Website Review

Get some feedback on your site or ad from other rental owners and techies. Also a library of online resources so you can make DIY improvements to your web presence.
Kent
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Dec 10, 2004 4:04 pm
Location: Limousin France
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Website Review

Post by Kent »

I'd much appreciate some opinions on my site. This is the first time I have ever written a web-site and have little experience of computers! It's also the first time I have ventured into property rentals.

The site address is www.limousingites.net

I intend to add photos of the interiors as soon as renovations are finished but we are mid-decoration!

Good and Bad comments welcomed
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paolo
Posts: 3885
Joined: Thu Jun 17, 2004 1:18 pm
Location: Provence, France
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Post by paolo »

Hello Kent,

I think my best advice would be to find a site you really like the design of, and copy it. Insert your text and photos but go with the same layout and colours as a site that really makes you feel happy to be on. If I were designing my site now I would emulate something like these ones which have also been reviewed here:
http://www.experienceburgundy.com/view.php?page=index
http://www.corsicanholidays.com/Corsica ... index.html

The main negative for me on your site is that the pictures are either too big, too small, absent or not very attractively shot.

On a page like 'Accommodation' you really need to show pics and presumably you will do when you have them - they shouldn't be put in the photo gallery on a separate page. Same with the Places of Interest page.

I don't like thumbnails (as I keep saying!) - you have to do too much clicking to see them and they are too small to entice you to click them. The full size pics that spring from your thumbnails are far too big - well over 200kb. This will take half a lifetime to download on a dial-up modem.

The light on your external pics is grey and flat, and I can get that at home. What I need to see is sun and lots of it, because that's why people go on holiday. Taken straight on and in that light, your house is not at its best. Try a gentler angle and the golden light of early morning or late afternoon for maximum effectiveness.

All pics need captions, because not everybody knows about hovering the cursor.

I wrote about taking good pics of your property here:
http://www.laymyhat.com/newsletters/newsletter1.htm

Being realistic, your house's external looks are not what will bring you bookings. It's more about location and amenities. So I would show two or more of your local area pretty pictures on the homepage. Sell the Limousin as well as your gites.

And how about going for a plain white background? Go on, you know it makes sense! :D
Paolo
Lay My Hat
musicmonkey
Posts: 86
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 12:37 pm
Location: Manche
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Post by musicmonkey »

Kent,

I have to admit that I didn't spend a lot of time looking at your site, but do you actually mention anywhere how many people you accommodate and how many bedrooms? This would be of very relevant use to potential renters.

Our own website is in dire need of upgrading, but not being the 'techie', I am waiting for hubby to find time to read all the hints and advice here in the hope he can use it to re-do our site.
Paul Carmel
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Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 12:25 pm
Location: Palma Mallorca & Greece
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Post by Paul Carmel »

Thank you Paolo for recommending our layout.

For anyone interested the software we use is by a company called webstudio, it is by no means perfect but for first timers like us it did the trick and is not hard to use - follow this link http://www.webstudio.com/ and you can download a free trial. Also there is a forum which if you have any questions is pretty active ....I take Tony's point, Dreamweaver is far superior and the result is far better, but webstudio does not require a winter to get to grips with!! All in all it's a good intro to this world.
Cheers
PC
Kent
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Dec 10, 2004 4:04 pm
Location: Limousin France
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Comments taken

Post by Kent »

Ok I've taken your comments and criticisms on board and will overhaul the site. Can anyone give some advice on reducing the file size on my photos. I have a Samsung camera and have tried taking photos on the lowest quality setting. The only software I have to manipulate photos is an old version of Corel Photohouse. What do you recommend, what are the best ways to reduce the file size, do I need new software? All help much appreciated as I am a complete novice at all of this
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Sue Dyer
Posts: 2562
Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2004 2:26 pm
Location: Belford, Northumberland

Post by Sue Dyer »

I still take photos on the high quality even if they are for the web, I don't know if this is necessary but if I ever want to print it out then the quality is there.

Is there not a "resize" command, maybe under the Edit pull down? Firstly I reduce the dimensions of the photo, if I posted a one here without reducing it would be wider than the screen, I usually go to about 400 pixels wide but constrain the proportions so it doesn't skew. This would reduce the image a lot before compressing it.

If you are thinking of new software Adobe Photoshop Elements is a LOT easier to handle than Photoshop (but still has advanced commands like filters/layers) and has an easy facility for saving for the web. I think it is about £50 but check out on ebay to see if anyone (reputable) is selling it off. I'm sure you'll find some freeware.shareware if you look on the net, somewhere like www.cnet.com for downloads. Good luck!!

