Be gentle with me!!!!

[Samokov]

Hiya all, I have finished...ished my site and am asking for reviews, more so faults that I may rectify to help things run smoother. All comments welcome but plzzzzzzzz be gentle with me.

Nah forget that last comment give it to me straight from the hip


www.rilalodge.com

[Collectors-info]

Re: Be gentle with me!!!!

Hi, your off to a good start. There are few things that might help.
1. Would look better centring the pages. .
2. The font on the header is fine. But the same font on the buttons is not very clear.
3. It might be nice to have a calendar with available dates that you could update every time there is a booking. I see one of the other members of the forum was using this freebie. http://www.dateblocker.com/ (don’t know what is like?)
4. http://www.moxie-enter-prises.com/SEO-The-Basics.html would be a good read for you on the SE side of things. With placing things on your site for the SE’s to find. You can do damage as well as good for your rankings..
5. Might be nice to have the prices in EU & Sterling with a subject to exchange rate.

Good luck.

[Mouke]

Re: Be gentle with me!!!!

Hello,

Just had a look, im looking at it on a fairly slow broadband connection & the pictures dont seem to have time to load before moving onto the next one, consequently im only seeing about the top third of every picture & it is constantly saying

(1 item remaining) Downloading picture http/ etc in the page progress bar.

Thats on IE 6 I think, sorry not my computer!

Also have to agree about the font on the menu bars its not very clear, also they take about 3 seconds to change to the lime green colour when I hover cursor above them, I guess thats to do with IE trying to load the pictures all the time.

Good luck, Might see you next season...thinking about going to Bulgaria!

[micheleros]

Re: Be gentle with me!!!!

Hi Samokov,

I took a look at your site and it looks as if it is definitely coming together. I rent out holiday property and the few comments I would make are:

1. The term 'wet room' is not commonly used in Europe. I presume most of your market is in Europe? If so, then you would need to describe what you term as 'wet room'. Private en-suite with shower?....private ensuite with bath/shower? etc.

2. Your contact form: Do you only do 7 or 14 nights? You allow less or more than these numbers I would leave the value at zero here so the customers can fill in the number of nights they want to stay.

* Include a calendar. You can get an easy to use one at www.rentcalendar.com

* You need to put what your cancellation policy is....Is the deposit 'refundable' upto a certain time...is it pro-rated?

* Your payment method....'Details provided on request'.... It may be better to outline something like 'Full payment details are forwarded by return email'......or something of that nature. Also most accommodations take credit cards ...and advertise the fact that they do....rather than just say 'payments can be made by.......perhaps add at the front of that sentence...'For your security, payments can be made.....blah, blah.

Also maybe think about including a 'Guest Form' so that you can post testimonials on your site. Upload some photos of guest enjoying themselves at your B & B or on outings!

Sign up for Google Adwords.

Finally because your text is not black, I would consider enlarging your font from 10 to 11 or 12....easier to see.

Hope this helps.

Michele

[micheleros]

Re: Be gentle with me!!!!

By the way, get this little free tool:

http://www.ip2map.com/

It will show you where your visitors are coming from.

And also, take some outside photos of your B & B.

Regards,

Michele

[Samokov]

Re: Be gentle with me!!!!

Thanx you all lots for your comments, all taken onboard and now I'm off to have a look and see what goes where, as Arnie said "I'll be back". Once again thank you all

[micheleros]

Re: Be gentle with me!!!!

No problem Samokov,

anytime!

michele

[Samokov]

Re: Be gentle with me!!!!

Hi, your off to a good start. There are few things that might help.
1. Would look better centring the pages. .
2. The font on the header is fine. But the same font on the buttons is not very clear.
3. It might be nice to have a calendar with available dates that you could update every time there is a booking. I see one of the other members of the forum was using this freebie. http://www.dateblocker.com/ (don’t know what is like?)
4. http://www.moxie-enter-prises.com/SEO-The-Basics.html would be a good read for you on the SE side of things. With placing things on your site for the SE’s to find. You can do damage as well as good for your rankings..
5. Might be nice to have the prices in EU & Sterling with a subject to exchange rate.

Good luck.

