This is what $3,000 buys...

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

Here is my last comment - when I go to the rooms page and click on MORE PHOTOS then I have to mess around to get back to the next room to view. As the photos are VERY LARGE on these indiv room pages.
As a guest viewing all the rooms before picking one, I would like a VIEW NEXT ROOM button on each current page so I can just click on forward to the next room..

June, thanks for the next room tip... we have implemented it:
http://briarrosebb.com/rose/teakettle.html
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June, thanks for the next room tip... we have implemented it:
http://briarrosebb.com/rose/teakettle.html

Perfecto!!!
May I add another VERY useful button:
BOOK THIS ROOM NOW
(otherwise I might forget which room is which. I know there are pics on the booking agent and the check availabiliyt button on the top of ALL room pages, but it doesn't matter, as a guest, I see it, I like it, I want to book it!) It is an easy add.
You are inn-spiring me to get some new pics soon!

 

[briarrosebb]

Check the spelling on your pages - I noticed 'equisitly' and 'entre' on your amenities page. There are probably others. I know I am more than a little anal about spelling but it makes it feel unprofessional. I agree about the tea photo - the bottom portion should be cropped out or the scene re-shot without the clutter.
The photo quality seems to be pretty good; a good Photoshopper could eliminate some of the shadows and light pools that are a little distracting on the interior shots. The exterior photos are very nice and the interior shots of the common areas work well, also. The beds in the bedroom shots do look messy and unfinished (to me, at least - sorry! to be harsh) and I think they would benefit from better dressing with linens before a re-shoot. Bed skirts, at least, and comforters that conform to the bed more closely..

hi, jeanne -
thanks for catching the typos... we have fixed.
thanks, all for the comments about the bedskirts & bedding. we knew this was an issue, but didn't know how prominent this was. we will selectively work on this.
brendan

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

Brendan,
Did the photog ($3000 worth) fix the wide angle/fish eye shots or did you do that on your own program?
There is some pretty funky stuff going on - perhaps guests won't notice. Not sure
Like this teensy toilet and elongated sink - photo distortion in this bathroom.
and this full figured bog here.

 

[briarrosebb]

Brendan,
Did the photog ($3000 worth) fix the wide angle/fish eye shots or did you do that on your own program?
There is some pretty funky stuff going on - perhaps guests won't notice. Not sure
Like this teensy toilet and elongated sink - photo distortion in this bathroom.
and this full figured bog here..

June,
It was relatively wide angle photography... I can't remember what the degrees or number related to the angle was. The wide angle caused the distortions. I don't think he fixed the distortions. The wide angles are necessary to show our smallish rooms in two pictures. We know the pictures make the rooms look bigger than they are. We thought about warning about this on the room pages, but opted not. We have some trepidation about the new photography: we have gone from our pictures underselling the property to overselling the property slightly. We think we will get higher conversions, but we also expect to have a bit more disappointed guests. We will see.
The new website is now live at http://www.BriarRoseBB.com. The old website is now: http://www.briarrosebb.com/old_as_of_9-2008/
Brendan

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

Brendan,
Did the photog ($3000 worth) fix the wide angle/fish eye shots or did you do that on your own program?
There is some pretty funky stuff going on - perhaps guests won't notice. Not sure
Like this teensy toilet and elongated sink - photo distortion in this bathroom.
and this full figured bog here..

June,
It was relatively wide angle photography... I can't remember what the degrees or number related to the angle was. The wide angle caused the distortions. I don't think he fixed the distortions. The wide angles are necessary to show our smallish rooms in two pictures. We know the pictures make the rooms look bigger than they are. We thought about warning about this on the room pages, but opted not. We have some trepidation about the new photography: we have gone from our pictures underselling the property to overselling the property slightly. We think we will get higher conversions, but we also expect to have a bit more disappointed guests. We will see.
The new website is now live at http://www.BriarRoseBB.com. The old website is now: http://www.briarrosebb.com/old_as_of_9-2008/
Brendan
.

June,
It was relatively wide angle photography... I can't remember what the degrees or number related to the angle was. The wide angle caused the distortions. I don't think he fixed the distortions. The wide angles are necessary to show our smallish rooms in two pictures. We know the pictures make the rooms look bigger than they are. We thought about warning about this on the room pages, but opted not. We have some trepidation about the new photography: we have gone from our pictures underselling the property to overselling the property slightly. We think we will get higher conversions, but we also expect to have a bit more disappointed guests. We will see.
The new website is now live at http://www.BriarRoseBB.com. The old website is now: http://www.briarrosebb.com/old_as_of_9-2008/
Brendan

Relatively? I would say fish eye with correction. If you can see both sides of you that would be fish eye (corrected in a program of course, but some times you have to trim the photos to get rid of some of the funky business on the sides. You might be able to correct them by a slight trim, so the toilet is not full figured.

 

[JBloggs]

VBWebsites, you might want to pull in the reigns a little bit and read the FAQS on this forum before you get yourself in trouble.

