Help - what do we do next????

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.
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saramar
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Location: Amandola, Le Marche, Italy
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Help - what do we do next????

Post by saramar »

We have had our website listed here for reviews for a while and very kindly, you have made suggestions and we have listened and made changes to the site. The guests who have stayed with us have loved our place, but now we have another problem - we have about 200 visitors a day to our website, but very few/ no bookings, especially for September onwards. Those who do inquire, mysteriously disappear before any money is exchanged!!!! Would be really greatful if you could have a look and suggest what may be putting off potential renters - we are now wondering if we are missing something (or is it just the cost of flights and the euro rate etc).

www.hideawayhill.webeden.co.uk

Really appreciate your time and help. Thanks
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Bellywobble
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Post by Bellywobble »

I've had a look and can't help unfortunately! It looks stunning to me, very inviting and beautifully presented.
kirkland
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Post by kirkland »

All I would do is put a map somewhere obvious on the front page, not a big change, but it might just do it for you. The only other thing is that we are seeing bookings coming in a matter of only 2 -3 weeks in advance, even days.
Last edited by kirkland on Thu Aug 07, 2008 5:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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tree-peony
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Post by tree-peony »

looks super to me as well :? :? :cry:
http://www.gozoluxury.co.uk
actually quite nice apartment in Gozo!
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vrooje
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Post by vrooje »

Sarah/Mark,

I agree, this is a very nice website and the property looks gorgeous from the photos.

I suppose one thing I might suggest is that you include photo captions on all your photos -- at the moment only one page shows captions on the left-side photos.

But, that is a very small thing.

When you say that you have 200 visitors a day, is that your hit count, or are those unique visitors? If I check my webstats, I see that so far in August we have had 3966 total hits and 240 unique sites, which means that out of our average of 661 hits per day, only about 40 of those are unique and the rest are duplicates. So if you have 200 hits per day, it's possible that you're really only getting a dozen or so unique viewers per day. That's quite normal!

A low turnover rate of inquiries is probably not about your website -- after all, they liked your website enough to inquire! So perhaps you could post your step-by-step of responding to an inquiry and we could make suggestions if we think there are ways you could convince the inquirer that your house is the one for them.
Brooke
kirkland
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Post by kirkland »

Our website hits are way down compared to yours, but we are getting bookings, we get around 30 -40 visitors a day. There are probably some keywords that are getting visitors that really aren`t looking for your site, maybe you need to weed them out.
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Chianti
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Post by Chianti »

Sarah & Mark

I think Kirkland has hit the nail on the head. It's not your website. It's who's looking at it and how they found it. Do you have details of what pages they're viewing and for how long?

We never get more than a handful of views per day to our website, but through our ads have a high conversion rate, so it's hard to suggest.

The only other thing I can suggest is a bit less script as it's photos they really want to see and yours are stunning. I found the way you listed your seasons hard to catch, would it help if you did this:

2008/2009

1 June - 1 July in other words wrote the month out

I know others are getting bookings this week, we've had a quiet one but were busy a couple weeks ago taking bookings for the winter and next spring.

I certainly wouldn't give up hope.
Chianti

Tecno twit, but I can tie my shoes !
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Ju
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Post by Ju »

When you say you have few bookings from September onwards - that doesn't surprise me; to my knowledge it is not a winter destination and cetainly your site seems to suggest summer hoildays. For most people that means July and August. Anything you can do to get September bookings should be seen as a bonus - most people are back at work, back at school etc and just dreaming of the Christmas break.

I think your site looks great, and I can't think of anything that could get you any extra shoulder season bookings, exept perhaps dropping your prices. I note that your price for mid september is the same as for mid August - yet the demand is obviously not the same.

Ju
Margaret
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Post by Margaret »

I think that there are 2 simple problems here which need fixing, one of which was, I think, mentioned right at the beginning:

1. The website address. I don't know if this was discussed before but if I saw the web address http://www.hideawayhill.webeden.co.uk/
when I was searching for a holiday place in Italy, I would assume that it was actually in the UK. At least turn it into a .com address and preferably change it to something which includes Italy.

