Hi everyone, firstly thank you for such an excellant site I have been a frequent visitor over the last while and got lots of information and ideas from it.
I have set up our villa in cyprus for holiday letting, I have been advertising it since October and thus far have not had any bookings, I did have two enquiries over Christmas and am getting viewings on the sites again no bookings...
Can you look over my pages and let me know what everyone thinks, have i done something wrong?
We will be moving out of it at the end of March, this is why it isn't available till then, and for good measure I added one booking.
I hope the websites come up in my signature.
Thank you everyone.
Timi Villa
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susanbunny
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2008 7:30 am
- Location: Timi Village, Paphos, Cyprus
- Contact:
Looks great to me though I don't know the asking prices for villas such as yours in the area? I have heard that rentals have been increasingly difficult in Cyprus........
On the iowners website you may want to change the very first line, dosn't quite read right, something like 'welcome to THE .... WHERE you are sure'
On the HL site maybe you should add your phone number?
Other than that I can't see why you are not getting bookings!
On the iowners website you may want to change the very first line, dosn't quite read right, something like 'welcome to THE .... WHERE you are sure'
On the HL site maybe you should add your phone number?
Other than that I can't see why you are not getting bookings!
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susanbunny
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2008 7:30 am
- Location: Timi Village, Paphos, Cyprus
- Contact:
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Mountain Goat
- Posts: 6070
- Joined: Wed Apr 19, 2006 1:31 pm
- Location: Leysin, Alpes Vaudoises, Switzerland
- Contact:
Hi Susanbunny, welcome to the LMH menagerie
Looks a great place!
Just a quick initial look at your Iowners site, and I would say that it does need a bit of proof-reading, mainly with punctuation and spelling - which lets it down a bit.
The other thing are those awful flashing ads. We'd often wondered on LMH (and I'm probably not up-to-date on this) about Iowners' business model for a return on their investment, and I guess that explains it. This isn't a great help, but those ads are a real turnoff for me, and maybe for potential customers.
Good luck....and I'll have a look at the other sites a.s.a.p.
MG
Looks a great place!
Just a quick initial look at your Iowners site, and I would say that it does need a bit of proof-reading, mainly with punctuation and spelling - which lets it down a bit.
The other thing are those awful flashing ads. We'd often wondered on LMH (and I'm probably not up-to-date on this) about Iowners' business model for a return on their investment, and I guess that explains it. This isn't a great help, but those ads are a real turnoff for me, and maybe for potential customers.
Good luck....and I'll have a look at the other sites a.s.a.p.
MG
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susanbunny
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2008 7:30 am
- Location: Timi Village, Paphos, Cyprus
- Contact:
Thank you mountaingoat for you comments. As I have paid to advertise on several sites, I am trying to keep costs to a minimum, as yet I haven't had any visitors visit the IO site as only been live less than a week, so it isn't putting people off yet!! I will bear it in mind though, and maybe bite the bullet and pay to have them removed once I have some bookings.
Thanks again.
Sue
Thanks again.
Sue
Hi Sue
I think the timivilla website looks quite stylish, I like the grapes! Your pool area looks lovely with the palm trees and views over the fields — it would defo be the major draw for me, so I think having this as the first pic on your website and ads might help. You could also do with having the number of bedrooms and people it sleeps on the home page as I think this is the no.1 bit of info people are looking for when they book a villa. The text is a bit small. Perhaps some photos of the beach would be good too, I tend to think that people want to see lots of nice, big pics on their first visit to a website and only read the details later on when they've started to narrow down their choices.
We started advertising our place in October and no bookings yet either! Trying not to panic! I do think people book later than they used to though... so fingers crossed. Good luck!
Cheers
Sonia
I think the timivilla website looks quite stylish, I like the grapes! Your pool area looks lovely with the palm trees and views over the fields — it would defo be the major draw for me, so I think having this as the first pic on your website and ads might help. You could also do with having the number of bedrooms and people it sleeps on the home page as I think this is the no.1 bit of info people are looking for when they book a villa. The text is a bit small. Perhaps some photos of the beach would be good too, I tend to think that people want to see lots of nice, big pics on their first visit to a website and only read the details later on when they've started to narrow down their choices.
We started advertising our place in October and no bookings yet either! Trying not to panic! I do think people book later than they used to though... so fingers crossed. Good luck!
Cheers
Sonia
I have had a quick look at all 3 links - not a proper study of the site, but most people will have a quick look and decide within seconds whether to read on or look at another property.
For me, none of your adverts persuaded me to read further - although I did progress to the 2nd paragraph on holiday lettings and the stuff about the local town was a complete turn off.