 

[JBloggs]

WebSpam and Self-Promotion[/h3]Vendors are welcome on this forum. However, they are expected to operate in plain view. They should not misrepresent who they are or what their connection is to a service they are recommending. If it is discovered that they are being less than truthful, they should expect the online equivalent of being tarred and feathered. We have no patience for webspam and gameplaying.
When it comes to self-promotion, you are welcome to list your business in the resources section, and list your business and link in your signature. However, if too many of your posts are blatant self-promotion of your product, then expect to not be received well, and in extreme cases, asked to leave. Promoting yourself by bashing your competition will also not be allowed. You are welcome to answer questions and even ask questions related to your business or product, but telling people to buy your product or contact you is crossing the line.

 

[JBloggs]

Information is good, but too heavy to fast might not be a good thing here. I am all for learning more about this whole subject.

 

[vbwebsites]

My appologies Joey - will remove.

 

[vbwebsites]

- removed by vbwebsites - sorry

 

[swirt]

My appologies Joey - will remove..

Thank you Joey for reminding a new vendor to play by the rules.
vbwebsites, welcome to innspiring, but please scale back the full-on marketing blitz on this forum.

 

[vbwebsites]

My appologies Joey - will remove..

Thank you Joey for reminding a new vendor to play by the rules.
vbwebsites, welcome to innspiring, but please scale back the full-on marketing blitz on this forum.
.

no problem, thanks for the welcome.

 

[Logomines]

One last comment, the header text is splotchy on my monitor and hard to read. Beautiful header, it is the text needs some clarification The B&B portion. I think it is to be artistic, but hard to read on my end.

.

Great post I would like to thank you.

 

[eventeca]

Catlady mentioned the use of outdated meta-tags. Most are not outdated, but are just worthless (not meant to be derogatory...they just have no value).
Examples:
<META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="INDEX,FOLLOW"> Not worthless but unneccessary since this is the default behavior of all search engine robots.
<meta name="BED" content="Bed and Breakfast, B&B, Bed and Breakfast Inn, Accommodations, Romance, Getaway, Lodging"> Non-existent meta tag. Serves absolutely no good and risks being seen as keyword stuffing. The unencoded ampersand will also cause problems. The entire tag should be removed.
<meta name="Classification" content="commercial/business, travel, family vacation, accommodations, hotel/lodging"> Outdated tag that was once proposed but never used by any search engine.
<META NAME="page-topic" CONTENT="Boulder lodging, Boulder Colorado lodging, Boulder Colorado accommodations, bed and breakfast, inn, bed breakfast"> Not used by any of the major search engines.
<META NAME="page-type" CONTENT="boulder lodging, boulder colorado lodging, b&bs, inn, bed and breakfast, colorado accommodations"> Not used by any search engine and the type was not meant to be content, it was meant to be function. Unencoded ampersand has potential to cause problems. Entire tag should be removed.
<META NAME="audience" CONTENT="all"> This is the default for all pages. No need to specify.
<META NAME="author" CONTENT="Briar Rose Bed and Breakfast"> Of no real benefit other than related to ownership questions. Harmless to leave in place.
<META NAME="revisit-after" CONTENT="15 days"> Worthless tag never used by any search engine. It was once proposed by a search engine but it never used it and that search engine no longer exists. Remove it.
<META NAME="Content-Language" CONTENT="en-us,english"> No problem
<META NAME="distribution" CONTENT="global"> This is the default so no harm done, but just as effective to leave it off.
<META NAME="copyright" CONTENT="by http://www.briarrosebb.com"> Has no effect, but in general it is bad form to say a web address owns a copyright. People or companies own copyrights, not a web address.
<meta NAME="city" CONTENT="Boulder"> Worthless could be seen as stuffing.
<meta NAME="state" CONTENT="Colorado"> Worthless could be seen as stuffing.
<meta NAME="email" CONTENT="[email protected]"> Your email address is already on every page, this meta is worthless.
<meta NAME="contact" CONTENT="Innkeeper"> Completely worthless.
In general, getting rid of excess code that serves no function is a good thing. Getting rid of code that makes your site look "over optimized" and serves no function is a very good thing. .

Thank you so much for your comments, Steve. We have removed the meta tags you mentioned. With regard to the picture size, here's the story: we had to resize the pics we received. At the time this work was done, we did not have Photoshop, so we used GIMP as an image editor. Subsequently, we compared the GIMP product with a Photoshopped version. The Photoshopped version was noticably sharper and it was 50 percent smaller! Anyway now we have a project to redo the pictures with Photoshop. It'll probably take us a week or two to get to this.
.

GIMP's numbers for compression are different than Photoshop and different than FIreworks. I found this conversion table that may help if you want to stick with GIMP.
.

I found this conversion table that may help if you want to stick with GIMP.

Boy, Swirt, you really are handy to have around!

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Nice Post Thanks For Sharing

 

[gillumhouse]

Just so everyone knows, this is from 2008