Hello to all, I am new here on LMH although I have been visiting the forum for a while now.
We have been operating our own web site ( and holiday home ) for a year now the web site was built using a free template that I have tweaked and altered many times.
I would appreciate if one or two people would give me some feedback on my hard work. www.cairngormlodges.com
Thanks in advance.
Do you have five minutes please?
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Don Ciccio
- Posts: 481
- Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2009 11:39 pm
- Location: Trapani, Sicily
Dear John and Carol,
Welcome to the Forum. I've only been here since Crimbo, but have settled in nicely. Congrats on joining and hope you find it as welcoming as I have.
My opinions are all my own and may be at complete odds with what others think -and they are not meant to offend!
So, your site. I too built, edit and update our own website from templates I made - and while I am no CSS buff (still tables on my site i am afraid) I give your content a 10/10 for honesty, practicality and throughness (down to things like mobile reception, and nuts for the squirrels - little things that your guests will thank you for down the line i am sure!)
I like the colours as they are complementary to the photos and the low-carbon nature of the holiday home - which you talk about with regards to the log fire and heating- and I wonder if this is something that you could emphasise more? We have added a page about sustainability on our site to talk about the planting and growing that we do on site and how we use local shops and services and encourage our guests to do the same.
The Layout is straightforward and uncomplicated, but I found that the text beneath the headings confused matters a bit as there appear to be two hyperlinks (I've bolded them)
AVAILABILITY CALENDAR
View Our Availability
Calendar In A New
Window
...Check Availability...
ONLINE BOOKING
Access Our Easy Reservation & Secure Online Payment Process
...Booking System...
and wondered if the explanatory text itself could not infact be the hyperlink? - thus cutting out the need for the "...xxxx..." link?
I'd tweak the layout a bit, to try and prevent people from having to scroll down so much on a couple of the info pages - but that's my preference - not a criticism.
Oh, and before I forget, the contact page... not sure where your guests all come from, but might be worth adding +44 to the mobile/landline mumber for foreign enquirers. Also makes you look more international in your set up.
One final point. Have you been renting out for very long or have you just started? I only ask because I wondered if you have any guest feedback yet? If its too soon and you have none, have you factored in how you are going to add those pages and heading/links to existing pages when you do? But if you already have good feedback... why isn't it on your site?! If you've never thought about it - write to some of your previous guests asking if they'd mind giving you a few words about their stay and your lodge?
Hope that all helps, this is only the second review I've done on LMH and I'm not sure if i've said too much or too little. I'm also open to any comments you have on our website www.get2sicily.co.uk . Either way it is all meant as constructive criticism!
Sincere regards, Don Ciccio
Welcome to the Forum. I've only been here since Crimbo, but have settled in nicely. Congrats on joining and hope you find it as welcoming as I have.
My opinions are all my own and may be at complete odds with what others think -and they are not meant to offend!
So, your site. I too built, edit and update our own website from templates I made - and while I am no CSS buff (still tables on my site i am afraid) I give your content a 10/10 for honesty, practicality and throughness (down to things like mobile reception, and nuts for the squirrels - little things that your guests will thank you for down the line i am sure!)
I like the colours as they are complementary to the photos and the low-carbon nature of the holiday home - which you talk about with regards to the log fire and heating- and I wonder if this is something that you could emphasise more? We have added a page about sustainability on our site to talk about the planting and growing that we do on site and how we use local shops and services and encourage our guests to do the same.
The Layout is straightforward and uncomplicated, but I found that the text beneath the headings confused matters a bit as there appear to be two hyperlinks (I've bolded them)
AVAILABILITY CALENDAR
View Our Availability
Calendar In A New
Window
...Check Availability...
ONLINE BOOKING
Access Our Easy Reservation & Secure Online Payment Process
...Booking System...
and wondered if the explanatory text itself could not infact be the hyperlink? - thus cutting out the need for the "...xxxx..." link?
I'd tweak the layout a bit, to try and prevent people from having to scroll down so much on a couple of the info pages - but that's my preference - not a criticism.
Oh, and before I forget, the contact page... not sure where your guests all come from, but might be worth adding +44 to the mobile/landline mumber for foreign enquirers. Also makes you look more international in your set up.
