Hello all
Well what a good informative site this is, several people have recommended it to me and I can see why. We have a chambres d'hotes and gites in France and have created our own website, would some of you take some time out to take a look at it please, we do not have many bookings this year and wondered if it was something to do with the website
http://www.lepelateau.com
many thanks
Hello, could you take a look at my website
Hello and welcome
Your website is lovely, didn't read the text but liked the simple layout, photos and the text and headline colour. Margaret is right about the photo on your homepage. The hedge blocks the view of your beautiful house. If you can replace it with one which shows the whole exterior it would be much better.
I also think I noticed an even better one of the cottage too on 1 of the other pages which showed the front of it.
You have 2 stunning properties and hope you do really well
Your website is lovely, didn't read the text but liked the simple layout, photos and the text and headline colour. Margaret is right about the photo on your homepage. The hedge blocks the view of your beautiful house. If you can replace it with one which shows the whole exterior it would be much better.
I also think I noticed an even better one of the cottage too on 1 of the other pages which showed the front of it.
You have 2 stunning properties and hope you do really well
Chianti
Tecno twit, but I can tie my shoes !
Tecno twit, but I can tie my shoes !
Hello - I was intrigued to see another website offering B&B and Gite accommodation together. I have been wondering if this combination puts people off. You have tried to make the relationship between the two clear, a bit better than I initially did. On the homepage, and the right hand side bar you have a heading for the Cottage, but there is no corresponding heading for the B&B, which is what I would be looking for if searching for a B&B. The section 'The Garden' does not really tell me about the B&B.
Specific points on you website:
I agree with Margaret, you have much more inviting pictures of the building on other pages of your website.
The 'Our Links' Heading, on my screen falls on the navigation bar - and the headers are not all consistent (text and font) so when I move from one page to another the new page jumps.
The ordering of the list of links could be geared towards guests a bit better I feel. For example the set of links in the last section are directly and immediately more relevant to people wanting to come and stay with you - getting a bird watching scope from Nipon, while great to have the link, is perhaps less relevant and probably should be further down the page.
Hope that helps
Thomas
Specific points on you website:
I agree with Margaret, you have much more inviting pictures of the building on other pages of your website.
The 'Our Links' Heading, on my screen falls on the navigation bar - and the headers are not all consistent (text and font) so when I move from one page to another the new page jumps.
The ordering of the list of links could be geared towards guests a bit better I feel. For example the set of links in the last section are directly and immediately more relevant to people wanting to come and stay with you - getting a bird watching scope from Nipon, while great to have the link, is perhaps less relevant and probably should be further down the page.
Hope that helps
Thomas
Hi Atty,
I had a quick look at your site and on the whole I found it to be simple and informative. The prices were easy to find and there were plenty of photos. If I was looking for a short break in your area there was nothing on the site that would put me off.
I only have two main suggestions:
1. I took a peek at your source and I only had to look at the title tag to see that your site is totally un-optimised for Search Engines. I'd suggest you take a look at some of the SEO threads on this site and make some changes accordingly. If you improve you SEO then you'll improve your traffic dramatically.
2. I'd also suggest that once you have improved the SEO then you produce a French (or possibly other language) version of the site. It may be worth visiting your local tourist office to find out what figures they have on different coutries of origin for tourists. You may get a surprise !
I had a quick look at your site and on the whole I found it to be simple and informative. The prices were easy to find and there were plenty of photos. If I was looking for a short break in your area there was nothing on the site that would put me off.
I only have two main suggestions:
1. I took a peek at your source and I only had to look at the title tag to see that your site is totally un-optimised for Search Engines. I'd suggest you take a look at some of the SEO threads on this site and make some changes accordingly. If you improve you SEO then you'll improve your traffic dramatically.
2. I'd also suggest that once you have improved the SEO then you produce a French (or possibly other language) version of the site. It may be worth visiting your local tourist office to find out what figures they have on different coutries of origin for tourists. You may get a surprise !
