www.vallettahouse.com

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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Aldo
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Joined: Sun Feb 27, 2005 6:19 pm
Location: Malta
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www.vallettahouse.com

Post by Aldo »

Must congratulate all for the community feeling you get when entering this website. I have just ventured into the holiday rental market after a great year refurbishing a dream house (well, for me it was :D )

Would someone be kind enough to give me some hints as to what could make my website better

http://www.vallettahouse.com

This is just a temporary website while I along with my site-designer develop a new one. The way the house has been furnished puts it into a niche of its own for a house of its size (it caters for a couple) so I am aiming at a sophisticated look that would attract the right clients.
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HolidayWebs
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Location: Puerto Pollensa, Mallorca
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Post by HolidayWebs »

Hi,

as we've been requested to give reviews on a 'gut feel' basis, here is mine. I think the overall style is very smart & you should try & keep the 'look & feel' when you recreate it. But you must use 'text' instead of images as you will get nowhere with search engines & will also slow down the page loading. I have broadband & it was OK but a lot of people don't.

Also I know nothing about Malta or Valetta so information on location & maps are essential. As I say on a gut-feel basis the site does appeal to me but I would need to know more about the location.

The photos of the interior (are there any of the exterior) are lovely but they would be helped by descriptive text beneath each one. You could also do with an overview of the property in terms of where it is, what makes it special & sleeping capacity etc. on the home page.

Basically you need more text but I do love the overall style - very impressive.
Visit http://www.puertopollensa.com ... you'll love it!
The most beautiful resort in Mallorca.
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Hanorah
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Location: Turkey

Post by Hanorah »

First of all I love the property it is really stunning and I think you will attract the guests you are after from the photos alone.

Re the website I am not the best person to comment on this but first thoughts are will it still be in the postcard type format? I quite like this but it would only be good for a site without tons of information.

Second thought was when I first opened the site the links below stood out so I was originally drawn to them. It was only in my confusion at not finding the information I was expecting that I noticed the links to the right hand side. This might just be me so would be good to know what other people thought.

I also found the navigation a bit confusing when clicking on the house I expected to find information and maybe photos but not just photos.

It looks such an interesting property it would be good to describe the rooms first and then show the pictures after. The pictures were also slow to load even though I am on broadband so need optimizing for the web.

It is difficult to comment more as I am unsure what the redesign will involve but you need more info on the main navigation on the area etc as a lot of people will not bother to click on the links below unless they their appetite is really wetted.

It is definetly a dream house and I would feel like a princess inside with all those fab stone walls. Well done on the renovation.
Always Learning
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roxytoo
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Location: Spain Costa Blanca

Post by roxytoo »

tend to agree with the others, gut feeling is that it is beautiful and with a bit of tweaking will really be a lovely site. Pictures are slow to download though, needs to be more text and what text there is needs to be emboldened or similar to make it stand out more
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Ju
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Post by Ju »

Hi

I agree with what has been said, in terms of syling the web site is beautiful, but there is not enough information. I don't have broadband so I only looked at a couple of the pictures because it is VERY slow.

The links on the front page are distracting, the space would be better used to tell people what your product is.

Definately keep the styling in the final website though.

Ju
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vrooje
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Location: Burgundy, France

Post by vrooje »

Hi Aldo,

My gut reaction here is that you've made a good start, but that in order for the site to be effective you'll need to make some changes.

I love the postcard theme! So I hope you'll be keeping that for the next site you're in the process of making.

Your images are each around 200K in size; that's too big by a factor of 5-10. 20-40K each is much more reasonable.

They do say that a picture is worth a thousand words, and you have some beautiful photographs. That doesn't mean, however, that no words are necessary! The site feels like it's just a slideshow and that wouldn't do it for me in terms of convincing me to stay at your property. I'd need more information. It's pretty obvious that, say, the kitchen picture is of the kitchen, but knowing that doesn't make me picture myself in the place. A caption would go a long way. Even better would be some short text describing the history of the house and what makes it so special.

Once I enter the slideshow, there's no way for me to get back to the home page!

I think there are too many links to external sites on your site. First, I wouldn't put these on the homepage at all. You've made it easier for someone who finds your site to leave it than to stay on it! If you want to keep the links, start a page dedicated to links. It's good that they all open in new windows, though.

I'm not sure the big red dot that appears next to the house links upon hovering over them is really in keeping with the feel of the page. Perhaps a miniature version of that fancy G character, or something, in a less jarring color, would make your point even better.

Once you get to the info pages in the slideshow, there's a loop between info and info2 ; they just link back to one another. The bookings page isn't in the slideshow at all!

Also, is that intro postcard (with the stamp on it) an image of your house? You should say so if that's the case. Right now it looks like you're just advertising for Malta tourism in general, at first glance.

Overall, I love the theme but I would put text below your images and make the page less directional, so that one doesn't have to click through them in order.

