Any feedback welcome ...

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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CarolineH
Posts: 888
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 5:12 pm
Location: Nr Dinan, Brittany, France

Any feedback welcome ...

Post by CarolineH »

I joined this forum a couple of weeks ago and feel it's a bit rude not to officially introduce myself:

I've been running my gites since 2002, when I moved from IT in the UK (only big systems, not specialising in webdesign or PC's -shame!) with my family - 2 children now nearly 12 and 14. We started with three gites.

In 2005 major change to personal situation, in the middle of the renovation of 2 new gites, my husband and I split up. After 3 years of struggle and worry, I managed to buy out the property and SARL (Limited Company) running the gites just a the start of the financial crisis. I took my foot off the gas for a while during this time and "rested on my laurels" because I had lots of repeat business - I had two really bad years in 2009/10 and I am struggling to catch-up. Last year I built the pool which seems to have re-launched my business.

I am finding this forum fantastic and eye-opening : since starting my business the feeling that I have had locally is that no-one who runs similar ventures was willing to share information, experiences and worries and have felt very much alone. About a year ago, I met "La Vache" and realised that there are people who are willing to share :D .

I have hundreds of questions, but am trying to be well-behaved and search for the answers in previous posts before I launch into topics that you've all answered before ...

I would welcome any input that people have towards my site. I advertise with some of the big sites (HR, OD, etc) but am quite well placed on Google, so most of my enquiries come direct.

I need to concentrate on the non-school holidays bookings, I know my place is great for pre-school families, and get about 30-40% repeats, but they grow into school holiday business so quickly ...

Thank you for any pointers that you can give ....
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Nemo
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Location: Norfolk

Post by Nemo »

Just wanted to say hi and welcome first! :) You have clearly found the right place here for help and support and you are very fortunate to have LV for assistance by the sounds of it!

Had a quick look at your site and the first problem I have is that I have to scroll sideways to view the page, so I am immediately put off. I am using Internet Explorer 8 (I think!)
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CarolineH
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Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 5:12 pm
Location: Nr Dinan, Brittany, France

Post by CarolineH »

Thanks for that Nemo, are there any recommendations for page width? - it fits ok onto my IE and Firefox, but I have a widescreen monitor
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Harborfields
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Post by Harborfields »

1024 pixels is a very common screen width, although 800 pixels wide is still not unheard of. See http://www.webpagemistakes.ca/most-comm ... esolution/ (for one example; there are other similar sites). In general I think it is better to design for narrower pages rather than be too wide.
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Jimbo
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Location: Charente Maritime

Post by Jimbo »

I have hundreds of questions, but am trying to be well-behaved and search for the answers in previous posts before I launch into topics that you've all answered before ...

Hello Caroline and welcome to the forum.

With regard to your site photographs, I’d aim for more consistency in size and style and make them fill the available spaces. The mix of hard/fuzzy edges, inconsistent (or no) gaps between photos, empty spaces and arbitrary sizings is jarring and confusing (to me). In addition, I would avoid picture repetition and make most open to a bigger size.

This gite has been equipped to provide the possibility of accommodation for families with the need for disabled or reduced mobility facilities … There is a stairgate fitted to the stairs for the security of young children.
Because site visitors have itchy mouse fingers and short attention spans, I'd think about making your text more concise and punchy - the much-despised tabloid press are the masters here. Maybe something like: 'Disabled-friendly with security stairgate and private parking, our beautifully-renovated Fraise gite is comprehensively equipped to ...'

On the other hand, your site provides a huge amount of useful and relevant information (excellent 'driving' page). You just need to snare slippery potential guests on those vital landing pages before they bounce elsewhere.

Jim
KathyG
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Location: Le Faou, Brittany
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Post by KathyG »

Wow that's some pool you have there Caroline, must have cost a small fortune! :shock: You've got two different settings for the pool pics though, are some of them from the manufacturer's site? Will have a look round the rest of your site later but 5 gites must be exhausting!
Kathy
Waterfront location in Le Faou
"My goal in life is to become as wonderful as my dog thinks I am."
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CSE
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Location: Galicia

Post by CSE »

Title is too long: Ideally, your title should contain between 10 and 70 characters (spaces included).
Your website is not monitored by Google Analytics.
The website is hosted in California. It is said this can harm your SEO if it is not based in the country of your business.
I can see in the bottom right hand corner the W3C button. If you click that you will see you have quite a number of coding errors still to resolve.
http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http% ... tes.com%2f
Note that the link below is only for the first page you need to go through your website page by page, unless you make and use a Template for them all.
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
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CarolineH
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Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 5:12 pm
Location: Nr Dinan, Brittany, France

Post by CarolineH »

Jim, thank you - I will endeavour to make it all more uniform

Ian and Irene - thanks for your time, the site is hosted with Yahoo Small Business - I chose them because they seemed to give me the most professional service - I have been with them for about 6 years and have had virtually no downtime - whereas before the host service were up and down all the time. Sorry if this seems dumb, but how does Google know where I am if I have a .com website?
Oops for the coding errors - they weren't picked up by DreamWeaver, will sort those out tout de suite!

Kathy - I am very pleased with the pool - wanted to have a USP, so went for the cover, which was hugely expensive - but the whole project was not as much as it might have been because I did it all myself (with a lot of help from my friends!) - I have to say, though, I have never worked so hard in my life!
Can you tell me which photos look as though they're from the manufacturers - I have looked through and they all seem to be here (real) however, I did have some manufacturers photos on the site during the build phase, so maybe I've missed one somewhere.
KathyG
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Location: Le Faou, Brittany
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Post by KathyG »

CarolineH wrote: Can you tell me which photos look as though they're from the manufacturers - I have looked through and they all seem to be here (real) however, I did have some manufacturers photos on the site during the build phase, so maybe I've missed one somewhere.
I'm just looking at those on your 'pool' page. Top left looks fantastic, then bottom right looks to be in a completely different setting with the fence around it.
Kathy
Waterfront location in Le Faou
"My goal in life is to become as wonderful as my dog thinks I am."
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CarolineH
Posts: 888
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 5:12 pm
Location: Nr Dinan, Brittany, France

Post by CarolineH »

KathyG wrote: I'm just looking at those on your 'pool' page. Top left looks fantastic, then bottom right looks to be in a completely different setting with the fence around it.
Thanks for the comment :D The bottom right is taken from the other side, in front of the house that you can see behind the pool in the top left. I wanted to show people that it was private and secure from the courtyard.
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CSE
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Location: Galicia

Post by CSE »

CarolineH wrote:…….. how does Google know where I am if I have a .com website? ……..
Every website has an IP address associated with it. The same with every connection madeto the internet.

Google can see the IP address of your server.
If you have Firefox there is an extension you can add which gives the location of every website you are viewing.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo ... lagfox.net
Here are the details for LMH
http://geo.flagfox.net/?ip=64.246.58.99 ... ymyhat.com
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
lasourcetranquille
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Location: Mouy, Oise
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Post by lasourcetranquille »

Welcome Caroline (I've been here a couple of months so feel like I can say that now!)

My only comment would be that I would expect all of your small pictures to be clickable to a larger size - it seems to be the norm now. Not sure if you added title tags to them (can't tell on my iPad) but if they popup you can caption them properly.

Small note also that your weather page shows a graph with temperatures in farenheit. Not sure that anyone under 40 or the French/Dutch/Germans would understand it. I would have also expected your links to weather sites to have your location already filled in rather than making me go back and type it in.
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