Suggestions for my site before I commit to holiday-rentals

[Normandy Cow]

I am thinking about subscribing to www.holiday-rentals.com as they are currently offering a 3 month money-back guarantee (if you sign up before 15th May you can get a refund if you are not happy within the first 3 months).

I have been reading with interest the various suggestions in the previous thread about Villa Hanorah, and given that you have to pay to amend your pictures on this site, I would like to make sure I choose the correct ones from the start.

So.... deep breath.... I would be grateful for any suggestions anyone may have about my website. I have my own website on www.LeGaillon.com but I will probably create my listing on holiday-rentals to be very similar to the one I have on VisitFrance, which can be found near the top of the list in the Haute-Normandy section.

I am interested to know what people think about my text, and which would be the best 4 photos to put on the holiday-rentals site?

Thank you! (I am very nervous now but will take any criticism on the chin!!!!)

[paolo]

Hi Catherine,

Don't be nervous!

I haven't got time to look at the text just now but my favourite of your very nice photos are:

1. Approaching house with lavender down the middle.
2. The bedroom with the beams and the red bedspread.
3. One of the sunny views from the velux.
4. For balance this should really be an internal so...living room with fire? (not very summery)

I prefer the bedroom with the doll's house but I think h-r want landscape format rather than portrait. There are also some very nice externals that are taken in winter, but I wouldn't use a picture where there are no leaves on the trees.

Interesting to see what others think...

[reddevil]

All your photos are fantastic so I don't think you would need to change them anyway. You should however, keep them to showing off the house and/or surroundings and I think your first 3 photos at the top of your home page plus the one of the the wine bottle on the garden table.

Good luck, although I don't think you will need it.

[vrooje]

Here are the photos I would choose from for the H-R ad:

1. Approaching the house under the canopy of trees
2. Approaching the house with lavender down the middle
3. The upstairs double bedroom (beams, red bedspread)
4. The Oak Farmhouse table with open window in the background
5. View from the velux toward the Foret de Lyons
6. View from the upstairs bedroom toward the main gate
7. The outdoor white table at sunset

I know that's more than four pictures -- but the exterior pictures were hard to choose. If the outdoor table were set with a nice candlelit dinner I would absolutely say choose the sunset picture. The farmhouse table picture would be better if the table were set with colorful dishes and maybe a quiche/salad/fruit/wine display, but I think it's already a nice picture and 3&4 should definitely be included. Between 1&2, I think the lavender picture shows the house better, but the canopy picture is more romantic.

I love, love, love your picture captions!

[Normandy Cow]

Thank you to all of you for your positive feedback - although a number of people have commented to me that they like my website, I value the comments on this forum as you all have experience and are more likely to be honest and point out any areas for improvement, so to not have too much negative feedback (so far!) is really heartening.

Paolo, I hadn't really considered the implication of displaying photos taken in the winter when the trees are bare - I included these because I do believe that the views are better in winter simply because you can see more, but I see your point now, and will take some more photos when I am next out there this summer (counting down the days 'til my next visit!).

I suppose I am more concerned about the quality of my text (as I know the pictures speak for themselves) and whether it is good enough to hold viewers' attention and also good for the search engines - but I know that much has been written in this forum about optimising the text so I realise I have a lot more homework to do....

Thanks again to all of you.

[paolo]

Hi Catherine,

I think your text is very good, especially on your website where it is very well laid out - bullet points and bold for key points.

If I were fine tuning it I would put the big location selling point at the top too, and emphasise where it is and why you should go there.

In a holiday-rentals ad you have to garble everything together in the opening paragraph. You need to state at the top what it is, and why we should care; and where it is, and why we should care about that.

In your visitfrance ad it says that you are in the Pays de Bray. To some visitors that will mean something, but you have to assume it will mean nothing, so it needs qualifying - "the inspirational countryside of Pays de Bray"/"Pays de Bray, the heartland of French gastronomy"/"Pays de Bray, where children are never bored" (these are made up, I don't know the location at all).

In the holiday-rentals ad you have to juggle both the accommodation and the location at the top, but the location is more important, because the pics will normally be selling the accommodation. You can go into more detail below the pictures about the location, but you need to hook people at the top and convince them to read the whole of your ad.

In your case you are close to a village - I would make the most of that - typically French, great little restaurants, charming cafe, fresh baguettes in the morning, etc. I like the way you tell people how you spend your time there - chilling out - and telling them what they will do in the village will re-inforce the whole effect of placing them there in their mind's eye.

Once people start imagining their time in your house and location, they are more than half yours.