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ktuskey

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Mar 22, 2012
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Hi. I would like comments on our website. I created it and wanted to find out if I'm missing anything critical.
http://www.boisehillsidesuites.com
Thanks!
 
Well I see you used Karma. The guys give great support. Sorry...here goes. It looks like a do it yourself site..
  • Personally I don't like your availability widget on the sidebar. you have two separate images and it looks amateurish. You need to come up with one image and use it.
  • You clutter up the page with those other images..hot tub etc. they look like they are hanging in space.
  • I don't like the long list of bullets and get rid of ALL CAPS. I don't like that you show ALL the PAGES in the footer widget it drags the page down too far.
  • You can get a plugin to manage the pages shown, or I believe Karma has a widget that allows you to choose only the pages you want shown at the bottom. You don't have to show every page, just the main ones.Or, just use the sitemap template and put that on the bottom.
  • Put your booking / reservation search that is on the bottom of the page into the top widget area in your sidebar and have it on every page.
  • Put your contact information up in the bottom / footer widget area above SEARCH. It does not look good where it is in the footer area
  • You change fonts throughout your site. You must be consistent and use the same font. Same for text, same for headers, same for titles etc..you get what I mean.I would enlarge the font sizes a bit. Especially the widget titles. They are bold but don't look good.
Why don't you make GUEST Rooms a Null link and then have each room as a sub page. You have enough information to have a page for each room. I don't like that you have to scroll through all those Badges to get down to your rooms. They should take top priority
CLICK TO VIEW ADD ONS..I would make that a separate page and have it on your main navigation.
This is as far as i will go, others can comment on the rest. It still isn't ready for prime time in my opinion. Sorry.
 
I agree with everything that EmptyNest said.
  • GET RID OF THE ALL CAPS. IT'S NOT ATTRACTIVE OR USER FRIENDLY
  • The top header has alot of dead space. The menu bar links should be bigger.
  • Your Boise Attractions page is no fun at all. It's not inviting, it's too long and it's cluttered with stuff that's not an "Attraction". An online newspaper and an article are not attractions.
    • This list should be broken up into sections - Attractions (places people could actually go see), Area Information (maps, Idaho information), Helpful Links (Bronco's stuff, newspaper, article)
    • If two things are common, put them on the same line with both links:
      Downtown Boise (Map) (Website)
    • Is the word "External Link" necessary? Since everything is either an External Link or a PDF, I think if you just kept PDF next to those items your visitors would assume that the other is an external link. The additional text is unnecessary & unattractive.
  • The bottom footer list of pages is way too long. No one wants to scroll through that mess. If I were to land there for the first time, it would tell me that you did this page yourself. You should use your Site Map page to list all the pages on your site, not this footer.
  • When I click the "Check Availability" link in the footer, I have to them click two more times before I actually get to your Availability calendar and that's after hunting for it. Don't make it that hard for a visitor.
  • BOGUS page - the first bullet point is next to the picture (in the center margin of the page) and then the next two bullets are on the far left. You should center the bolded info vertically to the right of the picture, and put the bullet point list centered horizontally on the page below that picture/descripton section.
  • The "Gift Certificates" page should be more than a purchase page. You should put text in there about buying gift certificates, why someone would want to, the benefits, how your GC program works, maybe an image of how the certificate looks - do you send it in a special folder that is gift-able or do they just print out the receipt and that's it?
  • Policies: Smoking - You have the line "Smoking at the Inn could result...". Do you mean "Smoking in the Inn could result..."? Aren't they allowed to smoke outside?
  • At the very top right of your page, the links "Check Availability" and "Book Now" take you to the same place. The "Check Availability" link should take you to your online calendar. If a visitor clicks on that, they end up on your room page. They have to them scroll all the way down to the bottom to see that there's another link.
That's all I've got. I think you have alot of information that you want to present to the visitor, but it needs to be streamlined for a better experience.
 
Oh....and don't take these suggestions the wrong way. They really are great suggestions and they are trying to help you.
I also noticed something on your bookings you already have. Your suite that has the most bookings is your most expensive. That said, your other rooms have hardly any bookings at all. This is not good. My first thought is your pricing is not even for the value your giving. Your bookings, should be similar for all rooms. If they are not, you need to adjust them with either price or amenities. Your suites look very nice and you have a great property with a great location. The hot tub pic should be a highlight if its on your home page. Stage some pics, light some candles, have some flowers, and so on. You are on a good start. Keep up the good work!
 
KTuskey I like it, you have been working hard.
What I would change if it were me, right off the bat would be not to try to put everything on the home page. Make that page the invitation to go further into your site.
Example: You amenities list on the home page. Move it to the rooms page or make an AMENITIES page.
 
Yes, these suggestions are just to help you have a better website. After working on it so long yourself, sometimes things get muddled in the head and things don't stand out. You know how you've put together your site, so some things that might be obvious to you won't be obvious to someone who's coming there for the first time.
To be fair - we have a terrible website. I can't change it myself and the owner is hesitant to put the money into a new one. So, you can't use our site as an example of my taste, that's for sure! We're working on that, so some day everyone here will get the chance to pick our new one apart. And while the feedback will be purely constructive, the brutal honesty can sting. That's what friends are for
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Welcome back, Boise! Beautiful place....still.
I agree about using a consistent and larger font. Also, get rid of the picture widgets that are just out there floating in space...they're distracting.
I lost interest in scrolling down for all the bullet points - spread them out on other pages.
Make "BOOK NOW" stand out somewhere and have that repeat on every page.
Good work and good luck!
 
Even though this site is NOT a B &B site, I thought it would give you an idea of how Karma can look. This is a site I did a year ago. So there are things I would change now for sure, but ONLY if they want to pay me again.
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http://downtownluray.com/
Here's a page you might look at. It's not Karma but it will give you the set up for continuity. http://www.shadowmountainescape.com/butterfly/
 
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