www.simplelets.co.uk - rental house listings site.

TheFunHut · #1 (**permalink**) 08-01-2005, 10:37 AM

Hi guys,

A new project I just launched in an effort to catch up with everyone else and learn .net.

It's a free service for landlords to advertise properties they have available to rent.

What do you all think?

How could the design be better - what about functionality?

(I know its probably tough to tell with so few properties listed at the moment, but anything I can make better is positive)

Thanks,

Paul

qwan · #2 (**permalink**) 08-03-2005, 01:54 PM

I am just reviewing the design and feel of the site.The site is very nice and simple, but I think you should work on the logo because it looks very common. It looks like one of those sample logos in templates. The main thing what i want you to change is the top banner the empty blue space should have an image that screams what your site is all about. I would suggest putting some good property photos there or maybe a lighter theme as in a closeup of the "property" section of an old crumpled newpaper with a the best ad suggesting all the good facilities and a very good price and a prime locatlity based on the target audience of you site circled in red. I think the paper thing would go well with the pale and simple colour theme of your site( i gotta charge you for the idea ;) )

The side blue background doesnt stretch all the way down in other pages of the site you should fix that.
I think the site is still in the infant stages.
I couldnt comment on the coding part as i am not a good coder, sorry.

dburdon · #3 (**permalink**) 08-03-2005, 07:52 PM

Fun,

isn't it a bit early to have the Google Adsense connection? I would suggest you need to build some sort of brand franchise before you go leveraging it with advertising.

Steve W · #4 (**permalink**) 08-03-2005, 08:10 PM

Hi

Nav broken in Apple Safari - disappears under search section - is there anything above 'Register' - if not, just drop the nav 50px or so.

Cheers
Steve

Paul B · #5 (**permalink**) 08-04-2005, 02:27 AM

Design wise it's a little uninspiring. The edges of the curves are rough and you seem to have simply given up at the bottom, which looks like something is missing.

The logo is plain and the banner is crying out for an image of property(ies)

The top half of the menu is lost completely in Firefox. The site doesn't fit 800 pixels width resolution.

In principle the site idea is sound - though there must be plenty of others in this market. But to be successful you will need a substantial publicity budget to get the ball rolling and some advertisers and visitors...

pagetta · #6 (**permalink**) 08-04-2005, 04:59 AM

Nice look to the site overall - as someone said its not 'inspiring', but not all website design should be - this site needs to be polished and show professionalism and look trustworthy, which I would say it is well on the way to doing.

I think the logo is fine - having being a student for 4 years in the UK I have looked on line countless times for properties, and have seen much worse, in way of design and functionality (often both!).

I think the name and home page instantly tell you what the site is, and I would not agree that you need property pictures to anchor your identity as a lettings site. I do think though that you could maybe squish the top text a little and move up your 'newest houses' section so that it is well above the page break. Have your best value properties here in 3 DIFFERENT locations. I am speaking here from my experience of what I personally would look for when on a lettings site.

In my opinion RightMove is one of the best and their design is pretty simple and un-inspiring but their functionality is great.

I realise the site is in its early days, but I feel that your functionality is where you fall down unfortuantely. I tried 3 or 4 searches which returned nothing. If I was looking for a flat I would give up and not return at this point.

Can you add something so that if there are no flats to meet the exact requirements, it shows something similiar? Or if the search returns no results display an email form where they can send you exaclty what they're after and if a suitable property becomes available you can email them?

This way even if you do not have what the person wants you can stay in touch with them in future.

Also you say you have lets all over the UK but infact you have limited locations for your properties. Again maybe offer some information or enquiry section for those who don't live in the 3 areas you currently provide a service to (very random places by the way and very far apart - how did that come about?!)

I agree the curved corners need to be neatened and the blue bar needs to extend to the bottom of each page, but otherwise the design works well for me.

It is true that there's a lot of competition for sites like this so make sure you offer users as much as possible.

good luck!

Paul B · #7 (**permalink**) 08-04-2005, 08:52 AM

Design wise it's a little uninspiring. The edges of the curves are rough and you seem to have simply given up at the bottom, which looks like something is missing.

The logo is plain and the banner is crying out for an image of property(ies)

The top half of the menu is lost completely in Firefox. The site doesn't fit 800 pixels width resolution.

In principle the site idea is sound - though there must be plenty of others in this market. But to be successful you will need a substantial publicity budget to get the ball rolling and some advertisers and visitors...

webhost1 · #8 (**permalink**) 08-04-2005, 10:47 PM

You might have you logo link back to the main page on all of your pages.

You might want to clean up your code. I see some things in it that do nothing. You can do this in notepad/text editor.

TheFunHut · #9 (**permalink**) 08-05-2005, 08:06 AM

Thanks a lot for all the feedback!

Some really good pointers here. I have taken a look at the logo and it is more housey now - getting there but not quite right yet.

pagetta: I think you're right about the functionality being key - will look at adding your email a house if no results idea soon.

The houses are in random places as these are the landlords who have found the service so far - if a house is added in Bradford, West Yorkshire will be added to the search drop down box...

EDIT - also looking at the firefox thing. How frustrating is css!!!

I can see how this is confusing at the moment, butI am hoping as the database fill upd it will be more obvious.

As more houses are added I am also going to add a directory style way of navigating to the houses - good for users and excellent for in-site linking.

any more...

TheFunHut · #10 (**permalink**) 08-11-2005, 09:53 AM

Hi people.

I've addressed some of the issues on here. Could some one check my site in apple safari, and see if the menu is ok now.

I just checked to see if the browser is IE, and if it is, move the menu up to where it should be. A bit of a hack but i think it works for most browsers.

thanks,

Paul

Steve W · #11 (**permalink**) 08-11-2005, 03:57 PM

Hi FunHut

Nav now a-ok in Safari :)

Steve

loseriam · #12 (**permalink**) 08-12-2005, 11:46 AM

I think your site needs more homes to look at. Try giving it out for free until you get more on there and then start to charge. My own opinion!
Kevin

TheFunHut · #13 (**permalink**) 08-12-2005, 02:45 PM

Cheers steve!

loseriam: The site is completely free for landlords to advertise. It's interesting if that is not coming across very well.

I think I'm gonna add a little flash banner ad under the menu advertising for landlords to sign up, and pointing out that it's free. - any other ideas?

can't wait for the directory to fill up a bit so as I can see my search algo in action...

tell your landlords people!

Any other suggesations or comments would be great

webhost1 · #14 (**permalink**) 08-14-2005, 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheFunHut

I think I'm gonna add a little flash banner ad under the menu advertising for landlords to sign up, and pointing out that it's free. - any other ideas?

Forget the flash and just use text.

Steve W · #15 (**permalink**) 08-26-2005, 08:46 PM

Why forget the flash? Is that because of SEO?

I think the problem is that it's not immediately obvious that letting agents can sign up for free, so a simple flash banner could highlight that - not everything on sites has to be there for SEO, does it?

webhost1 · #16 (**permalink**) 08-31-2005, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve W

Why forget the flash? Is that because of SEO?

I think the problem is that it's not immediately obvious that letting agents can sign up for free, so a simple flash banner could highlight that - not everything on sites has to be there for SEO, does it?

I think the flash is a distraction to the site. If done right however it should not. Anything that is moving on a site tends to have one look more at that than the rest of the site. The bottom line is if a site wants to put flash on it, than do it. Does not matter what is said than.