This is sort of scattered, I know -- but it's just my first ideas on this topic. If I were re-designing this I would probably do some major reorganization and add textual content. That would give me a chance to insert keywords into my text, which would help my search engine rankings. However, I would definitely keep the overall theme!

Cheers!
Brooke
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paolo
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Post by paolo »

Welcome to the forum, Aldo! Image

As it's a temporary website I won't go into the structure, which is a bit disorganised, as detailed above.

Content-wise... I think your pics are excellent, obviously taken by someone who knows one end of a camera from another. But they rather give me the impression of an undergorund house. There are no windows, and no natural light. No external pic of the house either. These should all be added to give a good idea of the house.

And of course there is practically no text. Pictures are much more important than text, but you can't decide about renting a house on pics alone.

It is certainly a very unusual and striking design for this sector, so it will stand out and be remembered. But the navigation should be worked out so it is not also a frustrating experience getting the information one needs from it. I'm sure that will happen as the site evolves.
Paolo
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reddevil
Posts: 244
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 5:35 pm
Location: Spain

Post by reddevil »

Personally, if I landed on your Homepage it wouldn't entice me to look any further. Although it looks professionally produced, the postcard doesn;t tell me anything, the number of links suggest sthat I would be better off going elsewhere if i wanted to obtain information, and the yellow box on the bottom left just screams out as spammy.

My suggestion is to put a page of text with 3 or 4 photos and links to different parts of your website that will make people want to click around Your website, not others.

Good luck.
Christine Kenyon
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Post by Christine Kenyon »

What a gorgeous house! Well done on a beautiful restoration, Aldo. Obviously a work of love.

Your website looks promising, but I think it needs a bit more work to do justice to Valletta House - and get those romantic couples to make a booking!

I agree with the comments made above. The following are my personal observations:

1. Your site has a feel of quality about it - and I might just make a booking on the back of that. But then again, I might not, as apart from the pics there is so little text to tell me what I call the story of the house.

2. Your postcards are beautiful, but I wonder if they could be smaller and almost become the header for each page. I was also left wondering what the "signature" was that seemed to be lurking behind each postcard.

3. The pictures took ages to download on my cranky old computer. And the first three were all of the bedroom (although the third one looked like it was mainly the top of the stairs). Hopefully these romantic couples are going to get out of the bedroom eventually ...... Personally, I didn't like the constant "click to see more pictures". I wanted them then and there and would have been happier scrolling down and reading a bit of text as well.

Hope the above helps, Aldo. You've made a good start. We look forward to seeing Version II.

Cheers

Christine
www.stybarrowcottage.co.uk
www.troutbeckcottage.co.uk
Fraise
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Location: Charente Maritime and Middle England

Post by Fraise »

A lovely house and I think you have achieved a sophisticated look ( it reminded me very much of many of the Paradors we have stayed in in Spain).However:
I thought it all looked too dark-it felt a bit "dungeon" like
There was nothing to indicate a person was involved with all this- being "dropped back" at the airport just seemed a bit brusque.
I don't know if these comments are helpful? Just my observations- I know how hard it is to get a site off the ground as I was in this situation only a couple of months ago and people here were very helpful!!

Good luck with everything, your house looks like a labour of love! :D
www.thepetitmanoir.com
MadDogWoman
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Post by MadDogWoman »

reddevil wrote:Personally, if I landed on your Homepage it wouldn't entice me to look any further.
I tend to agree with this. I wasn't really sure what I was actually looking at. The pictures are lovely, so is the postcard "theme" but I think the homepage needs more information on it to entice people in further.
alexia s.
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Post by alexia s. »

Wonderful house - and I certainly would want to see more from the home page (just shows how different people's reactions are).
I wonder if your market won't be worried by how cheap it is? Seriously. You risk getting people who are looking for a bargain - and they are the worst visitors. Is there a reason for the low price?
Best,
Alexia.
alexia s.
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Post by alexia s. »

ps the paradors in Spain cost a lot, lot more than you are charging!
Best,
Alexia.
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Aldo
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Thank you chaps

Post by Aldo »

This is excellent. Thank you everyone for taking the trouble to review vallettahouse.com. Lots of helpful hints and I am absolutely sure that the new site will be a great improvement, thanks to your help. I am slowly going through each message and writing things down.
Linda Freese
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Joined: Sat Oct 02, 2004 9:00 am
Location: Costa del Sol

Post by Linda Freese »

Hi Aldo

I haven´t had a chance to read through everyone elses comments so forgive me if there is duplication.

I loved the look & feel of the website and found it really easy to navigate. I think the photos are fabulous and the property looks great but is there no daylight at all? I noticed a small window in the kitchen photo. A photo of the outside of the building would be good and a description of why it looks like it does - is it part of a historical building? Again, I may have missed this part - apologies if you already have this information on the site.

Details on the location of the property would be good too. Is it in the centre of the city? How far is it from the airport? You mention that there would be a pick up service from the airport -is this included in the price?

Great job though -well done!

Linda :)
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