Just finished website - appreciate feedback

[ginelli]

Hi everyone.

Some of you might remember me going on about building my own website a few weeks ago. Well, there are still a few photos missing, but it's pretty much done

I'd appreciate any feedback you can give about it, esp content and prices.

It won't be coming up on any search engines yet. I'll be using it primarily as an extra selling tool on the rental websites I'll be advertising on soon.

www.hide-aways.com

Thanks a lot,

Gino

[e-richard]

Gino,

Here is a starter pack of comments (I haven't read every page, and I am not omniscient !):

The main banner title is an image, yet its simple text. Seems a bit out of character from the rest of the images on the left. And there is no Alt tag. Not a big deal, but could be improved.

The home page: When I first started reading it, I began to wonder what the website was all about. Is this a personal website about your experience in finding foreign properties or is it an advert that wants to sell me a holiday ? While your text is actually very interesting and does indeed sell the uniqueness of your properties quite well, I would have started right the beginning with something that shouts out loud: "Here is a special holiday rental opportunity for YOU !" - obviously not those exact words, but hopefully you get my gist.

Having said that, then by all means continue in your current vein, which answers the question "Why this one?". After making this main point, then your text works very well for me. I like the personal touch, and the thought that I'd be renting something that the owner cares about. Not all owners do care !

Still on the front page, while the picture of the gulet is indeed a great picture, are you selling a gullet cruise, or is there a villa ? Even the menu on the left just offers Turkey (the country) or France. Still not clear that you are offering a Villa until you click on Turkey. Then, although the words start to clarify it, I would have expected a picture of the Villa (an exterior shot perhaps)

Techincal point on your photo galleries (and believe me I can relate to this problem, having suffered myself). The pictures pop-up nicely in IE, but not in Firefox on my PC - they are empty. Having tried numerous bits of code myself, I know that you need to check this on all different browsers on all different operating systems - its a quagmire.

While many of my comments above may be personal views, I also think you'll find some of them of relevance to SEO as and when you start to build on that.

Richard

p.s. Since I am not in either of these markets, I cannot comment knowledgeably on your prices , but they did seem quite low to me for the number of people in each accomodation.

[Jimbo]

Hi Gino

Some brief thoughts about your pictures.

I like the idea of two photographs framed tightly together side by side bouncing off each other to greater effect than if presented alone. It's that 'whole being more than the sum of the parts' thing. Some of your 'pairs' work well for me. I particularly like the interior rock wall that looks like an aerial of a mountain range juxtaposed with the real thing.

I think it's vital, when two pix have an intimate relationship, that you ensure they match each other closely in quality and colour balance. The more expensive versions of Photoshop have a 'match colour' tool which works well balancing two or more pictures. Not too sure about the 'shots on a slant' in your picture galleries but that's a personal thing. Slanted shots always make me feel as if I'm in a stricken jumbo jet.

I'd echo the previous comment, your prices do seem modest for what you have on offer.

Good luck with your venture.

Jim

[Ju]

Hi Gino

Here are my very honnest thoughts.

I think a website needs to say what is on offer staight away, and yours doesn't. If I am looking for a holiday I don't want to hear about your life, I want to know what is for rent, where and how big it is. Your front page does not make it clear that your are offering properties for holiday rentals. The same goes for the France page and the Turkey page.

There is plenty of space in the website for waffling if that is what you like, but not on the main "selling" pages.

I must say I thought that the close up photo of the stone wall was a very stange one to chose. These photos are selling your property so they should be showing the best your property has to offer. If the stone wall is the best there is then I would look elsewhere.

Incidently I like the clean look of the site, and I think the properties look really good, but you need to sell them a bit more.

Just my thoughts.

Ju

PS. The France photo page has a bug, if you click on the photo it appears to load something, then you get a blank pop-up.

[Giddy Goat]

Not too sure about the 'shots on a slant' in your picture galleries but that's a personal thing. Slanted shots always make me feel as if I'm in a stricken jumbo jet. Jim

Hi Gino - it's a bit late, so I will return with more comments tomorrow, as there are positives - but for now, I would echo Jimbo's observations re the photos on a slant - one or two are a nice feature that causes the visitor to stop in his tracks, but I think there is some serious overkill here. Nice photography, but I'd rather see the image as it should be seen ...

I have a Mac - an OSX 10.3.9 - curiously, Firefox and Safari worked fine on the thumbnails, but IE said 'URL not found'.

