All your comments will be much appreciated

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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Fil
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All your comments will be much appreciated

Post by Fil »

I am launching a new website and have been around the Forum enough time to know how useful and accurate your comments can be.

Please tell me what you think. Bad appreciations also very much welcome.

Thank you.

www.chiadorentals.com
Margaret
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Post by Margaret »

It looks and sounds wonderful but somehow the balance on the home page doesn't seem quite right - it didn't grab me. Perhaps the thumbnails are too small and too white? The top picture I suppose is of the apartment but it looked like a general architectural shot perhaps?

Small typo: EnquirIes not Enquires.
la vache!
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Post by la vache! »

I really like it Fil - it is white, clean and stylish, much like I imagine the interior of the apartment to be. Would it be possible to add another larger photo at the bottom right of the homepage to fill the gap there at the moment? The other thing I'd do is open a new window to your guest comments on vacation rentals, so you don't lose your site. There are a few typos - would you like it proof read? Immaculately clean, not immaculate clean, privilege not privilige (home page) 'toy chest' not toys chest etc.
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Fil
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Post by Fil »

la vache! wrote:white, clean and stylish

This is in fact the kind of sensation I want to transmit, so I am glad that at least in your case it worked.

Thank you both for the time spent looking at the site and comments.
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Ju
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Post by Ju »

I like the look of the site. My only real comment is that the home page doesn't make it 100% clear what you are selling.

OK I know it says it is an appartment, but it doesn't mention that it is a holiday rental/let nor does it say how many it sleeps.

Other than that I like it.

Ju
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DrRichard
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Post by DrRichard »

It looks really good. Here's my feedback

The facilities checklist is a bit strange - I wouldn't really expect to see a washer/dryer in the bedrooms or a queen bed in the kitchen (maybe I am wierd...) Your English is great but you've allowed a few 'real' words in there like Adicional

You have some nice pictures but I'd recommend trying to make them as stunning as possible.

You have a good amount of content on the home page but I'd suggest expanding the rest of the site. Give us more descriptions of the house, the area, etc. Show us why its great and you also get more words for the search engines to find...

Keep up the great work,
Dr. Richard
la vache!
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Post by la vache! »

Fil,
you have put frames around all your photos since I last looked, I think they are too thick, could you make them a bit less obtrusive? I have frames around the photos on my site - e Richard recommended them and I was dubious at first, but they work although you'd hardly know they were there. I think narrower frames would look better on your site.
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Fil
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Post by Fil »

DrRichard wrote: You have some nice pictures but I'd recommend trying to make them as stunning as possible.
Thank you for the useful comments. What in your opinion would in this case be stunning pictures ?
e-richard
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Post by e-richard »

Fil, have you changed the borders around your pictures?

I'm sure I remember seeing thick white borders with a little gap between picture and border and thinking that was quite cool (and different).

So many different ways to do this, and many of them can be quite smart.
** Richard
PIMS: Holiday Rental Management system
They say we learn from our mistakes. That makes me a genius !
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DrRichard
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Post by DrRichard »

Hi Fil

Your pictures look very good anyway but they can always be better. They look a little small on the thumbnails and some of the large versions look slightly grainy. Maybe you could compress them less? Maybe a different camera?

For me, improving the pictures on my vacation rental sites has made a big difference to my bookings. Remember too that it's good to include detailed descriptions with your pictures. This helps your visitors and provides more content for search engines.

Dr. Richard
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HenryG
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Post by HenryG »

I think it's very nice and impressive.
But some things need to be fixed:
  • * The menu "wiggles" when I hover using Firefox, since that browser is becoming ever more popular I would fix that.
    * You are wasting juicy keyword text by having "Lisbon Holiday Rental" an image heading instead of text
    * The use of bold can be a powerful technique to make text more legible. Use it too much or too often and text becomes harder to read again.
    * The mixture of green and blue text and heading confuses me. I don't know which ones are links which ones aren't. Use underline to make it more distinguishable
I like this article on web-writing:
http://www.sun.com/980713/webwriting/

Hope that helps.
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Windy
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Post by Windy »

I found the text flow around the picture sin Firefox a bit distracting on the home page

I was going to say that I don't like the image viewer that opens up a new window but won't let you move on to the next picture without closing it. but finally worked out that if I clicked the photo the next one appeared. You might want to add "click n the current photo to see the next one" to the image description if you can't put video recorder type arrows on.

Otherwise looks nice and clean - easy to read and navigate.

I think you could do more to sell the locality though.

Hope this helps

John
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Chianti
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Post by Chianti »

Phil

What a super flat.

When viewing your homepage in IE there's an empty space at the top of the page.

I think your buttons are in the wrong place as they are above your header and can't be seen unless one scrolls up. I had to look for them, but one would expect the header to be at the top.

Personally the title is too large as it rather spoils the header photo. I don't think you need so much text on your front page, why not move the title where some of the text is located and leave the header just for the photo. I'm not so kean on the typeface of your title and think it might be improved by just plain, bold typeface.

I too thought that list of what's where in the apartment both confusing and a bit odd.

Your photos were 1st class but I have one suggestion, the beds look bland, so I would either lay out the towels, but only if they are in a colour or put some coloured cushions on the beds.

Your flat is so nice it temps one to take a holiday in Lisbon just to be able to stay there.

Chianti
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Fil
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Post by Fil »

You are really the best consulting team one could ask for. Some of your comments have been incorporated and others will follow.
Thank you so very much for your help. I will keep paying back by spending some time posting comments on other personal websites published in the forum.
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