Another new website for comments

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.
leemcg
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Location: Isle of Wight
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Another new website for comments

Post by leemcg »

Hi there,

Newby here, I just found this forum. We have just finished renovating our holiday home on the Isle of Wight, and have started booking for this summer (nice to leave it late, thanks builders!).

I guess we've aimed this at ourselves! Families for sure. A bit of an appreciation for facilities and gadgets, and a contemporary look. Tried to capture this on the website.

Put the house on HolidayLettings last Monday and already have 5 weeks booked, but that is likely to be because I am offering hefty discount - my reasoning for this might need to be revisited, but I wanted to get the 10 weeks you need to be classified as holiday let and offset against general taxation.

Thoughts on website appreciated.

I'm completely new to the world of holiday lets (and we're not really trying to do it as a business, at least not yet), so please go a little easy on me.

www.pearlcottage.co.uk

Regards

Lee
kirkland
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Post by kirkland »

Looks good to me, not much I could say to make it better, good luck.
e-richard
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Post by e-richard »

Nice one Lee.

Its cool, professional and elegant. But you don't just want a pat on the back, so here's a few comments:

That 3D picture of the layout with mouse over effect is quite cute but on reflection I think it does you a disservice. If only you could get some furniture in and definitely some windows it would look so much more attractive. As it stands they are just "boring boxes" and not a fair reflection of the house. Failing that, perhaps add some pictures into the description box that changes when mouse over each room.

A comment is on the pricing. I'm not going to argue with your pricing model (its certainly interesting!), just the way its presented.

Remember website visitors do not read your website the way you wrote it. Their eyes dart all over the screen looking for triggers and key points, then they decide to read more details.

So what you need is a headline (e.g. "The price is £1,000 per week"), then follow it with the explanation. Think of this principle throughout.

I liked the "Families" page. One simple key para, then bullets to follow up, but you could tighten the wording in the opening para.
We have young twin boys and have made sure that the all the things we need to make sure our stay is convenient, safe and entertaining for families are at the house - we hope you enjoy them too
Is quite longwinded. Try something like this:
We have young boys ourselves, so all the things you need to make your stay convenient, safe and entertaining are at the house - we hope you enjoy them !
You can go on tweaking for ages but what you have is pretty darn good already.
** Richard
PIMS: Holiday Rental Management system
They say we learn from our mistakes. That makes me a genius !
declanja
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Post by declanja »

Hi,

I'm also pretty new here but here is my advise.

Didn't like the fog effect on the main page, or is this for real?

Blue sun filled skies are better, we see enough of fog!

The floor plans are interesting and I think add to the site.

I don't think prospective guests will be impressed with your pricing structure- unless you are just aiming at socialists that dont mind subsidising guests in the high season with expensive charges low season!

Overall I am impressed and the best of luck.

http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/p85390
http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/rentals/nice/53349
http://www.niceplace.iowners.net/
Musetta
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Post by Musetta »

declanja wrote:I don't think prospective guests will be impressed with your pricing structure- unless you are just aiming at socialists that dont mind subsidising guests in the high season with expensive charges low season!
I don't have a problem with one price...but I think the explanation is unnecessary - maybe to some people, "off-season" IS just as valuable ;-)

anyway...I only charge one price year-round for the Italy house...that's because I really don't WANT a bunch of winter lets...they really cost me a LOT and, honestly, I cannot afford to...winter lets cost me a ton in electricity for the portable heaters and hot water and firewood and extra washing with all the extra blankets, etc. - just not worth discounting.

I have also found that in that location, there really IS no off-season...some of, what I'd though would be difficult weeks to book, have gone first...and I still have a July and August week left! Flights are so much cheaper from the US in non-summer months that they are actually doing well...so no need I think in some locations to change pricing structure (I will, however, change the printing in the US house once I get a feel for what's booking well because there certainly is a high and low season)
leemcg
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Post by leemcg »

Thanks for all the replies, some really useful stuff there.

Although I don't think I can face redrawing the house plan! Was it clear enough that you can click on the room to get a photo?

Think I'll be doing a fair bit of editing over the next couple of weeks.

One thing I'm realising is that you can keep on and on, continually improving. Certainly need to get some better photos taken when the sun is actually out, and the rooms are actually finished!

Regards

Lee
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greenfrog
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Post by greenfrog »

Hi Lee,

Nice website, clear and understandable. The list of facilities is very good, as is the page on Families.

I like the pictures of the bay - I might even prefer one of them as the main pic rather than the house. Those two photos made me stop and look.

To answer your query re the house plan - no, I didn't realise you could get to a pic that way. I think you might want to spell that out. (oops, have just seen that you do. Or is that new since yesterday? mea culpa!) I thought the house plan looked a little bare without furniture layout; if it takes me to a pic then that would keep me happy.

Maybe it's just me but I think I'd rather your home page line about it being your family holiday home be a little more inclusive of me as prospective guest, ie something more like "we bought it as our holiday home and we love it so much we want to share it with you for part of the year".

I found your rates page unnecessarily complicated.
For a start, you say it's available for 10 weeks only but your chart shows far more available. So which are the 10 weeks?

Also, as a prospective guest I'm not sure I care about the reasoning behind your rates structure. I just want to know the price. Something simple like "the rate is £1,000 per week, all year round" would suffice.

Overall, I like the layout and the information is clear and easy to find (apart from the rates page).

Best of luck!
Lounging on the lily pad...
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gpck
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Post by gpck »

Not so sure it's a good idea to have the full address on display, when you have the dates available on show...any unscrupulous chappy chancing on your website will see where your property is, and when it's empty, and could pop along and help themselves to your contents...