One of the other listings tells you only about the property and not about the area on the first page.
Generally, the listings all get bogged down in details about the exact layout of the property at a very early stage.
The photos seemed fine but there was too much text information of the wrong sort and not enough of the right sort.
Your first paragraph needs to grab people by telling them what sort of holiday they can have it they book with you and what sort of property you are offering.
And as for the spelling and grammatical mistakes! They are the equivalent of the mismatched plates - they show you don't care enough.
This may seem a bit brutal but you did ask. Not much use if everyone says it looks fine and you are still not getting bookings!
For me, none of your adverts persuaded me to read further - although I did progress to the 2nd paragraph on holiday lettings and the stuff about the local town was a complete turn off.
One of the other listings tells you only about the property and not about the area on the first page.
Generally, the listings all get bogged down in details about the exact layout of the property at a very early stage.
The photos seemed fine but there was too much text information of the wrong sort and not enough of the right sort.
Your first paragraph needs to grab people by telling them what sort of holiday they can have it they book with you and what sort of property you are offering.
And as for the spelling and grammatical mistakes! They are the equivalent of the mismatched plates - they show you don't care enough.
This may seem a bit brutal but you did ask. Not much use if everyone says it looks fine and you are still not getting bookings!
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susanbunny
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2008 7:30 am
- Location: Timi Village, Paphos, Cyprus
- Contact:
Thank you verymuch for the comments you have given I will look at the sites and try and take you points on board. As this is the first year of advertising ofcourse there will be some wrinkles to iron out......
Again thanks for taking the time and the trouble to look at the sites and comment on them.
Sue
Again thanks for taking the time and the trouble to look at the sites and comment on them.
Sue
I just peeked at the HL listing...I think it looks lovely! I don't know the area at all...so don't know about pricing or anything like that...but I think the photos are very nice - just what I'd be looking for...clean, uncluttered, etc. 
give it a chance! I was having a heart attack last year when I had no bookings...now things have picked up quite a bit!
If it makes you feel better, I have had no bookings this year yet from HL (none ever actually) interestingly...I have had no UK bookings at all yet this year! American, and Aussie (I keep getting loads Australians - no idea why!) I also think mybe you will need to suck it up and pay to be on more than the one site (turst me...I KNOW how hard it is when youo'r starting out with no money comming in!) - you never know what will work for you and where will bring in those guests!
Are you getting hits and click-throughs from HL? If not, I'd give them a ring or email they are VERY helpful and may have some ideas to help you stand out.
give it a chance! I was having a heart attack last year when I had no bookings...now things have picked up quite a bit!
If it makes you feel better, I have had no bookings this year yet from HL (none ever actually) interestingly...I have had no UK bookings at all yet this year! American, and Aussie (I keep getting loads Australians - no idea why!) I also think mybe you will need to suck it up and pay to be on more than the one site (turst me...I KNOW how hard it is when youo'r starting out with no money comming in!) - you never know what will work for you and where will bring in those guests!
Are you getting hits and click-throughs from HL? If not, I'd give them a ring or email
they are VERY helpful and may have some ideas to help you stand out.
Hi, welcome to LMH!
I just had a quick look at the site. Overall it looks very nice - good colours, nice layout.
I agree with an earlier comment about the first sentence on the homepage. It's not quite right - and someone here made the very sensible remark a while ago that there's no need to welcome someone to your site, you want to welcome them to your property. I can't remember who said that but I certainly took it to heart.
One other thought - maybe it's just me but the map being a picture looks arid and not so interesting. Maybe if it included more of the sea it would look more inviting? I guess I was hoping for more green or sea or something.
Your home page pic of the exterior is very nice and I like the info on the local area. Best of luck with the bookings!
I just had a quick look at the site. Overall it looks very nice - good colours, nice layout.
I agree with an earlier comment about the first sentence on the homepage. It's not quite right - and someone here made the very sensible remark a while ago that there's no need to welcome someone to your site, you want to welcome them to your property. I can't remember who said that but I certainly took it to heart.
One other thought - maybe it's just me but the map being a picture looks arid and not so interesting. Maybe if it included more of the sea it would look more inviting? I guess I was hoping for more green or sea or something.
Your home page pic of the exterior is very nice and I like the info on the local area. Best of luck with the bookings!
Lounging on the lily pad...
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susanbunny
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2008 7:30 am
- Location: Timi Village, Paphos, Cyprus
- Contact:
Thank you very much all of you for taking time out to take a look at my site and make your comments. It is pleasing that people like the look of the place, and also to get some feed back on what others think. I do have it on other paying sites such as owners direct, also on chat boards, so with a bit of luck with the changes I should get some bookings soon.
