Unsurprisingly ... comments welcomed

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.
slartibartfast
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Location: Ovacik , Olu Deniz, Hisaronu , Fethiye ,Turkey ..but live in Perth
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Post by slartibartfast »

Hi Carole , purely as a "punter" and ex-skier (not a web selling aficionado) I really like the black and white. To me it looks really crisp and clean. I think the (mainly) winter-sports angle works great with the colour-scheme (white mountains, blue skies , green mountains etc.)

I tried that on mine first of all as yours was one of the sites I looked at and liked but I felt it didn't work with my angle.

I am on a different laptop & browser now with a wide screen. Either you have changed your availability image which now fits my page fine or my different set-up copes with it. Good improvement. You can link straight to the HL availability calendar if you like. I have chosen not to as I'd prefer not to lead anyone to HL if they find me on their own !

I guess you have added the footer links. Very handy but I think the anchored menu on the side looks quite cool :wink: . It's dead easy to do. Let me know if you need a confidence boost !

There is nothing I would criticise but in an attempt to be ultra picky

I really like your banner font and style. It looks classy

The title for each page in the grey bar I would like to see a bit bigger. It's kinda lost between the banner and the body.

I like the short first page , but from the skiing angle perhaps a bit more about the type of skiing available (it's a double edged sword if it's either all blue or all black however :-))

It's difficult to take photographs of a small room. They are all nice and bright which is great. It looks a bit bare , so some more homely touches would be nice. Perhaps make the bed-settee up as a bed for a shot (nicely dressed of course). For the table shot, move the couch out of the way so it isn't in shot. The same for the bunk bed shot , move he table (or crop them). Dress the sink area a bit (I know its "compact"). Perhaps a striking picture/painting/wall-hanging in the settee shot. The curtains in your "The Studio" page could be tidied up ... or if it's a window shoot it in daylight so it looks more open.

There are some fantastic scenery shots. Personally I'd loose the one of the car in the car-park. It looks a bit bleak.

Some of the photos in your gallery look like they are sized too small and are being zoomed to fit the image size. It is making them grainy and losing the edges. I don't know the best size but mine are 350 x 270 but I think that is still too small as they look zoomed (you see it in my imprinted url most readily)

"Opposite the studio" isn't doing the location justice. I guess you aren't advertising the concrete (or is it tennis courts ?) so re-shoot by walking forward so you just see the fantastic mountains. If you are advertising the courts either get them with nets up or re-shoot omitting them. The same is true of some shots with the road in the foreground. They tarmac isn't adding to the shot

The problem with photography is you have to work with what you have. Some of the town shots you have had to shot with very flat light (clouds). Try and re-shoot with a bit of sunshine to give more light and shade. It will lift the whole look

Increase the text size of your gallery captions. I am using 4 which is probably too big I guess you are 1 or 2 so try 3.

I hope I haven't gone OTT !. I really like the look and feel of our site. I suspect we are trying to hit different buttons. With my skiing head on I would be looking for a the right location for skiing and apres-ski first. A nice place to kip is a bonus. You are lucky as you have both.

I suspect my feedback is a comment on my own website attempt. I scan read and focus on the visual more than I do on text content.

I didn't do a links section on mine but after seeing yours I think I will :wink:
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Rosbif
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Post by Rosbif »

Hi Ian

Thanks, I've only just seen this but in the meantime I had already increased the size of the headings in the bar, must have sensed your comments before reading them!

I have played with a couple of other things too. I did try and fix the menu bar at the side, but because I have more pages than you it cut off the links one at the bottom so it didn't work properly.

The photos are all pretty dire, the place is being refurbished as we speak, so I will be going over in November to "dress" the place and gets lots of new piccies.

I tried to change the availability calendar size but couldn't so it must just be the different browser that has made it look better to you! Did you paste the code into a table or just straight into place for the calendar?

The opposite the studio shot was meant to show the tennis courts, but there were no nets etc, so maybe I will ditch that when I get my new photos in Nov.

