Website Review please

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.
isaxby
Posts: 29
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2016 10:32 am
Location: Brixham
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Website Review please

Post by isaxby »

Hi

It has taken me a while but I am almost there. I am a Wordpress novice so please go easy.

Pictures of the apartment itself will be replaced with better ones as we only actually get the place tomorrow.

Any comments/suggestions gratefully received.

http://onefishermansloft.co.uk

Many thanks

Ian
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Nemo
Posts: 7062
Joined: Thu Aug 14, 2008 10:15 am
Location: Norfolk

Post by Nemo »

Just a quick one on the first page. If I'm looking for accommodation and to book somewhere, your apartment should surely be top of the page before any tourist info? That would be my point of interest. If I like the look of your apartment I might then decide to see what there is to do in the area but not before. Looks very nice though at an initial glance.
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Casscat
Posts: 2692
Joined: Sat Jul 05, 2014 10:43 pm

Post by Casscat »

You need a possessive apostrophe isaxby :wink:
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Casscat
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Joined: Sat Jul 05, 2014 10:43 pm

Post by Casscat »

You refer to One Fishermans (or Fisherman's :wink: ) Loft in most of your narrative, but there is a reference to 1 Fisherman's Loft under the 'The Apartment' tab. Stick with 'One' for consistency? And what about calling it 'The Loft Apartment' because you are painting a picture of being up in the rafters of an old fisherman's cottage like a proper salty sea dog :D
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kevsboredagain
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Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:32 am
Location: France
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Post by kevsboredagain »

I would agree with Nemo that you seemed to have placed more importance on the area than the property. The home page layout is in the wrong order and you keep repeating "things to do", in fact 4 times in just a few lines.

I won't go through the whole site but just give a few random comments.

- Clicking on one of the property images on the home page takes you to a new page for each but there's almost no information to be seen. Click again on the image and the image is displayed on it's own page. I think this is an error. From there the visitor must navigate backwards to look at something new.

- The Apartment page layout suffers from using a sidebar. The sidebar contains very little and then the rest of the page continues in one long narrow column. I would consider designing the page without a sidebar and trying to make it more balanced. Again, clicking on the images seems to not work as it should.

- Actually all the pages suffer a bit from the sidebar. Having a contact widget on every page had made the main content suffer. I think your visitor can find Contact Us in the menu and then your pages would look better.

- Publishing your email address without any encryption will ensure you'll be on every spammers list in a few years.

- the footer is almost a repeat of the header. Try to balance the content rather than leave big empty spaces. It's more pleasing to the eye.

- I nearly missed the controls on the gallery and thought it was a normal picture. They are tiny.
isaxby
Posts: 29
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2016 10:32 am
Location: Brixham
Contact:

Post by isaxby »

Thanks for all the feedback, I will see what improvements I can make.

Regarding the property - the reason it is at the bottom of the homepage at the moment is that I have not had chance to take any decent pictures yet as we only get the keys today (hopefully). The pictures I have are "borrowed" from Rightmove and don't really show it off.

Once we have done some decorating etc. I will take some more pictures and move it up the page.

Thanks again.

Ian
isaxby
Posts: 29
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2016 10:32 am
Location: Brixham
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Updated website

Post by isaxby »

Hi all

I have made some changes so would appreciate another review. We have our first guests arriving on Sunday!

Thanks

Ian
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Casscat
Posts: 2692
Joined: Sat Jul 05, 2014 10:43 pm

Post by Casscat »

Very nice Ian :D I'd lose the reference to redecoration and new carpets being imminent as presumably that's out of the way now and the need is not evident from your photos. Good luck with your first guests!
isaxby
Posts: 29
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2016 10:32 am
Location: Brixham
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Post by isaxby »

Thanks Casscat! It was on my list to remove the comments but had forgotten. Done now.

Many thanks

Ian
tavi
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Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2011 9:07 pm
Location: Algarve

Post by tavi »

Great flat, nice little site. Good luck with the first guests :)
isaxby
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Location: Brixham
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Post by isaxby »

Thanks Tavi!
Morristhedog
Posts: 114
Joined: Wed Jun 03, 2015 3:27 pm
Location: Dordogne

Post by Morristhedog »

Having just spent the last few days writing a website that I have published today, I feel maybe I should go back to the drawing board.

I like the layout of your site. It is bright and lively. The apartment itself looks well presented.

It has really good photographs and some local info. Get someone to proof read for you? I have no one to do that for me, so I am hoping that when I put it up on here errors will be mentioned to me.

Well done. I wonder how you are coping with it now? Does it bring in the business you hoped? Did you get an optimiser?

Well done.
A dreamer is one who can only find his way home by moonlight.
isaxby
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Location: Brixham
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Post by isaxby »

Hi Morristhedog

Thanks for the positive feedback, much appreciated!

regarding bringing in business - it is starting to. I knew that with a new website it would be so far down the search results that I needed help, so I also advertise on HomeAway, AirBNB and Holiday Lettings.

We started at the start of July and so far July has been full, August almost full, September about half full and we have a few more bookings out as far as next April. Most have come through the website, but it has taken some effort.

We have a Facebook page as well and I have concentrated on that a lot to get people to go to the website, including some paid for ads. It all helps to get the website better known, so I post on there often, with availability updates, latest reviews, video tour etc.

It all seems to be helping and I hope that in a year or so I can drop at least one of the letting sites.

Ian
JaneTwo
Posts: 37
Joined: Sat Jun 25, 2016 6:06 pm
Location: UK

Post by JaneTwo »

Hi!

Wow, that is a very professional-looking website. I love the way you've arranged the home page, with the clickable photos for each room. Now I am wondering if I can do that for mine... (Nah, too hard!)

I'm not surprised that you're getting so many bookings. It's a charming flat and location, and the website is great.

OK, I'm pushed to find anything to suggest... But the apostrophe thing that others have mentioned would be top of my list. It needs to be 'One Fisherman's Loft' throughout. Nice name BTW (I have called my flat 'Harbour Loft' - it's not nearly as nice as yours though! Ha, I shouldn't be saying that, should I?!) Another slight niggle is that I felt I didn't have quite long enough to look at the first photo at the top of the home page (and read the text) before it changed. Minor issue though.

Oh, and in the sitting room, my first impression was 'very nice', but this was followed by 'I would want to turn the sofa round so I could enjoy the view without getting a crick in my neck'! This is maybe not possible though for space reasons. Or is the window too high anyway?

Again, I am jealous! Love it!
Tivoli
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Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2015 2:31 pm
Location: Glossa, Skopelos, Greece
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Post by Tivoli »

I don't really feel qualified to comment so am doing so from a punter point of view rather than that of an owner. I'm not fond of the captions covering the bottom of the photographs on the home page. There is never a need to photograph a toilet. There is way too much scrolling involved on page two. Otherwise it looks lovely! Am about to take the plunge myself.
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