Need some critics for my website :)
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- Posts: 27
- Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2013 1:26 pm
- Location: Nendaz, Switzerland
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Need some critics for my website :)
Hi,
so we have our website for a year now. Our property is new and I feel that we can do much better!
www.meusacrentals.com
We only have 100 visits per month (and I think google analytics is counting ours, I need to work with the options to filter that out ).
Future improvements already planned:
-add a blog
-add more info on the area (activities, events)
So little warning, the calendar for next summer and future winter are not showing properly because we have a little bug on the date system (Will be fixed soon!) but this winter's (2012-2013) works normal.
Any critique is welcome, have fun guys!!
so we have our website for a year now. Our property is new and I feel that we can do much better!
www.meusacrentals.com
We only have 100 visits per month (and I think google analytics is counting ours, I need to work with the options to filter that out ).
Future improvements already planned:
-add a blog
-add more info on the area (activities, events)
So little warning, the calendar for next summer and future winter are not showing properly because we have a little bug on the date system (Will be fixed soon!) but this winter's (2012-2013) works normal.
Any critique is welcome, have fun guys!!
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- Posts: 27
- Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2013 1:26 pm
- Location: Nendaz, Switzerland
- Contact:
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- Posts: 27
- Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2013 1:26 pm
- Location: Nendaz, Switzerland
- Contact:
@Wallypot:Ah ok now I see what you mean
Nope they are not artist impressions, that's the actual chalet . If you want to compare to our actual artist impressions you can see this page: https://www.meusac.com/project.aspx?project=projR
(Yes I know, weird presentation of the pictures, something is going wrong, need to tell our IT guy )
So there's quite a difference compared to the pictures in the gallery for the rented chalet
But yeah, we have a mix of pictures sources in there, some professional and some are ours, so that's why you might have some mixed feelings I guess
@Anne
Yeah thanks! I thought it was necessary because of all the rooms, it helps to put everything into perspective for the guest.
We asked our architect for the pdf of the plans, and did some small photoshop/paint modifications.
Nope they are not artist impressions, that's the actual chalet . If you want to compare to our actual artist impressions you can see this page: https://www.meusac.com/project.aspx?project=projR
(Yes I know, weird presentation of the pictures, something is going wrong, need to tell our IT guy )
So there's quite a difference compared to the pictures in the gallery for the rented chalet
But yeah, we have a mix of pictures sources in there, some professional and some are ours, so that's why you might have some mixed feelings I guess
@Anne
Yeah thanks! I thought it was necessary because of all the rooms, it helps to put everything into perspective for the guest.
We asked our architect for the pdf of the plans, and did some small photoshop/paint modifications.
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- Joined: Mon Apr 19, 2010 3:57 pm
- Location: Italy - tuscany
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Hi Damien
the chalet looks superb and the view unique, that's great starting point for a new business
Website has all informations required
From my standpoint to make the deal more attractive I'd push the feeling of living in there (but this may be a very personal guess, as I'm not attracted by "neutral" environment, that others may likle very much)
So I'd:
- change the picture descriptions, trying to share a more personal feeling
- put more stuff indoor to render the rooms as somebody was linving there (more frames on the walls, newpapers, magazines, some fruit in the kitchen, bottles)
- insert reviews from other guests...
Additionally just a note: the picture on the slideshow have different sizes, so during the show, viewporter changes make the film not smooth enough
hope this help !
Marco
the chalet looks superb and the view unique, that's great starting point for a new business
Website has all informations required
From my standpoint to make the deal more attractive I'd push the feeling of living in there (but this may be a very personal guess, as I'm not attracted by "neutral" environment, that others may likle very much)
So I'd:
- change the picture descriptions, trying to share a more personal feeling
- put more stuff indoor to render the rooms as somebody was linving there (more frames on the walls, newpapers, magazines, some fruit in the kitchen, bottles)
- insert reviews from other guests...
Additionally just a note: the picture on the slideshow have different sizes, so during the show, viewporter changes make the film not smooth enough
hope this help !
Marco
Marco
passionate with historical gardens
casagentili.com
passionate with historical gardens
casagentili.com
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- Posts: 27
- Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2013 1:26 pm
- Location: Nendaz, Switzerland
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Hi,
Thanks for the review.
