Please review www.oceanside-tower.com

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SCUBA
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2004 12:49 am
Location: Turks & Caicos Islands, BWI
Contact:

Please review www.oceanside-tower.com

Post by SCUBA »

Any and all constructive criticism is welcome. I hope you like the color turquoise. Should the BWI be spelled out for an international audience?

www.oceanside-tower.com
Linda Freese
Posts: 175
Joined: Sat Oct 02, 2004 9:00 am
Location: Costa del Sol

Post by Linda Freese »

Dear Scuba

I have just spent 10 minutes looking through your site trying to find something constructive to say, but apart from the fact that I couldn't seem to find anywhere where it mentioned how far it was to the airport, (I'm sure you've mentioned it somewhere!), I have nothing to add! The site is perfect - I love the colours, the photography is superb and the property looks wonderful! Congratulations!

Linda
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Sue Dyer
Posts: 2562
Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2004 2:26 pm
Location: Belford, Northumberland

Post by Sue Dyer »

Linda - it's 4 miles!!! :)

I like the site too, nice and clear and as Linda say's, dream property but I'm not sure about the text flying in/around the page . I tend to find that distracts/pulls your eye away from the main body text... as I usually say.. just my opinion!!

Also - I always skip flash intro's... Again, personal preference but I like to get straight in at the main info.

BWI - yes as I'm (probably thick :oops: ) but not sure.
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paolo
Posts: 3885
Joined: Thu Jun 17, 2004 1:18 pm
Location: Provence, France
Contact:

Post by paolo »

Top job, SCUBA!

Here are my constructive negatives.

I don't like Flash intros for rental properties, as too many of your potential clientele will be on dial-up, but this one is very aspirational.

My first impression of the intro page was - nice generic Caribbean shot. It was only after I had looked round your site and went back to the intro that I realised this actually shows your infinity pool with the sea in the background. So unless I am uniquely unobservant, I would look for a way to make that connection - 'this is the pool and the view you will have'.

On your homepage you talk about premier development, magnificent ocean front property and fantastic views, but you only show 3 thumbnails as backup.

For a location like yours, which is absolutely beautiful, I would give over more of the page to just showing it - your pictures are great, and I would like to see them full-size straight away, instead of the animated text floating about at the top. There is nothing you can say that will match the impact of the pic captioned 'Infinity edged pool'.

Personally I would go for a very simple, direct message on the homepage with 3 pics at the top captioned: 'The villa', 'The view' and 'The pool'. Then the text to follow underneath. I know this breaks with the design of all the other pages, but I think you need to make the sale as soon as possible, without relying on people drilling down into the photo gallery and clicking on thumbnails.

I saw one cloudy picture of the house in your photos - I wouldn't suggest anything but sun.

The writing:
There isn't a lot of stuff on why one should want to stay there and what there is to do. These should be expressed on the homepage. You do describe the villa briefly here, but I think you should add something to bring the visitor into the equation.

At the moment it is a little impersonal. The 'you' word is absent. Elsewhere you talk about 'we' and 'guests', which is again impersonal and not stating the benefit to renters. For instance I would rephrase something like this:

"A local Internet dial-up phone number, login name and password are provided at no additional cost for guests who provide their own laptop computers"

as this:

"If you do want to keep up with the real world, you'll find free internet access at the villa - all you have to do is bring your laptop."

About spelling out BWI - I'm not sure I would bother even including it. If you think it adds a certain cache to be part of the British West Indies, then I would spell it out. But otherwise I think anyone who knows where the BWI are will know where the Turks and Caicos are anyway.

Great site - I want to go there :D
Paolo
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Fraise
Posts: 2079
Joined: Sat Oct 30, 2004 8:25 am
Location: Charente Maritime and Middle England

Post by Fraise »

:D Wow-what a fantastic house! Loved it and the site -very clear.
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