Hi all! I would love your feedback on our newly developed website. I'm more interested in content and quality and if it'd sell you over other units in our building.
www.wolniaks.com
Being located in Key Largo, FL, our peak season runs from Christmas thru April/May. June-November is hurricane season, but if there are no hurricanes, it's a better time to visit since it's not so crowded. November and December (before Christmas) are the least busy times for this area.
Our target renter would be a small family of three to four or two couples (we have a King and a Queen bedrooms). You can fit up to six (sleeper sofa), but with only one shower, it can get too cozy.
Our challenge is that there are about 50 other units in the complex that are for rent as well. We just purchased the unit at the end of November and did some moderate rennovations (paint, new sheets/towels, new fridge and stove, new flooring in bedrooms). During the slow season, we will pull up the tile and put in all new kitchen cabinets. I've priced us in the moderate range. There are units more updated than ours going for $200-$300/wk more and there are units that have never been updated going for $300/wk less.
We may be adding headboards, new comforters and bar stools in the near future and will update the pictures accordingly. Anything else you think is missing?
Thank you so much for your time and assistance. I look forward to your feedback!
New vacation owner of Key Largo Condo needs website review
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HolidayWebs
- Posts: 56
- Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2004 11:12 am
- Location: Puerto Pollensa, Mallorca
- Contact:
Home page needs content
Hi Alison & a Happy New Year.
I've only just had a quick look so far & my first impression is that the site looks very professional etc. but that you cannot tell from your Home page what it is you are trying to promote i.e. a rental property in Key Largo, Florida which sleeps x number of people etc. A lot of people only ever see the Home page & this needs to entice people to go further. I only clicked on 'Amenities' because I knew in advance what the site was about.
Try looking at your home page from the point of view of someone who may be trawling through loads of sites & as you say you have competition so do put some introductory text on the home to attract both visitors & Search Engines (think about your key words & incorporate them in to the text).
Hope that helps,
Zelda.
I've only just had a quick look so far & my first impression is that the site looks very professional etc. but that you cannot tell from your Home page what it is you are trying to promote i.e. a rental property in Key Largo, Florida which sleeps x number of people etc. A lot of people only ever see the Home page & this needs to entice people to go further. I only clicked on 'Amenities' because I knew in advance what the site was about.
Try looking at your home page from the point of view of someone who may be trawling through loads of sites & as you say you have competition so do put some introductory text on the home to attract both visitors & Search Engines (think about your key words & incorporate them in to the text).
Hope that helps,
Zelda.
Visit http://www.puertopollensa.com ... you'll love it!
The most beautiful resort in Mallorca.
The most beautiful resort in Mallorca.
Hi Zelda (love your name!), Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it. The heading does say "Key Largo Condominimum Rentals" and it has "Check Rates and Availability" logo. However, I see your point about adding text to the home page.
I'll discuss it with my web developer. Once I've gotten more feedback and a few revisions, I'll get back to you.
Thanks again and Happy New Year!
I'll discuss it with my web developer. Once I've gotten more feedback and a few revisions, I'll get back to you.
Thanks again and Happy New Year!
Smiles
www.wolniaks.com
www.wolniaks.com
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DominicanR
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Mon Jan 03, 2005 4:16 pm
- Contact:
review
Hi
I'm sort of here by default, looking for rental owners in the Dominican Republic who might want to link with our site. But in that respect I suppose I looked at your site as more of a 'chance customer' than a rental owner.
I have to agree with Zelda. It is a nice 'professional' looking site, though it loads a bit slow for me on a simple phone connection (probably the big photos). But, I had to go back a look hard before it struck me that ONLY the top 'over page' title mentioned Condo rentals (I just did not see it first time at all). It wasn't til I read your reply to Zelda I went back and saw it was there (mind you its getting late so I'm probably not on the ball!). I do think this at least needs integrating into the body of the front page. Also some text with appropriate 'keyword' usage is likely to increase chance of being 'found' by search engines quicker (I'm told).
...And please excuse if I'm being a bit 'ignorant', but ...is 'wolniaks' supposed to mean anything to me? (Sorry if it's your surname) It's just that sometime the 'obvious' seems to go by you when developing a site...by my understanding a website name that says what you are 'selling' is better than a 'guess what this means' name. I don't suppose it would be expensive to buy another domain name like 'www.best-keylargo-condo-rental.com', as I understand it this type of name might be better for SE's too.
Just a couple of thoughts, More power to you, good luck for a successful first season.
Ruth
I'm sort of here by default, looking for rental owners in the Dominican Republic who might want to link with our site. But in that respect I suppose I looked at your site as more of a 'chance customer' than a rental owner.
