Any advice/comments on my new website

[Yorkshire Lass]

Having bought this property under a month ago we're now expecting our first guests on Saturday (we inherited quite a few from the previous owners who were also holiday letting)! I decided to use Promotemyplace for this site rather than Iowners who I used on my other site and have to say I'm really rather pleased with the layout. Could anyone who's interested have a look through it though and give me any comments they think would be helpful. I do hope to improve quite a lot of the photos but as we're having to redecorate/refurnish as we go along this may take time. The link is here:

www.sandsendpavilion.co.uk

[tavi]

Hi,

lovely house!

Just had a quick look so here's my initial thoughts.

first para is too long - not comfy to read if you see what I mean. Could you put more spaces or add some bullet points highlighting your selling points. i.e:


- sleeps up to 10
- 5 bedrooms ( 3 ensuite)
- 2 family bathrooms
- 2 living rooms both with lcd tvs
- 100 m from the beach
- etc blah blah

I like PMP too, good simple templates.

all for now...good luck

Tavi

[Ju]

I like the site and I think it shows off the house well. Some of the photos could do with changing, and I would take out the second photo of the dining table as it isn't in focus and isn't adding anything.

Just being picky - the house sleeps 10 yet there is only seating for 8 outside. Buy a couple more chairs, even if they don't match.

[Wonkeye]

Hope you're going to include mention of the Wits End Cafe amongst your information in the house:
http://www.witsendcafe.co.uk/
One of our favourite places for a snack, ice cream etc in the area!

[Harborfields]

A couple observations:

Bathroom photos -- toilet lids should be closed.

Bedroom photos -- bedspreads should be straight, flat and taught, without wrinkles or muss.

I don't know if you can do this with PMP, but could you have a different cover photo for each page, rather than the front view of the house on all pages? So for example, the Local Area page maybe has a scenic shot of the village, and the Details page opens with a really nice shot of the interior, and so on?

[CSE]

One well behaved dog by prior arrangement

Can you define well behaved?

Remove the guest book tab until you have some entries.
The links in the link page take you away from your own website. It is thought that it is better practice to keep your own website open if the surfer wishes to click the link to another website. That way they can easily find you after getting lost in the linked to website.
Photos.
A plastic tablecloth on the table.
I personally feel that bench seating and the table cloth, is incompatible with your description term of the house being luxury.

[scan1]

I like the site. I too use PMP and the choice of templates it provides.

You could try out some of the widgets e.g. the highlights which would provide a quick summary of the features of your house.

The map on the Getting Here page is zoomed in to quite a local level and zooming in and out has been disabled. I think that it would be useful if you enabled zooming.

On the Enquiries page, you have enabled the Captcha spam filter. I found on another site that we were losing a lot of people because they struggled to type in the Captcha words. You could start with this disabled and then enable it only if spamming is a problem.

[Speyside Steve]

On the Enquiries page, you have enabled the Captcha spam filter. I found on another site that we were losing a lot of people because they struggled to type in the Captcha words. You could start with this disabled and then enable it only if spamming is a problem.

I hate Captchas!!! I can never read the blimming things and get so frustrated with them. Have disabled it on my contact forms and don't seem to have too many spam emails.

[Yorkshire Lass]

Thanks to everybody who has taken the trouble to have a look and post some useful points/critiques so far. Delighted that scan1 gave me the advice specific to promotemyplace sites as though I'm sure I'd eventually have discovered it I have now added the 'Highlights' widget which neatly does what Tavi recommended in the first post. I agree about 'Captcha' too - just hadn't thought it through so have now disabled that on the Enquiries page. I agree with all the comments about the photos but the trouble is that we've had to do quite a lot in a short space of time before our first visitors arrive (tomorrow) and being 4-5 hours away have had to do this in some very packed weekends resulting in some rather hurried pics before we left. We did have the previous owner's website but believe me that really was terrible so any deficiencies in our site are still preferable to what was previously being offered and meant that we wanted to go live with our new site asap rather than waiting for everything to be perfect. We will be changing and upgrading the photos as we go along.
I agree that the bench seating in the kitchen diner doesn't really cut it as 'luxury' and we will be changing this when we put in a new kitchen in September (with a different layout that allows this). I personally like oilcloth on a table though for its practicality and colour at whatever end of the market you're going for.
As for 'well behaved dog' - as a dog owner myself I often see this phrase used and I regard it as shorthand for any of the following: chewing, jumping on the furniture, going upstairs, widdling in the wrong places. I think the implication is that if your dog is a handful it's not the right place to bring them. My dog incidentally falls into the not very well behaved category but I know plenty of people who have very docile, well behaved animals.
Thanks Wonkeye on the Wits End Cafe recommendation - I have got it in my house info book but haven't actually made it there for a cuppa as yet - just too busy - hopefully next time we're there!

PS I'm ahead of you Ju on the garden table and seats - we had ordered an extra couple which didn't arrive while we were there but which our cleaner has now received and set out ready for the first visitors

[Maison Lahorgue]

Having bought this property under a month ago we're now expecting our first guests on Saturday (we inherited quite a few from the previous owners who were also holiday letting)! I decided to use Promotemyplace for this site rather than Iowners who I used on my other site and have to say I'm really rather pleased with the layout. Could anyone who's interested have a look through it though and give me any comments they think would be helpful. I do hope to improve quite a lot of the photos but as we're having to redecorate/refurnish as we go along this may take time. The link is here:

www.sandsendpavilion.co.uk

No messing here. Everything's clearly stated and easy to navigate. No one could book a holiday here and be left unsure of what they were getting. With photos, sometimes you've just to go with what you've got: if people are still booking then they can't be that off-putting can they? Just change those you're not happy with as soon as possible. That's what I'm doing.

[katz]

I like what I see - simple layout, tells me everything I want to know, easy to navigate - would agree about the pics with the toilet lids up - a pet hate, and beds look messy. Not sure that you need to repeat your rates twice on your rates page.

Bonne chance!