About to undertake a website overhaul

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.
pike
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Location: La Torre Golf Resort, Murcia
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About to undertake a website overhaul

Post by pike »

http://www.polarisgetaways.com/default.php?link=LMH

I'm about to make some changes to the site as it has been like this for about a year now and I think it's always good to freshen things up now and again. Any thoughts on what I can do to improve it?

Summer bookings were superb but out of high-season bookings have been slow. Not had one group of golfers yet which is dissappointing.

Note that most bookings have came from traffic from ownersdirect and holidaylettings. All bookings though have been made online through my website so that part seems to be liked. Tried google adwords for a time but found it expensive with very little results.

Another feature I've added is to store where the user has came from. If you look at the link I've posted above you can see that theres a link variable with LMH (LayMyHat). This has allowed me to build stats on where most traffic comes from (I store the results in a MySQL DB). OwnersDirect and HolidayLettings have been most succesful in generating bookings and Facebook ads have generated most site traffic, however bookings are at zero!

Any tips on the website look and feel? Any other comments gratefully received.

Regards,

Pike
Margaret
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Post by Margaret »

Personally, I have 2 main problems with the home page (I didn't get any further):

- the typefaces, special offer and facebook link all made the page look a bit cheap.

- the home page just did not give the right information - a lot of words but only scattered information and the slideshow was just irritating: it required me to watch carefully to catch the title of each photo, and as for the 2 geeks in the shop window...? And I would not have tried phoning because I did not know in which country the number was.

Getting everything onto one screen without scrolling was a good idea but at the cost of providing photos and information which would encourage people to go further.

I had no idea what this particular property is like: " all the facilities you would expect from a villa on a resort of this standard" tells me nothing.
pike
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Post by pike »

Thanks for that Margaret. I'll look into changing the text, photo widget & typeface.

One thing i did not want to do was to make it look like all the other sites that are out there. I wanted it to look different, modern and not simply a left hand side nav bar, main page etc etc, however in doing so I don't want to lose the main message and I certainly don't want to 'irritate' people.

Maybe I should lose the 'photo' effect and use the same widget that I have used on the other pages, such as the one here.
http://www.polarisgetaways.com/theVilla.php

I'd be interested to hear more views on the site.
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Rocket Rab
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Post by Rocket Rab »

Actually, Pike, here comes a completely contrasting view, 'cos I rather like the site! The layout is clean and crisp, the key info is easy to pinpoint - for me, at least. You're selling a holiday villa and a golfing destination, right? So I like your use of the green background, that reinforced the golfing idea in my mind.

The "special offer logo" is ok - sun, Spain, holiday feeling. Just big enough. I think the facebook link could work well, but - and this is very personal - I'm not keen on seeing all the people photos when I get there (I know, I know, it is Facebook 8)). Although I like being able to read their comments about the villa. Maybe you could include guest feedback on your site?

Personally, I prefer the slideshow to the snapshot effect, although the latter does add interest.

Margaret is right about the tel. number - I would definitely add a country dialling code as you can't assume everyone who views the site is in the UK, or knows this is a UK mobile tel. phone - I'm guessing? - I live in France.

Could you soften up all that concrete around the banner pool pictures with some pots of green shrubs, flowers, a big jug of orange juice, some bright(ish) beach towels? Just a thought...
pike
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Post by pike »

Cheers Rab, I like the basic look and feel of the website so unless I get lots more feedback saying it's not so good I'm going to keep the basic template.

The text I will certainly re-evaluate and for the photos I'm currently looking to get something that looks modern and can be stored online. I'm trying to avoid static thumbnails in favour of some sort of slideshow. If anyone has any good online hosting solutions for this please let me know, I currently use photobucket and am experimenting with google Picasa at the moment to see if that can work.

I will change the facebook logo but I think it fits with the modern feel so will keep it somewhere. As I'm doing a new contacts pic for the telephone number (to add the +44) I might add it in there at the bottom.

The special offer sign I will have more thought about, I guess it's a case of what people find off putting or not. I must admit some shops that have 'sale' signs you may want to avoid. Again opinion from others on this would be much appreciated.

Guest feedback I intend adding into the overhaul, possibly incorporating them into a new larger photos slideshow on the main page.

Keep the opinions coming folks, good and bad.

Cheers,

pike
goosie
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Post by goosie »

Well Pike, I'm somewhere in the middle (oh the joys of submitting websites to scrutiny!). I like the general feel of the site but agree with Margaret that some of the font and the `sun discount` is a bit `Budget` in its look.

But I agree with RR that generally I like the snapshots and the lay out of the site. I think the first page is good but would have preferred to see some more house photos rather than the resort. Later on I thought the Pool looked stark and would have liked to see some greenery or loungers - something to invite me in!

