Please sharpen your pencils....

[Fagin2021]

Have re read the website, and these are my suggestions, on the basis you want people to pick up the phone and book you to do a tour.

On your landing page I would remove the initial fellow cottages section.
I would work on the Attract more guests section, but lose the sorry but soon that won’t be enough line. People don’t like to be told, they like to be sold.
I would substitute “standard” for the word boilerplate.

As an SA operator I would want to know if this is able to be incorporated easily into the various OTAs.
Why virtual tours? I would rethink the whole section, you aim is to get bookings, not pose questions. Do you have any stats showing an uplift in bookings that you can attribute to your tour on your site? Even better are there any recognised studies to quote?
Have you any testimonials?

Now the hard part, your tour. I would remove the image of yourself with half your legs missing and the huge bird, it looks like a bad cut and paste, the same with the drone in one image. If the tour is about the property have no distractions, just the property.

How it works page. No offence but people are not that interested how you do this, they are interested in the final product and higher bookings. Run through how to book a tour, ownership of the tour etc, length of time etc.

What you do, you can’t put lipstick on a pig…..seriously? Do you want any bookings?
I would state you will email them a list of things to do to try and help show their property off to its best advantage and to get the maximum out of their virtual tour.
The weather, personally I would offer a rebook facility if it looks like the weather would have a detrimental effect on the outcome, awkward for yourself but a huge box tick for any clients.

What it costs… put on a single plan, ie your basic package, a single fee which covers… then list briefly. Just add further requirements can be catered for by arrangement. Remember, you want a booking, a phone call, try not to confuse people.
Payment, I would suggest 50% on booking, 50% on completion.

Basically, I think you need to work on your website copy a bit more.

Thank you. That's just the sort of helpful response I was hoping for. As I've mentioned, the website and tour are very much prototypes that I will be working to improve. I don't agree with everything but you've certainly made some good points.

Regarding the tour itself (I was hoping no-one would notice the half-legs). It's not just about the property, although that's the important part. A big selling point for my own place is the birds of prey. Likewise, other cottage owners have features they will want to include - farm animals, quad bikes etc etc. A view of the coast from 500 feet is nice. So the point of the tour is not just to supplement interior/exterior photographs but to try and bring the place and it's attractions alive. That can involve video, audio commentary, albums and so on. I tried to put this in my tour to illustrate what is possible.

Lipstick on a pig ? Aw shucks - I love that pig. But you're right - she'll be gone in the next iteration.

I think the purpose of the introduction has been misunderstood. It's not 'politicking' as someone mentioned. The intention is to say to fellow cottage owners... "I'm just like you. I share your fears and concerns. Here's something that has helped me. Maybe it could help you too."

I agree though, that on a mobile it takes up too much space. So now it doesn't show on a mobile.

Thanks again for your input.

 

[GraemeL]

Glad to see you back.

My last words on it, or else I will be repeating my repeats, repeatedly

Its now:-

Virtual Tours for Holiday Cottage Owners in Wales​

Get more bookings & earn more money

I would suggest:-

Get more bookings for your Welsh Holiday Cottage​

With a virtual tour that will convert browsers to clients!

 

[Fagin2021]

Unfortunatley Business is cut throat

you have received invaluable feedback even if you don't want hear it

I do want to hear it - and have already made changes to the website based on it - but not ill-thought-out and flippant remarks.

For example, you describe a 50 mile radius as 'comic'. Don't you think it makes sense for a local business to target local potential customers where they actually are - in rural and coastal Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, rather than Central Cardiff or Swansea docks ?

You dismiss a tour as having little value. So those poor saps like estate agents, hotels, property landlords, restaurants, shops, pubs, leisure centres, museums, department stores, garden centres, cathedrals, schools, colleges etc have all wasted their money in the vain hope that a virtual tour would attract more visitors or buyers ?

I grant you though that many, perhaps most, tours are pretty naff. In this part of the world many people don't know what they are so you see things like animated slideshows or video walk-throughs being described as 'tours'.