So for the neutral part of the pictures, I also agree with you that it feels too neutral, but it's close to reality (although I know that a bit of staging is needed to sell the pictures, but don't want to disappoint the guests either when they arrive ). I also feel that the chalet needs a more personal touch, but was a group decision to keep it relatively simple (at least for now, I hope for my arguments that some guests point out for more personal decoration in there )
Regarding the picture descriptions: I wanted to do that, completely forgot about it, very happy that you reminded me of it, will put that in my to-do list for website revamp
Guest reviews: I have asked the IT guy to add our reviews from tripadvisor/flipkey. Still discussing which widget format we want to have and on which page we should put it. (for example, just have a badge (as shown on tripadvisor) and the actual reviews on the chalet description page, the other way round, or just the reviews on the homepage. (And then where to place it on the pages )
Also, we don't have a physical guestbook yet. My dad is actually afraid of the negative reviews we could have in there (although I always try to tell him that it's not a problem, that most reviews will be good, and having a bad review from time to time is good if we react appropriately to it), online reviews are more easy to manage (if you ask first your guests what went wrong and what we can improve for the next guests or next time they will come, usually when you ask after that for online reviews, they tend to be good and it avoids discovering the issues after it went public ).
Thanks for the review.
So for the neutral part of the pictures, I also agree with you that it feels too neutral, but it's close to reality (although I know that a bit of staging is needed to sell the pictures, but don't want to disappoint the guests either when they arrive ). I also feel that the chalet needs a more personal touch, but was a group decision to keep it relatively simple (at least for now, I hope for my arguments that some guests point out for more personal decoration in there )
Regarding the picture descriptions: I wanted to do that, completely forgot about it, very happy that you reminded me of it, will put that in my to-do list for website revamp
Guest reviews: I have asked the IT guy to add our reviews from tripadvisor/flipkey. Still discussing which widget format we want to have and on which page we should put it. (for example, just have a badge (as shown on tripadvisor) and the actual reviews on the chalet description page, the other way round, or just the reviews on the homepage. (And then where to place it on the pages )
Also, we don't have a physical guestbook yet. My dad is actually afraid of the negative reviews we could have in there (although I always try to tell him that it's not a problem, that most reviews will be good, and having a bad review from time to time is good if we react appropriately to it), online reviews are more easy to manage (if you ask first your guests what went wrong and what we can improve for the next guests or next time they will come, usually when you ask after that for online reviews, they tend to be good and it avoids discovering the issues after it went public ).
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- Posts: 465
- Joined: Fri May 23, 2008 9:15 am
- Location: Haute Vienne, France
- Contact:
Beautiful place! (If you like snow of course! )
Personally, I find the stark white background off-putting. (Just my opinion) With so much white in the pictures too, if you know what I mean. I think a lovely pale blue would be a lovely background setting, and show off the photos.
Regarding the gallery, may be just my pc but the pics take ages to load. On the home page, where there are just the 3 photos on the top, they load instantly.
I think the content is good. Reviews do help, of course, but that is all part of getting yourself established.
Good Luck!
Personally, I find the stark white background off-putting. (Just my opinion) With so much white in the pictures too, if you know what I mean. I think a lovely pale blue would be a lovely background setting, and show off the photos.
Regarding the gallery, may be just my pc but the pics take ages to load. On the home page, where there are just the 3 photos on the top, they load instantly.
I think the content is good. Reviews do help, of course, but that is all part of getting yourself established.
Good Luck!
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- Posts: 27
- Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2013 1:26 pm
- Location: Nendaz, Switzerland
- Contact:
@limousin
Hi,
thanks for the review, will look into the white background issue. I also believe we need to take a little time choosing better font and colors.
For the pictures high loading time, I guess that's due to the number of pictures on that page, maybe it should be 2 pages. or 1 and 1/2 page don't know. Although the pictures have already been significantly reduced in size/weight, from a couple mb/pictures to just some kb/picture.
I'm still wondering though if the picture slideshow shouldn't go full screen, or at least just at the limit so as to still be able to see the menu on top dunno..
Hi,
thanks for the review, will look into the white background issue. I also believe we need to take a little time choosing better font and colors.
For the pictures high loading time, I guess that's due to the number of pictures on that page, maybe it should be 2 pages. or 1 and 1/2 page don't know. Although the pictures have already been significantly reduced in size/weight, from a couple mb/pictures to just some kb/picture.
I'm still wondering though if the picture slideshow shouldn't go full screen, or at least just at the limit so as to still be able to see the menu on top dunno..
Like the site. One thing I noticed was the availability/booking in the summer is not complete and neither is the winter 2013/14 which just shows the first week of the month. Perhaps it's not a good idea to let people know what weeks you have had booked in the past. Fill them in as 'booked' and use some colouring to show dates booked/not booked.
