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You have a beautiful place and there is nothing wrong with your website. It shows very well and is easy not navigate and that is all you need. Save your money - in my opinion there is no need to spend $7000 or anywere close to that. As the time goes you can always make some improvements - now you just concentrate on doing good business. Good luck and all the best..
April said:
You have a beautiful place and there is nothing wrong with your website. It shows very well and is easy not navigate and that is all you need. Save your money - in my opinion there is no need to spend $7000 or anywere close to that. As the time goes you can always make some improvements - now you just concentrate on doing good business. Good luck and all the best.
April, I am not being snarky but I do have to ask this since you see no reason to spend money on a professional web site as has been suggested by INNKEEPERS who have gone from did my own to getting it done and attesting to the INCREASE in business and by people who actually DESIGN web site and create them but have not even suggested to be hired - mainly because they do not want to do this one. The question is this - do you have an inn with a web site and if so how much traffic and bookings does it bring you? I have seen this group give actuall coding to fix problems, take their valuable time to analyze a web site problem and make suggestions to fix the problem - all without compensation.
This to any lurking newbies: The innkeepers on this Forum, WHEN ASKED, will give blunt advice. Sometimes conflicting, but with explanations of why it is their opinion. They (and I) want any B & B to present the best face possible to the world and be the best they can be as innkeepers because each of us is a reflection on the entire industry.
If a guest stays at a hellhole hotel or motel, he will turn around and go to another hotel or motel and not even think about it. However, if said guest stays at a B & B that HE considers less than what it should be, ALL B & Bs are considered a no go. THAT is why it is so important to be the best possible and why we take the time to try to help a newbie and each other when something comes up that we ask about.
MY web site was designed by an excellent B & B designer but I was doing the photography. I did not hesitate - I posted my photos here to be shredded so I would have the best possible on my site. I took and retook until I was told they were OK (or as good as I was going to get). On techie issues, I shut my mouth because I know NOTHING - I leave it to the experts and the experts have taken the time to speak.
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You have a beautiful place and there is nothing wrong with your website. It shows very well and is easy not navigate and that is all you need. Save your money - in my opinion there is no need to spend $7000 or anywere close to that. As the time goes you can always make some improvements - now you just concentrate on doing good business. Good luck and all the best..
There was a b&b that opened 1/2 hour from me. The website was a self-made one and the innkeepers here gave a lot of input, but this innkeeper didn't listen. That b&b is now closed because low and behold, she didn't have enough business. Her property was beautiful, in a beautiful location and in a tourist area. It just doesn't matter that you have a decent website. If it's not built with the right SEO/ internet marketing who the heck is going to find it online. Especially now, with the decline of b&b directories and Google organic listings out producing all the directories put together, an effective website can make or break a business.
 
Keith...that photo is fantastic! I would take it out of the slideshow & make it your header photo on your home page. Draw them in with the unique architecture of your place!
 
Keith, forgot to add - take some photos ASAP of what YOUR breakfast basket will look like & how you'll present it to your guests so that you can get it on your breakfast page. If you can show it set up on the table in your guest room, that would be great, too. The photo that you have now of cheese & crackers (?) is not what folks will expect when they get there. Breakfast IS the other "B" in B&B!
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Better??.
You're definitely getting there....
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You'll continue to tweak your site, I'm sure.
I also agree with some of the others that you don't need to apologize for what you're offering for breakfast on your breakfast page, just explain what you are offering and make it sound fantastic!
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Better??.
Better. Though I still don't know why you want the "TOUR of Grounds" and AMenties on the home page and now with all those icons. I thought I could click on something on your tour of grounds and it would take me somewhere....it didn't...misleading.
Why is your ABout page, the home page??? http://www.boisehillsidesuites.com/about/ The home page should be http://www.boisehillsidesuites.com
Don't like the hot tub photo. I think you should narrow down the slide show to no more than 4 slides.
 
Better??.
Better. Though I still don't know why you want the "TOUR of Grounds" and AMenties on the home page and now with all those icons. I thought I could click on something on your tour of grounds and it would take me somewhere....it didn't...misleading.
Why is your ABout page, the home page??? http://www.boisehillsidesuites.com/about/ The home page should be http://www.boisehillsidesuites.com
Don't like the hot tub photo. I think you should narrow down the slide show to no more than 4 slides.
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The about page issue is fixed. Had a hard crash that took 4-5 hours to recover. It's back the way it should be now.
Hot tub photo will be changed to showcase people IN it and not just a plain hot tub.
I agree about the icons, it is misleading. The idea behind the front page is to showcase the pictures, give a little bit of history in written form, and then in a BRIEF summary knowing that people don't read give them the goods of the place. I figure if they have to dig through all of that around the site, I'll lose them. The homepage, to me, is a summation of ALL the highlightable things about the house and why you should stay there. The details are buried in the menus. At least that's my view.
 
When I load your page this is what loads.
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Sorry. I was updating the site. My bad.
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I still think you need some more cool photos highlighting the architecture of this house. Now that you've added the photo with everything lit up, we can see just how interesting it is. There are lots of people that like to stay in B&Bs because they are unique - not cookie-cutter hotels!
I would skinny up your green border at the top of your page so that you can see that photo slide show without scrolling. I'm on a decent sized laptop but I had to scroll down. Remember there are a lot of ADD people out there that want to hit your site and be drawn in.
Pictures are worth a thousand words....
 
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