Nobody around here is going to go online and search for 'virtual tour suppliers' or similar. You can't just take the approach "wanna virtual tour guvnor?" - there's got to be some education for potential customers which is one reason I've included a 'How it Works' page on the website as well as some text that you might consider unnecessary.

 

[Fagin2021]

Glad to see you back.

My last words on it, or else I will be repeating my repeats, repeatedly

Its now:-

Virtual Tours for Holiday Cottage Owners in Wales​

Get more bookings & earn more money

I would suggest:-

Get more bookings for your Welsh Holiday Cottage​

With a virtual tour that will convert browsers to clients!

Hmmmmm - I like yours better. You realise I'm going to have to fight with my ego don't you.

 

[Fagin2021]

You are so sold on your idea that any slight criticism of it, you see as rude or discourteous. Just imagine a holiday maker making a complaint at you property. You need to toughen up and stop being a snowflake.

So I'm 'precious' and a 'snowflake' ? I look forward to commenting on your future posts.

 

[JamaC]

I would suggest 2 things.

1. Identify the information required for those visiting your site

2. Design the website so the information is easy digest

.............

1. Create a list of the potential users visiting your website and list what information they will want/need.

First you have simple expectations from any site, such as

• What you do
• Where to go ( to learn more )
• Why you (Show off your benefits and features)
• How it works
• How much is it
• How to sign up/ pay
• How to contact

Etc etc etc

Then information tailored to those at different stages

• Those who are new to the concept of virtual tours - A learn more page that educates people about virtual tours, the what why and how they work

• Those who are aware of virtual tours but may be shopping around - Explain why you are the right choice and why none compares to you

Etc etc etc

2. Presentation of the information

The site appears to be very text heavy and looks dated.

Freshen it up and make it scannable. Remember people don't read they scan.

---

Make use of bullet points and keep your sentences to just a few.

In a nutshell, make all information to do with your service available across the website. Create additional pages for those wanting to learn more about a specific thing ( for example, what is a virtual tour). Make that information easy to read and make each section containing that information easy to identify.

 

[fisicx]

But….

Everything hinges on your marketing plan. This will determine how the site is structured and the wording you use.

 

[MBE2017]

Here is ChatGPT effort at writing your opening page, took less than a minute.

”
Welcome to our online tour service, the perfect solution for holiday rental property owners who want to showcase their properties in the best possible light. With our online tours, potential guests can experience your property in stunning detail, giving them a true sense of what it's like to stay with you.

Our online tours are designed to be embedded on your website, allowing visitors to explore your property and its surroundings in a way that's both engaging and informative. Our tours feature high-quality still photography and drone footage, which captures the unique character and beauty of your property and its location.

Our team of experienced photographers and videographers will work with you to create a custom online tour that showcases your property in the best possible way. We understand that every property is unique, which is why we take a personalized approach to each project, ensuring that your tour accurately reflects the character and charm of your property.

By offering an online tour of your holiday rental property, you'll be able to set yourself apart from the competition and attract more bookings. Potential guests will appreciate the opportunity to explore your property at their own pace, and they'll be more likely to book with you once they've seen all that you have to offer.

Our online tours are easy to embed on your website, and our team is always on hand to help with any technical issues or questions you may have. We pride ourselves on providing a professional and reliable service, and we're committed to helping you showcase your holiday rental property in the best possible light.

Contact us today to learn more about our online tour service and how we can help you promote your holiday rental property.”

 

[fisicx]

If that’s the best ChatGPT can manage it’s a pretty poor effort. It doesn’t read at all well and repeats itself.

 

[MBE2017]

If that’s the best ChatGPT can manage it’s a pretty poor effort. It doesn’t read at all well and repeats itself.

I thought it not bad for approx 50 secs of effort. You can add to the brief as you go along, that was one question asked to the AI. TBF, I think it’s better website copy than most websites I have visited. Drill it down by 5-15 question and it should be very passable.

Just my opinion.

 

[fisicx]

The problem is with ChatGPT is it needs to know the marketing plan. Not sure how you tell it the advert will be displayed on X website and is targeting Y persona. I had a play and couldn't get it to match the criteria. But that could be my lack of skill in working with the tool.