I have to agree with Zelda. It is a nice 'professional' looking site, though it loads a bit slow for me on a simple phone connection (probably the big photos). But, I had to go back a look hard before it struck me that ONLY the top 'over page' title mentioned Condo rentals (I just did not see it first time at all). It wasn't til I read your reply to Zelda I went back and saw it was there (mind you its getting late so I'm probably not on the ball!). I do think this at least needs integrating into the body of the front page. Also some text with appropriate 'keyword' usage is likely to increase chance of being 'found' by search engines quicker (I'm told).
...And please excuse if I'm being a bit 'ignorant', but ...is 'wolniaks' supposed to mean anything to me? (Sorry if it's your surname) It's just that sometime the 'obvious' seems to go by you when developing a site...by my understanding a website name that says what you are 'selling' is better than a 'guess what this means' name. I don't suppose it would be expensive to buy another domain name like 'www.best-keylargo-condo-rental.com', as I understand it this type of name might be better for SE's too.
Just a couple of thoughts, More power to you, good luck for a successful first season.
Ruth
visit now...because 'manana' never comes!
review
Hi,I liked the site,it did not take long to load .I would be interested in renting it if I were looking. Probably price would be the deciding factor if there were other units available in the same condo.I would pay more for an updated one but not too much more, $600 difference a week seems a lot between modernised and unmodernised?
Hi Alison,
It's not obvious what this site is about. You can work it out if you look around, but don't expect people to do that - web surfers are lazy and will simply move on if there is any uncertainty. Most people coming here will know it is a vacation rental site, so that will help. But I would still make it blindingly obvious on the homepage what the site is about and why we should care.
The site is attractively put together but it feels like it came out of a box. By that I mean it is as though it came ready-made along with your condo. There is no personality there, no human voice, and no interaction with the reader. So my advice for you to differentiate yourself from the other rental units on the development is to use a personal, friendly voice, and explain why people should care about what you are saying.
For example, on the amenities page there is a list of amenities. These are your features, but you also need to state the benefits - to put the reader into the picture. Get them imagining themselves there and you have the battle half won.
I also think your photos should be woven into the other pages rather than stuck on their own page.
There are big questions that need to be answered from the homepage onwards: why should I want to stay in this part of the world? Why should I want to stay in this condo and not another one? At the moment these questions are not being addressed.
A good way to get the voice and content right is to write as if you're writing a letter to a friend and you are describing why you love the property and the location. This will bring out the benefits and also give the text some warmth and enthusiasm - surefire winners when you are trying to get people interested in what you have to say.
It's not obvious what this site is about. You can work it out if you look around, but don't expect people to do that - web surfers are lazy and will simply move on if there is any uncertainty. Most people coming here will know it is a vacation rental site, so that will help. But I would still make it blindingly obvious on the homepage what the site is about and why we should care.
The site is attractively put together but it feels like it came out of a box. By that I mean it is as though it came ready-made along with your condo. There is no personality there, no human voice, and no interaction with the reader. So my advice for you to differentiate yourself from the other rental units on the development is to use a personal, friendly voice, and explain why people should care about what you are saying.
For example, on the amenities page there is a list of amenities. These are your features, but you also need to state the benefits - to put the reader into the picture. Get them imagining themselves there and you have the battle half won.
I also think your photos should be woven into the other pages rather than stuck on their own page.
There are big questions that need to be answered from the homepage onwards: why should I want to stay in this part of the world? Why should I want to stay in this condo and not another one? At the moment these questions are not being addressed.
A good way to get the voice and content right is to write as if you're writing a letter to a friend and you are describing why you love the property and the location. This will bring out the benefits and also give the text some warmth and enthusiasm - surefire winners when you are trying to get people interested in what you have to say.
Paolo
Lay My Hat
Lay My Hat
Awesome feedback! Thanks. My web developer (my sister)does more corporate stuff, so the personal touch is not something we considered. Very good point.
Everyone's made valid points and I hope to work on more personal content over the next week. Crafting these messages take time!
As far as the name of the website. When I first registered the name, the intent was to set up a site for friends and family to catch up on the news with our family because we just had a baby and live so far from them. However, just after I registered the name, we bought the condo - it fell into our lap. I didn't want to go thru the whole process again and the upfront $$ so I decided to just use the name I already registered. Most of the people who look at our site have the address or are linked to it from our paid portals (VRBO, Cyberrentals, etc)
I'll get back to you when the site is updated.
Thanks again!
Alison
Everyone's made valid points and I hope to work on more personal content over the next week. Crafting these messages take time!
As far as the name of the website. When I first registered the name, the intent was to set up a site for friends and family to catch up on the news with our family because we just had a baby and live so far from them. However, just after I registered the name, we bought the condo - it fell into our lap. I didn't want to go thru the whole process again and the upfront $$ so I decided to just use the name I already registered. Most of the people who look at our site have the address or are linked to it from our paid portals (VRBO, Cyberrentals, etc)
I'll get back to you when the site is updated.
Thanks again!
