Lay My Hat

You sound like a lovely host with a beautiful property but if I put my 'searching for somewhere for my next holiday' head on, I find your site really frustrating.

Very quickly on my searches I want to know if you are in the right area, whether your property is suitable for me and how much it will cost.

Photographs of the inside are essential and I would judge them by what as been missed as much as what has been included. I like nice clear photos of the interior that has been well presented.

I often need somewhere with two good double rooms, each with a bathroom. We are happy to rent a bigger property to achieve this It can take hours and waste a lot of time, so, for example, sleeps six is no use if that includes a sofa bed and bunks.

For me, your first page needs to allow potential guests to access all that information very quickly.

Another observation was the page where you describe the welcome pack. It is just small adjustments that make a big difference psychologically. Like the explanation about baguettes going stale, that plants a negative image in my mind. "Fresh bread" would suffice, and the bit about some people being lucky enough to receive home made jam. That means that some guests will be disappointed., another unnecessary negative. It would be better to just put "jam" and then if you are giving them the home made stuff, it exceeds their expectations, always a good thing to do.

There is lots of information online about writing copy, including some free short online courses that are well worth subscribing to.

A website that is clearer and easy to navigate will help you to market your lovely gîte more effectively.

You do have a google map (but it was 10 minutes before I found it) but it was so crowded I couldn't find where the property was. The map should be available under 'Location'.

In general, organise the menu better, simplify, reduce, less is more.

For example, the sub menus under home page don;t make any sense, contact details, availability and pricing should be top level menu items. What is the menu 'gite' doing there?

People like consistency and conformity. Make a menu structure which is the same as 90% of other properties.

As a starter, i would look at a wide variety of holiday web sites, including HA and airbnb, and document how they are structured and try to conform.