Everything to do with using your own website to advertise your rental property. Design, usability, hosting, getting listed on the search engines, optimising your site, pay-per-click, etc, etc.
Do you have rotating banner pictures on your website?
I have noticed a lot of people do but I hate them. I find them really distracting when trying to read other information on a page. I think this may be my own peculiarity since it find it visually over-stimulating.
Is it just me?
I love statistics so this is also a poll!
Our property website can be found by looking at our profile.
No we don't have rotating banner photos and yes I find them irritating - they either rotate too slowly (I click on the next thingy and subsequently skip a piccy or two) or they rotate too quickly so when I am trying to verify some detail or other, the piccy rotates to the next one
PW in Polemi wrote:No we don't have rotating banner photos and yes I find them irritating - they either rotate too slowly (I click on the next thingy and subsequently skip a piccy or two) or they rotate too quickly so when I am trying to verify some detail or other, the piccy rotates to the next one
I think their use on a home page is perfectly acceptable but would not use them all over the place.
Whether a person dislikes them or finds them distracting is not really the issue. The question should be "Do they work better than a single image in keeping interest on the page?"
I'm sure most people hate advertising but does that put you off buying products? Again, the question is "Does it work?"
I would say yes, probably because no single image will please everyone. If the image changes, say after 5 seconds and is separate from the text, then a new subject matter can spark interest. Certainly in the 3 years or so that I've used them, I've only ever received positive remarks.
The trend now is to use video as the introduction.
I dislike many of them, but that's because the changeover is too fast or distracting. I do have a slider on the front page of my website for the reasons Kev suggests, but it's what I consider a reasonably slow, soft fade.
kevsboredagain wrote:
Whether a person dislikes them or finds them distracting is not really the issue.
Isn't it? Personally, I prefer to make sites as user friendly as I can. But I know a lot of people go along with what you're saying so maybe I'm in the minority
A video would be much worse for me.I used to follow various sites with interesting written articles online, I am a fast reader and I like to archive the best ones to refer back to. I find videos really frustrating, they seem to take so much time, I never liked those 360° visits either.
I must be old fashioned but I prefer a thumb nail picture that on mouse over enlarges to a bigger picture. They download fast, they are static and people can choose which ones they want to look at.
How long does a video take to load Kev?
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I voted yes because I do find the rotating things annoying. I need to be able to scroll up and block it before I can read the text. BUT the video was great, slow, seductive and not irritating although I didn't get to read any words, if there were any.
I'm generally not an admirer of rotating banner pictures, but I have seen occasional examples that work well. Technology marches on - what was awkward and clunky yesterday may well have advanced into something far more exciting today.
teapot wrote:How long does a video take to load Kev?
Perhaps a more pertinent question might be "how long does it take to view the videos, Kev?"
Beautiful properties/locations, attractive people and stylishly shot snippets. But - for me - the time dragged. Couldn't get away from the thought that most of these scenarios could equally well be recreated as still shots and thereby convey the same information in a fraction of the time. The essence of a great still is that half minute of each video distilled and crystallised into one magical instant - the 'decisive moment'. All the rest is fluff and would be discarded on the editing table.
I want to view banner pictures quickly and then have the ability to settle down with enlarged versions of those that are relevant to study in more detail. It's the 'controlling' element of non-stoppable rotaters and videos that I don't like.
But a good job on that website Kev - impressive stuff.
<- boggle-eyed emoticon
