Pictures on your home Page

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Joey Camb

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Hello I am trying to decide which rooms to put on the home page of my web site. I am worried if I put pictures of my nicest room and they get a smaller one then they will be disapointed etc or if I put a smaller one on they won't book because they will think they are all that size. etc Should I put a selection on the home page? I would point out I have a photo page with a picture of every room on already this would be in addition to that.
 
Too much information on a home page is a turn off. If you put one of your really nice rooms on the home page..that is enough...put them on your rooms page and let people go there. YOur home page serves as the "front door" to your site..not the entire site. Too many people put everything on the home page...don't do it.
 
Try to make the landing page/first page clean & intriguing. Like a good book, make them want to turn the page.
BBBBoB
 
When I update my site at the start of summer, I put a couple of smaller "teaser" photos of the interior below the main exterior photos, and it has resulted in far less "bouncing".
 
Yes a clean, uncluttered home page is the best but, I agree with LB that maybe a partial picture of one of your rooms may be the invite they need to venture further. Maybe a close up view of a nice plush bed - or partial bed with a book or rose depending on how romantic you want it, should do the trick. No full size room of either.
 
What do they see as they come through the door? Workshops I have attended say looking through a door or a window. Is your common area attractive, light, and bright? Can you take a photo from the doorway with the doorway the frame of the photo? Show the entry door slightly open and then invite them in to the lobby......? Just a thought if you are reluctant to show a room for the stated reasons.
 
Do some creative cropping and make sure text content comes before the "fold" (content shown without scrolling then the user can scroll to keep reading) . For this site, http://www.capecharleshouse.com/ we used the opening as the House front porch and then scrolling highlighting around the house and rooms. It has the "ooh ahh" effect but not overwhelming.
 
Do some creative cropping and make sure text content comes before the "fold" (content shown without scrolling then the user can scroll to keep reading) . For this site, http://www.capecharleshouse.com/ we used the opening as the House front porch and then scrolling highlighting around the house and rooms. It has the "ooh ahh" effect but not overwhelming..
Interesting VBWebsites.
The first image on the header of cape charles make me feel like I am hunched over or ducking or peeking out from a box. (most of the header images on that slide show do actually) but that one is first and most confining.
vs say this one
or this one
 
Good example, The only issue i have with the larger images you show is at a lower esolution like 1024x768 which unfortunately is the most popular accoring to analytics, the text content falls beneath the fold. I would be interested to know the bounce rate of those sites you referenced. CC house Bounce Rate is a 20% which as you know is fantastic!!! Through our trials over the years, a smaller / slimmed image as we have at cc house ensures less bounce.
 
Do some creative cropping and make sure text content comes before the "fold" (content shown without scrolling then the user can scroll to keep reading) . For this site, http://www.capecharleshouse.com/ we used the opening as the House front porch and then scrolling highlighting around the house and rooms. It has the "ooh ahh" effect but not overwhelming..
Interesting VBWebsites.
The first image on the header of cape charles make me feel like I am hunched over or ducking or peeking out from a box. (most of the header images on that slide show do actually) but that one is first and most confining.
vs say this one
or this one
.
I agree....those skinny images look distorted to me somehow.
 
Photographer is coming back at some point when the grass is nice and pretty to get a better main house picture though. I will play with the sizing then to try and show more. Thanks for the thoughts..
 
Seeing half a picture doesn't do it for me.
I guess I am also missing the focal point of those images. What is it we are supposed to be seeing? A hedge? A plant stand with the plant on the floor beside the stand in the room? A window a/c unit with trash in the wastebasket nearby?
Sorry dude, you need to do some more work on those images. Size matters, sure, but so does the visual aspect of the images. Header images need to be the better of the room pix.
 
Joey, dude, dont hold back.. tell me how you really feel! :)
They have some new outdoor images being shot soon and I will play with design.. As far as AC units, well... i just develop websites, can't help that a window unit is there. I imagine it's pretty hard for a photographer to take pictures of a small room. Their Julia WIlkins Room is larger, thus seemed to turn out better. From a potential visitors standpoint, what is more important the bed or the windows / views? How would your order the importance from say 1 to 10 for a visitor?
 
You asked us, you gave us the link and mentioned "creative cropping." :) Just sharing from a visitor looking in on that website. No offense to the inn or the a/c units. Just mentioned what I see when I see the header that you are showing us.
 
Do some creative cropping and make sure text content comes before the "fold" (content shown without scrolling then the user can scroll to keep reading) . For this site, http://www.capecharleshouse.com/ we used the opening as the House front porch and then scrolling highlighting around the house and rooms. It has the "ooh ahh" effect but not overwhelming..
If the link bar were moved down (or up) out of the slide show it might make the whole picture look better. One thing that struck me was it appears that in one of the photos the trash can is full and there is stuff on the floor. That photo should just be taken out. (Desk in photo, A/C in window, blue comforter.) Even if that is NOT what the case is, that's what I saw. Overflowing trash can with something on the floor.
 
We don't put pictures of any of our rooms on our home page. There's our logo on one side at the top, and a banner ad advertising some special we're running that clicks through to more information and a link to our booking engine.
Sometimes we have a photo link to a new series of pictures in our photo gallery. There is, of course, a clear link to our Rooms & Reservations page, with multiple images of each of our rooms.
Currently, we have a video I shot of hummingbirds fighting over the feeder featured on our front page.
When I was designing our website, before I wrote a line of code, I visited hundreds of B&B websites, and I hated almost all of them. They were invariably too pretty, but much too difficult to discover basic information like what the rooms looked like and how much they cost.
Also, there was almost always too much information on any given page. I learned a long time ago that people approach new websites like explorers: they want to be actively engaged in finding stuff. So I give them lots of stuff to click on.
They were also almost invariably misleading. Gushing market-speak language. Over-promising when it came to amenities. Artfully-described mediocre meals. When we started to write the copy for our website, we made a deliberate decision to describe our rooms honestly, telling their blemishes as well as their virtues. It has stood us in good stead. We rarely have a guest who is disappointed by a room--even though we're more of the funky ski-lodge than the chintz 'n' lace Victorian antiques sort of place. We have had guests tell us that we're better than one of our competitors who aim for the high-end crowd.
I suspect that our website design has been a filter to market us to people who are looking for what we have to offer; people who want high-end don't choose to stay with us.
The one thing we don't skimp on is meals: we always surprise and we always exceed expectations. That is one area where returning guests have come to expect exceptional excellence.
 
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