Thanks for all your suggestions and your comments about the photos have been noted and the first blue sky day we have I will be out with the camera, and I will most definately take a look at my links page and try to order them more appropriately.Richard D wrote:Hi Atty,
1. I took a peek at your source and I only had to look at the title tag to see that your site is totally un-optimised for Search Engines. I'd suggest you take a look at some of the SEO threads on this site and make some changes accordingly. If you improve you SEO then you'll improve your traffic dramatically.
!
Richard
I am very new to all this and very naive to all this techy stuff (I hate to admit). What exactly do you mean by 'title tag' and un-optimised (I warned you I hadnt got a clue
).Thanks
Atty
Here's an observation that may surprise you (and others):
Your text has some paragraphs in bold, and some in non-bold. Using bold over many lines of text is actually harder to read and thus my eye was drawn to the non-bold texts and I read those first.
An additional point to this "readability" issue:
Centred text when it runs to many lines is harder to read than left aligned or even blocked.
Remember people do not always read your website in the order that you decide. Their eye wanders all over the page in somewhat random fashion, so if you want to capture their eye with specific points, use very short bold sub-headings or boxes or one of many other devices, not long paragraphs of bold text.
I found your visitors book layout very intriguing. Could be quite smart. Firstly, I'm afraid it just isn't working in Firefox. The layout is all shot and needs fixing. It's fine in IE. Secondly, back to my previous point, the individual boxes would all read so much easier if left aligned, and guest names were in, say italics or smaller font, but definitely not bold.
Sorry to sound like a stuck record, but the links page again draws your eye to the messy http:// gobbldigook that is all in bold, and not to the content that you have clearly gone to a lot of effort to build. For what its worth, here is an example of what I mean for a links page.
Funnily enough, once one gets over all the criticism above, the content is actually very pleasant, the colour scheme is soothing and the layout not overly busy, so this website could really work well for you.
Your text has some paragraphs in bold, and some in non-bold. Using bold over many lines of text is actually harder to read and thus my eye was drawn to the non-bold texts and I read those first.
An additional point to this "readability" issue:
Centred text when it runs to many lines is harder to read than left aligned or even blocked.
Remember people do not always read your website in the order that you decide. Their eye wanders all over the page in somewhat random fashion, so if you want to capture their eye with specific points, use very short bold sub-headings or boxes or one of many other devices, not long paragraphs of bold text.
I found your visitors book layout very intriguing. Could be quite smart. Firstly, I'm afraid it just isn't working in Firefox. The layout is all shot and needs fixing. It's fine in IE. Secondly, back to my previous point, the individual boxes would all read so much easier if left aligned, and guest names were in, say italics or smaller font, but definitely not bold.
Sorry to sound like a stuck record, but the links page again draws your eye to the messy http:// gobbldigook that is all in bold, and not to the content that you have clearly gone to a lot of effort to build. For what its worth, here is an example of what I mean for a links page.
Funnily enough, once one gets over all the criticism above, the content is actually very pleasant, the colour scheme is soothing and the layout not overly busy, so this website could really work well for you.
** Richard
PIMS: Holiday Rental Management system
They say we learn from our mistakes. That makes me a genius !
PIMS: Holiday Rental Management system
They say we learn from our mistakes. That makes me a genius !
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catherinedonegal
- Posts: 378
- Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:10 pm
- Location: Dunkineely, County Donegal, Ireland
- Contact:
Well done! I would agree about the hedge in the main picture! The picture of the house through the trees looks inviting as does the cottage. I found the layout good.
I love maps on websites as it lets me get a perspective of where the property is relating to the sea, major cities etc. This is probably a male thing!
I would also not give such prominence to a negative, ie, that the property is not suited for immobile guests. While it is important to have this in the text, maybe not on the front page. Others probably dont agree on this! I didnt find the text difficult to read and the colours are easy on the eye. I didnt know much about SEO a year ago and still dont, but it is an interesting area to learn.
Best of luck!
Declan
I love maps on websites as it lets me get a perspective of where the property is relating to the sea, major cities etc. This is probably a male thing!
I would also not give such prominence to a negative, ie, that the property is not suited for immobile guests. While it is important to have this in the text, maybe not on the front page. Others probably dont agree on this! I didnt find the text difficult to read and the colours are easy on the eye. I didnt know much about SEO a year ago and still dont, but it is an interesting area to learn.
Best of luck!
Declan
