We have been working flat out, finishing off Les Blancs for our first ever guests, who arrived on Saturday.
We have had the site running for some time now, but we could never take many decent pics whilst we were working on it. So Saturday pm we took loads of pictures some of which we have added to the site.
Is the site personal enough, or does it read like an estate agents blurb? What can I do to make it rise above the loads of similar properties here in Brittany? What concerns me is that I have just a cancellation due to illness (fully paid for) & I cannot seem to resell the 2 peak weeks in August! What is wrong?
We have broadband here, so we would like to know whether the site loads quickly enough on a dial-up connection.
All your comments would be greatly appreciated, and many thanks.
www.lesblancs.co.uk
Robert & Veronica Potter
Our website
Les,
It all looks lovely to me, and loads just fine, but I am on broadband, not dialup. It's not obvious that you're trying to sell 2 weeks in a hurry, so perhaps that is what's wrong, nobody knows you have the availability.
You could put something on the home page in big, bright red "FOR SALE" style lettering that screams "2 peak weeks in August unexpectedly available again due to late cancellation!!!! BOOK IT NOW!!!", also knock down the price a bit and consider running extra ads - it's getting very late to fill these, so I offer one week or two. eBay is another good option, run a 3 days auction.
Just some ideas.
It all looks lovely to me, and loads just fine, but I am on broadband, not dialup. It's not obvious that you're trying to sell 2 weeks in a hurry, so perhaps that is what's wrong, nobody knows you have the availability.
You could put something on the home page in big, bright red "FOR SALE" style lettering that screams "2 peak weeks in August unexpectedly available again due to late cancellation!!!! BOOK IT NOW!!!", also knock down the price a bit and consider running extra ads - it's getting very late to fill these, so I offer one week or two. eBay is another good option, run a 3 days auction.
Just some ideas.
Hi Robert,
Firstly regarding the 2 week cancellation in August, have you tried Ebay as Nichthewood recently sold his cancelled weeks there no problem. I'm still getting enquiries through and will happily pass any suitable ones through to you as you are in Brittany if this is any help.
I think your place looks very nicely renovated and I love the woodburner and big cooker!
My suggestions:
On the homepage, I can only suggest what Jane Bennett very kindly did for my site - perhaps the photos need 'dressing up' a little - for example, on the main photo, a parasol, a bottle of wine, some glasses, a baguette, some fruit would make the place look a little more lived in. That would be my comment for the living areas and tables. I also think that although the tree blossom on the garden photo is lovely, the lawn isn't! I expect your lawn is probably brown by now if it's anything like mine, but I do think that a nice, tidy well kept garden will look attractive to people as this is where they envisge spending a lot of their time in the summer.
Do you have anything in the way of a play area for kids? Families love things which keep their children occupied and I would advise that any photos of this sort of thing would be a plus. Your house looks lovely, but not very 'child orientated', although you may not be aiming for this market at all. For example, you mention adult bikes, but not child bikes.
How far are you from the coast? If you are in Brittany, even if you are an hour away, I would mention it as it is a big attraction for visitors who come here.
I don't know if terms and conditions are necessary on the website - I haven't seen many other rental listing sites with these on, but it isn't a criticism, it just seems a bit formal - all you want to do with a website is advertise. By all means give a few details about deposit and security caution, but I would leave the small print until later.
Good luck with the season, Robert!
Firstly regarding the 2 week cancellation in August, have you tried Ebay as Nichthewood recently sold his cancelled weeks there no problem. I'm still getting enquiries through and will happily pass any suitable ones through to you as you are in Brittany if this is any help.
I think your place looks very nicely renovated and I love the woodburner and big cooker!
My suggestions:
On the homepage, I can only suggest what Jane Bennett very kindly did for my site - perhaps the photos need 'dressing up' a little - for example, on the main photo, a parasol, a bottle of wine, some glasses, a baguette, some fruit would make the place look a little more lived in. That would be my comment for the living areas and tables. I also think that although the tree blossom on the garden photo is lovely, the lawn isn't! I expect your lawn is probably brown by now if it's anything like mine, but I do think that a nice, tidy well kept garden will look attractive to people as this is where they envisge spending a lot of their time in the summer.
Do you have anything in the way of a play area for kids? Families love things which keep their children occupied and I would advise that any photos of this sort of thing would be a plus. Your house looks lovely, but not very 'child orientated', although you may not be aiming for this market at all. For example, you mention adult bikes, but not child bikes.
How far are you from the coast? If you are in Brittany, even if you are an hour away, I would mention it as it is a big attraction for visitors who come here.
I don't know if terms and conditions are necessary on the website - I haven't seen many other rental listing sites with these on, but it isn't a criticism, it just seems a bit formal - all you want to do with a website is advertise. By all means give a few details about deposit and security caution, but I would leave the small print until later.
Good luck with the season, Robert!
