Hello all, just completed this site for a client. It's a vacation rental information piece for a rental in SC.

Would love any tips and suggestions to clean up the site, but of course, I think it looks great.

Now, one thing I haven't completed is updated meta description tags and polished the keywords, but outside of that, the site is complete and I'd love everyone's feedback. Don't hold back.

http://www.seabrook-island-rentals.com

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Neat and tidy.

But the bottom of the pages seems unfinished. Is there a plural of accommodation? In British English there is not - it is an uncountable like advice.

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Paul Bilton design services ~ Sites not Sights

Hey Paul. Thanks for the feedback. I agree that the bottoms of the pages are "unfinished". I felt that way the whole time, problem is that these guys don't have a final addy and phone or company information on this property yet. I haven't figured out what to put down there to square the pages off.

As for "Accomodations", yes there is a plural here in the states. Why do you ask?

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I would improve the contrast between navigational text and background (blue on blue doesn't do it)

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http://www.horyn.com

Very nice site! I also have a vacation rental, in a different state ;) so I might be able to offer some input as an owner as well as a customer.

They need more pictures of the inside. It is usually recommended to have photos of every room, and the bedrooms are particularly important.

Also, is it really that dark in there? Frankly, it looks a little gloomy. They might want to either brighten the place up (if it's really like that) or correct the photos.

While you don't want large photos to load up, I think that interested renters like to be able to click on a photo and see it larger.

Vary the text. When most of the sentences start with "such and such has...", it gets a little boring. You got to build some excitement to attract people.

Clicking on the home page picture that shows the outside of the house sends you to the accomodations page. I don't if that's intentional, but it's not what I expected.

On the page http://www.seabrook-island-rentals.c...ies/index.html, I would have captions describing the pictures. I'm not familiar with the area, and probably most renters are not either. I know you have the alt tags for the pics, but not everybody will know to hold their mouse over the pics. And I would have more details such as, say for the beach picture, the name of the beach, how large it is, how smooth the sand is, etc. You want to make people want to be there.

On the same page, they talk about fre membership to some club. It doesn't say which club, why it is a good club, nothing. Details are important.

Similar comments for http://www.seabrook-island-rentals.c...nfo/index.html.

As for the page not looking like it's finished at the bottom, possibly if you had a horizontal line (like the vertical ones on the sides), would make it look finished? I'm not well versed in coding, maybe that your table border? Or maybe if you had a small footer with their contact info (whatever they have for now), and the copyright, maybe that would just kind of indicate that this is the bottom of the page?

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Agnes Smith Keys Home Furnishings, Inc. Tropical Vacation Rentals
Professional Upholstery Group

Forgot to say, although I'm sure you've already told them, but they need some links/a links page.

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Agnes Smith Keys Home Furnishings, Inc. Tropical Vacation Rentals
Professional Upholstery Group

Just a follow up. On the photos page, we do have photos of each room, and the area. When you roll a mouse over a photo, you get the larger one on the right. I'm not sure how many more photos I should show. All bedrooms, the kitchen, the sitting room, and the living room are shown, only other "rooms" we could show would be the bathrooms and the garage and perhaps the elevator. I'll take a peek and see if I can lighten up the photos, but I didn't think they looked that dark.

Regaring the club, this area is a little unique, most people that know Seabrook Island, know the club, but there are links to the club on the homepage. I can add it into the areas that discuss the local info / free club membership, but we weren't hunting for too many links out.

I'm not sure what you mean by a "links" page. What should I be linking to? Can you give me more info on this?

I didn't write the descriptions on the site, and honestly haven't even read them. I was asked to do the site and was provided content for the pages. I'll walk through and see if I can "fluff it up". Thanks for the ideas.

Keep the help coming folks, want to polish this for the client.

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Would love any tips and suggestions to clean up the site, but of course, I think it looks great.

I agree that it is a lovely site. Kudos!