 

[Fagin2021]

Here is ChatGPT effort at writing your opening page, took less than a minute.

”
Welcome to our online tour service, the perfect solution for holiday rental property owners who want to showcase their properties in the best possible light. With our online tours, potential guests can experience your property in stunning detail, giving them a true sense of what it's like to stay with you.

Our online tours are designed to be embedded on your website, allowing visitors to explore your property and its surroundings in a way that's both engaging and informative. Our tours feature high-quality still photography and drone footage, which captures the unique character and beauty of your property and its location.

Our team of experienced photographers and videographers will work with you to create a custom online tour that showcases your property in the best possible way. We understand that every property is unique, which is why we take a personalized approach to each project, ensuring that your tour accurately reflects the character and charm of your property.

By offering an online tour of your holiday rental property, you'll be able to set yourself apart from the competition and attract more bookings. Potential guests will appreciate the opportunity to explore your property at their own pace, and they'll be more likely to book with you once they've seen all that you have to offer.

Our online tours are easy to embed on your website, and our team is always on hand to help with any technical issues or questions you may have. We pride ourselves on providing a professional and reliable service, and we're committed to helping you showcase your holiday rental property in the best possible light.

Contact us today to learn more about our online tour service and how we can help you promote your holiday rental property.”

IMHO that is excellent - especially in the time taken. OK, it needs tweaking and is too long but I might well use the first paragraph verbatim.

 

[MBE2017]

IMHO that is excellent - especially in the time taken. OK, it needs tweaking and is too long but I might well use the first paragraph verbatim.

You are welcome, send my cheque within seven days.

 

[Fagin2021]

You are welcome, send my cheque within seven days.

It's in the post

 

[Fagin2021]

If anyone's interested, Version 2 of www.virtualtours.wales is now live. It incorporates many of the suggestions made here - including the Chat GPT content contributed by @MBE2017 (thank you).

If you do want to look again, you'll probably need to clear your browser cache to see the changes.

 

[MBE2017]

Personally I think the changes are an improvement, but the site is a work in progress. Obviously you have to decide what you like and what you are trying to achieve, I look at everything from a sales proposition, having spent a lifetime in sales.

So using your site as an example, this is my line of thought if I was doing the same, take from this what you like, or ignore as you wish.

What is the websites purpose? If it is to sell your virtual tour service then that is all it should do. I appreciate this probably isn’t the finished article, but I would relook at the aerial footage. Your client has to imagine what their property will look like, on their website. Your footage, which whilst it might suit yourself, would not sell the service to myself.

From the moment your drone took off, it panned around the horizon, had a couple of arrows showing a coast 25mins in this direction, a mountain range behind this set of hills etc, and then a couple of seconds flying back to the barn. The whole film should be, or at least 90% most of the time, about the property. Show its setting, gardens, fly down to the stream, show the different aspects, how close the nearby shops, restaurants etc are. Always keep your customer and sale foremost in everything you do.

The above is meant to be helpful, and you are not alone, it is very common for anyone to forget what they are trying to achieve. I used to train telesales guys for TNT in my youth, they thought I was good at it. I simply understood my job was not to sell over the phone, but to make contact and get the rep an appointment, end, finish. The reps job was to sell, mine was only to get an appointment. Most telesales try to sell even if they are employed to get appointments.

Keep practicing with the drone, you have the perfect practice area around you, experiment, look at the best drone footage you can find to learn from and emulate. It is a highly skilled area, not as easy as the best make it look. Try different versions of promotional video for yourself. Personally, on this website, I would lose the bird, it is a distraction, you are not using a bird of prey to make the films, but I understand why you made it this way for your own SA.

 

[UKSBD]

Does anyone who rents out holiday cottages actually get any booking via their own websites and need anything like that?

 

[fisicx]

Still far too wordy.

What is the point of the map of wales?

Still a serif font. Still no clear calls to action.

On my phone I get an error message when I tap on the image.

Which experts agree you need a virtual tour?

 

[Fagin2021]

Personally I think the changes are an improvement, but the site is a work in progress. Obviously you have to decide what you like and what you are trying to achieve, I look at everything from a sales proposition, having spent a lifetime in sales.

