Tuscan Virgin needs your help!

Get some feedback on your site or ad from other rental owners and techies. Also a library of online resources so you can make DIY improvements to your web presence.
mindadowling
Posts: 49
Joined: Wed Sep 22, 2004 4:19 pm
Location: Tuscany, Italy
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Tuscan Virgin needs your help!

Post by mindadowling »

My husband and I have owned our 15th century stone cottage in Tuscany for the past two years and we have recently decided to rent the house out as a holiday let. We have just had our website designed and would really appreciate your comments. James (the husband) and I were responsible for the content and photographs and the designer did the layout and technology.

Our rental market is a couple or a couple with a friend (I know that sounds a bit perverted).

I would greatly appreciate your comments on the site both for content and the technical side.

I think "Lay My Hat" is a fantastic website!

Mille Grazie!
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vrooje
Posts: 3202
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 2:48 am
Location: Burgundy, France

Post by vrooje »

Minda,

I can honestly say that I've been looking forward to reviewing this site, because I think it's absolutely beautiful!

(Please, no comments on how geeky I must be if I was looking forward to reviewing a website...) ;)

I very much like your color scheme, your choice of fonts, your photos, and your layout. I also think your content is very well written. That covers nearly everything!

Of course, there are always constructive comments to be made! :) Here they are, in no particular order:
  • Between your navigation menu on the left and your top banner image... what is that? I can tell that something is there but I can't see it. I am almost certain that this is because I use Firefox in Linux and not Internet Explorer in Windows. If it's viewable in Internet Explorer, the vast majority of your potential clients will be able to see it. But, not all of them can. I recommend testing your site using Firefox and also, if possible, using the AOL browser. "Testing" is very easy to do; just, e.g., download and install Firefox (it's free and I recommend it anyway, as it's more secure than IE), view your site with it, and note anything that doesn't work or is otherwise not as you wish it were.

    Is that top banner a picture of your cottage? It seems like it is... but it's not entirely clear. I would consider putting a caption just below the picture or otherwise pointing out that this is, in fact, your house shown in these bucolic surroundings.

    In fact, I'm a big fan of captions where it's not otherwise completely obvious what you're looking at, and even where it is... for example, your picture of the pool is lovely, and the caption is a chance to help your potential clients picture themselves basking in the sun at your cottage with some well-worded prose.

    Similarly, you do say on the home page that your house is perfect for couples, but you don't explicitly say how many bedrooms there are. I would mention that and perhaps make the essential information about the house stand out in some way, something like the way you have drawn attention to the "dream house in tuscany for rent" phrase (well done!). Internet users want everything handed to them, instantly, without having to work to find out. Once you ensnare them with your beautiful prose and lovely pictures, they will click around your site, but you shouldn't give them any excuse to leave.

    I like your pictures very much -- they are warm and the house seems impeccably lived in (many rental house pictures look sterile; yours avoid that completely, I would say). I also think you're very brave to have white furniture in the house! :)

    Question: What is a borgo? I've seen this mentioned elsewhere but never heard a description of it and I don't see a definition of it on your page. Is it just a small village? I wouldn't assume potential clients will know that, though it may also not be that important.

    On your tuscany page, I would love to see an accent picture or two, perhaps something like the grapes picture on your "About the House" page. You must be ever-vigilant about keeping the potential client entranced, make them think, "if I stay at this cottage, these are the things I'll be able to do!"

    I think it's very, very good that you're up front about your policies on children, pets, and smoking!

    When you link to outside websites, such as the currency converter on your rates page, have them open in a new window so that the user isn't leaving your site behind completely. This is very easy to do in the code and should only take a couple of minutes for your web designer, especially since you don't have that many exterior links (a good thing, in my opinion).

    Where's the booking form? The text says "click here" but there isn't a link!

    I like your FAQ very much, particularly the "Why rent direct from the owner?" question. Having an FAQ and detailed information about your town and region can make all the difference.

    In order to keep your e-mail as free of spam mail as possible, consider changing the code slightly. Using the standard e-mailing code

    Code: Select all

    <a href="mailto&#58;info@tuscanyholidayblah.com">Contact Us</a>
    leaves you vulnerable to web "robots" that crawl through the web collecting e-mail addresses by finding patterns like anything@anything.com and then putting them into their spam databases. (Incidentally, this is why you should never post your e-mail on a forum or message board, and why I changed the first code above to "tuscanyholidayblah.com.") It is probably the most common way to get listed in one of those nasty spam databases, and it's easily avoided with some simple javascript. Have your designer replace the above code with something like:

    Code: Select all

    <script language=javascript>
      <!--
      
      var mailtusc = "info"
      var mailHosttusc = "tuscanyholidaycottage.com"
      document.write&#40;"<A HREF=" + "mail" + "to&#58;" + mailtusc + "@" + mailHosttusc + ">Contact Us</A>"&#41;
      //-->
    </script>
    If you do this, the mailto: link will still work properly, but e-mail robots won't be able to see it. This shouldn't take your web designer more than an hour, even if he has never done it before. If they want to see an example, I use them on www.experienceburgundy.com and www.experienceparis.com and they work brilliantly (in IE, Firefox, whatever).
All in all, although your web designer did something funny with the billing for those extra domain names, he did a nice job otherwise. Quite honestly, if I didn't already have lodging for September in Tuscany, my husband and I would have your cottage at the top of our list of potential rentals!

