Site Review please. Newbie to Lay My Hat

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.
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vrooje
Posts: 3202
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 2:48 am
Location: Burgundy, France

Post by vrooje »

Shawn,

There is a way around this -- you can have external links open in a window, but have them all open in the same new window.

Normally, to open a link in a new window, you use (or at least, I use) the code

Code: Select all

<A TARGET=_new HREF=...>
That makes all links open in their own new window. With the number of external links you have, that would get crowded if someone clicked on them all!

You could instead use the code

Code: Select all

<A TARGET="windowname" HREF=...>
Then, when someone clicks on an external link, it will open a new window and their browser will know that that new window is called "windowname." When someone clicks on a second external link that is directed to the same target, it will open that link in the window it has already opened. You can make "windowname" any actual name you want, and you could have several different windows open -- e.g., all links to adverts for your property open in a window called "advert", and all links to stuff to do around your property open in a window called "stufftodo" or something.

However, as a separate point, I think you should rearrange the layout of your page. I have a few suggestions:
  • You have a huge list of external links before you even tell people about your property. That's like a department store placing the main store exit before their item displays! My inclination is to click those links, and if I do, I'll leave the site before I've ever entered it. So I'd move those links farther down the page.

    You can replace that list with another list of links, except those should all be internal links. You can have a link for people to jump down the page to see your list of amenities and for your prices. You can also link right at the top of the page to your slideshow and pictures. That way, your site seems more filled-in, and people can click around without leaving your site. Then, echo that internal-link list at the very bottom of your site.

    Consider swapping your visited and unvisited link colors. I have only clicked on one of your external links, and that link looks highlighted in yellow among all the blue links. So I'd consider making the unvisited links that cream color (which I like), and then changing the visited link color to a darker navy blue, maybe #0000CC or similar.

    I'm not sure what your background color was before, but I'm not sure I like the olive green it is now. I personally find that color a bit depressing. However, that could be just me!

    I think you need more pictures of your property on your main page. It's good to have a separate page with lots of photos, but some good interior shots (or photos of that trout stream) on the home page would go a long way toward drawing people in. They don't have to be as large as the main exterior shot -- maybe half the size.

    Then, when people click to see your additional pictures page, you can make those thumbnails a bit bigger (I find them hard to see at the moment).

    I do like your photos, though! The house looks beautiful. I only have small suggestions for these. There are a couple of photos where you can see a jacket on a chair, or a camera on a countertop. I think that sort of thing should be taken out of the photo and replaced with (for example) a fruit bowl on the countertop. Also, I suggest that the shot of the bathtub be taken with the bath full of a beautiful bubble bath, candles lit, with a nice plush towel set hanging on the towel rack. Think meticulously lived-in, a-la Better Homes and Gardens.

    Lastly, have you thought of search engine keywords on your page? There are a couple of places where you could add key words or phrases without being too intrusive or obvious.
Sorry to be coming late to the review session -- I like what you've done so far and I think your property is gorgeous!
Brooke
Morelans
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri Feb 03, 2006 1:03 am
Location: Lookout Mountain GA/TN - Chattanooga
Contact:

Thanks

Post by Morelans »

Thanks for all the tips... I will take a harder look when I get home about what you suggested.

I agree we could use some better pics.. the ones we have were actually taken BEFORE we purchased it so they were just for us. However when we decided this was the one we wanted I didnt want to drive 6 hours one way for more pics so I used them. We do hope to have new pics very soon and we will set them up much better than they are now. I hate that I didnt think of that earlier about the coat and stuff on the counter.

I see about the links on the top too.. taking them away. I may make them Not Links and just text and do as you said add the actual clicking link farther down AFTEr they have reviewed the page and the home. Good catch.

The color part is killing me as I have no imagination, luckily my wife does and she has been helping me. I will look at those again too.

Lots of great ideas!!!! Thanks again.

BTW- are those pics you have of your place actual pics with the perfect reflection in the water or did you work on those? Very Very nice!
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vrooje
Posts: 3202
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 2:48 am
Location: Burgundy, France

Post by vrooje »

Shawn,

They're actual pics -- my Dad just managed to capture an ideal moment or two in the springtime! :)
Brooke
Morelans
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri Feb 03, 2006 1:03 am
Location: Lookout Mountain GA/TN - Chattanooga
Contact:

Wow...

Post by Morelans »

Those are amazing pictures and make it look so inviting. I wish our pictures looked half as nice. Quality too.. no pixelating or anything on them.

I have been working on our page a tad this morning and I took your advice and moved the active links to the bottom but left the non-linking text at the top. I sure don’t want people leaving my site before they book!!

I left the words at the top so when or if I ever get scanned those words will hopefully add to my key words or at least be "known" by the search engines. I am hoping for the search engines to find me when someone searches stuff like Chattanooga Vacation rental or maybe looking for vacation rentals next to or close to one of the big attractions which all pertain to the text. Like Ruby Falls vacation rental. Anyway, from what I have read about page ranking – and if I understand it correctly- this should help. I do understand about the Links though so they are now at the bottom.

I am trying to get the highest page rank of course.. for no money out of my pocket. I did list on two very big US pay sites for rentals and they have a link to me so I hope this helps too as backlinks. I also have my forum signatures including my URL so that should help too. Little tricks I picked up from Laymyhat or other searches I have done on Page Rank.

The pictures we have will be redone at the end of this month and we will take our time to set them up nicer, more like a magazine spread then just pics for us to remember what it looks like when we get home. There will be no junk in them etc... let me rephrase that.. My wife will be doing this soon and she is good at this type of thing. She is an awesome decorator as well as an architect.

Lets see.. what else was there. The link colors I have not messed with yet. The background either.. but I will let my wife know so she can be thinking of alternate colors that go together and are easy to read.

Well let me know what you think and thanks again!
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Cassis
Posts: 1080
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2006 10:44 am
Location: Normandy/Pays de Loire border
Contact:

Dead links

Post by Cassis »

Hi Shawn

When I saw this section at the top of your opening page:

Lookout Mountain Hang Glide - Ruby Falls - Rock City - Incline Railway - Chattanooga Riverboat - Tennessee Aquarium & IMAX Theater - Chattanooga Choo Choo - Rock Climb - Bicycle - Hike - Kids Creative Discovery Museum - Covenant College - Cloudland State park and these are just the beginning

I expected them to be links and found it odd when they turned out to be nothing of the sort. Then I found them repeated as live links at the foot of the page. I then read your reason for leaving it in but I don't think that removing this text will affect you site's visibility for search engines - in fact, this text is irrelevant to the core purpose of your site and may just confuse things. Maybe think about including more relevant words that you think people will use when looking for a fishing cabin to rent - I think the fishing angle is something you can push more, it's a great selling point for a lot of anglers out there! But at the same time don't pack every sentence with references to cabin and fish or it'll just look odd!

One trick is to use headers e.g.
<h1>Rock Creek Cabin</h1>
<h2>Lookout Mountain, Tennessee</h2>

as some search engines weight words within header code more heavily (or so I've read on other SEO sites). Just make sure these headers are words or phrases that you hope people will put into search engines. Bold <b> </b> tags are supposed to do something similar.

Don't get too hung up on PR - it is not the be-all and end-all. I was obsessed with this for a while but then found that when I put in keywords I considered relevant to my own site I was ranking pretty damn well, appearing on page one of Google even while I still have a PR of zilch! Don't chase PR to the detriment of making your site a good place to visit.

Good luck!
Real name Phil
Moved to France in 2004
Likes ducks, nature, gardening, furniture restoration, DIY, rugby, blah, blah.
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