Website online

[Ciapolin]

Helen,

The download times are much better - didn't really have problems with any of them.

C-A

[enid]

Hi Helen

All photos loaded fine for me - and I'm not on broadband. I love the two restaurant ones - at the top of the piste and in the town square at night - I'm not a skier but I'm tempted! Also the menu bar looks clearer - did you change the font? - I can read it now anyway - but I have just been our for lunch so maybe my eyesight imroves after a glass or two of the local brew!?

[Hells Bells]

Thanks Enid, I managed to find a better combination of fonts.

[Hells Bells]

Thanks Enid, I managed to find a better combination of fonts.

[vrooje]

Helen,

The pictures all now appear to be under 30K in size, which is absolutely fine -- they should load quickly now. (I'm on a university ethernet connection, so it's hard to tell just by checking my page load times.) Great optimization -- you cut the sizes in half or so but didn't sacrifice quality.

Cheers!

[Ju]

I think the site has a very nice look about it, and I had no propblems with the down load speed (and my connection is about as slow as it gets!).

I know that it is still early days, but I think it would be a good idea to set a date when you are sure everything will be complete, and then you could start to take bookings. I'm not sure you need to tell people that you are taking the first two weeks, it doesn't add anything and could make it sound like you keep the best dates for yourself, which of course you do!

I think I would change the mountain goat picture, and replace it with a picture of someone skiing or snowboarding to really tie in the theme.

I certainly think you have made a very good start.

Ju

[Hells Bells]

The mountain goat is the Chamois that our property is named after, logo on our stationery (or will be). So I think I'll leave that.
I should know in the next few weeks if the completion date is still Christmas, so hopefully can do something about it.

[paolo]

Hi Helen,

I am coming to this a bit late, and you have made changes in line with previous comments, so the site I am looking at is great. Very attractive, and warmly written.

I would pick up on one thing you said about the picture of the goats:

The mountain goat is the Chamois that our property is named after, logo on our stationery (or will be). So I think I'll leave that.

The goat picture is the first impression one gets of your site, and it is the only full picture on the homepage without scrolling. So it is important that the picture tells the viewer he has come to the right place. I would definitely swap in a picture of a skier. I don't think the stationery or the name of the property is important at this stage of your communication with potential renters.

Great site though, and I like the way you are very reactive to people's suggestions.

[Hells Bells]

paolo, I have been giving that some more thought, but couldn't find a more suitable picture at the moment. I now need an online booking facility set up, as I think we should have a more definite completion date soon.

[Hells Bells]

Have now added an online booking service so if you want to test it out, feel free, just put Lay my Hat in the comments box, and I'll delete the booking.
Helen

[la vache!]

Helene,
I just used the online booking and I'm sorry, but I dodn't like it! I think that when people browse a website, (looking at my stats anyway) they want to have a quick look at the prices shown for relevant date bands. After this, they make contact with the owner as they may have special requirements e.g cots or want to know more about the location, or if I could rent for 10 days instead of a week. As Paolo said, contact with the owner and the way in which they reply can result in a booking or not. I wouldn't want to pay a deposit if I hadn't already had confirmation (by personal e-mail from the owner) that the dates were available.
I get a (surprising!) amount of inquiries from people who have been let down by other gite owners by double bookings, touch wood I have never done this, but prefer to keep control over all bookings by doing everything personally. Also, I have filled some weeks by offering people who have inquired reduced rates (outside of peak season) as last minute bookings which have had excellent results this year - you can't do this with a rigid on line price structure.
At least I would recommend having a seperate inquiry page (apologies if you do already have one and I haven't seen it!!)
Susan

[Hells Bells]

Susan, I've now moved my enquiries form back onto the page (it was deleted by mistake when I set up the booking facility). I actually do still have to do everything else myself, confirm bookings etc. As I say it's just a trial and I'm not sure about the £50 a year thing if I can find something else. What I do like about it is the facility to invoice, add offline bookings etc without actually being on my home PC, it will even text me if there has been an enquiry/booking.It is possible to add the prices table to my site, but I'm not sure whether I can hence the link (I'm using a 1and1 package for the website). there is also a facility for special offers and late bookings.

[la vache!]

Helene,
I forgot to say that I sent a booking request, but put the surname as LayMyHat and not in the comments section - sorry! I think if you have an inquiry page as well, then it is better as you are not missing out on any potential bookings based on extra info required. In that case, its not such a bad thing at all - but I still think that price is so important that it is useful to have it clearly stated on a page, rather than people having to key in seperate dates to find out the different price bands. Most sites have this, so if you can get it on, I would!

[Hells Bells]

Susan, it's OK I have deleted your request.
I think I can maybe ge the layout changed a little. I'm not sure about that with the website package I've got though.

[Hells Bells]

I've updated the photos after my visit last week.