Cheers,
Brooke
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Alan Knighting
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Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:26 am
Location: Monflanquin, Lot-et-Garonne, France

Post by Alan Knighting »

Brooke,
Between your navigation menu on the left and your top banner image... what is that?
It is a rolling set of pictures and you need Flash Player 7 to see them.

Alan
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vrooje
Posts: 3202
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 2:48 am
Location: Burgundy, France

Post by vrooje »

Ahhh, okay. I have Flash, but maybe not the latest version...

it's not essential. I just wanted to point out that not everyone can see it. :)
Brooke
charles
Posts: 92
Joined: Thu Feb 03, 2005 12:00 am
Location: London.UK
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Post by charles »

In addition to the very valid comments given above, I would suggest that:
Sogna Piccolo (“little dream� in Italian)
Sounds more like "dream little one" (as in child) than "little dream", which should be "piccolo sogno", IMHO opinion anyway.

- There are also no title/alt tags on the images - this means that they are no clues as to what images refer to when your mouse hovers on them. This is useful for search engines indexing, but also for accessibility considerations

- I would suggest having a link to a larger version of the map on the page entitled house plan - it's quite small to see otherwise

- speaking of the house plan page - the page itself is called index1.htm while the others are called sogna.htm, rates.htm etc. And the titles of these pages change in an inconsistent way too- for example:

rates.htm is entitled "rates and reservations - Sogna Piccolo"

sogna.htm is called "Sogna information - Tuscany"

As mentioned before an email address/link to Outlook or whatever is not ideal - not everyone uses an email client - it would be preferable to have a form instead.

Haven't checked in other browsers - will do so later.

Cheers
Charles
mindadowling
Posts: 49
Joined: Wed Sep 22, 2004 4:19 pm
Location: Tuscany, Italy
Contact:

Post by mindadowling »

Hi Vrooje & Charles,

Thank you for your very valid comments about our website. I have asked my web designer to change those items involving technical matters and I have begun to make corrections regarding the copy and photographs.

I'll let you know when all the corrections have been made.

Again, thank you for your very kind words regarding the site and your very useful comments.
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paolo
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Location: Provence, France
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Post by paolo »

Hi Minda,

I had a look at your site and I think it's great. Excellent photos; well-written; good, clean design; easy to navigate. It ticks all the boxes.

If I dug for negatives, there are a couple of things I would like to see as a potential holidaymaker:

- when you describe Sogna you don't say anything about local restaurants, bars, where you can buy your bread etc. I know it explains that in the FAQ, but not everyone is going to get that far. As you are catering to groups without children, nearby restaurants and bars are a good selling point and I would mention them at least on the Sogna page as being very nearby.

- the map is a little hard on the eye. The location looks really good, but it isn't strikingly obvious without a bit of squinting. Every time you ask an internet user to work, you are losing more than you are keeping. (Julian could you knock you up something beautiful.)

- Pictures on the Tuscany page would be good. Most of your potential visitors will know what to expect but it is much better to show a picture of Florence or the other places than just mention them. Pics make you want to be there in a way that a word does not.

- it's not a big thing but you could explain what that top picture is looking at and from where. I assume it is taken from a bedroom in your house. Balanced against that, a caption might upset the design a little.

Well done, you obviously engaged a good designer and your input into the site is first-rate.
Paolo
Lay My Hat
mindadowling
Posts: 49
Joined: Wed Sep 22, 2004 4:19 pm
Location: Tuscany, Italy
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Post by mindadowling »

Hi Paolo,

Thank you for taking the time to look at our website and I am so pleased that you like it. I told you I was addicted to the forums and I guess if you read the comments long enough something sinks in. I don't think the site would have looked the way it does if I had not learned so much from Lay My Hat.

I like all your suggestions and I will ask Julian if he can help with a new map. We are going back to Sogna for Easter so I plan to take some new photos of the interior of the house (roaring fire in the fireplace, etc.) Do you have any other suggestions for new interior shots?

Paolo, I really value your comments! Thanks again for all the great stuff you are doing on Lay My Hat!

From your biggest fan!
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paolo
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Location: Provence, France
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Post by paolo »

Hi Minda,

If you have good views from any windows, a view with the window frame in shot is always good as it shows that that really is the view you'll get.

If the bathroom is too small to get a decent picture of, you can always show an enticing detail: e.g. fat, folded towels on beautiful tiles. Same goes for kitchen. Couples visiting Tuscany are also more than likely into their food, so very foody details would be nice - a well-lit bottle of golden olive oil and a crust of bread on the worktop - you know the sort of thing.

But your internals are good as they are, these would be just icing.
Paolo
Lay My Hat
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