finally done

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.
eamonn
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Location: donegal, ireland
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finally done

Post by eamonn »

Hi guys, been gone a while had to finish that house myself. I'd appreciate any input.
Thanks in advance Eamonn
i,ve been everywhere man!
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marcus
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Post by marcus »

a great looking property and a great looking site so I will just make a couple of little comments

the fonts seem to change a lot from page to page - the 'more photos' page especially seems a bit brash after the home page

on the 'slideshow' effect at the bottom of the homepage one picture of the front of the house troubled me - was I looking at a pile of rubbish in the foreground? the picture never stayed long enough for me to be sure

the phrase 'you will not take in the many splendors of this mystical land in one day' is brilliant!

best of luck
marcus
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Garri
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Post by Garri »

Hi Eamonn, nice looking site.

A couple of things:

1. Red text on green background in the nav is not a good idea - try using a darker green.

2. Interior page breaks up the nav and header in Firefox on OSX.

3. I personally quickly exit all sites that use comic sans. (just kidding!)
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vrooje
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Location: Burgundy, France

Post by vrooje »

Nice site!

I use Firefox in Linux and the menu and navigation header look fine to me. But then perhaps you've fixed whatever it was that Garri pointed out.

I don't have Comic Sans, so the fonts look like Times New Roman to me (standard fonts). Comic Sans is in general a really informal font. I personally don't like it, but many people love it! Careful, though -- some people really despise that font.

In any case, I love the picture at the top of your home page. I nearly missed the slideshow at the bottom, though -- perhaps that could be brought up a bit higher on the page?

Your intro paragraph is great -- lots of keywords and it lets the potential client know what the page is for right away. Perhaps you should change "Opening May 2005" to "Opened May 2005"?

The interior photos you have make it clear that the house gets plenty of sun (when the sun is out), but since you're taking pictures of a window, they also look rather dark since the camera didn't want to overexpose the window light. So to me the photos look as though even though there are big, gorgeous windows, the house is a bit dark.

It's great that you have an availability calendar! A small suggestion: right now, the dates that are reserved are accentuated because of the extra text that's in every calendar date box. Shouldn't it be the other way around, so that the available dates stand out?

Overall a very nice site, well done!
Brooke
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enid
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Post by enid »

Another thumbs up from me.

I particularly liked the colour scheme - the green for Ireland but a clear black text on white backgorund and a good sixed text. You've already got the font changing feed back. There are a couple of typos: on the More Photos page - there instead of their in para 2 and 'Culandoon has been a my pet project for many years' seems to have a surplus 'a'( there's that ex headteacher part of me again!)

The photos are very inviting - looks a great place. Well done!
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tansy
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Location: La Manche, Normandy, France

Post by tansy »

well done...wondering where you had got too...big change from the building site we were all looking at a while ago...what will you do with your time now :wink: :lol: :lol: haha as if it make life less stressful when you've finished a building project!! Just makes you wonder why the days are so short....
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Hanorah
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Post by Hanorah »

Hi a beautiful house in a beautiful location and your site is pretty damn good too. Well done! I can see the bookings rolling in. As mentioned in my previous post for another site I would like to have more informaton on how to get there ie links to airlines etc and some more information on places of interest within an hours drive. A lot of people who visit Ireland like to do some touring as well so this could help sell the property even more.
Always Learning
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Chalky
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Post by Chalky »

Lovely location and an excellent site.
on the 'slideshow' effect at the bottom of the homepage one picture of the front of the house troubled me - was I looking at a pile of rubbish in the foreground?
Slideshow, what slideshow? All I'm seeing at the bottom of the page is four static photos!

On the interior page, could we have some pictures of the bedrooms/kitchen/bathrooms?

Chalky
Chalky

Image
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paolo
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Post by paolo »

Eamonn,

It's looking really good now and I am still getting that warm feeling off the site! A couple of negatives that struck me:

- The internal pictures are a little dark and dim. I would try to expose the camera to the room rather than the window.

- The internal pictures seem to have been taken to emphasise the spaciousness of the cottage, and this makes the pics rather un-cosy. I would go in tighter particularly on the kitchen and TV area, they are not really welcoming at the moment.

- Bedroom is missing (or bed).

- There is a car right outside the French windows! No, no, no, I am not coming to Donegal to look at a carpark!
Paolo
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A-two
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Post by A-two »

Eamonn,
I agree with other comments and really do like the site, but I am confused by the phone number. You have an address in Ireland followed by:
Tel 01.000.000.0000 (US #) (I am substituting zeros here for reasons of privacy).
What do you mean US#? Do you mean that is the number you dial from the US? If so, it's not correct, the number would be:
011, country code, area code, number. If you mean that you are in the US and they have to dial you there, then it is also not correct, since a US# would not start with 1, not a 01.