Having now gone back and revised some things, there are a lot more options available in Mr Site now than when I first created my site! All the tools etc weren't there before and the side bar with tips wasn't there either, so I might be able to do more now.

Anyway, this was a thread about your site and is now turning to mine! I will have another look at your latest site in a minute as haven't caught up with it for a while.

Carole :D
slartibartfast
Posts: 87
Joined: Thu Aug 02, 2007 7:12 am
Location: Ovacik , Olu Deniz, Hisaronu , Fethiye ,Turkey ..but live in Perth
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Post by slartibartfast »

Hi Carole, the bigger title looks good to me. Too bad about the locked menu, but the bottom navigation works fine.

For the availability calendar I just inserted the image straight into the page (not a table) as I didn't need to format it relative to anything. The alternative is you can use this code like this to link straight to the HL calendar (change your property ID);

<a target='_blank' href='http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/avail. ... 4177'>View availability for my holiday rental</a>

This is how it looks on my (hidden) site http://www.villadalriada.co.uk/page10.htm

That's good you have found some new toys to play with. Let us know when to check again for the transformation :D
slartibartfast
Posts: 87
Joined: Thu Aug 02, 2007 7:12 am
Location: Ovacik , Olu Deniz, Hisaronu , Fethiye ,Turkey ..but live in Perth
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Post by slartibartfast »

In fact I have just changed my proper availability page to use this http://www.villadalriada.co.uk/page7.htm

I have yet to decide if I like the look or idea of it or not
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Rosbif
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Post by Rosbif »

Hi Ian

Just had another look at your site, its looking really good and you have some beautiful photos.

Like you said before do you want to draw people away to holiday lettings if they have stumbled across your site, they might then look at other villas :shock:

Does it not work well with having the actual calendar on the page, I thought you managed to re size it?

On your 'real' availability page, I would be slightly careful as people might just click the holiday lettings logo rather than your text underneath, although it says click here, but some people don't read things properly!

Did a few bits on my site last night, have added an Apres Ski page for restaurants and bars etc, which can grow as I learn of good places to go!

Probably won't do much else to mine now until I have new photos and I need to take lots when I go!!

Carole
slartibartfast
Posts: 87
Joined: Thu Aug 02, 2007 7:12 am
Location: Ovacik , Olu Deniz, Hisaronu , Fethiye ,Turkey ..but live in Perth
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Post by slartibartfast »

Hi Carole, Page10 isn't visible to anyone (unless they type in the url. I use the "Hide" function in admin). It's only my "real" availability page visitors will see and that only links to the HL availability page (from where they may break-out into a general search)

I re-thought my logic. It is highly unlikely will get a hit on my personal page via Google etc. I am going to look at how to improve my chances but in any event I suspect most hits will be via my link from HL, or people we have given leaflets to or recommendations etc.

There must be very few people who don't compare / search before booking so I am gambling the villa and pricing stands up against the competition and linking out is something they will do anyway.

I didn't really like the re-sized image as it was too blurred and I still had a link to a full size version. It also means I only need to keep it up to date in one place. If I had more control over the design of specific pages it would be OK but the page width is too narrow with the 1/3 page menu bar for a decent sized image.

I'm not overly happy with this solution but I'll leave it for now
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Garri
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Post by Garri »

Ian, I'm not so sure about the calender linking to a listing site where your visitors can then easily find other places in same area. The listing site easily allows this, see their breadcrumb system at top.

Unless you get commission if they book elsewhere on the listing site, I'd think carefully.

You need to think along the lines of selling them other dates but keep them on your site. Special offers? Maybe.

Check this LMH member's site:

http://www.pervoliavilla.com/availability/

Craig has changed this page, for the worse I feel. He used to have a neat thing where all the available dates were listed in a table with an email link 'call to action' for the available dates. I thought that was a nice touch.

Notice he doesn't link out to rental sites?

Also notice his nice 'call outs' at the foot of each page. A prominent, nicely designed call to action at the footer. I don't have to wade through text to read that I have to click here to check availability - it's a nicely designed big button! Takes me nano-seconds to understand what I'm in for if I click it.

