Web Design

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 fenski 08 Mar 2023

We are looking to build a website for our holiday rental apartment business in the Alps. I could probably do it myself using on online tool, but then I'm thinking that by the time I teach myself how to use the tool, it would be easier to just get someone to do it for me. 

What I am thinking is a simple 4 -5 page website, ideally with an online calendar/booking possibility. We are already hosted on AirBnb and Booking.com so for the most part the info and photos are already available. 

What I would like to know is??

1. What would I expect to pay for such a site to be built??

2. Is anyone on here interested to do it?? I guess there are a number of climbers who are working remotely in this field. 

Alternatively, there is a website builder tool included with the one.com platform I use to host the domain and e-mail for another business I own. Anyone have any experience with using this??

Cheers

Neal

 Mini Mansell 08 Mar 2023
In reply to fenski:

take a look at

www.awesomemtb.co.uk

or

www.awesomefirstaid.co.uk

I can put together something like that in an evening or two and offer hosting with unlimited email.

 

 Andrew Lodge 08 Mar 2023
In reply to fenski:

I would be cautious about spending much money on this as you may get very little return.

We have a house in France we rent as a holiday let. Over the 15 years we have had the place the market has changed and most guests now seem to prefer using one of the larger platforms as they offer some security in case of problems.

I suspect this is due to the well reported scams where people turn up to find a property is double let or simply doesn't exist.

We used to have our own website which attracted a reasonable proportion of our bookings, enquiries from this route steadily reduced to zero and we decided it wasn't worth the hosting fees a couple of years ago.

Good luck if it works for you but don't put much money into it.

OP fenski 08 Mar 2023
In reply to Mini Mansell:

Thanks for the very quick response. I'll have a look over the next day or two. 

OP fenski 08 Mar 2023
In reply to Andrew Lodge:

Thanks for the feedback. That's a good point you make, and the reason we like to keep it simple: 

The benefits as I see it:

1. If I am booking from from AirBnb/Booking.com for a weeks holiday, I would like to look at the website of the accommodation to get a better idea of the place. 

2.  It gives us the opportunity to provide some more info about our property (even if they subsequently book through AirBnB/Booking.com) which may make us more attractive than other properties. 

3. For repeat customers, I might expect them to book directly (since they already know we are a genuine offering), and hence getting a better deal for both of us. Although, to be fair, when we speak with guests, we just tell them to contact us directly via whatsapp/e-mail if they want to come back in future. 

 Andrew Lodge 08 Mar 2023
In reply to fenski:

Be aware most of the large platforms will not allow a link to a website as they don't want people booking direct as they then lose the commission.

Obviously once people have been they know you and you can tell them how to contact you direct so repeat bookings are easier.

OP fenski 09 Mar 2023
In reply to Andrew Lodge:

I am aware of this, but some people may choose to book direct if they see it is cheaper than via a platform. 

I think it's more to showcase our offering, which is much better than you are able to show on particularly booking.com, which auto generates the description of property, which does absolutely nothing to highlight the positive features. 

 Garethza 09 Mar 2023
In reply to fenski:

Personally I would not recommend going custom with this as it will probably cost you more in the long run, there are many subscription services that will give you all you need if you are happy to put up with a templated type of design (good photos are key here).

Have a look at Squarespace. Its maintenance free and is built around your kind of use-case and it would support booking through the site (including all the back-end stuff that comes with that).

You can also add and edit the site whenever you want without having to go through much hassle or a developer. 

OP fenski 09 Mar 2023
In reply to Garethza:

I already have a hosting service from one.com for another company I own (which I don't need a website for) which has a Wordpress builder included and has a number of templates which seem suitable for what I need.  

I had a play around with it this morning, and I think I could quite easily make what I need. 

Thinking now of heading down this route, as I will then easily be able to modify it later myself, and also host the e-mail from the same platform, so only one set of costs for both businesses.