[Jimbo]

Ju wrote:

If I am looking for a holiday I don't want to hear about your life

Actually, I don't mind some waffle providing it's short and to the point. Anything that 'personalises' a rental website is fine by me, it's the endless ploughing through virtually identical sites with virtually identical properties and facilities which does me in. In a crowded marketplace, it's important to stand out a little from the competition. I tend to feel that, if somebody's taken a lot of trouble with their site, they've probably done the same with their property.

the close up photo of the stone wall was a very stange one to chose

I thought it was neat. Take a tight shot of the stonework in the lounge and juxtapose it with a shot of the hills where the house is situated. Sort of a visual puzzle which makes the viewer do some of the work. House built from same material as the hills ... hills is where the property is situated. Like completing a crossword ... satisfying.

Jim

[Topcat]

Hi! It's really all been said, but I'd like to add a couple of things.

On the positive side, both your properties are sold well. They look absolutely gorgeous, well-presented and beautifully located. In fact I'm just off to pack my bags!

Works OK in Firefox for me on a PC, so maybe you've tweaked it a bit since you first posted.

I agree that the personal bit is either too long or too soon. It's quite nice and gives a good feel, but it does make me wonder for too long just what you're selling.

The pics on a slant make me feel dizzy. I can see you think they're quirky, but I think they spoil the effect. But the pictures are really fab, and sell the property extremely well.

The list, especially on the French one, needs to be organised properly. Place the items in sections rather than rambling about. And there are too may 'also's in the text.

But it's nice and clean, without irritating links here and there yet information is easy to find.

Good luck with it. If you ever fancy a swap out of high season with the Costa de la Luz let me know.

Pauline

[Giddy Goat]

Hi Gino - just a bit more from me, as promised - really like the look and feel, the pretty drawing top left on the home page, plus the colour scheme. The photography is super, but as I said, don't like the overuse of 'the tilt' technique.

I agree with all the points others have made. Some more...

1. I wondered how the pages would look with text not in black, but in the same colour blue as you've used for 'Hideaways - a holiday to call your own'? I don't object violently to the black, but it might look just a bit softer with the blue, and would serve to echo further the 'near water' theme of both properties. Worth a test to see how it looks?

2. The picture gallery - it's nice to be able to go from one thumbnail to the next, enlarging without having to close the previous pop-up window. These pop-ups are so huge, you can't do so.

3. You are selling the uniqueness of the area - its unspoilt hidden away charm - but where are the pics to support this claim? More are needed! In your case, the area should have almost equal weighting in respect of the photo gallery as the properties in my humble.

4. The rental agreement - the ideal I think is to arrange for this to run on to one page only - as it stands, it goes just over in Firefox, and into 1 1/2 pages roughly on both Safari and IE. If you dispensed with the menu on the left on this page, the text could run wider. Maybe you could still keep the feel of the site on the page by retaining the logo drawing only?

Hope this is of help.

[ginelli]

Richard, Jim, Ju, GG and Pauline,

Firstly I'd like to thank you all for the very unselfish act of taking the time to answer, and to answer in detail. Thank you.

I am grateful to you all. I'm even grateful to Ju, who perhaps scratched my pride at first. She does bring home the fact that by approaching the whole rental thing through this angle will automatically turn off a chunk of the market.

It took me a while to decide to make it personal. Perhaps it will work or pehaps it will flop. The thing is, it gets me out of bed in the morning doing it this way. I'd find it hard to motivate myself if I wasn't also enjoying some part of the experience. I'm hoping to find a clientele who will know and appreciate what I'm trying to do. Someone once told me it's better to first try something you enjoy and if it doesn't work out, to then try plan B.

Your points were all very valid and there were things which I'm glad you pointed out because I plainly didn't see them.

I knew something was wrong with the gulet on the homepage, Richard; I changed it immediately.

I agree that the home page lacks clarity. I'll have to spruce that up. My personal introduction is also a bit too long. I'll have to try sharpening that up too. Same goes for France and Turkey on the menu.

The stone wall: thanks for the compliment Jim. I see what the others were talking about. It's too soon into the website to show such detail. I might move it further down the pecking order.

You all slated my slants! I have to say I like it but it looks as if I'm gonna have to tone it down a bit.

As Firefox and IE goes, they both seem to work well on my computer. I'd be interested to know if anyone else has had some trouble with.

