Website gone live today

[Montybird]

Hello everyone,

Just thought I'd let you all have a look at my new website and invite your constructive criticism.  My friend actually did 99% of the work on the site, it's also his first attempt at creating a website and offered to do it for me as a favour as we're just so busy trying to get the gites ready for our first paying guests in June.

see www.gitesatlatreille.com

Look forward to your thoughts.

 

[Dick Smith]

I think it looks very fresh and welcoming, and it seems as though all the necessary information is there and easily understood - a good job.

One point - I thought that the bold text was easier to read, so perhaps if all the text in the boxes was boldened it might have more impact?

Best of luck in your venture - hope all goes well.

[nimportequoi]

I think that you need a little more info on the homepage about the gites - how many people each one sleeps etc. and lthe ocation - where exactly in France are you? I don't like too much text on the homepage, but you need to have enough to grab the attention of potential customers and there is some basic info that I would make sure goes in there. Some key phrases used in the text would also help on the search engine listings.

Good luck!

 

[Jhc]

Hi - Good luck!  You are not near me so I don't regard you as competition ! so here are my thoughts.  I found it hard to understand how many gites you have available and how many they sleep.  Sometimes you refer to 'gites' and at others to there just being 1 gite.  It was only when going to the 'rates' page that I realised you have 1 gite available for this year and then 2 more due in 2007 or later.  There was nothing to say how many people the 1 current gite will sleep - I assume it is 6 as there are 3 bedrooms but if I was a customer with a party of 8 I would not know whether you could accommodate me or not.  I think this needs to be clear on the home page.

If the pool is for exclusive use of the 1 gite and the 1 bed and breakfast room for this year then I would make sure people understood they are going to have virtually exclusive use of the pool for 2006 bookings as that is a big bonus. 

If I was a customer then and I understood that you have 2 more gites being built/renovated then I would want re-assurance that there will not be any building/renovation noise during the time of my holiday booking - not sure how you could word it but I am sure there is a way that would re-assure me.

[ChezShells]

Hi

The points SusanAH & JHc are correct, not too much text but enough to describe what your offering and to help in search engines.

I viewed the site on dial up and it took a while to load, you need the buttons sorting, probably best to just have html links at present, your pictures need optimising also, they are too large in data size for their quality, they are too faint, they are about 25k in size and for the picture they should be about 4k
I think you should make the page viewable on 800x600, I suspect the designer designed the site on 1280, I too have been guilty of this.

Better than my first attempt.

Lee

[Patmobile]

Best of luck to you.  The site looks well-organised, clear and to the point.  I particularly like your booking enquiry form.  Loading speed was unusually fast.

I would suggest, though, that you think about re-arranging all the text panels towards the left or centre, not necessarily in a column but more or less straight up and down, no farther right than 800 pixels.  The pictures and other stuff could be positioned right of centre towards extreme right.  This is because most people still probably view in 800 x 600, either because they have relatively small monitors, or because it's more comfortable for the eyes.  They will then be able to read the text without having to scroll across all the time.

Another good reason is that, for those with slow connections, the text will load quickly first and they can be reading it while the pictures and decorative bits continue to load on the right.

I hope you don't mind these suggestions.  Your site is handsome, but sometimes ease of use is more important than beauty.

Patrick

[Montybird]

A big thank you to everyone for all your wonderful comments - all of them valid points. 

I'll be passing these on to my friend who designed the site and hopefully he can make some changes.

I think I'll have to treat him to a free holiday here for all his hard work.

Cheers.

[Coco]

I think it's a very nice site too but I would get those photos of the gite on there asap.  People don't usually like to book until they can see exactly what they're getting.

Slightly aside from the actual website content, as a B&B owner, I thought your prices for a "non-chateau/manoir" type property were pretty steep; 55, 70 and 90 euros a night for two!!!!  The average B&B tends to be no more than a 40-70 range.  Of course, it's entirely up to you what you charge but you could be missing a good marketing opportunity.  Get them there this year for one night whilst en-route somewhere else and you may get them back next year in one of your new gites for a fortnight!!

[Montybird]

Hi St Amour,

Thank you for highlighting this.  I've been having a bit of a debate about these prices with moh. 

I think we really need to change the description from B&B to something else.  The reason the prices are a bit steep is because it's a little different to the normal B&B's.  Although it's contained within the main house, it is more like a self contained appartment. It has it's own entrance, there is a small bedroom with separate private sitting room (with TV etc), separate dining room, it's own bathroom with bath and shower and separate toilet .  The only thing it doesn't have is its own kitchen.  I guess we hashed it a bit on the website as we've had no interest to date but then again haven't really pushed it anywhere with regard to advertising.  We'll definately have to change it, but, to what I'm not sure.  Perhaps the 'self-contained appartment' idea might work to justify the price but, this still could be too much for people just looking for a place to crash out for a night or two.  We have a local Tourist Info just down the road here, I've been meaning to go there and ask about advertising it locally to generate some interest.  Perhaps you or other's have some idea's???

[sid]

I think the site looks fine.

On your travel page you haven't mentioned BMIbaby, they fly to Bordeaux from Manchester and Birmingham and are much more convenient for us folk from t'North !! That's assuming you accept cloth caps etc [:)]

Regards

Sid

[Coco]

I know what you're saying about your B&B room Montybird, and far be it from me to tell you what you should charge, but without cooking facilities it's still a B&B no matter how many private rooms you give them.  After all, what use is a dining room if they can't prepare a meal!!  Our guests have a separate entrance and living room from us with TV and video and we can also eat separately from them - although we don't because then it wouldn't be chambres d'hotes!  But ultimately, it's still a B&B.  Why don't you post of the B&B forum and ask opinions on there about price?  I may be way off the mark but I just know that I charge between 45 and 55 euros for a 2 person room and another lady I know in the area charges 60-65 euros a night and I get a lot more business.  And as I said, you could be missing a trick by gettting B&B guests that later come back for a longer stay in your gite.   Of course, the alternative would be to instal a kitchen corner in your dining room say and then class it as self-contained but then.... we could do that but don't particularly want people "doing self-contained" within our house.

[Montybird]

Thank you for your comments on the B&B part of our property St Amour, I really appreciate the feedback and will definately be changing the prices.  Also, thanks to Sid for reminding me about BMI Baby.