One final point. Have you been renting out for very long or have you just started? I only ask because I wondered if you have any guest feedback yet? If its too soon and you have none, have you factored in how you are going to add those pages and heading/links to existing pages when you do? But if you already have good feedback... why isn't it on your site?! If you've never thought about it - write to some of your previous guests asking if they'd mind giving you a few words about their stay and your lodge?
Hope that all helps, this is only the second review I've done on LMH and I'm not sure if i've said too much or too little. I'm also open to any comments you have on our website www.get2sicily.co.uk . Either way it is all meant as constructive criticism!
Sincere regards, Don Ciccio
Hello Don Ciccio Thank you, for taking the time to review my site & give such kind feedback far more in-depth than I had anticipated.
In regards to the info on the green aspect of the cabin I am sure we could expand on this.
Re the linking text at one point the explanatory text was the link but some visitors could not find it so we thought if we used both surely that would work.
Most of our customers are UK based only had one or two from out with the UK so far,
Customer feed back has also been good up to date but it has only been one year & all of this is by word of mouth,
I am considering a feedback form to find out how we can improve.
I will visit your site & let you know my thoughts on it after I catch up with my enquiries.
In regards to the info on the green aspect of the cabin I am sure we could expand on this.
Re the linking text at one point the explanatory text was the link but some visitors could not find it so we thought if we used both surely that would work.
Most of our customers are UK based only had one or two from out with the UK so far,
Customer feed back has also been good up to date but it has only been one year & all of this is by word of mouth,
I am considering a feedback form to find out how we can improve.
I will visit your site & let you know my thoughts on it after I catch up with my enquiries.
In haste - I took a look at the photos and hope the following comments aren't too annoying 
1. Get a slide show applet - having to click on the image to see it full size, then click to return to the thumbnails and then click again is not very user friendly.
2. The external pictures seem a bit bleak. Being in the Lake district I understand the problem, but move the plastic container and the green chair, dress up the table with a sun umbrella and some cushions and maybe a glass of wine and get some photos done on a nice sunny day
3. The internal pictures are rather bare and a bit tight in to the subjects. Get the place dressed up a bit - lay the table, get some prints for the walls (?) and maybe use a wide angle lens. You can get a perfectly good point and click camera with a 28mm lens that will do a fine job for under £80 these days.
The photos are what grab people's attention (IMHO) and you HAVE to get those right!
1. Get a slide show applet - having to click on the image to see it full size, then click to return to the thumbnails and then click again is not very user friendly.
2. The external pictures seem a bit bleak. Being in the Lake district I understand the problem, but move the plastic container and the green chair, dress up the table with a sun umbrella and some cushions and maybe a glass of wine and get some photos done on a nice sunny day
3. The internal pictures are rather bare and a bit tight in to the subjects. Get the place dressed up a bit - lay the table, get some prints for the walls (?) and maybe use a wide angle lens. You can get a perfectly good point and click camera with a 28mm lens that will do a fine job for under £80 these days.
The photos are what grab people's attention (IMHO) and you HAVE to get those right!
Hi Windy thanks for having a look
All the photos were done just after the refurbishment,
We do have plans to update them very soon.
The external ones will be replaced after the outside has been painted in the next two weeks or so.
I am presently working on a css popup solution for all pictures but as usual IE is the only browser that will not play ball.
Thanks John.
All the photos were done just after the refurbishment,
We do have plans to update them very soon.
The external ones will be replaced after the outside has been painted in the next two weeks or so.
I am presently working on a css popup solution for all pictures but as usual IE is the only browser that will not play ball.
Thanks John.
I like the layout. But I have to agree with the presentation of the photos.
I presently use Simpleviewer for my Photo album
http://simpleviewer.net/simpleviewer/
But I may be changing it soon as Flash hides the photos from Google. But still worth a look to see if it suits you.
In your text you say recently refurbished in 2008; that is 2-going on 3 years ago. Is that recent?
there is no pin on the map to the location is that a mistake or omitted for a purpose?
I presently use Simpleviewer for my Photo album
http://simpleviewer.net/simpleviewer/
But I may be changing it soon as Flash hides the photos from Google. But still worth a look to see if it suits you.
In your text you say recently refurbished in 2008; that is 2-going on 3 years ago. Is that recent?
there is no pin on the map to the location is that a mistake or omitted for a purpose?
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.