BUT++++++ accommodations is spelled wrong throughout the entire site++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

However, might I suggest a few content language changes?
==This new, beautiful, immaculate residence will make your vacation stay everything you hope for.

Hoping leaves too much to chance. I don't think "everything you hope for" is a realistic selling phrase to the income range you are targeting. Perhaps something more like 'everything you knew it would be... or "This new, beautiful, immaculate residence will enhance every moment of your vacation stay with us."

The correct spelling of accommodations has two c's and two m's. Might want to correct your spelling error. But the whole "spring break with a keg of beer "Check out the accommodations" is too pedestrian. Upgrade the request from "Check out" to something a tad bit more elegant. Maybe even something as simple as "View photos of accommodations"

You need to really differentiate the two Resources sections. It is confusing because one reads as a repeat of the other. Also, this sentence conjures an image of death to me:
"We've put together these resources to help you get ready for your time away from life."
Why would you want to get away from life? You want to die?
Maybe "to help you get ready to relax and enjoy yourself while .............."

Also what is POA? If you have room, you might want to spell it out. I don't know what it is and might overlook potential significance.

Local Attractions - you're trying to get people to Seabrook Island and then you're encouraging them to drive off and a few miles away. Maybe position it under a heading of Sightseeing close to Seabrook Island.

Also, how do you get to Seabrook Island? How long is the causeway / bridge? Where do you access it? How far is this facility from the entrance to the Island? Is the entire Island a gated community or just the area of this facility?

Maybe pepper the off Seabrook Island attractions with more sizzle:
magnificent views and witness the memorable southern culture and legendary gentle way of life which makes vacationing in this region.........."

You mention family fun but do not mention children being welcome as guests. What about pets?

Spell out SC (you're not mailing a letter, you're describing a region: Visit Charleston, South Carolina
same thing for GA:
Visit Savannah, Georgia

You need to lose the apostrophe and make what's simply what
Now checkout what's to do on the Island.
Now explore what to do on Seabrook Island

On the availability calendar you might provide a legend of what symbolizes what - red = available, etc.

Also, you might want to change small slice to special slice:
If you are interested in visiting our small slice of heaven, feel free to email us or call us. Let us know you found us through our web site.

Hope this helps.

Cheryl C. Cigan
Known Books
www.known.com

Just a bookseller who loves the words :)

You're right, I missed the Photo page completely. Those are great! Now that I have seen that page, I'll take it back, you have enough photos :).

It could just be me. I'm in FL where the light is blinding and most places have white or pastel walls, so my perspective may be off.

Right, and I don't know the area. The thing is not everybody knows this area. I get a lot of people who have never been to my area, and want to try something new. I know it's hard to put oneself in a stranger's shoes. I get stuck too. I mean, I'm in the Keys, and have been here a long time, so it all seems obvious to me. As an example, I get people asking if there is somewhere nearby that they can rent a boat... well, just about anywhere along the islands, there are many boat rentals. Seems to me that, any island that is tourist oriented will have boat rentals, but it's not so obvious to people who have never been down here.

You might want to get some input from those here who know their stuff about marketing a website, SEO and SEM, as I'm not a pro at all. But my understanding is that, in order to get good ranking in the search engines, you will need quite a few links. Related links in particular. I don't know that you have to have a links page per se, but, to me, that's kind of the easiest way to organize them and not get your other pages cluttered with link graphics or text links.

I don't know if this helps you and your client at all. I saw that it was a rental site, and since I've been doing vacation rentals for 5 years, I thought I'd give you a non-technical critique. My sites are not anywhere as nicely done as this one, as I just did them myself, but I have had lots of bookings.

I hope others will jump in, and we can both learn more :).

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Agnes Smith Keys Home Furnishings, Inc. Tropical Vacation Rentals
Professional Upholstery Group

Reading Cheryl's post, reminded of something else that they might want to do.

How about a link to a map? I used to have a Yahoo map, then I switched to a beautiful Google map (the hybrid between the sattelite and standar map). Of course, now Yahoo has come out with a better map lol!