In reply to fenski:

From my own experience, a couple of things to watch out for if you go down the DIY route:

A lot of DIY websites are terrible and can lose customers after a couple of frustrated clicks, even though their creators are absolutely convinced that their websites are functionally great and aesthetically beautiful. 
If you want to draw customers to your site you need to understand Search Engine Optimisation. No point having a great website if nobody finds it. It’s not rocket science but it’s often overlooked. 

 Garethza 09 Mar 2023
In reply to fenski:

Wordpress is a lot more involved than it first appears to be, and you will probably need some form of custom integration to get things like booking calendars etc. Not to mention security issues as well (depending on the hosting etc) 

With an all-in-one type service they do all that hard slog for you and keep it all up to date. But, your mileage may vary as they say.. 

 Enty 11 Mar 2023
In reply to fenski:

> I already have a hosting service from one.com for another company I own (which I don't need a website for) which has a Wordpress builder included and has a number of templates which seem suitable for what I need.  

> I had a play around with it this morning, and I think I could quite easily make what I need. 

I did this.

I use Elementor to edit the site. What I love is the plug-ins which are available, such as a gallery, FAQs etc. There will be hundreds of plug-ins available for online booking. 

I pretty much followed this tutorial right through.  youtube.com/watch?v=VnjeR-bsRM4& but I see there's a 2023 updated version now. So easy to follow.

I'm with 1&1 and if there's anything really technical that I'm struggling with I can get straight through to a technician who will do stuff for me (for a small fee) or talk me through things.

I'm really shite at I.T. and this is what I managed to build. Loads of stuff still to do on it especially SEO but I'm getting there.

I had a quote from a specialist web builder who specialise in the tourism industry and they wanted 15k.

https://veloventoux.com/

Good luck,

E

Post edited at 09:52
 Fraser 12 Mar 2023
In reply to Mini Mansell:

Sorry to be picky (I've been proof reading a lot of documents recently for work so this jumped out) but just in case you also wrote the copy for the first aid site, there's a typo here: "If your [sic] an outdoors sportsman or woman...."

In reply to fenski:

Honestly, creating websites these days is so easy. No more complicated than making a word document. I used Wix for my business site when I had a business. Its helpful to look at other websites you like, make a design brief up, and then it's pretty easy to build something similar.

The hardest part would be integrating the calendars from your 3rd parties, but if it's possible then they should have easily embeddable code. 

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/923 This isn't a booking form, just a preview, but it would take your customers to your AirBnB page. I have a feeling they won't allow booking through other websites as presumably that would pose a security risk for your customers. 

 Belthazubel 12 Mar 2023
In reply to fenski:

A bit late to the party but as a professional UX designer I would just like to echo other replies and suggest taking the time to learn a popular platform like Wix or Foursquare yourself.

Beyond saving a ton of money you will also save yourself the headache of working with a contractor. On top of that you’ll empower yourself to make edits and maintain the website without relying on a third party.

Having spent the last year researching a hiking route and getting extremely frustrated with unprofessional website design here are a few tips:

1. Make sure the key information is visible immediately: location, features, price, how to book.

2. Make it super easy to book and ensure people know exactly what they’re paying for. There are easy to use booking widgets on most platforms.

3. Run the website by a few people and get as much feedback as possible. In lieu of real user testing any feedback you can get will help you.

4. Make it easy for users to provide feedback about the website and act on it. Booking button not obvious enough? Confusing information? Fix it asap.

5. Keep it simple. Keep your users’ main goal in mind: to book accommodation. No lengthy “about us” tales.

6. Really evaluate why it is better for users to book through the website rather than on Booking/AirBnB. What value are you giving them to forget about the security of a trusted escrow?

Hope this helps

OP fenski 13 Mar 2023
In reply to Belthazubel:

Thanks for all the tips everyone. After spending a couple of hours messing around with the website builder on the one.com platform, I'm pretty confident I can make something decent using a template which is 90% of what I had in mind without too much effort. 

If I decide that I really want some additional features which are not in the template, such as online booking, then I know someone a bit more tech savvy who could do the additional bits.  

I like the idea of being able to update it myself, especially as it will be in 3 languages, and I need to rely on friends to provide correct translations, so having another contractor in the mix will only make the process more complicated.  


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