Your vacation rental - How to be successful - Part III
The Do’s and Don’ts of websites
You’ve got your content, you know exactly how you want it laid out and maybe you even know what crazy pattern you want the background to be. In fact, you may even know exactly how you want everything to look.
STOP RIGHT NOW.
Before you go any further let’s take a step back and think for a moment. We know content is key to a good website, but that is not the only element you need. The best way for beginners to learn is through visual aids, so today I’m going to show you an example of a good existing Vacation Rental website and break it down into two parts:
- What has been done well?
- What needs some work?
The website will be this Elegant Retreat in Calgary (http://calgaryvacationrental.homestead.com/)
What has been done well
I will start by pointing out what this website has done well and why that is important to a successful vacation rental website.
First, right off the hop you can see that all the important information is right in your face. The small introductory paragraph gives you a sense what you can expect, what sort of neighborhood the house is located in and what makes this rental property special. Next we jump right into a very nicely detailed description of all the rooms in the house. They even go as far as listing the backyard, something I have overlooked in the past. The prices are listed right on the main page underneath a very nice photo of the house.
There is also a nice photo gallery that displays some great pictures of the inside of the house. The photos also load quickly, which is very good. There is even a great section completely devoted to directions to the house as well as several different maps and the local weather.
What needs some work
Although this website is fairly in-depth and can answer most of the questions that a person has when you are renting a vacation rental, it could use a few improvements.
First, let’s take a look out the general layout. I think this is what most website new-comers have the most trouble with. The biggest problem here is that the text is overlapping the picture of the house, making it hard to read. If text is hard to read you can bet at least half the people who find this website will hit the back button within 30 seconds. The same thing goes for the navigation bar. It looks like it was placed there by accident.
Another thing I noticed about the navigation was that it did not appear on the Contact Page, or the Photo Album page. You will want to have the navigation run on every page. This makes getting around your much easier.
Finally - and this one is a personal preference - I think the colors of this website are a little harsh on the eyes. The blue background might seem like a good idea, but it is so bright that it takes away from the quality information on the site. I would prefer a more tame background, and content that doesn’t overlap.
Our next lesson will be an important one. There are a few tricks of the trade you can use to help your website appear higher up on the search page when people are looking for a vacation rental.