2. The heading at the top of the page still does not say Italy. As Le Marche is quite an unknown region, I think many people will assume it is in France. I know it says Italy just a bit further down the page, but you need to grab people straight away and they may not get that far. I also think that the heading at the top of the page is too long and confusing - it is not clear that it is 2 sentences and it shouldn't be 2 sentences anyway.

So my guess would be that your visitors are mainly not people looking for holiday accommodation in Italy. And I think you need to combine your top heading and the next one - using the word Hideaway in both is OTT I would say and cluttering headlines which need to be shorter.

And I would definitely take off the red text advertising the special price/short break. You are hitting people with 2 different messages in a small space. Sometimes you have to let a period go rather than cheapen the appearance of the website.

Finally, I'm not sure about pushing the Ryanair 'budget' aspect so much. The flexibility is great and the mention of the airports is good but many people will not have heard of most of them. I would definitely reorganise the order of those text bands and put the flights bit at the bottom - you need to attract people to your property first.
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Chianti
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Post by Chianti »

Sarah & Mark

I had another look, this time at your Le Marche page and working your way 'round it is like cutting butter, it's simple, logical and absolutely beautiful, and the butterfly is so charming.

I couldn't see your exact location in relation to the sea and this would be very important for attracting guests. You seem to have the best of both worlds, which is rare, a beautiful green setting and the seaside, maybe it's worth saying that in a sentance something like: Where the countryside meets the sea What about a google map similar to ours with the attractions pinpointed on it?

Margaret is so right about the .com, I'll bet most of those visiting your website think yours is a UK location from both the name and the .co.uk. You can probably tell from the amount of time spent viewing your homepage and how many pages are viewed.

You also mentioned that your high season is short July - August, would it be better not to mention it at all and promote the olive & grape picking seasons, show some autumn colour, mention the lovely winter and the wild flowers in spring? Don't ask me why, we've had 2 bookings for March of all months. What about a seasonal page in that Le Marche section. Many won't realise the wonderful festivities and beautiful processions which are attached to our Easter, what about promoting them?

Sorry, loads of ideas
Chianti

Tecno twit, but I can tie my shoes !
Margaret
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Post by Margaret »

Thinking again, I'm not sure that changing to .com is necessary, especially if you are appealing to UK guests. But I do think the name change to something including 'Italy' is vital.
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Giddy Goat
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Post by Giddy Goat »

Just done a quick search, and for example, italyhideaway is free, with any suffix you like! Amazing!

italyhideaway.com is taken, but italyhideaway.co.uk is available plus all the other options.

Very good suggestion of Margaret's, and an important one to follow up asap IMHO.
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be
Margaret
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Post by Margaret »

What about Italianhideaway? (The Italyhideaway owners might not be too impressed if you go for that one, although I have just checked and it does not seem to be in use, so no problem!).
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Chianti
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Post by Chianti »

What about TheHidawayItaly?

Margaret, with the reputation of the Mafia & others in southern Italy, maybe some would expect a "stash" or to meet the Godfather there Joking but......
Chianti

Tecno twit, but I can tie my shoes !
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saramar
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Location: Amandola, Le Marche, Italy
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Thanks

Post by saramar »

Thanks so much for all your good suggestions - that's great - it has given us a lot to be thinking about and I can't believe italyhideaway is still available Giddy Goat and Margaret.

We do own thehideaway.eu, but for some reason it does not get found on the search engines and because our website address www.hideawayhill.webeden.co.uk does, we tend to stick to that one, but I know exactly what you mean. Does anyone know if the two can be linked together so that Google can pick up on both (that is a bit beyond my knowledge of how the internet works!)

Look forward to hearing any more ideas and thanks so much everyone (as I may be too busy correcting all the things you suggest to write to everyone individually!). It is really good to know that there are so many helpful people on this brilliant site and we will always try to help others if we can be of assistance.
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