It's only took me 6 weeks! Could you have a look at my site

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.
Suki
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Location: Axarquia, Spain
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It's only took me 6 weeks! Could you have a look at my site

Post by Suki »

Well, I didn't realise what a long and painful process it was going to be - & that's only making the website :shock:

Now, reading the forum, I am dreading all the other pit-falls ahead! (Holiday season well on its way & I'm only just getting going!)

I'd really appreciate it if anyone could take the time to have a look at my site http://www.casalunaperiana.iowners.net/home.html,
I'm a total novice so will stand back & take the flak, I've learnt so much on this site already and really appreciate the advice that I've already been given.
TTP mk2
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Post by TTP mk2 »

I quite like the site, it's bright & cheerful.

My only comments are:

I hate adverts on commercial sites, it makes the site look un-professional & is a dead give away that the site owner is too mean to pay for a 'proper' site, so always makes me wonder what else are they too mean to do.
I also wouldn't be keen on having 'More holiday villas for rent' as a link on the bottom of my web pages.

I would like to see your e-mail (preferably a real one, not a free service) & phone numbers on your contacts page. I get very suspicious when I can find no real contact information on a web site & always look at the contact page first.

The enlarged images are pixelated & a little blurred, you may have over compressed them.

I would like to see how many the property sleeps on the home page.
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Windy
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Post by Windy »

This looks like one of the template iowners sites (which is what it is so no surprises there). I guess the adverts TTP Mk 2 mentions go with that particular territory.

This is not a criticism as these templates are perfectly professional (although I am not keen on the full width text on my widescreen laptop as it's a bit of a chore to read.)

I like your tinkling goat bells as this, to me is the kind of things that sells the idea of the holiday, but I'd agree about the images looking fuzzy when clicked.
Suki
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Post by Suki »

Thank you for your comments. Yes, I agree with the points that you have made;

It is an iowners template - fairly easy to use & it still took me forever! I too don't like the widescreen format but I liked the brightness of that template - the first one I chose was more compact but had beige writing on a dull background!

I do intend to pay to have the ads taken off - I'm sure it'll look better without them.

I realise that there's a problem with the photos - they said to make them a certain size to make them quicker to upload to the web but I've obviously done something wrong - I'll try to sort it out, but thanks for confirming it to me.

I too would have liked to have put my e-mail and phone no. on the contacts page but there's no facility to do this - I may try to make the suggestion to iowners to allow this, & excuse my lack of technical knowledge but what is wrong with my e-mail address? - it's the only one I've ever used!
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Jimbo
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Location: Charente Maritime

Post by Jimbo »

Good range of photographs showing your location to advantage. I'd be tempted to work harder on the important 'pool terrace shot' which is a bit stark. Some loungers sprinkled about and removing the foreground weeds (maybe a little height up a stepladder?) would spruce things up - shame to waste that terrific location. And the kitchen/bedroom shots have an odd mixture of Bells of St Clements (oranges and lemons) colour casts which might be improved.

But this is just me being picky. Suki, I like your site and wish you well with bookings.

Jim
TTP mk2
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Post by TTP mk2 »

Suki wrote:but what is wrong with my e-mail address?
It's a personal thing but I feel that a hotmail/gmail/etc. or even an ISP e-mail address doesn't look professional for a business.
Suki
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Post by Suki »

Thanks for that Jim -I told my OH about the weeds before I took the photos & I've got him out there right now on his hands & knees in 90 degrees heat - that'll larn him :lol:

Sorry to be thick - but I don't understand about the 'colour casts' how do I resolve that?