Joanna, thanks for your comments. Now why didn't I think of changing 'peaceful blah blah blah' to 'buy now me' in blood - so simple.
I have advertised on 2 additional listing sites this week, plus on Owners in France, an RSS feed - whatever that is. - 20% off. Should this be more? What do people expect? (I will give them my blood on the website).
Will change the website later this evening or tomorrow am. Depends whether I can stay awake.
The jury remains out on ebay though - for personal reasons.
Re my name, a friend came round last week, with her sister & hubby from New Zealand. He said 'my names Liz', I said pardon, what was that again. Liz he said. I thought, strange name for a guy?? 30 minutes later the penny dropped.
Thanks again, Robert.
I have advertised on 2 additional listing sites this week, plus on Owners in France, an RSS feed - whatever that is. - 20% off. Should this be more? What do people expect? (I will give them my blood on the website).
Will change the website later this evening or tomorrow am. Depends whether I can stay awake.
The jury remains out on ebay though - for personal reasons.
Re my name, a friend came round last week, with her sister & hubby from New Zealand. He said 'my names Liz', I said pardon, what was that again. Liz he said. I thought, strange name for a guy?? 30 minutes later the penny dropped.
Thanks again, Robert.
Hi
I looked at the stats. Apart from today (people from here) visitor numbers are very low. Google PR is also quite low.
So, some work to do on SEO.
Even the most beautiful website doesn't work if it doesn't get visitors ?
I looked at the code.
You could benefit from keywords, robot instructions, etc (or are they somewhere else ?)
There could be value in listing in as many free travel directories and local sites as possible.
Peter
I looked at the stats. Apart from today (people from here) visitor numbers are very low. Google PR is also quite low.
So, some work to do on SEO.
Even the most beautiful website doesn't work if it doesn't get visitors ?
I looked at the code.
You could benefit from keywords, robot instructions, etc (or are they somewhere else ?)
There could be value in listing in as many free travel directories and local sites as possible.
Peter
Hi Susan,
Thanks for your comments.
I knew this would happen - at 3.50pm on Saturday I said to Veronica, ' Where are the baguettes, wine glasses, chicken lacer upper thingies etc, so I can take some photos'.
@&""*""!!?# was the reply. This can be easily resolved though if we ever get a changeover.
On reflection, I think we have lost our direction a bit about who we want to attract, & this is clearly a problem that we need to resolve.
There is no sense to have an 8 person gite if we do not provide facilities for children, dont want 18-30s, or drunken golfer groups (like me).
You are right about the beaches - never far away, 30 to 60 minutes.
Ironically, the grass is now green, but the pear blossom is long gone. But as a shop window, the photo does need editing.
Finally thanks for your offer of possible bookings - a referral to our website would be very generous.
Robert
Thanks for your comments.
I knew this would happen - at 3.50pm on Saturday I said to Veronica, ' Where are the baguettes, wine glasses, chicken lacer upper thingies etc, so I can take some photos'.
@&""*""!!?# was the reply. This can be easily resolved though if we ever get a changeover.
On reflection, I think we have lost our direction a bit about who we want to attract, & this is clearly a problem that we need to resolve.
There is no sense to have an 8 person gite if we do not provide facilities for children, dont want 18-30s, or drunken golfer groups (like me).
You are right about the beaches - never far away, 30 to 60 minutes.
Ironically, the grass is now green, but the pear blossom is long gone. But as a shop window, the photo does need editing.
Finally thanks for your offer of possible bookings - a referral to our website would be very generous.
Robert
*****Robert***** Please accept my apologies......my Dad's name is Les short for Leslie, and since I don't think in French, I read your nickname here as your real name... Les Blancs....gedditt!!!!... Geez, I just won my dumb person of the day award....must have been those martinis last night that killed off a few brain cells....Lesblancs wrote:Re my name, a friend came round last week, with her sister & hubby from New Zealand. He said 'my names Liz', I said pardon, what was that again. Liz he said. I thought, strange name for a guy?? 30 minutes later the penny dropped.Thanks again, Robert.
.....but it was worth it. We have some very dear friends from the UK staying in our beach house this week and it's such a treat. In fact, we're enjoying it so much, I'm seriously thinking of booking it myself for the next summer..... 
Last edited by A-two on Thu Jul 27, 2006 9:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Dear mpprh,
Thanks for your input.
The trouble is that the likes of frontpage make it easyish to make a website, but as far as I am concerned that is the extent of it.
I can understand the comments that Joanna & Susan make, can rectify those & even know a bit about sheep.
But I do not understand codes, I thought that they went in automatically, & keywords, I thought I had put in lots of relevant ones in the headers & descriptions.
Earlier today I tried the web analysis site for lesblancs. It congratulated me on some things & chastised me for others. But basically I didn't have a clue.
I felt like the grandson on the BT advert when Maureen Lipman congratulated him for passing an 'oligy'
At the moment there is no hope, as I genuinely do not understand what you are talking about. But how can I find out?
