My New Website


Some here have already helped me with some comments along the way, (Thanks!!) but I thought I would open it up to the wider audience, (cheap proof reading!! ) for any other constructive criticism or comments about the site.

I'm currently trying to resolve the Gallery banner on the front page and the fact that the prices are showing a Dollar sign instead of the pound sign.

Any comments are greatly appreciated.
Rgds,
K

Nice overall feel & all hangs together except for a few missing links.
Bit of a department store though and no special offers in the window! The sheer range might mean a bit of a commitment when it comes to keeping the site up to date.
Are there going to be any foreign language translations? It might help to get the site up there in other language searches.

Hi Dave,

Thanks for that. Which links are missing? The translation thing was something I looked into. Apparently it is fairly easy to do but then it always is until you actually ask someone to do it for you... I'm not sure just yet how to progress that but I'm going to keep an eye on it.

As for the special offers, I've put you down on the list for the super doopa August shindig... How much more special an offer do you need beyond a week with yours truly in the african sun??? No ticks this time please!!

K

Nice looking site.

Had a quick test and the rifleman links don't seem to work and also the woodcock pics.

Chinese is also spelled incorrectly.

It may just be a "me" thing but I think the banner pic at the top of the site takes up too much of the page, well at least on my small screen. How about lowering the text till the "hunting community and tours" text is in the grass, then you can remove about an inch of sky, this way the stags head to the right will be closer to the top of the screen instead of having a void there.

Looks like a nice site I hope it's successful for you!

Jonathan

Kiri, congratulation with your new webpage, the only problem is the webpage is very slow on my PC, it takes a long time for the pages to load.

Competent but uninspiring is the first thing that springs to mind. It lacks personality.

I'm not keen on the chatty style of the copy writing. If I was looking to book shooting thru an agent I'm more interested in their professionalism than their "I'm a good bloke let's be mates" style of presenting themselves.

In all of your blurb you repeatedly use the terms we and our, yet when clicking on the contact us page all you get is a UK postage address. Makes people suspect that we and our should in fact be I and my.

Also I can't see the point of the Articles section, what relevance has it to the rest of the site?

Oh and loose the amateur photo section. A picture is worth a thousand words, so why use naff ones? Get some professional photo's done and use them instead. There's nothing worse than looking thru someone's holiday snaps. Its Yawnsville USA.

All in all a visually pleasant enough web site, the copy needs work in order to tighten it up and make it less low brow. Less of often more in regards to good PR.

Needs a bit more money spent on it to bring it up to where it need to be. But a good first effort. Worth a prize but not the first prize.

Kiri

An odd response but I'm stuck in Japan with no mobile and no outgoing e-mail (incoming is OK).

I can be skyped at diggory.hadoke so get in touch if you can. !3.00 UK time is about 21.30 Jap time and I'm usually at my computer then.

Saw all your August stuff - looks very cool and fun. I'll dip into the site now as i will have some tome to do such thinks since I have about four days of work to do and ten days to be here - shoot me!

Kiri
I think your web site have come out very nice!

Just a couple of comments from my side.
On some of your sites you have to click on pictures to read further. On other on headlines. No big deal actually.

When clicking 'destinations' or 'packages' on the top menu, the option of 'United Kingdom' or 'South Africa' pops out underneath, but a bit to far to the left. Can they be put right under the headlines? No big deal either..

I will let you know if I can find other suggestions.. Keep up the good work!

Some of the pictures under: muntjac,woodcook and buffalo dont work in my browser.

And i am realy concerned about Fern, you must consider a trip to Sweden to lern how to use a Husqvarna properly.

Looks pretty good to me.

The fallow package opens the photo so that it's compressed weirdly and I don't think the blue pines fit colour wise and as I know it's a generic windows picture I think that ought to go.

To not offer fallow buck stalking in the rut would make me wonder on what your ground holds.

As a paying guest I would expect galvanised metal double high seats and some shots of the land.

A hard way to make a living - good luck!

Looks great Kiri, I may have to come and see you in the summer for some Roe buck

Looks nice.If I may say so, requires a bit more proofreading and tightening of text.The photographs are of fairly low resolution and look stretched. Not criticism but room for improvement.

All the best with the effort.

Best-
Locksley,R

Hi all thanks for the comments.

The spellings are indeed an issue which I am addressing. The copy writing was due to also be rewritten by Mr Hadoke when he gats back in the country so I'm glad all this has been mentioned as it was hastily cobbled together to fill the site.

Just a couple of answers regarding some other questions that have arisen.

The Fallow rut for us is a very strange thing. In many cases the shoot just goes very quiet and I rarely hear any grunting. For this reason I didn't want to go down the route of the more expensive rut stalking when I didn't feel that experience could be guarenteed. Last year was a bit of a non event in the rut for many in our area so I plan to reevaluate this year and see what's what.

With regard to the links, I'm waiting for the code to be written that allows clickingon the pictures to make the link happen, rather than the "click for more" text. I have also asked for the package format to be changed as currently prices are shown with a USD$ sign and should be sterling.

I'm also going to make the banner a touch narrower as suggested to aid the site, and some other links will be coming in down the right hand side.