I know you didn't write the text, and I'm not sure of the scope of your contract. If you're just creating the website, then it's up to them. Or you could use that as a means to further assist your clients... for a few more $$ ;).

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Agnes Smith Keys Home Furnishings, Inc. Tropical Vacation Rentals
Professional Upholstery Group

Known & A. Smith:

Thanks for the notes on Grammar. As I shared earlier, I didn't write the content, and of course, made the small mistake of not reading or editing. I threw this site up in a day, so...I guess it shows.

I agree on the "check out", and I'll have to think of something more elegant. Perhaps, Tour Our Home, or something like that? Thoughts?

Regarding the island and the local info. Seabrook Island is a very small, private, gated area. The people looking to vacation here will probably know the area, at least, that's who we're mostly aiming this at. It's not an area like Daytona or Miami with a lot to do, so the Island is mainly the beach, the club and houses. I'm not sure how to position the local activities any differently.

Regarding location and how to access, I suppose we could add a map, but we're not interested in showing where the house is on the Island, it's fairly exclusive and isn't actually aimed at "tourists". It's aimed at a higher end clientelle so I presume we can show where the Island is in South Carolina, but don't want to give directions to the house on the site.

Regarding the kids stuff, there is references to the Kids club in the site, and there is a photo of the "kids" club as well in the photos section. I presume we could try and make these types of things stand out.

Regarding Boat Rentals, under local attractions we mention details on Bohicket Marina with references to the rentals there as well. On the island, everything is done through the club.

Regarding a "links page". I don't think a page with a ton of outbound links will help with SEO. As an SEO specialist, I think that inbound links are much more important. As is the domain name.

I'll have to work through and polish some of the content, as it needs a little buffing as you suggest. I think a small map of where we are in relation to Charleston and Savannah might be a good idea.

So many great comments, I hope I responded to all of them. Regarding my "contract" with these guys. This is actually a larger client of mine that asked me to do this site as a side piece to our current work. We actually exchanged the site for a week each year at the house, so not a "contract" in place per say. Honestly, I've only spent about 6 hours max on this site.

Let me know if I missed something, or if there are more suggestions.

Oh yeah, what did you mean by seperate the "resource" sections? Also, POA stands for Property Owners Association and it's tough to just put it in links and such.

Thanks for all the great feedback guys. Keep it coming.

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Please, above and beyond all else, have them correct the spelling of

accommodations

above is correct

two c's, two m's

Again, I did not know the content was given to you. Still, you will impress your client with all your new suggestions. Keep it upscale. Get rid of the lingo jingo stuff.

Good luck!

Cheryl C. Cigan
Known Books
www.known.com

Just a bookseller who loves the words

Really? Wow, I am impressed!!! Obviously, you know your stuff!

On the market that you aim to reach, I understand fully. I didn't know if this was a new rental or an established one. Mine's in a gated community too, but not an upscale one. And, ok, I'll admit, I hate to pass up a chance to have more prospects ;).

Map: yes, maybe just a general map. Or maybe the clients won't want it at all. Hey, guess what? You made me look LOL! I actually pulled it up on the net :).

Oh then, you know what you are doing. As I said before, I'm not a pro :).

Pretty cool! Let me know if they need a drapery workroom :).

PS: Re-reading my posts, I've got to apologise for having so many typos. Must be the keyboard, it's always the keyboard :)).

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Agnes Smith Keys Home Furnishings, Inc. Tropical Vacation Rentals
Professional Upholstery Group

I think the webpage serves the purpose - to give me information about the property for a possible rental. Pages looks fine - nice work to the extent of doing the pages and not the marketing aspect.
You might suggest to the client a few things that would help me (any prospect) consider this rental: Some photos of the view from the porch and the decks, the bathrooms, another 1 or 2 of the outside of the property. How far is the beach? Do I need sheets, towels, forks, knives, plates, etc. Housekeeping schedule if any. Am I renting direct from the owner or a rental office. Either way a contact name would be nice. Add the phone #, email and a short call to action message (whats my incentive to rent this property) on the rates page.

