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New Home Page - what do you think?
Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 1:44 pm
by KathyG
Have spent every waking hour for the last few days redesigning my Home Page as I'm getting so many people looking at just that one page then disappearing and I think it's because they're probably looking for a traditional style Breton farmhouse, so...........thought I'd take pic of the house off it and lure them in before showing them what it looks like. Not the prettiest of houses!
Anyway this is the
Old One and this is the
New One I'm working on.
What do you think?
Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 3:25 pm
by pepsipuss
Personally I think the house is terrific, Katie, but I understand what you are saying and the new pic is a good idea and the view is 'the business'. Only time will tell, but if you start getting more click-through onto other pages then you have your answer.
Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 3:34 pm
by Normandy Cow
Without a doubt, I think the second one is much better - what a view!
Your house is very nice, but, no offence, it could be anywhere - it is the view that distinguishes you, so if I was looking for a property in Brittany, that photo on your new home page would definitely lure me in!
Remember - Location, location, location...
Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 3:53 pm
by KathyG
Oh goody, looks like I'm heading in the right direction then!
The house is not very attractive from the outside NC, when we first went to view it I wouldn't even get out of the car, even worse then as it was painted orange! OH came and dragged me out after he'd seen the view. Then I was sold!
Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 7:38 pm
by CSE
Without going too deep (looking at headers etc)the changes seem for the better.
Only one comment...are they goat skins on the sofas?
Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 9:06 pm
by greenfrog
The new one looks great - the views are fab! And yes, that would entice me faster than the other - not that the house wouldn't but that you pulled me in much more quickly with the views and that great deck.
Maybe put an alt tag on the top photo to stress that it's taken in your garden, and is not just a generic pretty view?
Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 10:12 pm
by Normandy Cow
Kathy,
I've just had another look and I can't find an external photo of your house anywhere on the new site. I think you should still include that picture that you had as your main one somewhere on the new site, because it is a nice shot of a nice house.
Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 12:02 am
by Lee
Hi
2nd one good for fishing
1st one good if it was a B&B
as a main house to let i'd go for a nice interior pic, outside and a lake shot on main page, maybe fading slide instead
Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 7:47 am
by pepsipuss
The one of the deck with the pool on the home page is good too - maybe they should swap around, based on Lee's comment?
Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 7:58 am
by KathyG
casasantoestevo wrote:Only one comment...are they goat skins on the sofas?
Um yes, cushion covers - Himalayan apparently, is that bad?
NC - You're right! Haven't got round to putting the house pic back in yet but I've got the rest of the pages to do yet so it'll fit in there somewhere.
Greenfrog - Oops yes, forgot Alt tags, will do that today.
Thanks so much for your comments, will bash on and try and finish the rest today.
Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 8:06 am
by Jimbo
Eddie Adams wrote:
I'm not a great believer in the power of the moving image. A still photographer has to show the whole movie in one picture.
The gently contemplative panoramic shot is the perfect lead-in for your new site, Kathy. A great photograph that allows viewers to ease themselves into the scene, become the guy at the table, share his wine and gently sink into the landscape with him. The killer shot. Your old home page, with its (too dark) house picture encased in brash copy, is something that demands my immediate attention but, by comparison, is a bit like a slap around the head with a wet flannel!
Because it’s such an important shot, I’d be tempted to even the lighting across the frame and make the right side darker to bring in the sky. I’d relieve the dark shadow a little and remove the cloud, both on the extreme left. I’d probably change the colour of the brolly and the guy’s jumper to something with a little colour – maybe a dark pastel shade. And I’d shift the red ‘special offers’ banner to somewhere that can’t immediately see it when I open to that luscious panorama. But that’s just me being ‘cheffy’.
A great improvement.
Jim
Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 8:42 am
by Paul Carmel
Would that be Glen sitting with his back to us on that picnic table?
We both like number 2, it feels a bit warmer.
Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 8:46 am
by KathyG
Jimbo wrote:Eddie Adams wrote:
I'm not a great believer in the power of the moving image. A still photographer has to show the whole movie in one picture.
The gently contemplative panoramic shot is the perfect lead-in for your new site, Kathy. A great photograph that allows viewers to ease themselves into the scene, become the guy at the table, share his wine and gently sink into the landscape with him. The killer shot. Your old home page, with its (too dark) house picture encased in brash copy,
is something that demands my immediate attention but, by comparison, is a bit like a slap around the head with a wet flannel!
Because it’s such an important shot, I’d be tempted to even the lighting across the frame and make the right side darker to bring in the sky. I’d relieve the dark shadow a little and remove the cloud, both on the extreme left. I’d probably change the colour of the brolly and the guy’s jumper to something with a little colour – maybe a dark pastel shade. And I’d shift the red ‘special offers’ banner to somewhere that can’t immediately see it when I open to that luscious panorama. But that’s just me being ‘cheffy’.
A great improvement.
Jim
Wow Jim, thank you for your lovely comments!
Will have to see what I can do about that picture then, haven't done much Photoshoppy stuff so likely would take me all day....
I took that shot - actually it's about 8 shots stitched together -at 10am one morning last October, it was freezing and we forced ourselves to go down there with a bottle, the red was quite disgusting at that temperature, and the 'guy' is my OH. Should have got him to put on a different coloured jumper
. Can't really change the colour of the parasol can I? As that's the one that's there......
Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 8:50 am
by KathyG
Paul Carmel wrote:Would that be Glen sitting with his back to us on that picnic table?
It is indeed! Shivering and complaining!
Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 9:15 am
by Windy
I've just had another look and I can't find an external photo of your house anywhere on the new site. I think you should still include that picture that you had as your main one somewhere on the new site, because it is a nice shot of a nice house.
Just what I thought - I think your new page is a huge improvement but I'D WANT TO SEE THE HOUSE AS WELL! Otherwise I assume it is the ugliest house in the world with a huge electricity pylon towering over it so close that you just can't show a picture!