Please give us feedback

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.
susanj
Posts: 175
Joined: Mon Jun 23, 2008 3:04 pm
Location: Estes Park, Colorado
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Please give us feedback

Post by susanj »

We have a new website for our cabin rental in the Rocky Mountains. Please tell me what you think.

www.estesriversidecabin.com

Thank you!

Sue
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bananacake
Posts: 384
Joined: Tue Dec 01, 2009 9:55 am
Location: Adriatic Coast, Pescara, Italy
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Post by bananacake »

Hi Sue, there is a very strong call to action at the top of your page where you have your contact details and i also like the idea of the changing images but i feel the site is a bit too "busy". Im not quite sure where to look first.

You may wish to separate the info in different pages?
susanj
Posts: 175
Joined: Mon Jun 23, 2008 3:04 pm
Location: Estes Park, Colorado
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Post by susanj »

I'm getting the same feedback from others but my website person hasn't been very responsive yet. Thanks.

Sue
twinhope
Posts: 27
Joined: Mon May 03, 2010 1:53 am
Location: Florida USA
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Post by twinhope »

Your place looks lovely. I did find your main page very busy. I did not know where to look first because I was trying to read and look at changing pictures at the same time. I don't know how many people would take the time to scroll down to see your desciption. (the one with pinkish background). There is a lot going on. You place does look inviting though and best of luck.

Sharon
lorca
Posts: 2358
Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2008 3:34 pm
Location: The Axarquia, Spain

Post by lorca »

I agree that your place looks lovely, but I really think the poor quality of the photographs is letting it down - a real shame.
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Don Ciccio
Posts: 481
Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2009 11:39 pm
Location: Trapani, Sicily

Post by Don Ciccio »

Hello,

Some things that struck me straight away were that the pictures looked a bit fuzzy and I feel that you are not doing yourself justice. Light the lamps, open the curtains and take some more, Use photoshop to tweek them and show people what the place is really like. Looks like a great place and you need to convey that.

There is a lot of information on the front page, a lot. I had this problem recently and (on my own review thread) got advised to trim it down to the bare minimum. One member (Jimbo i think?) made some very good analogies about your front page being like the starter in a restaurant - if its no good you're unlikely to enjoy or want to go on to the main...

A lot of the info on the lower portion of the page could go on a new page, and de clutter the front page.

Two other points I noticed.

1 - There is no immediately obvious way back to the front page once you have left it (I tried the header, which got me back), which should be more obvious - particularly if you are going to keep some of the info on the front page.

2 - None of the guest feedback is attributed to any named people or dates. I am aware that you want to respect people's privacy, but surely a first name is not impinging on anyone? I'm not doubting their authenticity, but if i saw comments with no names, or dates, I'd wonder if they were 100% true. Is there any way you can alter this? What do others think of this suggestion?

The site banner colours are dark, which could be making the photos look dark? - but the banners match the 1930s feel you are describing about the place and are offset well against the lighter yellow.

I was impressed witht he level of information on your site, but think that you could order it a little differently to maximise how visitors navigate through it.

Hope that helps and hope that my (humble opinion and) comments are seen as constructive rather than critical. :D

DC
susanj
Posts: 175
Joined: Mon Jun 23, 2008 3:04 pm
Location: Estes Park, Colorado
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Post by susanj »

The fuzziness is my fault because they took the photos from my vrbo site--I should email them the originals I guess.

They made a lot of changes since I first posted this in April but apparently problems still remain.

I will see about adding more reviews too. The place these were taken from did have the guest name.
www.vrbo.com/138908

Thanks!

Sue
susanj
Posts: 175
Joined: Mon Jun 23, 2008 3:04 pm
Location: Estes Park, Colorado
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Post by susanj »

I am such a novice at this.

I emailed some of your points to the person in charge of designing our website and this was the response I got--

"Of course the material on it can be split into several pages, with different navigation. You hired us to do a landing page (that is one page), not a full website - the setup fees are much higher for a full website, which is why you went with a landing page. If you are interested in upgrading the landing page further, we would be happy to do so, at the lowest price possible."