Alison
Smiles
www.wolniaks.com
www.wolniaks.com
Alison,
I did a quick search of available domains that would be relevant to this site like keylargocondo.com and escapetokeylargo.com, and it looks like it's a very competitive market for domain registries. It would make sense, though, to try and find a domain that has something to do with renting a condo in Key Largo, or the Keys or Florida in general. I'm not totally sure, but I think that whatever is in your URL will help you for search engine placement.
Your sister did a very nice job on this site -- I do agree with the other comments about making the fact that it's a rental condo blindingly obvious on the front page. It seems like perhaps this could be smoothly integrated into the curving cyan image near the bottom -- perhaps text along the curve in that nice font you've used for titles to other pages. It could be a simple catch phrase such as "A two-bedroom vacation escape" or something.
There are other comments above made by others, so I won't repeat them. Most of these are technical comments that follow:
Your images are very beautiful, but mostly don't have captions or pop-up ALT tags. I believe ALT tags are a good source of keywords for robots like Google.
I would also recommend putting captions in the javascript image slide show. Some of your pictures are so fabulous that I want to be reassured that I can actually see this from your condo, rather than it being a stock image and your place only having a view of the parking lot or something.
Having your e-mail address readily available and linked to as it is on the contact.html page is a great idea, but you should take a few simple steps to make sure that it won't be farmed by e-mail collectors that search the web for just these types of e-mail addresses to put on spam lists. You can do that with a simple javascript that still has all the same functionality as a mailto link but that looks like gibberish to the robots. Something like:
This is pretty easy to implement (you just put it in place of the bracketed "A HREF=mailto" link) and will save you a LOT of hassles downline.
One last thing: the highlighted tab image looks a bit weird to me. Example: If I'm sitting on the Amenities page, the Amenities tab is white instead of green. That's probably intentional and that's great -- tabbed browsing is a nice organizational style. But to me it looks like I highlighted the text in the tab, rather than looking like a stylized in-front tab. I think I have this impression because there's still an outline of green at the top and left of the tab, and also because the white abruptly cuts off at the bottom of the tab. If there were a slight gradient from white to green, and if the text were a darker shade of the original green (it looks black right now), I think it would look better. But that's a purely aesthetic thing on my part.
Rest assured I wouldn't be saying anything about these minor points if I didn't think this site was already excellent in design and function. With the addition of the "THIS IS A VACATION RENTAL" type of message on the front page and some personalization of the text, the design of the site will help this stand out among the multitudes of other condos in the building.
I did a quick search of available domains that would be relevant to this site like keylargocondo.com and escapetokeylargo.com, and it looks like it's a very competitive market for domain registries. It would make sense, though, to try and find a domain that has something to do with renting a condo in Key Largo, or the Keys or Florida in general. I'm not totally sure, but I think that whatever is in your URL will help you for search engine placement.
Your sister did a very nice job on this site -- I do agree with the other comments about making the fact that it's a rental condo blindingly obvious on the front page. It seems like perhaps this could be smoothly integrated into the curving cyan image near the bottom -- perhaps text along the curve in that nice font you've used for titles to other pages. It could be a simple catch phrase such as "A two-bedroom vacation escape" or something.
There are other comments above made by others, so I won't repeat them. Most of these are technical comments that follow:
Your images are very beautiful, but mostly don't have captions or pop-up ALT tags. I believe ALT tags are a good source of keywords for robots like Google.
I would also recommend putting captions in the javascript image slide show. Some of your pictures are so fabulous that I want to be reassured that I can actually see this from your condo, rather than it being a stock image and your place only having a view of the parking lot or something.
Having your e-mail address readily available and linked to as it is on the contact.html page is a great idea, but you should take a few simple steps to make sure that it won't be farmed by e-mail collectors that search the web for just these types of e-mail addresses to put on spam lists. You can do that with a simple javascript that still has all the same functionality as a mailto link but that looks like gibberish to the robots. Something like:
Code: Select all
<script language=javascript>
<!--
var mailwol = "info"
wolsemur = "wolniaks.com"
document.write("<A HREF=" + "mail" + "to:" + mailwol + "@" + mailHostwol + ">" + mailwol + "@" + mailHostwol + "</A>")
//-->
</script>
One last thing: the highlighted tab image looks a bit weird to me. Example: If I'm sitting on the Amenities page, the Amenities tab is white instead of green. That's probably intentional and that's great -- tabbed browsing is a nice organizational style. But to me it looks like I highlighted the text in the tab, rather than looking like a stylized in-front tab. I think I have this impression because there's still an outline of green at the top and left of the tab, and also because the white abruptly cuts off at the bottom of the tab. If there were a slight gradient from white to green, and if the text were a darker shade of the original green (it looks black right now), I think it would look better. But that's a purely aesthetic thing on my part.
Rest assured I wouldn't be saying anything about these minor points if I didn't think this site was already excellent in design and function. With the addition of the "THIS IS A VACATION RENTAL" type of message on the front page and some personalization of the text, the design of the site will help this stand out among the multitudes of other condos in the building.
Brooke