Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

1. Did you find my website?
2. Do you understand, or have any questions about the information on our site?
3. Does our website flow?
4. What is your opinion about the colour?
5. Is it easy to use and find your way around ?
6. Do the pages print ok?
7. Are images the right size?
8. Are our services clearlydisplayed?
9. Are all our forms easy to understand?
10. Do you like how our website looks and works? If not why?

It would help if you put the URL in your message. 


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Steve Mann
Internet Videographer
MannMade Digital Video
My Email

http://comexalpineadventuretours.web.officelive.com

You need to fix the verification code which is displaying, as well as the link at the bottom.

Your main page is extremely wide, you may want to narrow this so users are not side scrolling to read the page.

Understanding that English may not be your native language, you may want to rework some of your text so that words are spelled correctly .... this not only looks more professional, but may possibly affect user searches of your keywords are misspelled.

I think your text should be darker so it would be easier to read, and more contrast in the menu area would help.

Create new page titles that are more descriptive of what the page is about ... don`t use page titles like "Home", etc .... use a few keywords when possible.


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M Hall
Website Critique Community
International Society of Curmudgeons

Better link:
  http://comexalpineadventuretours.web.officelive.com/default. aspx

Everything Webline said is pretty much the same as my thinking. And it`s really just the getting started part. I clicked "Tours" and there was no result, clicked "Details" and was left with an hourglass.

The main issue, I think, is to answer the question: What exactly do you want people to DO when they arrive at your site? What`s your intent?

Thanx a lot for your comments. I`ve taken them into consideration and am already tuning the website. I would like my customers to be able to browse in my web, get information and be able to book by downloading a booking form. Later as we grow I would like to go into e-commerce for booking and payment.

Okay, so the "bottom line"--the essential point---for this site is tour booking, correct? Do you have a travel agency, or is your core business in the travel field? If not, what actually is your core business?

The reason for the questions is that we could spend months going around and around on technical aspects, art and content of a Web site. But so what? Who really cares, unless you`re a Web developer and that`s your business.

However; if your actual business is a travel agency (or whatever`s the correct answer), then we have to be able to focus in on the basic reason for the site in the first place. Why does this site exist, in other words.

You sort of answered that in saying "get information and book." Book what? And why? For example, suppose your intent is to get a lot of people to a location for the purpose of shipping them off to an alien civilization. :-D I mean, just suppose...

That`s very different from having people arrive at a location that just happens to be a major resort hotel you own. See?

When I asked about "intent," I mean what`s the end purpose of all this "booking" that should be taking place? Is it to promote Lesotho, or to promote a particular product you own? Are you in real estate, or do you own a tour-bus service? See, that`s what I`m wondering.

1. To promote Lesotho tourist attraction sites.
2. To form partnership with accommodation establishment owners that have a web presence and those who don`t to offer an accommodation booking service for potential customers.
3. To sell tour packages to potential customers so that they can easily book tours offered by me to these areas.

 

Ah....so what you intend is to form a tour company, not quite the same as a travel company. That makes a lot of sense, and sounds as if it would be an excellent opportunity, given what you`ve described.

To that end, I can see a number of things I might change if I were to be in your position. The first is to focus in like a laser beam on "tour!" The second is to specifically focus on Africa, and exactly where your "tour area" is located.

For example, on your first page you have "alpine" as part of your name. The word routinely has a connotation of Switzerland, so you`ll want to overcome that perception. To do so, I would do what Wikipedia so often does----have a graphic of Africa, with a shaded area specific to where you intend to operate.

Use your home page to immediately get the viewer thinking and imagining things: "Wow! Tours to Africa! This could be cool.... I wonder where in Africa? What kind of tours? Would I get to see lions?"

Have statistics about the area, not as dry temperature listings, but with a bit of romance and adventure. That`s the whole point of a tour! Romance and Adventure, and that`s what missing from the home page.

Then you`ll want images and photographs that enhance and build on those visions of adventure. Your site should be evenly divided between pictures that *show* the fun of a tour, and words the describe NOT the pictures, but what`s going on IN the pictures.

The technical aspects of screen width, coding and so forth should be addressed first. But the content itself should be much more focused. There, you might get some help from a writer---copywriter, sales writer, editor----that kind of person. If possible.

I agree with everything said above  = but there is an elephant in the room we haven`t talked about - your domain name - as much as Microsoft wants to control everything - get a different domain name that is yours and not an extension of theirs - get your own dot com - get one with keywords people will be searching for when they look for you - africanadventuretours.com or something like that. I`d get that domain and point it to your office live site if you can`t set your own url - Then someday when you can find someone to develop a site for you you can move it there.