view my website 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.
hardwrknmama
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2005 10:56 pm
Location: Garden City, South Carolina, USA
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view my website please

Post by hardwrknmama »

www.gardencityguesthouse110.com

Hi,
Please take a look at my web site. It has been the cause of much too much stress as I find it hard to work in site studio (maybe it's just my inexperience).
Please give me your honest, constructive opinions.
Thank you soooo much for your time.
Fraise
Posts: 2079
Joined: Sat Oct 30, 2004 8:25 am
Location: Charente Maritime and Middle England

Post by Fraise »

:shock: Hi, I'm really sorry to be negative but I HATED the letters /words following the cursor around with me- it just put me off totally and I didn't get any further than the first page- way too in your face!
The rest of the site might be really good, I don't know 'cos I didn't get any further- sorry!! :evil:


I feel mean posting this but I thought if it put me off sooooo much then it might potential clients too?

www.thepetitmanoir.com
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enid
Posts: 5599
Joined: Mon Dec 27, 2004 4:47 pm
Location: Labretonie France
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Post by enid »

I do know how you feel - it is sressful working on a site and takes sooooo long. You have come to the right place though!

I liked the beach photo on the welcome page - that got me wanting to see more - you have some good interior photos - I like the purple bedroom. Sadly here in the French countryside I don't have a fast connection - well actually it's operated by a little man on a bike and when he goes for his baguette and a glass of wine I'm going nowhere! This meant that your photo gallery was a bit slow for me - I would have liked more smaller images with a click through to enlarge. I think you need to have a try for some better exterior shots - the view from the balcony didn't grab me - some plants around the pool perhaps?

I found the cursor trick hard too although I did get the hang of it I had to persevere. My old eyes also found the menu bar text a little small but everything else was easy to read. There seemed a lot of things to bring and a lot of instructions - it took me back to my teaching days - I personally don't like the use of the word rules. Perhaps some of these instructions would be better in the condo or as part of your correspondence with an enquirer.

That all seems rather negative but I know only too well from my own experience that you really do need honest feed back from this forum. After my first posting of our web site I had a lot of work to do and I felt very deflated. I spent a lot of time reading otheposts on the forum - advice given in other web site reviews was especially helpful. Then I got some techie advice for my photos and finally I dared post the site for review again and this time I got a gold star (which I am inordinately delighted with!)

So do persevere and if it gets too stressful jump into that hot tub with a glass of wine!!!!
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tansy
Posts: 2059
Joined: Mon Sep 20, 2004 6:29 am
Location: La Manche, Normandy, France

Post by tansy »

I'm on ADSL and I kept freezing as the letters moved around so couldn't be bothered to look further...sorry

Very American terminology...not sure what Block Sales are...but depends who you are trying to attract.

Sorry not trying to be negative - but you did ask

:)
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roxytoo
Posts: 1701
Joined: Thu Feb 03, 2005 8:23 am
Location: Spain Costa Blanca

Post by roxytoo »

I actually like the cursor and also liked the site in general

However I think the text in the menu on the right hand side is too small, The main photo is superb but I would take out the people.

I think you need some new shots of the condo in general, they are quite grainy and dark.
I would put the time block scale page in the same context as the others and I would say 'sorry no pets' not 'absolutly no pets!'

I did like the feel of the whole thing so think once you have got rid of the gremlins it will be great!
hardwrknmama
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2005 10:56 pm
Location: Garden City, South Carolina, USA
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view my website please

Post by hardwrknmama »

I have turned off the trailing cursor. It seems to be too much of an issue.
If you were put off by it please check out my site again.
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vrooje
Posts: 3202
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 2:48 am
Location: Burgundy, France

Post by vrooje »

hardwrknmama,

I had a look at your site yesterday but didn't have time to write down my thoughts then; I do now. :)

I wasn't plagued by the cursor since I'm using Firefox in Linux, but in general I'm glad you turned that off. It might be kind of fun but it would get in the way of the information, which is in the end what your site was designed to deliver.

I usually do my reviews in list format, so here we go:
  • I quite like the picture on your front page! I don't usually like to have people in pictures meant to advertise, but that's because I find their faces distracting. Since you can't really see either person's face, they're just silhouettes, and it's a nice effect.

    I agree with Tansy about the terminology of "Time Block Sale" -- though I don't know that this is an American phrase, either. At least, I had never heard it, though I was able to guess what it meant. Typically these are just called "Special Offers." Not that you can't use the phrase "time block sale," but you should probably explain right away what it is.

    The welcome text on your front page is very informal and, well, welcoming! That's definitely a good thing. You might want to add a phrase explicitly stating that you have a condo in SC that you rent by the night and by the week, and maybe even mention what your min/max rates are or just say "starting at $X per night."

    Speaking of which, do you ever actually explain what SC is? If you're targeting the foreign market at all, you ought to expand the state abbreviation in a few places -- and, even further, explain where South Carolina is within the U.S. and give a pitch for why it's worth visiting over Florida, Southern California, Long Island, etc.

    I think your design is generally good and you've used an easy-to-read font with high-contrast colors. That's excellent.

    However, the exception to this seems to be the menu. On my screen the font is really, really tiny -- and if I have trouble reading it, you can bet others will. Much of your audience is somewhat older, so you should definitely increase the size of your menu font so that people can read it.