Also, for the same reason, you have your home address on your website, and your availability list is blocked out 'Reserved for owners family' - presumably that's you? If so, everyone knows when your home will be unoccupied...
gpck
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Big Sis..
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Post by Big Sis.. »

Good Points kevin well spotted :wink:
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Ju
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Post by Ju »

Hi Lee

It looks like you will have a nice place when it is finished.

At the moment the photos look as though the house isn't ready yet. A little more dressing when the beds are made up, curtains at the window and cushions on the sofa will make a world of difference.

A few points:

I personnally don't like the take of "its our family house" as it sound as though you are rather reluctant to rent it out. Just tell people how great it is.

Equally for the bookings, I think you should just mark weeks as booked or available. People don't really care whether it is you at the property or someone else, just that they can't book that week.

Pricing, I agree with the others, fine if you want only one price (though I think you would get more bookings with a low mid and high season) but just tell people that is the price, they don't need to know why.

I would definately like better photos. One picture of the side passage in particular perplexed me. Every photo on your site should be good enough to sell the property on its own. I don't think anyone will book your house because it has a side passage.

I'm not sure your banner on your home page is doing you any favours. I guess you are going for the contemporary look, but black just doesn't say "holiday by the see" to me" Also this is your 2 second slot to sell what you have on offer, instead you have "introduction" You need to have in big letters on the fonrt page what you are selling. People will glance at your site and then move on if they don't find the vital information quickly.

Good luck

Ju
leemcg
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Post by leemcg »

Thanks everyone. Some more good stuff. And some stuff I'd like to follow up on.

Some questions though are now clearly more about what we're doing rather than the website per se. Is it bad etiquette on this forum just to carry on the discussion in this thread, or should I start new topics in the right forum?


I definitely agree on the photos - I need some more, now that we've got some window dressings, and more soft furnishings in, but I had to get something done whilst we were down.

Although on the beach front photos - my early design did have one of the bay on the home page, but I got early feedback that it wasn't clear what we were renting out. Someone even said they were confused and though it might be a beach hut! So I changed it.

The click on a room to view a photo was always there.

The rates page is a bit complicated, I think, because of a confusion on my part with regards tax law. I originally thought that all I needed to do was rent out 10 weeks a year and then I would be a holiday let and could offset expenses against general taxation. I now realise that it has to be available for 20 weeks, and rented for 10, which rather messes up my pricing and descriptions (which obviously weren't clear anyway). I was thinking that it would just be the first 10 weeks that were taken. That was also really the reason for different colours for family (which generally won't be us - don't go round our house!) was so that people knew after 10 fully filled in weeks that we were full. That's also a bit why I did the it's our family home (to explain why we're not renting it out all the time, as well as to point out that we'd furnished it with the things we needed). But, as I say, I think that's all irrelevant now anyway.

I have plenty to fix.

Thanks for the feedback.

Lee
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Overboard
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Post by Overboard »

I usually skip right to photos when selecting a property. I'm not too keen on your interior images in your gallery, and completely missed the fact that you could click on the floorplan to see photos. Now I've seen them, I much prefer your interior floorplan photos as to the ones in your gallery. The one of the dining table next to the window is stunning, your kitchen and bathroom look really nice too. The terrace looks like a great place to sit out, I'd promote that more. I'm not keep on the 2 photos on the families page, dont be afraid to reuse some of your much better photos until you can take more.

It's taking shape though and I can tell will look great when completely furnished. I like your website layout, simple to use. I also like the fact that it is your family holiday house. Makes me think that the place will be properly supplied.
leemcg
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Post by leemcg »

I think it was a very good job that I came here for comments. Mostly for the great feedback. But partly because I checked the site out again, and noticed that all my old photos were still there. Looks like it was an issue with file extensions...

So the third bedroom is meant to look like this:

http://www.pearlcottage.co.uk/photos/7.JPG

Not this

http://www.pearlcottage.co.uk/photos/7.jpg

Good grief!!


Edit: just realised that once I get home and change this, that won't make sense to anybody as the old, bad photo will be gone.
Regards

Lee
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Windy
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Post by Windy »

Hi
Was it clear enough that you can click on the room to get a photo?
Not to me although now I've read all the comments I can see the instruction to click was there.

Perhaps you should add it to all the room descriptions too e.g.
Lounge

42 " plasma TV blah blah

Click on room to view photo
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DrRichard
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Post by DrRichard »

Hi Lee

It looks like a very nice place. I've never been to Isle of Wight but my brother lives near Southampton so knows it well.

I see you are new to holiday lets, well, you've got some fun and some work ahead! Anyway, on to the website...

The home page picture is not the best you have and doesn't really do the house justice. You have some nice pictures of the IoW so might want to use these. I can see how this might cause some confusion on exactly what you are renting so you might need to combine a couple of pictures here. Really the best solution is to get a better, sunnier picture of the house.

The home page is well laid out but you don't have much content on it. You might want to consider adding more - its all good search engine material!

The house layout is very clever. I can see you put a lot of work into creating it. It does look a bit grey and boxy though. It wasn't clear about clicking on rooms until I'd read all these replies - so that might be a problem.

I can understand that you don't want to change the house layout page after all that work! I'd recommend leaving this for a while and maybe re-doing it when you've had a break!

Guest comments are a good idea provided you have some! I have some more ideas about doing this...

Your page titles are all the same - you need to make them different to identify what they are and help the search engines

There are no keyword or description meta tags in the code so this might not help with search engines.

You're right that you do need to keep working on improving your site. It's something I realized after a while. Think of it in a positive way though - search engines like sites that change often!

Good luck,
Dr. Richard
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