Long time listner first time caller!

[SharkHunter]

Hi everyone,

I've been dipping in and out of this site for a couple of months now and have found the information invaluable in setting up my rental.

Although i'm not quite there yet i am now far enough on to have created a website which i'm hoping people will take time to view and pass comment.

The pictures suck i know, but as i'm still working on the place i threw in the agent's pictures.

URL - http://www.casabrancogrande.com/

Any and all comments welcome.

SharkHunter

[Ju]

Hi Shark

Welcome to the forum.

I'll put some more comments later, but I think in general you've done a good job. The photos aren't that bad (I've seen much worse) and it is clear and consise.

My first question though is were is it?

I had to hunt through and found reference to Faro in the getting there section - and then has to check with the OH where Faro was.

You need to state Portugal clearly on your first page, possibly more than once. People using search engines will put this in the search field so it needs to be clear.

Ju

[tree-peony]

hmmm it's saying page not found now

[SharkHunter]

I had some problems with the Domain Forwarding.

Try this one www.casabrancogrande.com

[tree-peony]

thanks...that works...off to make some notes

[tree-peony]

enquire now button on front page doesn't work in either FF or IE
links to bigger pictures open in the same window with no way of navigating back.
How about putting Portugal and/or Algarve on your lovely sunset photo?

Love the list idea for getting there...I may nick it

oh and the enquire button works there!

Avail page...top button works but botton one doesn't!
again, calander opens in the same window

hope this helps

[SharkHunter]

Thanks Tree,

I made those changes to the enquire now buttons, but enlarging the pictures in a new window seems to be beyond the function of Sandvox on Mac.

Looks like that will have to wait. I see your point with the Sunset, i'll see what i can do. Not going to be an easy one to modify the standard templates of Sandbox but if it was easy then it would be no fun!


Paul

[tree-peony]

could you not just add some text to "your place in the sun"??

buttons seems to be working now

[e-richard]

Hi Sharkhunter (and neighbour !)

Very effective website, but why no picture of the Pool ???
I'd sacrifice a picture of the bathroom (boring) to show the pool.

Also, I had some problem "enlarging" the pictures on the front page. Seems to only want to open on a Mac.

[SharkHunter]

Hi Neighbour!

I realise the picture of the pool on the front page is small and really doesn't do it justice. These are the best pictures i've currently got. They will all be changed in a couple of months once i've finished off the house.

If you're in Carvoeiro next time i'm over we should go for a beer,

Paul

[kevsboredagain]

Nice website. Crisp clean and easy to follow. I wasn't quite sure where the place was at first until I looked further.

2 problems I saw were:
When clicking on the magnifying glass on the home page Firefox asked me to download something. Not know what it was I said know so whatever this function is didn't work for me.

On the other photos when I selected full size I got a larger picture but it looked like it was being drawn larger than the actual resolution of the picture. The larger format didn's show any more detail than the thumbnail.

Other than that everything looks good.

[thisfrenchlife]

It is a very easy on the eye website, that loads quickly and is clearly laid out.

Not sure how much freedom you have to name pages etc, but I would give each page their own title if possible - this is a key component used by search engines.

I noticed others have mentioned Your Place in the Sun, and I see it in the title, but I would use the space for location based information.

So you could have titles like:

Holiday home Casa Branco Grande near Carvoeiro, the Algarve

Places to visit near Casa Branco Grande, Carvoeiro

Location of Casa Branco Grande on the Algarve

Think from the perspective of someone searching the web, unless they know your property's website already they will most likely be undertaking location based searches.

So you need to think of ways of mentioning these locations in your titles and content to ensure people are landing on your site.

Your links to local places of interest are a good idea, but if you have the space maybe a couple of extra pages offering your own advice and info about them, with actual addresses and links, both shows people you know the area and again hooks in to those location based searches.

Hope this helps
Craig

[SharkHunter]

Thanks for the input Kev and Craig. I 'm going away on business tomorrow so i've now got something to keep me busy on the 8 hour flight!


Keep the tips coming - i really appreciate the help

Paul

[SharkHunter]

Guys

I've made some to changes to the website - the flight took a long time so i had plenty of time!

I've been thinking about how to get the site found by google etc. Even when i type in the name of the website Google does not bring it up. Can anyone offer any advice on how to get your site noticed by search engines?

Paul
www.casabrancogrande.com

[tree-peony]

the link's not working again