Hanorah,
Don't be afraid, everyone here wants you to succeed!
I think your site is great, it does things we could all learn from, and it goes out of its way to be helpful and informative. There are some improvements I would suggest, but I will start with the ideas we should all think about copying from you:
- Competition page. This I have never seen, a photo competition for past renters. It's a great idea because you are keeping contact with past guests, as well as giving your site a unique twist for potential guests. Differentiation is the name of the game - if you can offer something eye-catchingly different in your marketing, you will stand out from the competition.
- Basic Turkish page. As above, I haven't seen this before and while few people are going to use it to help them learn Turkish, they may browse through it out of curiosity. It's something that makes your site 'sticky' - a sticky site is one that keeps people looking around and returning for more. It is much more likely to make a sale than a non-sticky one.
You could make the list of phrases easier on the eye by using bold or italics, and spell out what’s what for the first example, by which I mean:
English: Hello
Turkish:
Merhaba
Pronunciation:
MEHR-hah-bah
Good morning, good day
Günaydin
gew-nahy-DUHN
And so on…
- Turkish culture page. Like the Turkish language page but a little less readable because it is copy-heavy. I'll suggest below how I would improve this.
- Essential information page. Like all the above, the trouble you have taken to write this page shows that you really care, and it gives a visitor confidence that they won't be let down when they arrive.
And here are my suggestions for improvements…
Homepage
The text at the top is fine until it gets to ‘Our villa is located in a very special part of Turkey’ and then stops – the voice in my head is yelling out ‘Why?’ This is the first thing visitors will read so you have to give them convincing reasons to want to read more and ultimately make an enquiry. There are good reasons expressed in the ‘Why Dikili’ paragraph on another page: unspoilt; outstanding sights and scenery nearby; authentic Turkish culture that is lacking in the commercial resorts.
When you have a good one, you need a villa pic here – not showing it on the homepage looks like you have something to hide!
I’d fix this line where a word is missing: “In the summer months the Turkish professional classes arrive from the enjoy their yearly holiday�. In fact I wouldn’t mention that at all, it sounds like the place gets packed and one of your selling points is that it is not commercialised.
I love a picture of the sea but three out of three is too many. The picture of the cliffs illustrating ‘Things to do’ is puzzling and could show something stunning like ancient ruins.
I don’t know who the ladies are in the top picture but they seem to be having fun so why not!
The bottom pic – cloudy day, and the sea not looking particularly appealing – I’d change it!
Travel planning service
This is a significant benefit for anyone planning a trip to Turkey. There are cultural and linguistic challenges to overcome with a destination like Turkey, and if you are offering to help with trip planning, I think you should make it very prominent. I’d mention this on the home page, along the lines of ‘As an English-Turkish couple with years of experience in the Turkish travel industry, we can help plan your whole trip at no extra charge…>> find out more�
Then, on the Travel planning page I would lead with a paragraph about yourselves, instead of where it is now, on the Villa page.
The Villa
I think this page needs to be re-done. It’s obviously an important page in the decision-making process and one that will be clicked onto early in any visit to your site. The pics and text can be improved.
This page should show a good external pic of the villa, in very sunny weather, as well as some internals. The ones you have in the gallery are not good enough, as you said. The internal ones here are not great either, they are taken at night which to me means one of two things – either it’s so dark inside that you have to turn all the lights on during the day, or you have taken them at night so that we can’t see the awful views! The picture of the two girls is not captioned so we don’t know what we are looking at – don’t rely on people hovering their cursors over the pic to get the explanation.
Elsewhere it says there is a beach by the villa – if there is a nice view of the sea from the villa that needs to be seen.
In the writing you go straight into the unsexy stuff – safety features, instruction booklet, and “a maximum of 6 adults, who should all be named on the booking form�.
What you should be doing here is lining up the best reasons for renting your villa and nobody else’s, and going through them one by one, starting with the most important. You have baby-sitting service right at the bottom. I think this should be near the top, as it’s a good selling point for parents who don’t want to be stuck at home every night.
As mentioned elsewhere in these reviews, make sure you tell the renter the benefit, not just the feature. For example, here you are sort of stating a benefit:
“If you have young children and would like some time on your own either during the day or in the evening we can also supply a baby sitting service.�
I would try to put your reader more explicitly in the picture:
“Dikili has some great restaurants, and if you want a night off from the kids we can baby-sit for you, etc.�
The floorplan – I am a fan of floorplans, but this one is not very clear. Is it all on one floor? If not, isn’t there a bathroom upstairs? I would mark in the doors, windows and large pieces of furniture.
Photo gallery
Cloudy pictures are not allowed!
Instead of captioning these pictures with the name of the pic, e.g. “acropolis_bergama.jpg�, I would give a little information to tempt people to click: “Still standing: the ancient theatre carved into the hill at Bergama’s famous Acropolis.�
Dikili page
Two cloudy pics – boo!
The ideas expressed in the ‘Why Dikili’ paragraph at the bottom of the page should be much more prominent, certainly at the top of this page, and I’d also put it at the top of the home page. You need to sell the location on this site, as it is not on the obvious tourist route.
I think this page has a false start with the paragraphs on Tom Brosnahan, and the ‘Why Dikili?’ needs to be above that, as this is the information people want to see immediately. The question you need to address straight away is ‘Why should I go to Dikili (and not Bodrum, etc.)?’
Turkish culture page
Great idea, but a lot of copy makes reading it on screen a daunting prospect. Also there are some interesting nuggets about Turkey hidden away on a linked page, but that linked page also takes some reading and is right at the bottom – few will get to it.
Solution: take some of the best nuggets from that page and scatter them on your page to break up the solid text. You could put each in a box, or in a different typeface and colour. Anything that really stands out from the body copy. Preface each with ‘Did you know?...’ or similar. Which are the best nuggets? In my view the top 11 are good.
Prices page
At the top, above the prices, I would state what is included in the price, to make it even more appealing.
Contact us
You say ‘fill in the form’ but there isn’t one. I think forms are over-rated for this sort of page. Why not just let them write what they want in an email?
The email link text is ‘Villa Hanorah information Desk’ – that makes it sound like we’re not dealing direct with the owners any more.
A lot of suggestions there, but it is a big site. I think your attitude is spot on - you demonstrate your commitment to your guests right from the start of your relationship with them