So using your site as an example, this is my line of thought if I was doing the same, take from this what you like, or ignore as you wish.

What is the websites purpose? If it is to sell your virtual tour service then that is all it should do. I appreciate this probably isn’t the finished article, but I would relook at the aerial footage. Your client has to imagine what their property will look like, on their website. Your footage, which whilst it might suit yourself, would not sell the service to myself.

From the moment your drone took off, it panned around the horizon, had a couple of arrows showing a coast 25mins in this direction, a mountain range behind this set of hills etc, and then a couple of seconds flying back to the barn. The whole film should be, or at least 90% most of the time, about the property. Show its setting, gardens, fly down to the stream, show the different aspects, how close the nearby shops, restaurants etc are. Always keep your customer and sale foremost in everything you do.

The above is meant to be helpful, and you are not alone, it is very common for anyone to forget what they are trying to achieve. I used to train telesales guys for TNT in my youth, they thought I was good at it. I simply understood my job was not to sell over the phone, but to make contact and get the rep an appointment, end, finish. The reps job was to sell, mine was only to get an appointment. Most telesales try to sell even if they are employed to get appointments.

Keep practicing with the drone, you have the perfect practice area around you, experiment, look at the best drone footage you can find to learn from and emulate. It is a highly skilled area, not as easy as the best make it look. Try different versions of promotional video for yourself. Personally, on this website, I would lose the bird, it is a distraction, you are not using a bird of prey to make the films, but I understand why you made it this way for your own SA.

Can't argue with that! The drone content was actually taken a couple of years ago as an experiment so it's a bit 'cobbled together'. Having thought about it, I take your main point that it should mainly concentrate on the property and the grounds - perhaps with an aerial panorama to show the surrounding area, rather than a trip around it.

I'll have to wait for spring/summer to re-take drone footage - when everything is pretty rather than the rain-slashed swamp we have at the moment.

 

[fisicx]

Your visitors already know what it is you do. There is no need to sell the concept. All you need is to provide evidence that they will get more bookings if they cough up for a virtual tour.

Saw an advert last week where they had a presenter showing you round the property. Was very effective.

 

[Fagin2021]

Does anyone who rents out holiday cottages actually get any booking via their own websites and need anything like that?

Good question. Few owners have their own sites (some do) - most rely on booking agents. However, tours are starting to creep onto agent's sites and will continue to do so. Getting a tour done and placed on an agent's site is similar to a cottage owner hiring a professional photographer for their shots.

My belief is that virtual tours - along with high-quality stills, videos, drone shots etc will become the standard way of presenting properties - moving on from the simple photos and text now.

Of course, I could be entirely wrong. Time will tell.

 

[Fagin2021]

Your visitors already know what it is you do. There is no need to sell the concept. All you need is to provide evidence that they will get more bookings if they cough up for a virtual tour.

Saw an advert last week where they had a presenter showing you round the property. Was very effective.

On this (rare) occasion - I disagree with you. I think there is a need to sell the concept before you can sell the service. Many cottage owners don't know, or misunderstand, what a virtual tour actually is. They need to be told (shown) what it is and what's involved in making one. Then they can decide whether it's something they want.

'Saw an advert last week where they had a presenter showing you round the property. Was very effective.'

Yes - that's exactly what a virtual tour should do - as you can't have a personal presenter. It's also, incidentally, what a lot of estate agents are starting to do when enquirers come to their office asking about a property. Sitting them down and showing them an on-screen tour saves them a huge amount of work compared to making appointments to view. It becomes a useful qualification exercise.

'Still a serif font. Still no clear calls to action.' Is a serif font bad ? I had no idea. There's a CTA on the home page in bold letters'

'On my phone I get an error message when I tap on the image'. - Can't explain that. Works on mine.

'Which experts agree you need a virtual tour?' - Shhhhh.

 

[fisicx]

The only reason anyone will be on your site is because they have seen your marketing. Which should say something like: stand out from the crowd with a virtual tour of you property. This means when they land on the site they are already a warm lead as they are intrigued by the idea. All you now need to do is list the benefits, show the demo and tell them to pick up the phone.