I wouldn't show 3 photos on the top of every page. For people who have to pay for usage/have slow connections/using the site on a mobile device, pictures are not necessary for pages like availability/contact us
I wouldn't show 3 photos on the top of every page. For people who have to pay for usage/have slow connections/using the site on a mobile device, pictures are not necessary for pages like availability/contact us
- kevsboredagain
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I think it's a good one. I like the uncluttered white background. Some websites are very cluttered and your attention is attracted to lots of places at once, whereas this one isn't. My only thoughts are, not sure you need the "detail of tiled roof" pic...only because it drew my eye and i was trying to work out what it was, whereas it would have been better not to be distracted by it. The only other comment is possible to personalise it a bit more...I was slightly put off by it sounding like it was run by a company, and couldn't get a "feel" for the people who owned it. That may not be important to most guests, but i suppose because i'm making that comment it probably is to me on some level. On the whole though i think it is a very good, clean lines website.
whether you think you can, or whether you think you can't....you're right
www.anchoragemewsmersea.co.uk
http://www.facebook.com/AnchorageMewsHo ... age?ref=hl
www.anchoragemewsmersea.co.uk
http://www.facebook.com/AnchorageMewsHo ... age?ref=hl
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- Posts: 27
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- Location: Nendaz, Switzerland
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@ newtimber
Thanks for the comment regarding the pictures and slow/mobile connection, very good point. Will be a serious point to discuss .
As concerning the calendar, as I mentioned in our original post, it's a known and very important issue that my IT guy is working on. Somehow the system is mixing US and european date format, making it impossible for us to modify/add dates at the moment :/.
Regarding booked weeks, I feel that, even though we don't have a lot of booked weeks yet (because we're new, didn't have that much visibility, which I've started to work on as the ones we paid for it didn't really do as much as we thought), being honest about the weeks booked or not can help for trust. But the trade-off is indeed the fact that it wasn't booked much yet, people might think there's something wrong or not good going on :/. What do you think? (If others want to add something to this, it would be much appreciated ).
@kevsboredagain
Thanks for the comment, will pass that on and see if we can improve that.
@Delilah
Yeah I also figured that out during research that our website text in not really personal at all. Working on some new text at the moment
Yeah the tiled roof needs a bit more story to it. When you discover that the tiles made of wood were pretty much made by hand, by an old artisan I think (like 65-70 years old) with an old machine (so not automatic) cutting one tile a the time (he had to find a machine, because it's not strong enough to axe them all one by one like he used to). I'd guess about 5000-6000 tiles on the roof, so you can imagine the time necessary to make that! But then again, maybe it's not necessary to add it in the gallery
P.S. Love your website, exactly what were aiming at with ours, simplicity, but yours puts it at a more polished/professional version. Will surely get inspired from it as a benchmark
Thanks for the comment regarding the pictures and slow/mobile connection, very good point. Will be a serious point to discuss .
As concerning the calendar, as I mentioned in our original post, it's a known and very important issue that my IT guy is working on. Somehow the system is mixing US and european date format, making it impossible for us to modify/add dates at the moment :/.
Regarding booked weeks, I feel that, even though we don't have a lot of booked weeks yet (because we're new, didn't have that much visibility, which I've started to work on as the ones we paid for it didn't really do as much as we thought), being honest about the weeks booked or not can help for trust. But the trade-off is indeed the fact that it wasn't booked much yet, people might think there's something wrong or not good going on :/. What do you think? (If others want to add something to this, it would be much appreciated ).
@kevsboredagain
Thanks for the comment, will pass that on and see if we can improve that.
@Delilah
Yeah I also figured that out during research that our website text in not really personal at all. Working on some new text at the moment
Yeah the tiled roof needs a bit more story to it. When you discover that the tiles made of wood were pretty much made by hand, by an old artisan I think (like 65-70 years old) with an old machine (so not automatic) cutting one tile a the time (he had to find a machine, because it's not strong enough to axe them all one by one like he used to). I'd guess about 5000-6000 tiles on the roof, so you can imagine the time necessary to make that! But then again, maybe it's not necessary to add it in the gallery
P.S. Love your website, exactly what were aiming at with ours, simplicity, but yours puts it at a more polished/professional version. Will surely get inspired from it as a benchmark
Damien
You kindly commented on our site (miner's cottage) so I'm returning the favour. We must have similar tastes for simple and clear websites, as your's hits the mark. Lovely pictures too.
In terms of getting the site recognised in the search engines, I'm just in the process of doing this myself...with help from IT experts . I was told to get our web address on as many social sites as possible in order that google will recognise it as a popular site and re-cache it. I've opted for facebook and I've just asked for fellow holiday cottage owners (on hike those holidays) to open the website and increase its popularity. I've suddenly developed an interest in stats and can't take my eyes off StatCounter
Best wishes, and good luck.
Mandy
You kindly commented on our site (miner's cottage) so I'm returning the favour. We must have similar tastes for simple and clear websites, as your's hits the mark. Lovely pictures too.
In terms of getting the site recognised in the search engines, I'm just in the process of doing this myself...with help from IT experts . I was told to get our web address on as many social sites as possible in order that google will recognise it as a popular site and re-cache it. I've opted for facebook and I've just asked for fellow holiday cottage owners (on hike those holidays) to open the website and increase its popularity. I've suddenly developed an interest in stats and can't take my eyes off StatCounter
Best wishes, and good luck.
Mandy