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Rick - Professional pool table felt and billiard supplies.
The Pool Table Felt Pros

Known: Yeah, I will make the spelling changes today, and try and polish up the flow of the language on the site.

A. Smith: What is a drapery room? Pardon the ignorance.

Dartman: I agree on the call to action, and I think you make a good point of "what is the tenant responsible for" type of idea. I think these are all great ideas and I'll condense them, instead of sending them to this board, and have them review. As I shared, the client is a current business client of mine who needed this site done.

This has been some of the best feedback I've gotten on a site to date. Thanks all.

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A drapery workroom is where they make custom draperies. Draperies that one buys in a store, already made, are made in factories. Workrooms on the other hand, tend to make made-to-measure draperies and other window treatments. They are usually small businesses.

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Agnes Smith Keys Home Furnishings, Inc. Tropical Vacation Rentals
Professional Upholstery Group

I get it now, you're offering to make custom drapes. I see. I'm a little slow sometimes.

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np, I'm a little slow most of the time ;).

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Agnes Smith Keys Home Furnishings, Inc. Tropical Vacation Rentals
Professional Upholstery Group

Hi weslinda

Small world isn't it? I am i currently developing a website for a 4 bedroomed villa in Florida.

And I would love to know where you got your calendar function from. Please would you be so kind to PM me the info and I would be very grateful.

Your site looks good. The only things I noticed (and it has been mentioned a couple of times is the typo for accommodation.

HTH

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Deb Harrison
DVH Design
Essex Web Design

Okay...well Debbie, you're not going to like my answer on the calendar. I just got sick of looking for a "calendar" so I laid that one out using css and setup a different day "layout" for rented. My client is simply going to email me when weeks get rented and I'll update the calendar. It'll take two seconds and it was a much easier solution versus anything else that was on the market.

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Just a couple of observations:

It looks good, comes up quick (dialup) and all the links work so the basics are all there.

The spelling off acc..... probably varies between countries. Here in Australia the dictionary says 2cs 2ms.

Just a question, I looked at the html and saw examples of /> such as
and also in meta description. Is this some new html because I always thought these tags would just be
.

When I come to this site the idea of a vacation looks good but I have no idea where it is, but could probaly find if I kept looking. I am filthy rich and want to fly there tomorrow. What about including a 100 pixel map of the country and a location dot just to let me know where you are.

Regards.

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Love Listings & Laptops www.nevboyle.com

I know that it is more elegant to develop your own calendar. However, as a vacation rental owner, I opted to use a boiler plate one, from rentors.org.
The reason is that, when your clients decide to list their rental in the specialized directories, most of them will automatically hook up to that one. Otherwise, you end up with a bunch of inquiries for dates that are already booked, and that's just a waste of time.

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Agnes Smith Keys Home Furnishings, Inc. Tropical Vacation Rentals
Professional Upholstery Group

Hiya

lovely site..ver5y neat
my only problem with it, is that the font colour is too light/faded for me. i found it a bit difficult to read.


other than than, good job:)

T

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www.womenxtra.co.uk
Join our new community and take part in the discussions!

Well folks, I've done a bit of tweaking and our owners have provided some new content, so I'll present to you the updated and fresher site. Please kick the tires and let me know if I've missed much else. I'm so happy to see all the great feedback, and it's really helped in fine tuning the site. Plus, the client likes it a ton, and of course, that means the most to me.

www.seabrook-island-rentals.com

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I think that you have a winner there! Beautiful work! Slap in a footer with the copyright and with your link and they're all set. Glad you talked them into sprucing up the text. Happy customers are our rewards :)!

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Agnes Smith Keys Home Furnishings, Inc. Tropical Vacation Rentals
Professional Upholstery Group

Well, I don't do the links to me, but I think they are quite happy with the site. I really think it flows well for them, and hopefully they'll be able to book the rental tons.

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