Pricing: you seem to think I'm undercharging. Interesting. I've based my prices so that the 7-8 weeks high season will cover all my overheads: mortgage, taxes, insurance, advertising. Any rents outside the high season therefor will be profit. What are your thoughts on this? Would you aim to make a profit in the high season or just cover your overheads?

Thanks for the house exchange offer, Pauline. We'll have to stay in touch about it.

Thanks for all the positives everybody. It gave me a lift.

Bye, g

[Ju]

Hi Gino

Sorry if I was a bit blunt - it is my forte! No hard feelings I hope.

I do think you have a good product, I've just looked at your pricing (I didn't look before) and my gut feel is that your peak season price could go up by a couple of hundred pounds (without any problem at all), but your shoulder season is probably about right. (this is for the France property - I know nothing about prices in Turkey)

Sometimes a low peak season price works against you, as people think "what is wrong with it?".

By the way I really like your detail photos on the pricing page, by the time people look at your prices you've already hooked them and you are just reeling them in so detail photos work.

Ju

ps. I'm still not getting the main photo's up when I click on the thumbnails.

[e-richard]

Gino, Ju's comment above on peak season pricing made me think again about what you have said:

I've based my prices so that the 7-8 weeks high season will cover all my overheads: mortgage, taxes, insurance, advertising. Any rents outside the high season therefor will be profit. ...

Although your method of pricing has been proposed elsewhere on LMH, I disagree. I think you should use "market pricing". See what other similar properties in your area are charging and base your prices on that (above if you think you have something special to offer, below if you want to fight for business). Then if these prices give you a much bigger return over your direct costs, wallow in the profits . If this sort of pricing does not cover your overheads and other costs, you are in deep trouble . Frankly the chances are that you'll be in the middle of these somewhere as other owners who have set the market price will probably have similar overheads and costs. However you go about it, research is the key, and fortunately most of it can actually be done on the web.

Good luck with both these ventures. You certainly seem to have the enthusiasm needed to succeed, and your website, despite criticisms above, is a great start to this success.

[Partridge]

Hi Gino

Just had a quick peek. First impressions are that the black text, together with 'strange photos' on the property page made me want to quit there and then, too much text with nothing to 'draw me in' so to speak. This made me quickly stop reading and jump to the photo gallery to see if I like the look of the property enough to carry on reading. Unfortunately the bending of my neck to see the photos properly and the feeling of 'why would someone put a photo in a way in which you can't see it' made me feel uneasy about the whole thing and I gave up.

Sorry, I like the look of the properties but I am a simple soul and if I was looking to rent a property I would just find myself feeling slightly uneasy, probably insane of me but that is just how I felt.

[ginelli]

Ju, no hard feelings.

Thanks again Richard.

Thanks for the feedback Partridge. I'm gonna have to do something about the slanted photos, methinks

[Giddy Goat]

1. I wondered how the pages would look with text not in black, but in the same colour blue as you've used for 'Hideaways - a holiday to call your own'? I don't object violently to the black, but it might look just a bit softer with the blue, and would serve to echo further the 'near water' theme of both properties. Worth a test to see how it looks?

Was just thinking some more about this Gino, having seen your ads now. The properties and the photography look stunning there, so I was wondering what was making the slight difference on the website. It's a personal thing, but what troubles me on your website is still the black text - there is a lot of text so perhaps that's why - it kind of pulls the page down?

I also think that the two pics you've chosen for the home page are not really selling your particular dream as well as others might, and from your library of super photos there are a number which will do this better for you. I can understand your feeling the need to offer a picture of one of the houses, but that can follow. It's the lifestyle your visitors will be buying into, first and foremost, and not the properties. I haven't enough time to look in depth, but as an example, there is a superb picture on the Azur pages, and which you've used in your listing site ads, but it's hidden away under 'further reading' so if a visitor did find you on a search rather than through a listing site, is he going to see it therefore? Will he have persevered? It's the one from the top terrace. Now that sums up a hideaway! And if you could get an even better shot of the sea from 100m, that would also be a good one too: liked the flippers, and maybe you just need to take a few like that, staged - and choose the best composition. Then there's the split picture (cool!) of the second bedroom, to give visitors a hint of the interior perhaps, and finally, the view from Caramany's terrace is great, but maybe the one at night, by way of contrast, for another touch of romance? These are just thoughts, but think USP for that home page.

[ginelli]

Thanks GG. I have taken your suggestions on board and will let them rumble around my head for a while.