Or - if you wanted to email me any photos I'd gladly resize/save for the web for you and email back! :)

Here's another useful Sue I.T tip - If I'm sending large music or photo files to a friend which are probably too big to email I upload to my website but a part which isn't navigatiable (is that a word?) from the main site. I just give my friend the URL and he downloads from there! As long as your webspace isn't limited it means you can use your website as a virtual hard drive..!
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paolo
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Joined: Thu Jun 17, 2004 1:18 pm
Location: Provence, France
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Post by paolo »

navigatiable (is that a word?)
Sue, I think you just invented a new internet buzzword! :D
Paolo
Lay My Hat
Kent
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Dec 10, 2004 4:04 pm
Location: Limousin France
Contact:

New word

Post by Kent »

Should that be navigable? :lol:

Many thanks for the tips and the offer of help - it is much appreciated. Must admit I was feeling a bit battered after the comments on my efforts so its nice to have something positive. Thanks again
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Sue Dyer
Posts: 2562
Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2004 2:26 pm
Location: Belford, Northumberland

Post by Sue Dyer »

Kent - the offer is still on the table, just email me but I have found this on the net: http://www.irfanview.com/ It's freeware for non commerical use but just $10 if you want to register it for commerial use. I can't recommend it as I've not used it but it gets a good rating on tucows.

I came across it on the FAQ on the www.imageshack.com site. (That's where I host my pics for this board, they have gone missing from my UK Weather thread, I think the server must be down)

Again, if you want any advice on the photos just shout!!
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vrooje
Posts: 3202
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 2:48 am
Location: Burgundy, France

Post by vrooje »

Paolo, thank you for recommending my site! I'm flattered that you feel that it can be used as a template for other sites.

Kent, I love that your site is easily navigable with well-defined links. Your home page is simple also and not too crowded. The simple image that you are using as a background is surprisingly un-distracting to me; usually I find the use of any background image a detriment, but here it's not bad at all. I do have some recommendations:

Put your contact info on every single page of your site. It should never be difficult for potential clients to get in touch with you! To reduce e-mail spam from having your e-mail on a website, you might also consider using a javascript code that you could insert instead of a mailto link, something like:

Code: Select all

<script language=javascript>
  <!--
  
  var mailgite = "kate.mccourt"
  var mailHostgite = "tiscali.co.uk"
  document.write&#40;"<A HREF=" + "mail" + "to&#58;" + mailgite + "@" + mailHostgite + ">" + mailgite + "@" + mailHostgite + "</A>"&#41;
  //-->
</script>
What this does is make it very difficult for e-mail harvesting programs to automatically put your e-mail on spam lists, but it's still very easy for people to e-mail you.

For the photo gallery, I agree with Paolo: bigger thumbnails, with captions. I do think it's perfectly okay to link to a larger image, but you should try to get your images down to absolutely no bigger than 50K (and that's still pretty big). Re-sizing should be reasonably intuitive using any graphics program, and the absolute largest your images should be is 800x600 pixels. You can also try turning up the compression level when you save the jpg image -- this makes the image file smaller in size and sacrifices a little quality; but you can often compress quite a lot without noticing it in the image quality.

You need to add some interior pictures of the house. When these weren't on the accomodations page, I thought they'd be in the photo gallery; not having them makes a potential client wonder why -- is it because you aren't willing to post them or have something to hide? I personally don't think I would ever rent a gite if I didn't see any interior pictures.

I love that you describe the Limousin region as unspoilt and undiscovered. Those are very enticing adjectives! I would like to know about Limousin in the general context; where in France is it? How far is it from Paris? Consider adding a short paragraph placing Limousin in the context of greater France. I know it's in the "Getting There" page content, but I'd add it in the regional page too.

Overall, a refreshingly clean site!

Cheers,
-Vrooje
http://www.experienceburgundy.com
eamonn
Posts: 13
Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2005 11:47 pm
Location: donegal, ireland
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Post by eamonn »

Hi Kent
One of the most simplisticly beautiful sites I've visited, very sharp, clean,and to the point. A great use of both text and photo. One simply wants to navigate. Did you built it yourself?
Excelent work.
best of luck
eamonn.
i,ve been everywhere man!
Linda Freese
Posts: 175
Joined: Sat Oct 02, 2004 9:00 am
Location: Costa del Sol

Post by Linda Freese »

Hi Kent

Just a couple of comments:

1. I think you need photos of the interior of the property - unless I missed them as I only had a very quick look at the site.

2. I think its a BIG mistake to put "negotiable" in your rates information. I think it will leave you open to insulting offers from time wasters and bargain hunters!

Good luck

Linda :)
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