In the same vein, if you're quoting US$, then I would change it like this: $1,025.00, or even better US$1,025.00 Otherwise there will be some Americans who think the price is in Irish dollars!!!! The cents are normally included even when referring to round numbers in the hundreds and thousands. You should be able to cut and paste the $ sign from here if you don't have it on your keyboard.

Hints for those interior photos - they are missing warmth and softness. I would add some flowers on the coffee table at least. Dried or fake is also OK, as long as they are good quality, or just pick/buy a bunch of fresh flowers and move from room to room for the photos. My thinking is that this is a country setting, so I'd like to see something floral in nature. I'm not suggesting you refurnish or change your style, but an odd throw blanket, cushion or pillow in a warm color range - reds, pinks, oranges, would go a long way to soften what currently looks a little on the "hard" side. If you can't stand flowers, then maybe dried grasses, a bit of hand made lace. It's probably a female thing!

You could also try switching on some of the side lights in the photos, which throws a warm glow, and/or light a few candles. Another trick to create atmosphere in a sparsely furnished room is to set the dining table ready for dinner.

Good Luck, it looks like a lovely place and I would hope to visit one day.
Last edited by A-two on Sat Aug 20, 2005 3:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
Waves from America
A-two
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how to photograph a lit fireplace

Post by A-two »

I just noticed there is a wonderful fireplace, but barely seen behind the chair. This is a major feature that needs to be prominent in the frame and preferably lit.

The way to take a photo of a lit fireplace is to pile up the logs without kindling or firelighters of any kind, then take loosely scrunched newspaper and place it on top of the logs. Have everything just right for the photo, then light the newspaper. The idea is to have the flames without lighting the logs. You do not need to light the logs. I will now go and find an example of one we did recently on another property and paste the before and after photos in here to show you what I mean.

AFTER PHOTO: taken mid-day, mid-summer, with all the lights on except for the owl lamp on the right, which dominated the photo too much, so I turned it off. The flames were created using the method described above. Click on photo for enlarged version.
Image
Last edited by A-two on Sat Aug 20, 2005 1:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
Waves from America
A-two
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Photographing exteriors "on the blink"

Post by A-two »

Can't find the "Before" shot of the library fireplace, we must have trashed it (what a surprise), but let me share some others instead, which are exteriors.

Image Image
The first photo was shot mid-day, the second one was shot "on the blink". Please click the enlargements to get the full impact. Same house, but which is more inviting and why?

The second one is taken from a more interesting angle, but more important, it emphasises a warm glow coming from inside the house. That's it's main appeal.

There is a common misconception that people who are house hunting are looking for photos that show mainly the property's architectural features. Not true. What they are looking for is a lifestyle that they want to buy into, and this is even more true for rentals than it is for sales. You are not selling a building, you are selling dreams that can be lived in and around that building.

The "glowing" shot shown above is very easily recreated for any building by anyone with a digital camera, but the timing is critical. It must be taken "on the blink", which is a technical term meaning the half light between daytime and night-time, or visa versa, which occurs at dusk and again at dawn. You will need a tripod, or they will be fuzzy, and you will only have a window of a few minutes twice a day, that's all. Blink and you'll miss it, that's the origin of the term.

Here's how to do it. Allow half an hour to an hour. Even if you have a passion for getting up before dawn, you can't set up your photo in the pitch black, so it's best to go for the late afternoon. Start by mixing your evening cocktail early, well before the sun is over the yard arm. Then put every light on in the house, well before you need any lights on. Take the phone off the hook, go outside and get organized with camera, tripod and cocktail. Pick your best angle and stick with it. You can always do another angle tomorrow. Sit there enjoying your cocktail, clicking the camera every 5 minutes until it's completely dark. There will be 3 or 4 shots like these examples amongst those you capture, and you'll soon get the hang of when the light is exactly right.

In these shots, the clue is in the garden lights along the path on the left which are solar powered. When they light up, this is the signal to start clicking, although these particular photos were taken a few minutes after that. Do not use a flash, if you do, it will come out like this:-

Image instead of this --->Image


I took all these photos especially for you this evening, except the bright sunlit photo, which was taken by a Real Estate agent and typically bland. It's our house and it's new on the market for sale.

Happy clicking!
Waves from America
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Alan Knighting
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Post by Alan Knighting »

Joanna,

I notice that you use Imageshack for storing the photo's you publish on the forum. Is that better way than storing them on your own website?

Regards

Alan
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paolo
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Post by paolo »

Joanna,

That is brilliant advice, beautifully illustrated. Thanks very much!
Paolo
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alexia s.
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Post by alexia s. »

Wonderful advice, Joanna.
Good luck with your house sale. How long should it take? Are agents' fees as exhorbitant as in France (5% to both purchaser and vendor=10%)?
Best,
Alexia.
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