    On the "About" page, I agree with meishka about the pet statement, and I also think you should consider removing your street address from the page. That's the sort of information that I only give out when I have received the client's final payment... just to be sure they can't show up despite not having paid, and to be sure that some random person doesn't try to move into a place they know isn't regularly occupied.

    I think your condo tour pictures are nice, except that they are all a bit fuzzy, like the camera was out of focus. I think it's worth re-taking them. The camera might need more light to get a better focus.

    One of the only pictures that wasn't fuzzy was the balcony view -- and that's a view of a parking lot! I would remove that picture immediately: asphalt and telephone poles are not exactly "ooh, I must book this condo!" views. I think I can see the ocean behind the row of condos across the parking lot, but that's dwarfed by the sea of black, white-striped tar dominating the photo.

    The pool photo, that's just fine -- that's the sort of image you want your prospective guests to keep in their heads.

    The time block sale page is a completely different page design that doesn't fit with the rest of the site. Plus it's got a flash animation featuring random twirling and falling alphabet letters -- which makes no sense in context and doesn't contribute any information or navigability to the page. I definitely suggest converting that page to the blue and white design -- I like that design much better.

    I think it's great that you have a list of things that people should bring with them. I have a question -- does "queen bedding" include blankets and quilts, or just sheets? Do you offer any of these for a small extra charge? I ask because if I were getting to your condo any way other than driving, I wouldn't want to have to bring sheets, pillows, or towels along. I would definitely choose a rental that included these things over one that didn't, and I'd pay a small extra fee to have them included (same goes for the beach equipment -- I'd pay a weekly rental fee to avoid having to bring beach chairs and umbrellas with me).

    One last suggestion: you should include the word "vacation" (and spell out South Carolina as well as include "SC") in your page title! Page titles are good for search engines.
I hope this doesn't sound too harsh! I think you've got a very good base to go from, and as it is your page is already pretty good.

Cheers!
Brooke
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tansy
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Joined: Mon Sep 20, 2004 6:29 am
Location: La Manche, Normandy, France

Post by tansy »

Well, I had another look - I didn't freeze up this time.

the beach photos look slightly grey to me...I thought California was dazling blues....it looks like Brighton Beach - with the pier and grey seas!

the view from the balcony - it's all overhead cables...are you in America or Africa?

Is there no view of your Condo from the outside?

The kitchen just looks like a kitchen sink...after seeing what I saw yesterday in a rental here in France - that was the kitchen - a cupboard under the sink - that would put me off yours.

But I agree the letters are far to small to click on to navigate the site.

The place looks beautifully presented inside - you may know what it looks like from the outside but us British aren't used to condo's etc....so I think you need to perhaps imagine what you would want to see if it was your first time of looking at the place...imagine you are the renter and you know nothing about the place.

Hope that helps a bit...
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paolo
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Location: Provence, France
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Post by paolo »

Hi Hardwrknmama,

I think there is a navigation issue on your site:

- the navigation menu is in an odd place and is not instantly recognizable as a navigation menu. You would normally look for the menu on the left or along the top.

- looking at your pictures means clicking through them one at a time. The less you ask people to click, the less likely they are to give up and leave.

I don't know what a time block sale is either but you could make a virtue of that by adding a benefit to the line: "We're having a time block sale! What's a time block sale? It's when you pay less to stay - click here for details"

I would like to know what I am looking at on your homepage, in relation to the property: view from the window/nearest beach/beach on your doorstep, etc. A caption would help in propelling people onto another page, which is what you want it to do. That's why the navigation menu should also be more obvious.

The homepage heading could be much bigger.

Otherwise I would take careful not of what Brooke (vrooje) wrote, because she always hits the nail on the head.

By the way, did I read you have to bring your own pillows? Surely not? :cry:
Paolo
Lay My Hat
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vrooje
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Location: Burgundy, France

Post by vrooje »

paolo wrote:Otherwise I would take careful not of what Brooke (vrooje) wrote, because she always hits the nail on the head.
Not, or Note?

;)

Thank you, Paolo! :)
Brooke
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paolo
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Post by paolo »

Note: that should be 'note', not 'not', and not 'not note' (not at all).
Paolo
Lay My Hat
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vrooje
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Location: Burgundy, France

Post by vrooje »

Now, everybody say that 10 times fast! :lol:
Brooke
charles
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Post by charles »

easy:

that that that that that that that that that that


(sorry couldn't resist it!)
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Fraise
Posts: 2079
Joined: Sat Oct 30, 2004 8:25 am
Location: Charente Maritime and Middle England

Post by Fraise »

charles wrote:easy:

that that that that that that that that that that


(sorry couldn't resist it!)



Bah!Humbug!!!
hey,did you know ( sorry -I suppose you do!)that some bars use this name- Bar Humbug- clever innit???? Phew- I feel a whole lot better for that ;-)

www.thepetitmanoir.com
Renata
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Joined: Sat Dec 18, 2004 3:40 am
Location: Daytona Beach Florida
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Post by Renata »

Hi,
Liked your site, saw a few things...
Your photo page was slow to load, due to many larger photos...would recommend thumbnails.

About our condo page:
Would recommend Bullets---people like to look down a list on the web, and it will draw their attention

Navigation Font:
Computer font is readable, but looks "Cold and not personable"
If I am associating you to your font. (beacuse you are using it to talk to me...)..I see R2D2.

Restaurants: Great Idea, but would like a printable page that I could print out and take with me for the trip.

Thanks,
Renata
Renata Gozdziak
Chicago Illinois---Daytona Beach Florida
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