I didn't realise the rifleman section was not working but it doesn't work for me here either so I'll chase that all too.

I have a meeting tomorrow with the designers and code writers to try iron out these issues and others so keep the comments coming as it is all relavent.

Thanks again, your comments are much appreciated and the reason I put up the thread.

K

I think you need to be quite careful to match your ground to your package. A site such as this would assume a good level of choice of ground of some size. I think some shots/views of the ground plus acreage and passed cull figures would make for a more professional package.

If in fact the ground is too small to allow that then you need to think about what you have to offer.

What I'm picking up is a bit as Tophand has alluded to - a bit of conflict between what you aspire to (we etc) and what you might have at the moment. I think that needs addressing as it's what stalkers are particularly sensitive to. I don't think we mind booking with a single individual providing that's up front. Any apparent mismatch and I run a mile!

What is the olde worlde map all about? What does the "red area" represent?

I've just re-read the blurb on the front page and spotted this.

"or perhaps a summer week tuna fishing in the Med on one of our own charters."

Yet can find no evidence of this anywhere else on the site.

Makes one think what else on the site is merely waffle and padding.

quote:

Originally posted by trans-pond:
What is the olde worlde map all about? What does the "red area" represent?

From what I can make out it is simply window dressing

There you go FB, lots of comments and criticism.

Just before you chase your tail trying to implement and balance all the conflicting suggestions, remember: The Camel was designed by a comittee!
That's why its so ugly

Tophand,

Perhaps I should have been a litle clearer in my original post. The site is as yet unfinished, but I have got a basic framework within which users will be able to navigate it and use it for either information on the quarry species we can access or ways in they can incorporate those quarry species into a hunt.

I just returned last night from a trip to Cyprus to look at a new fishing vessel that my freind is building and we will be organising together offshore trips for bluefin and albacore, as well as some deep drop fishing. It's a sevety foot catamaran that will sleep ten comfortably and tow a fishing skiff behind it. This (trolling for tuna) is something I have been doing for nearly 15 years and he has done pofessionally for the last ten years or so, but as yet I have not written up the description and photos to go on the site as I'm waiting for the vessle to finish. We are putting together an exploratory trip in May at cost of fuel and bait, (hope to catch our own food!!) for a team of very experienced fishermen to go and find exactly what is available in the region as a four day live aboard trip. The results from that trip will be very interesting as no one is currently doing this in the region, and the small ammount of testing we have done has been very successful.

There is a lot of stuff in the pictures that are generic fillers left there by the web designers. The map is one of them as are the pines etc, but I am going to replace that all with relevant photos as they become available. What I'm really interested in is how people feel about the layout and functionality of the site.

I think the point of the site is that there are a lot of options when organising shooting for an individual or a team, & the devil is in the details. I don't believe that you can put such things into an off the shelf package, as everyone has their idea of what they are looking for and what they consider a successful trip. As such everything needs to be tailor made, (perhaps except for african plains game where a more list like approach can be implemented). This means that I want to talk to my clients to devleop, plan and host them through their experience, to make sure they get exactly what they expect. If I can't host it then someone that I have shown what I expect will host it. I think those that have hunted with me over the last three AR weekends will understand that even on someone elses ground I like to guide things in a way that I know wil be best for the guys I'm representing.

My bad experiences while hunting left a very sour taste in my mouth and my feeling was that the agent often acted in good faith and the host on the ground altered things for his own benefit or didn't deliver through laziness. Had the agent have been there my experiences would have been far better as he could have acted to salvage the situation. This is why I often use the term "we" in the descriptions as I work as a team with my outfitters on the ground, (if it isn't myself guiding the team on my own land) and I demand very specific details to be fulfilled before I commit a client to the expense. As such I also will stand up and take responsibility for any problems that occur on one of my hunts.

I hope this clarifies more of where I'm coming from with this. Each may have their views on paying stalkers, but for me it is very simple. The opportunity to show people the sport that we are all passionate about comes first and the economics come afterwards. If you are fair and show people value then they will come back and a business will develop. As much as I enjoy hunting abroad and making friends in the process I wish to show waht we have here in the UK.

Dave,

I know I can't please all the people all the time hence why democracy is something I have never allowed on our shoot!! After all, how difficult can "follow the fenceline down the hill for twenty metres and wait for the pheasants" be as an instruction? Lord knows why I'd want to do more of it?!?!?!?!

K

quote:

What I'm really interested in is how people feel about the layout and functionality of the site.

Got ya! Content is secondary.

I think my first observation stands being repeated though. It lacks personality. Its a bit hmmmm..... twee, like it is just trying too hard, and over sells itself. Web site design for a service based company is all about conveying the message. But the way the message is conveyed has to be correct also. Hence the remarks about the copy content and style.

Your aspirations and intentions all seem very laudable. I'm just not so sure that they are logistically achievable whilst at the same time making the business commercially viable. I have friends in the out fitting business and know exactly how tough it can be at times.
A lot of good and aspiring shooting agencies don't stay the course, and those that do, do so for very specific reasons. None of which has the slightest kinship with being a charity.

I'm sure you'll attract some business from a few of the site members. But like swallows you need more than a few to make a summer.