.

Step-by-Step instructions:

1.  Start with good, sharp images.  They should be larger than 600 pixels wide.

2.  Open the photo or photos that you want to use for your vacation rental ad in your graphics managment program.  I use PhotoImpact 7.  The program that comes with Microsoft Office is also decent.  It's called "Microsoft Picture Manager" (click -> Start\All Programs\Microsoft Office\Office Tools\Microsoft Picture Manager). 

3.  You probably should start by just trying the "save as" feature of your program and look for an option to resize or compress while your saving.  If this works, skip the next steps.

4.  Once the photo is open in your program, resize it.  Search your programs help for "resize image".

5.  After resizing your photo, optimze it for the web.  Search your programs help for "export for web", or "compress image". 

Because there are so many programs out there, it's not practical for me to try to give you specific instructions.