Use of arrow may seem subtle and taken for granted but it's a great technique that has been used for eons. Arrows are dynamic and powerful visual signs.
slartibartfast
Posts: 87
Joined: Thu Aug 02, 2007 7:12 am
Location: Ovacik , Olu Deniz, Hisaronu , Fethiye ,Turkey ..but live in Perth
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Post by slartibartfast »

I agree Garri I'm not sure about the link either. Craig I assume has used an embed which I couldn't get to work in "native" MrSite ... but I have a cunning plan.

I also agree the "graphics" link-outs look good ... but some of page lengths are pretty long so you travel a fair way to get there.

It does look very professional with a good use of colour

Thanks both for the input. I'll re-think
Last edited by slartibartfast on Sat Aug 18, 2007 10:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Garri
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Post by Garri »

Page lengths aren't too long but even if they were excessively so they are very neatly punctuated with clear headlines and well positioned (and CSS styled) photos.

Home page works really well: talks about the villa then where it is.

My only gripe is the 'Stay in touch' in the sidebar. It should read: Special Offers, which is what he's talking about in his blurb.

Plus, everyone likes a good deal!

A lot to be learned from this site.
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Rosbif
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Post by Rosbif »

Ian can you not just paste the code for the calendar like I have on my site? On one browser mainly Safari I think, its a little wide, but it does still fit on, albeit just a bit close to the edges!

I wouldn't link out to HL either you don't want to do anything that might lose you business!

The calendar does work nicely on that site Garri recommended, but like you say on Mr Site we don't seem to be able to get it so neat! Must say I don't like all the bright colours on that site though!

Carole
slartibartfast
Posts: 87
Joined: Thu Aug 02, 2007 7:12 am
Location: Ovacik , Olu Deniz, Hisaronu , Fethiye ,Turkey ..but live in Perth
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Post by slartibartfast »

OK , slight change made to tide me over. By editing the Availability page on my laptop and FTPing it back it's now a dynamic imbed from HL. I don't know how to get rid of their logo link at the foot of the page. Not perfect but better IMHO.

I need to check it on other browsers / displays as I suspect it may have given me page-width problems.

Craig's site has much more of a "sales" feel about it. I agree it has loads of good features , ideas and approaches.

I need to spend a bit of time on re-writing my HL listing in light of all the good advice I have received here. I also need to spend time on the "learning" links you supplied to help me decide on my next big step.

What are CSS styled photos ? and how do you create these "call to action" eye-catchers ?


Thanks
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Rosbif
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Post by Rosbif »

Oh I forgot too, if you update your calendar on HL it automatically updates the link on your site too, so you don't need to update in both places :D
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Rosbif
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Post by Rosbif »

Ian it looks absolutely fine on Safari and Firefox on my Mac :D
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Garri
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Post by Garri »

What are CSS styled photos ?
If you right click on one and view it, you'll see it's just a photo without a border. What he's done is create a styled box to frame them in using CSS (top, left, right margin = 1px, bottom margin = 2px)

Why this is a good idea is that you can use css to style your photos without having to actually style your photos physically (or rather, digitally).

If you decide later on that you want to change the border e.g. colours, box style, or add drop shadows, you can easily make those changes via your CSS file and all photos would then take on that look. You can do this 'til your blue in the face and it won't affect your photos, just the border they slot into.
and how do you create these "call to action" eye-catchers ?
That's a whole new ball of wax and one that I'm currently studying msyelf ;-)
slartibartfast
Posts: 87
Joined: Thu Aug 02, 2007 7:12 am
Location: Ovacik , Olu Deniz, Hisaronu , Fethiye ,Turkey ..but live in Perth
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Post by slartibartfast »

Thanks folks. Carole , did you just paste in

<iframe src='http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/avail_ ... e_id=34177' width=650 height=600 scrolling=no frameborder=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0>

That gave me errors but I may have made a cod of it. If it works for you I'll try your more simple way !
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