Sue
Sue
Hi Sueand thus far have not had any bookings
Nice property and good location. If the bookings aren't coming, I'd suggest that you need to work harder at your photographs, trying to create more atmosphere and variety. If visitors to your site aren't immediately attracted by your pictures, they will likely click to another site.
It's always worth looking carefully at competitors' websites in your locality. See how they present their properties and the quality of their photographs. You can learn much for free from a few hours spent at the internet coalface.
Good luck with your rentals.
Jim
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kevsboredagain
- Posts: 3207
- Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:32 am
- Location: France
- Contact:
Probably repeating what others have already said but here's my impression after spending 1 minute on your site (the minute that counts!)
Loved the grapes!
Hated the adverts
1st page doesn't make it clear exactly what you're selling apart from the fact it's a villa in Cyprus. How may bedrooms, pool etc.
Text on 1st page decreases in size as you go down.
Too much local, non essential info on the first page
Prices pages has an error in the link
Photos need some brightening up. They look a bit dark
Overall I would say that there was too much text to read. People tend to form an opinion in seconds and would not spend the time reading all the pages.
It looks a nice place though and I think more use of your pictures would help the site.
Loved the grapes!
Hated the adverts
1st page doesn't make it clear exactly what you're selling apart from the fact it's a villa in Cyprus. How may bedrooms, pool etc.
Text on 1st page decreases in size as you go down.
Too much local, non essential info on the first page
Prices pages has an error in the link
Photos need some brightening up. They look a bit dark
Overall I would say that there was too much text to read. People tend to form an opinion in seconds and would not spend the time reading all the pages.
It looks a nice place though and I think more use of your pictures would help the site.
Hi there,
I took a quick look for you and below are my suggestions.
- On your homepage, add "Timi Villa | Three (3) bedroom villa located in Pano Paphos village, Paphos Cyprus" and any other keywords that you think people will use when searching for your property in the search engines. You can separate with pipes "|" (next to the Z key on your keyboard)
- You have "Timivilla" in lower case and capitalised across your site. Try and keep spelling consistent. Effectively this is your brand so it's important you get it right.
- Perhaps add a slogan like “Timivilla: A gorgeous three bedroom villa located in rural Pano Paphos village, Cyprus� as opposed to just "Timivilla"
- Gallery works well. It's quick to load which is good.
- I'm not sure what you are using to build your site but you appear to be using forum tags for your link... should really be
- Change your local info URL to something like and add "Local information about Pano Paphos | Timevilla" to your title tag. Add a similar description to your META Description tag in your html too. This will hopefully improve your SEO and you may find people stumbling across your site by accident when searching for “local info in Pano Paphos�.
- You should use the above example across all your pages so your title tag explains in better detail about the page the user is browsing. Try and add a similar naming convention to all your page names. This will improve your SEO.
- I would remove the banners, unless this is not possible - even as an affiliate, it's unlikely you will make much revenue and it distracts from your content.
The grape theme is fine although, if you can, it's better practice to use black text on white background. It makes it easier to read.
All that aside, your property looks lovely and with a little more time spent on your site you should see the traffic go up.
If you have any questions about the above, please don’t hesitate to ask.
I took a quick look for you and below are my suggestions.
- On your homepage, add "Timi Villa | Three (3) bedroom villa located in Pano Paphos village, Paphos Cyprus" and any other keywords that you think people will use when searching for your property in the search engines. You can separate with pipes "|" (next to the Z key on your keyboard)
- You have "Timivilla" in lower case and capitalised across your site. Try and keep spelling consistent. Effectively this is your brand so it's important you get it right.
- Perhaps add a slogan like “Timivilla: A gorgeous three bedroom villa located in rural Pano Paphos village, Cyprus� as opposed to just "Timivilla"
- Gallery works well. It's quick to load which is good.
- I'm not sure what you are using to build your site but you appear to be using forum tags for your link...
Code: Select all
[link]http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/rentals/timi-village/40344[/link]Code: Select all
<a href=http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/rentals/timi-village/40344 target=�_blank�>Holiday Lettings</a>Code: Select all
http://www.timivilla.iowners.net/local-information-about-pano-paphos.html- You should use the above example across all your pages so your title tag explains in better detail about the page the user is browsing. Try and add a similar naming convention to all your page names. This will improve your SEO.
- I would remove the banners, unless this is not possible - even as an affiliate, it's unlikely you will make much revenue and it distracts from your content.
The grape theme is fine although, if you can, it's better practice to use black text on white background. It makes it easier to read.
All that aside, your property looks lovely and with a little more time spent on your site you should see the traffic go up.
If you have any questions about the above, please don’t hesitate to ask.