Reviews 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.
User avatar
Chalky
Posts: 128
Joined: Sat Aug 13, 2005 1:31 pm
Location: La Duquesa, Costa del Sol
Contact:

Reviews please!

Post by Chalky »

Hi Everyone,

We have an apartment at the Western end of the Costa del Sol which we've been renting out (and using ourselves) for the past 3 years. We're on a golf course and 8 minutes walk from the beach, so we cater to more or less anyone. Because it is our second home - and will be our only home in a couple of years! - we try to appeal to people who will look after the place and treat it as they would their own homes.

The web site is all my own work :oops: so I'm open to suggestions as to how it can be improved. We get plenty of visitors to the site, but I'd like more bookings!!

Thanks,

Chalky
Chalky

Image
User avatar
Sue Dyer
Posts: 2562
Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2004 2:26 pm
Location: Belford, Northumberland

Post by Sue Dyer »

Hi
Following your plea in the cafe here's some feedback...

I love the skyline in the photo, lots going on, palm trees, pool sea etc but I think the photo and the text together are a bit distracting. I don't think you get the entire benefit of the striking photo with it. The text seems like it should maybe be the main header for your page?

I'd also consider maybe shortening the home page so there's not as much scrolling right down.

I like the idea of your inventory page, I had one phone enquiry asking if my cottage had a kitchen because the lady thought that wasn't obvious from the website ?!?! Your "Dressing Area" text seems to have sneaked into a different font/formatting. Your booking form is nice clean and clear too.

You've managed to put quite a lot of info on the site and your bookings seem to be going well so I hope your success continues. :) Sue
User avatar
Chalky
Posts: 128
Joined: Sat Aug 13, 2005 1:31 pm
Location: La Duquesa, Costa del Sol
Contact:

Post by Chalky »

Thanks for your comments Sue. You're not the first to mention the text on the photo - I'm going to have to re-think that. Thanks also for spotting the Dressing Area font - I'll fix it.

I agree that the home page is a bit long, but all the salient bits can be accessed from the navigation buttons at the top, so people don't have to scroll down if they don't want to. I also don't know whether it's better to have people scroll or click to get more information?
Chalky

Image
User avatar
vrooje
Posts: 3202
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 2:48 am
Location: Burgundy, France

Post by vrooje »

Chalky,

I also like the idea of an inventory, and I agree about the text over the photos. You ought to be able to use CSS to put real text over the photo, and that would look a lot cleaner. But personally, I'd just make it a caption.

I wonder, what decides whether information will go on the main page or whether it will go on its own page? Most people do all or nothing. Your site is easy to navigate, so I don't think it makes a big difference. I was just curious.

FYI, I'm using Firefox in Linux so I can't download quicktime and have no way of seeing your panorama.

Also, the javascript code to view the larger pictures of your apartment interior don't work for me. The code does work if I try to view the exterior pictures, though, so not sure what's going on there. It could be a Linux thing, but javascript generally works fine in Linux.

You seem to have a few footnotes in various places -- why not make those clickable?

Overall I think it works -- I was going to say something about the textured background (normally I hate them), but this one doesn't bother me. :)

Cheers!
Brooke
User avatar
Chalky
Posts: 128
Joined: Sat Aug 13, 2005 1:31 pm
Location: La Duquesa, Costa del Sol
Contact:

Post by Chalky »

Thanks for your review, Brooke. I'm glad you raised the problem with the enlargements of the room pictures, because I hadn't noticed that something had gone wrong with the coding - I recently downloaded a free program called "Nvu", described as an easy-to-use Web editor and recommended in a magazine. Unfortunately it takes it upon itself to change a lot of your existing coding without being asked, and, if you're using CSS, adds loads of unnecessary html tags as well! I've sorted it now.
You seem to have a few footnotes in various places -- why not make those clickable?
I'm not sure what you're referring to there, could you give me some examples?
Chalky

Image
User avatar
vrooje
Posts: 3202
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 2:48 am
Location: Burgundy, France

Post by vrooje »

Hm... well, the one I noticed was at the top of your home page, the quote from the guest review. You have a little footnote symbol at the end of it and then later down the page there's a link to the full reviews, but it'd be nice to be able to click on the footnote and go straight to the explanation. Or to just click on the mini-review and go to the reviews page...
Brooke
User avatar
Chalky
Posts: 128
Joined: Sat Aug 13, 2005 1:31 pm
Location: La Duquesa, Costa del Sol
Contact:

Post by Chalky »

Good thinking! Thanks :!:
Chalky

Image
User avatar
paolo
Posts: 3885
Joined: Thu Jun 17, 2004 1:18 pm
Location: Provence, France
Contact:

Post by paolo »

I think the top of the homepage is great - all the key points are there in brief, and then the lovely photo of the view. That will get interested parties reading on.

There is a lot of information to assimilate on the homepage and you might consider using bold to highlight important words. This gives the eye points of reference - like footholds on a climbing wall - so readers don't lose their place.

Another reason to use bold: it is thought that words in bold are given extra weight by Google. So if those words are also ones that people might search with, that will help you rank better for those searches.

It's a really informative site, with good pics and lots of thoughtful extras, like the 'we are here' satellite pic. To answer your question about how to convert more visitors into bookings - you might try to make it easier to send you an email from anywhere on the site. You could do this by regularly placing an 'email me here' link or button around the site. People may well click on it if they are suffering from information overload and just want to ask you a simple question. That would start a dialogue and then you can take it from there.
Paolo
Lay My Hat
User avatar
Chalky
Posts: 128
Joined: Sat Aug 13, 2005 1:31 pm
Location: La Duquesa, Costa del Sol
Contact:

Post by Chalky »

Thanks for that, Paolo. I'll work on the bold thoughts!

As regards more "email me" possibilities, there is a "More Info" button on the navigation bar at least once on every page, which expands to "Click here for more information". Is that not sufficient, or does it need expressing another way?
Chalky

Image
chris mooney
Posts: 22
Joined: Mon Dec 05, 2005 3:24 pm
Location: indre,loire region
Contact:

site review

Post by chris mooney »

just looked at your site chalky and what struck me was the crisp clean well lit photos especially the panoramic shots...i take it that the excellent spanish sunshine assisted in that or did you use any extra lighting?we may revamp our site photos on www.laconfiance.net...obviously south loire is not as sunny and we have an oldstyle french farmhouse which is not designed for lots of natural light. how did you take the paoramic shots as i'm thinking we will do something similar .
chris mooney
adventuruos chef about to embark on the his french culinary extraveganza!!!
User avatar
Chalky
Posts: 128
Joined: Sat Aug 13, 2005 1:31 pm
Location: La Duquesa, Costa del Sol
Contact:

Post by Chalky »

Chris,

The lighting is pretty much down to the Spanish sun. It is a very light apartment. Some of the internal shots were taken using the camera's built-in flash, but nothing fancy.

For the panoramas I used the "panorama assist" mode on my Pentax Optio 5N, which shows you a bit of the last frame in the viewfinder so you can line up the next shot - several digital cameras have something similar. I then knitted the frames together using a software program called "The Panorama Factory" by Smoky City Design. I tried out a number of panorama programs but this was easily the best combination of cost, ease of use and accuracy of 'fit'. You can download a trial version.

Hope this helps,
Chalky

Image
User avatar
enid
Posts: 5599
Joined: Mon Dec 27, 2004 4:47 pm
Location: Labretonie France
Contact:

Post by enid »

Nothing new to add but I also liked the top of the home page - clear info and very accessible. I do think there is a little too much infor on the home page. I like the idea of a blog too. Well done!
Post Reply