TTP - I'll try to find out how to get another e-mail address but I don't have a clue at the moment :oops:
declanja
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Post by declanja »

Hi,

I too use iowners and inspite of some limitations have found it good. Sorry,I could not get your link to open on firefox to review!
Declan
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Jimbo
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Post by Jimbo »

Sorry to be thick - but I don't understand about the 'colour casts' how do I resolve that?
Not thick at all. Sorry to talk in jargon, not helpful. Overall colour casts most often result from shooting pictures indoors where the dominant light source is artificial, or where the flash/light coming through the windows reflects off highly coloured walls. Look for an area that's supposed to be white and, if it isn't, it will have a 'cast'. Red/yellow casts (from household bulbs) can often be pleasing, giving a warm and sunny feel but blue/green casts (from fluorescent tubes) are cold and pretty horrible, especially noticeable on skin tones. Not difficult to resolve with an image editing programme like Photoshop (and there are free and cheaper editing programmes available). Also loads of cast removal tutorials on the web.

Interesting, our eyes perceive these same casts but our smart brains convert this information into what we expect to see. If you walk into an area that's lit with several light sources, you'll see the different coloured casts pooled around the lights until your brain has sorted the information.

Jim
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James3214
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Post by James3214 »

Where's it gone?
Not Found
The requested URL /home.html, was not found on this server.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Apache/2.0.52 (Red Hat) Server at www.casalunaperiana.iowners.net Port 80
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Big Sis..
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Post by Big Sis.. »

Its the full stop at the end try this

http://www.casalunaperiana.iowners.net/home.html

Nice website Suki
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James3214
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Post by James3214 »

Aha yes forgot to remove the full stop.

On first look, looks nice and bright and I couldn't really find a fault with it although if I was to be really picky I could say that the fonts (perhaps just on the main headings) are rather small and maybe difficult to read for some. But in general me thinks it is a good designed site.

If I don't see anyone booked though I might be hesitant myself!
Suki
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Post by Suki »

James, thanks for your comments. There's not much I can do about the font as it's on a template and it was the best one - for me - on that site. Apparently they do add more templates from time to time so I'll keep an eye out for a better one.

I know what you mean about being put off by no bookings showing but we are literally just starting out, we are living in the house at the moment and will do so until we - hopefully - get a booking. Maybe I should show some previous dates as 'booked'? or is that really not on?
declanja
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Post by declanja »

Had a look again Suki.This is a great forum for constructive advise.
I like the template, the blue matches well with the main photo. I feel you have lots of useful information for prospective guests. I didn't read it all so maybe more small headings would make it more appealing.Would agree with the comments re no shown bookings, weeds etc. I don't like the sat dish in the main photo, I think it spoils it a little. I also think you have too many photos of the immediate surroundings in your slide show, one after another, the ones of the towns, beaches and festivals are good. I liked the photos of the area with the vines, it had more of holiday feeling. Some of the other areas looked bare, maybe get a few flowerpots!

With regards to Iowners,I would advise to at least pay to have the ads removed, and consider their SEO optimisation package. I have done so and found my SEO did improve. I get lots of enquires from my iowners site although my calender is not fully up to date so some dates are gone.

Lastly, I have a thing about maps, must be a male thing. For most visitors to your site I think it would be more beneficial to set your map where distance from the sea and close airports can easily be seen. I don't know Spain very well and had to zoom out quiet a bit to know where you were located.

Overall well done, your site has a clean fresh appeal.

Declan
www.niceapartmentfrance.com
Suki
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Location: Axarquia, Spain
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Post by Suki »

Thanks for your comments Declan - very constructive.

I'll try to break up the text a bit more to make it more readable.

I agree with you about the sat dish but there's not much we can do about it unfortunately and I had to weigh up between cutting it out or showing the full size of the house.

I'll also sort out the map - I'd rather find a better one if possible as our hamlet (Guaro) of about 30 houses isn't marked on google maps though the smaller one of Marchamona with only half a dozen is!

The weeds have now gone :) but I have yet to take a new photo as I'm still trying to resolve the probem I'm having with the existing ones. I resized them to the size recommended by iowners but they look blurred when blown up & I just don't know how to resolve this.

(I've just had a look at your website & it looks lovely, beautiful location - your photos look great with none of the 'blurring' problem.)
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