Serif isn’t a good choice. It’s why just about every site in the world uses sans serif - far more readable.

The call to action needs to be in a box with a different background. You also need to give a choice of contact methods unless you are going to answer the phone at 10pm on a Sunday evening. Put your number in the header and footer. Put the CTA on every page.

You get 2 seconds to grab my attention. Right now I’m presented with a wall of text when all I want to see is the demo.

 

[Fagin2021]

The only reason anyone will be on your site is because they have seen your marketing. Which should say something like: stand out from the crowd with a virtual tour of you property. This means when they land on the site they are already a warm lead as they are intrigued by the idea. All you now need to do is list the benefits, show the demo and tell them to pick up the phone.

Serif isn’t a good choice. It’s why just about every site in the world uses sans serif - far more readable.

The call to action needs to be in a box with a different background. You also need to give a choice of contact methods unless you are going to answer the phone at 10pm on a Sunday evening. Put your number in the header and footer. Put the CTA on every page.

You get 2 seconds to grab my attention. Right now I’m presented with a wall of text when all I want to see is the demo.

The only reason anyone will be on your site is because they have seen your marketing. Which should say something like: stand out from the crowd with a virtual tour of you property. This means when they land on the site they are already a warm lead as they are intrigued by the idea. All you now need to do is list the benefits, show the demo and tell them to pick up the phone.

Agree with the first paragraph but not the last line. It's my belief that when people are presented with an unfamiliar concept they want to know a bit more about it before taking action.

Serif isn’t a good choice. It’s why just about every site in the world uses sans serif - far more readable.

Easily changed.

The call to action needs to be in a box with a different background. You also need to give a choice of contact methods unless you are going to answer the phone at 10pm on a Sunday evening. Put your number in the header and footer. Put the CTA on every page.

Point taken.

You get 2 seconds to grab my attention. Right now I’m presented with a wall of text when all I want to see is the demo.

I'm already down to my bra and panties. I thought you'd be pleased.

 

[fisicx]

This is why I keep asking for details of your marketing plan. How you build the site will be driven by how you you are driving people to the site.

As I said in an earlier post, nobody wants a virtual tour. What your visitors want is more bookings. Show them how coughing up some cash will do this. focus on the financial benefits. But you need to give an example of someone who has benefited from a virtual tour. Right now I’d not be convinced it was worth the investment.

And still getting an error when I click on the image using my iPhone. Something is broken.

 

[Fagin2021]

This is why I keep asking for details of your marketing plan. How you build the site will be driven by how you you are driving people to the site.

As I said in an earlier post, nobody wants a virtual tour. What your visitors want is more bookings. Show them how coughing up some cash will do this. focus on the financial benefits. But you need to give an example of someone who has benefited from a virtual tour. Right now I’d not be convinced it was worth the investment.

And still getting an error when I click on the image using my iPhone. Something is broken.

I'm working on a response to your question - one benefit of being cross-examined is it makes you question your own assumptions. A couple of comments though...

This is a classic AIDA situation. Surprisingly, I think the 'Attention' part is the toughest nut to crack - even though the target market is very clearly defined. I also suspect FOMO is going to be the most powerful motivator.

The tour works fine on desktop (Windows) and Mobile (Android) so it should be fine on iphone. I did download a home page with an error that was quickly corrected. I wonder if that page was at fault and is stuck in your phone cache ?

 

[fisicx]

This is what I see on my phone:

It was working yesterday so something has gone awry. Anyway, I'll try again tomorrow once the cache clears.

Is the target market clearly defined? Maybe there is only a small subset of cottage owners worried about falling bookings. What sites are they looking for inspiration? Are there FB or other support groups?

 

[Derekde]

Virtual tours have become increasingly important in the holiday rental industry, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, as travelers seek ways to explore potential vacation spots without leaving their homes. Therefore, your venture to offer virtual tours to holiday rental owners in Mid and South Wales could be timely and potentially valuable for property owners and renters alike.