Robert
Thanks for your input.
The trouble is that the likes of frontpage make it easyish to make a website, but as far as I am concerned that is the extent of it.
I can understand the comments that Joanna & Susan make, can rectify those & even know a bit about sheep.
But I do not understand codes, I thought that they went in automatically, & keywords, I thought I had put in lots of relevant ones in the headers & descriptions.
Earlier today I tried the web analysis site for lesblancs. It congratulated me on some things & chastised me for others. But basically I didn't have a clue.
I felt like the grandson on the BT advert when Maureen Lipman congratulated him for passing an 'oligy'
At the moment there is no hope, as I genuinely do not understand what you are talking about. But how can I find out?
Robert
I have made the suggested changes, no problem there.
Some of the wider issues we will consider over the next few weeks. i.e. Who is our target audience etc?
I looked at my last posting again & as my mate 'Liz' would say - YOU WHINGING POM.
It is another glorious day here in downtown Britney, & I am sitting by the computer trying to make some sense of the many excellent LMH articles on coding, SEO, marketing keywords. Why is my head spinning so. It must be the heat.
Robert
Some of the wider issues we will consider over the next few weeks. i.e. Who is our target audience etc?
I looked at my last posting again & as my mate 'Liz' would say - YOU WHINGING POM.
It is another glorious day here in downtown Britney, & I am sitting by the computer trying to make some sense of the many excellent LMH articles on coding, SEO, marketing keywords. Why is my head spinning so. It must be the heat.
Robert
I have sent Robert a good article about search engine optimisation.Lesblancs wrote:Dear mpprh,
Thanks for your input.
The trouble is that the likes of frontpage make it easyish to make a website, but as far as I am concerned that is the extent of it.
I can understand the comments that Joanna & Susan make, can rectify those & even know a bit about sheep.
But I do not understand codes, I thought that they went in automatically, & keywords, I thought I had put in lots of relevant ones in the headers & descriptions.
Earlier today I tried the web analysis site for lesblancs. It congratulated me on some things & chastised me for others. But basically I didn't have a clue.
I felt like the grandson on the BT advert when Maureen Lipman congratulated him for passing an 'oligy'
At the moment there is no hope, as I genuinely do not understand what you are talking about. But how can I find out?
Robert
If anyone else wants it, please email me.
Peter
Many thanks Peter, I was intending to contact you today for possible advice and lo & behold, an email! A very straightforward and succinct article.
I spend most of yesterday looking at many of the LMH articles in this very section, and I feel there is a lot I can do to make our site much more personal. But as you say, there is no point in having a pretty site if no-one looks at it.
We still need to give much thought which guests we will need to attract. Les Blancs is a typical small breton farm, with barns & 2.5 acres of flat pasture and orchards. To an extent an open canvas.
We were considering a swimming pool, but we only have the one 8 person gite. But the costs would not be prohibitive, having installed one before and having a small JCB here.
Finally, our stats tell me that loads of LMH members have viewed our site, and I would still like to hear your comments. Thanks Joanna, Susan & Peter for your help.
Robert
I spend most of yesterday looking at many of the LMH articles in this very section, and I feel there is a lot I can do to make our site much more personal. But as you say, there is no point in having a pretty site if no-one looks at it.
We still need to give much thought which guests we will need to attract. Les Blancs is a typical small breton farm, with barns & 2.5 acres of flat pasture and orchards. To an extent an open canvas.
We were considering a swimming pool, but we only have the one 8 person gite. But the costs would not be prohibitive, having installed one before and having a small JCB here.
Finally, our stats tell me that loads of LMH members have viewed our site, and I would still like to hear your comments. Thanks Joanna, Susan & Peter for your help.
Robert
Robert, I would highly recommend getting a swimming pool if you can. You would be able to increase your rent substantially and the gite market is so saturated in Brittany that a pool is almost becoming essential if you want to fill your property for more than 8 weeks a year. I would say that 80% of our bookings are because of the pool - they are not as common in Brittany as they are in the Dordogne, for example. Make sure it is heated, though!
Robert,
I agree with everyone here, a picture tells a thousand words! All the rooms do look a bit 'empty', as already mentioned you could dress up the outside table with the existing parasol, wine, glasses, sunhat, sunglasses and an open book. The dining table I'd set for dinner with maybe flowers and candles too, and the kitchen a bowl of fruit or vegetables or a couple of baguettes on a breadboard. And maybe some people? And I think your 'crocuses' are in fact hyacinths!
Kathy
I agree with everyone here, a picture tells a thousand words! All the rooms do look a bit 'empty', as already mentioned you could dress up the outside table with the existing parasol, wine, glasses, sunhat, sunglasses and an open book. The dining table I'd set for dinner with maybe flowers and candles too, and the kitchen a bowl of fruit or vegetables or a couple of baguettes on a breadboard. And maybe some people? And I think your 'crocuses' are in fact hyacinths!
Kathy