So you've got a property, and you want to rent it out to someone. There are plenty of articles out there covering everything you need to do to get set up for it, but what about the most important part of renting? The most fundamental, essential part, without which renting is completely impossible? Take a guess, what do you think it is.

Chances are, if you've stopped to think about it, you've probably come up with a lot of different things. Maybe you've thought about getting the property ready for renters, and making sure the building itself is up to scratch. This is undeniably important, as there is no point in trying to let something that nobody wants.

Or maybe you're thinking about the legal side of things. For example, preparing a good application form, that includes everything you need to know. Deciding how you are going to pick which tenants to allow in, and how to arrange for payments and deposits. You'll need to put together a comprehensive business plan, and ensure that everything you are going to do is planned out and clear in your mind.

Perhaps you're thinking about how to handle your tenants, resolving disputes, rules on pets or subletting or anything else that might crop up. Hopefully you've included all this in your business plan, but it can be hard to plan ahead as you never know what's going to come up. So maybe the most important thing, is to be prepared for anything. Nope.

Surprisingly, the most important part of renting something is also the one most often overlooked, and it is this: To rent something, you need someone to rent it too. So the most important part of property rental, is finding tenants.

Obviously, you need to find some way of letting people know. "Build it and they will come" is a fine slogan, but in practice, it very rarely works. Better, in fact, to think "Tell them about it and they will come". So lets have a look at some of the ways you can spread the word.

Posters. Billboards. Notices. Physical signs such as this, are an excellent ideas if you are trying to attract people from a specific region. To give you an example, if you want to get students from your local campus, this may well be your best way of advertising. On the other hand, this can easily be expensive, and is often not as effective as you might like.

Newspapers. A better idea, this can reach a much wider audience. Just post your ad in the local freeads, or similar paper. In fact, you can even place ads for free in many cases, although this is still far from the most effective system. Can work will in combination with others, though.

Television and radio. It's a nice idea, but is significantly more expensive, and actually less effective, then the physical notices. The only benefit is that it reaches a far larger audience, but practically speaking it's not a real consideration.

The internet. Now you're talking. Everyone uses the internet, so you've got a huge audience, and more then that it's targeted. You know, if someone is looking at a rental site, that they are interested in renting something- so you'll get a much better response from this then from anything else. Of course, you still have to find the right site.

There are a lot of different places to post online, as a simple search on google will show. But with so many to choose from, how do you know which to pick? Well, take a look at some of them. You want a page that looks good, that is, it's clear and easy to use. If it's not, visitors won't bother with it. Also, look at the number of properties being offered currently. If there are a lot, then you'll have a lot of competition, but if there are very few then it's probably not a popular site.

In the end, as you are looking through all these sites, you'll probably notice that there is something similar about all of them: they are charging you to post on them. As wonderful as the internet undoubtedly is, you may think twice about using it when you see what is charged. I know I did. However, you now have another option- free sites. Only occurring recently, there are a small number of excellent websites that actually offer their services completely free.

For example, take a look at localets.co.uk. It's an excellently designed site, with everything you could want, and it's completely free. Who says that property advertising should be expensive? It shouldn't the prices some people are charging are simply crazy. It is well worth your time and effort to track down a number of sites like these, and sign up to all of them. After all, what have you to lose? It's totally free. And if you still feel the need, you can always sign up to one or more of the others as well.

So there it is. The most essential, vital, part of renting is finding people to rent from you. And the best way to do that, is to advertise online. What are you waiting for? Get on with you, and start doing it!