The golf wording was a bit `in your face`. But I'm not a golfer so wouldn't know if it works for others - as a lay person it came across as a bit patronising and would have put me off.

I am 100% behind the others on the phone number. I wouldn't phone and would think twice about booking somewhere which doesn't have a land line as it makes me wonder about the validity of the person. Plus, I find that when I do call people's mobile numbers they often answer it in a noisy location and you can't really have a proper conversation. Personally, I would play up the personal touch - that this is a home owned by you rather than some faceless company but I know that it not always a point others agree on here!

Who is your webbuilder - I like your general feel and may steal some ideas !
Margaret
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Post by Margaret »

The landline issue is tricky! As we are onsite in Germany, our landline is here and people don't always want to call a foreign number, so I give my UK mobile as an alternative. Apart from having a UK landline permanently diverted to here (can be expensive!), I'm not sure what else one can do.
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Rocket Rab
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Post by Rocket Rab »

Yes, I give my mobile number, too, as I don't want to miss any calls.... :wink: I'm not sure that a non-UK number puts people off. It may do, but then people would expect to 'phone abroad for a house they are renting abroad, perhaps?
la vache!
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Post by la vache! »

Margaret wrote: Apart from having a UK landline permanently diverted to here (can be expensive!), I'm not sure what else one can do.
You can get an 0844 number which people can dial instead, I think I'm going to get one, not sure if this is the best place, but I'm sure some other members who already use it can advise
https://www.flextel.ltd.uk/cgi-bin/secure.sh

Edit - I've just used the site to set up an 0844 number - it works and it was free to set up.

RR, I use the FT call transfer service for my mobile whenever I go out - it is a couple of euros a month, but means I don't miss the calls. I have an answerphone, too, with a list of calls facility so that only people with hidden numbers can fall through the net!
Last edited by la vache! on Thu Oct 09, 2008 3:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
pike
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Post by pike »

Goosie, thanks for the input. I'll have a look at other sites and come up with another font, the 'sale' sign I'm steering towards losing it.

The golf text I agree, especially the opening paragraph. I think I'll be spending more time reviewing the text. The personal touch I shall try and add!

I agree with the pool photo, problem being it was newly built when I took that shot so there wasn't any greenery or that around. Not good enough at photoshop yet to try and stick some items in so will have to wait till I'm over again and get some greenage in!

I'm doing the web design and coding myself and enjoying the learning and the challenges. Feel free to grab some ideas or ask away if you want to know anything.

La Vache, I work away from home that is why I only have the mobile number in. The 0844 number solution is interesting, I might take a look at that later tonight and see if it would be fit for use. Can you dial that from abroad?
Cheers,

Pike

PolarisGetAways.com
pike
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Post by pike »

As an aside how did you get your website in your signature as a link???

I gave it a bash but it's not liking the html
Cheers,

Pike

PolarisGetAways.com
la vache!
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Post by la vache! »

My Website
without the space after www.mywebsite.com and of coures replacing that and the text with your own url and text.
goosie
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Post by goosie »

We use an 0844 number for ours and give our home number as well for people calling from abroad. I did it because you can divert to mobile (at a cost) but for me it also has a `whisper` service which tells me we have a caller so if my little ones are screaming their heads off I can either not take the call and it goes to voice mail or I can hide myself and answer - with a professional voice and not a stressed mother voice! Also, even if a caller hangs up, you get a notification of who called and if they leave a voice message it can be emailed to you so I can pick it up from other locations.

You can see I am a fan! And to divert to a uk landline is free, as is the whisper and the voicemail (don't ask, no idea how they make money!). The one we use is switchboard-support they claim that you need to have a minmum level of calls but it has not been a problem so far and we've had it for about 10 months
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thisfrenchlife
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Post by thisfrenchlife »

I think the site has a bit of a funky look and sticks in the mind.

But a couple of techie points might be worth considering.

White text on a green background is not the best from an accessibility standpoint, some people may find it difficult to read, more here:

http://accessibility.psu.edu/color.html

And try and give pages their own Title, at the moment every one just says PolarisGataways.com.

The reason for this is that Titles are used by search engines to get a good idea of what the page is about.

So you could have:

Golfing at La Torre Golf Resort from PolarisGetaways.com

The La Torre Polaris World Resort from PolarisGetaways.com

Hope this helps,
Craig
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Post by TTP mk2 »

Margaret wrote:The landline issue is tricky! As we are onsite in Germany, our landline is here and people don't always want to call a foreign number, so I give my UK mobile as an alternative. Apart from having a UK landline permanently diverted to here (can be expensive!), I'm not sure what else one can do.
We have a UK landline (020) number from Skype which costs £30 a year & using their 4 € a month call package I can set it to divert to any landline in world free or about .20€ a minute to a mobile.
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