Hi Chris thanx for your help, taken it all onboard and now gone away, done it all again with most of what you mention incorporated. The dateblocker calender will do me for now, it works fine but to link to sites you may be affiliated with is a little more tricky. Have to excuse my ignorance at the same time but what is the SE's?.

Once again thanx

Kenny

[Samokov]

Re: Be gentle with me!!!!

Hello,

Just had a look, im looking at it on a fairly slow broadband connection & the pictures dont seem to have time to load before moving onto the next one, consequently im only seeing about the top third of every picture & it is constantly saying

(1 item remaining) Downloading picture http/ etc in the page progress bar.

Thats on IE 6 I think, sorry not my computer!

Also have to agree about the font on the menu bars its not very clear, also they take about 3 seconds to change to the lime green colour when I hover cursor above them, I guess thats to do with IE trying to load the pictures all the time.

Good luck, Might see you next season...thinking about going to Bulgaria!

Hiya Mouke, I hope the new layout works better on your pc now. I too hope to see you in the mountains of Bulgaria next season, we hope to be up and running for the start of the winter season but at the same time theres loads to do and see all year round.

Keep in touch


Kenny

[Samokov]

Re: Be gentle with me!!!!

Hi Samokov,

I took a look at your site and it looks as if it is definitely coming together. I rent out holiday property and the few comments I would make are:

1. The term 'wet room' is not commonly used in Europe. I presume most of your market is in Europe? If so, then you would need to describe what you term as 'wet room'. Private en-suite with shower?....private ensuite with bath/shower? etc.

2. Your contact form: Do you only do 7 or 14 nights? You allow less or more than these numbers I would leave the value at zero here so the customers can fill in the number of nights they want to stay.

* Include a calendar. You can get an easy to use one at www.rentcalendar.com

* You need to put what your cancellation policy is....Is the deposit 'refundable' upto a certain time...is it pro-rated?

* Your payment method....'Details provided on request'.... It may be better to outline something like 'Full payment details are forwarded by return email'......or something of that nature. Also most accommodations take credit cards ...and advertise the fact that they do....rather than just say 'payments can be made by.......perhaps add at the front of that sentence...'For your security, payments can be made.....blah, blah.

Also maybe think about including a 'Guest Form' so that you can post testimonials on your site. Upload some photos of guest enjoying themselves at your B & B or on outings!

Sign up for Google Adwords.

Finally because your text is not black, I would consider enlarging your font from 10 to 11 or 12....easier to see.

Hope this helps.

Michele

Now Michele, with you being involved in the tourist industry yourself your comments were very much appreciated too, they will take a little more time to impliment on site but be assured I am working on it as we speak I will for sure take a good look at the things you have mentioned and make a few more changes to meet with your approval

Thanx a bunch

Kenny

[Collectors-info]

Re: Be gentle with me!!!!

Hi, looking loads better & a lot clearer now. One little thing that someone else might be able to confer, is the images on the rooms page don’t popup with fire fox. If this is a problem, you might be able to use the light box in BV as the images are quite small & should work fine.

Good luck.

[Samokov]

Re: Be gentle with me!!!!

Thanx for that Chris will give it a go and see how it turns out

Hi, looking loads better & a lot clearer now. One little thing that someone else might be able to confer, is the images on the rooms page don’t popup with fire fox. If this is a problem, you might be able to use the light box in BV as the images are quite small & should work fine.

Good luck.

[micheleros]

Re: Be gentle with me!!!!

Samakov,

The site is looking really well....well done!

Michele

[choco777]

Re: Be gentle with me!!!!

Site looks great and like the colors very much, everything loaded immediately. Liked your Gallery, very nice photography. Chris has given a lot of great advise, the only thing that takes away from the looks of the page, which you have as index in your nav buttons, is the banners below the nav buttons, don't know why just seems to take away from the flow or is just distracting from the neatness with the addition of the many colors in the banners, just me.

[micheleros]

Re: Be gentle with me!!!!

Samokov,

SE is Search Engine. SEO is Search Engine Optimisation. I think Collector's Info posted the link a bit further up. Here it is again anyway.

http://www.moxie-enter-prises.com/SEO-The-Basics.html

Michele