I don't know if I want to spend any more on this, if it's worth it.

We had also thought of doing a google campaignbut at $200+ per month for ad fees and management fees....
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Don Ciccio
Posts: 481
Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2009 11:39 pm
Location: Trapani, Sicily

Post by Don Ciccio »

Step away from the Google adwords campaign and put your hands on the wall. I do not think that this is value for money.

There is a lot you can do for the same amount of money that would be more beneficial.

Many people here built and update their own websites on IndependentOwners's site. I cant rememeber the URl but someonw will have it. They offer free simple templates to adapt and approx 11 page site. I dont use it myself, but many pople say its very good and its something you could look into.

Do you have any youngsters in the family who know a bit about web design? could you ask them to help you for a nominal sum?
superpp
Posts: 31
Joined: Mon Jun 28, 2010 5:43 pm
Location: Hisaronu - Olu Deniz, Turkey
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Post by superpp »

I really like the website, just the blurry photo's are a bit of a let down.
catherinedonegal
Posts: 378
Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:10 pm
Location: Dunkineely, County Donegal, Ireland
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Post by catherinedonegal »

hi

like others here i found the fuzzy pics a turn off. you should sort this pronto because they don't give a good first impression of your beautiful property.

regarding website builders, i couldn't afford those fees and found weebly.com via a computer mag. i have now built both my holiday home site and another couple of sites using them. it is so easy to use, you can upload lots of pics and the results are very good (imo).

so i would suggest using weebly or a similar site and building your own site where you have full control and the opportunity to learn as you go and keep improving plus you can keep it 'live' by adding bits yourself rather than having to ask someone else to do it for you.
january
Posts: 146
Joined: Fri May 14, 2010 10:48 pm
Location: Island of Brac

Post by january »

Yes you just gotta learn to do the site yourself, paying to have a website built is fine for large organisations, but not for someone with a holiday place to let.

When the site ' breaks ' you will have to pay them to fix it. They will also charge to do SEO work etc etc.

No doubt they will host it on thier server and charge above the odds also.
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Windy
Posts: 3219
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2007 8:21 am
Location: Windermere UK

Post by Windy »

We had also thought of doing a google campaignbut at $200+ per month for ad fees and management fees....
I get phone calls most week (sometimes days) from sharks offering to get me on page 1 of Google for £200 a month.

Tell them to sling their hook and do it yourself. Find about about "long-tail keywords" and go from there. It's not rocket science, takes little time to set up at a basic level (although you could spend the rest f your life tweaking it) and I pay a total of about £25 a month for Google adwords campaigns for 4 property websites and two websites for my other business.
susanj
Posts: 175
Joined: Mon Jun 23, 2008 3:04 pm
Location: Estes Park, Colorado
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Post by susanj »

I did find a friend of my daughter's who does this stuff. Not for a living, but he's knowledgable.
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visitslovenija
Posts: 204
Joined: Mon Dec 01, 2008 12:43 pm

Post by visitslovenija »

Sue,
Actually, I don't have a problem with all the text on the home page. I like the general look and feel of the site. As mentioned though, you are missing a HOME button to get you back there - I know it's there under CONTACT, but would be better to change the name.

I also think the summary description visibility could be better - I managed not to notice the two lines you do have under the photos, first time round.

Ah yes, the fuzzy photos. With 4 bedrooms I guess it's pretty big, but you don't get that impression from the photos either.

Are there really 4 bedrooms? Couldn't see how that ties in with the beds you list. How about a floorplan - they help a lot (use www.floorplanner.com, it's easy and free).

Maybe it's just me, but I couldn't see a location for the cabin on the map page.

I think the contact form on the home page is neat - but the heading had me confused: 'Sign up Now' (for us Brits anyhow) sounds like registering for a newsletter or something.

And my view is also to forget Google Adwords. Been there, tried it, waste of money.

I do use a professional to host and build our site. Doesn't really cost that much and saves a lot of headaches!

Hope my ramblings help.

Ralph
www.visitslovenija.eu
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