B&B Glastonbury

I really like this as a design. The layout is quite clean and simple, but it is easy to understand and attractive to look at.

I do think you need to clarify the purpose of the site though. At the moment it looks more like a tourist information site than a website for a B&B.

What do you want people to do when they come here? I assume the main objective, is to get them to spend some money on a visit to your B&B, in which case you should strengthen the calls to action and emphasize the advantages/ benefits of your B&B.

Currently the two images on the right just look like images with captions. On first glance it wasn't clear that they were methods for looking at/ booking a room.

I would remove the current links and add proper buttons (ie 3d bevelled things with strong calls to action) instead.

Besides a clarification of purpose I would:

• make the main navigation bolder. I think the menu options are quite important, but they're greyed out and hard to read.

• If you're making something of the 'what's on' section then maybe there should be a menu item for that as well.

• Maybe add a bit of texture to the background to make it more visually interesting

• Tidy up the drop shadows on the blocks of content. The shadows on the left cut off suddenly, and the ones on the left of the 'welcome to our B&B section seem to go too far to the left.

• change the logo. It looks very cliparty at the moment, and could do with something simpler/ more interesting.

• Does the B&B have a name? Might be good to get that in there somewhere, or will that replace the Bed & Breakfast title later on?

• The read more link on the what's on title seems a bit lost. Not sure how to fix it, maybe center it vertically? The colour doesn't really work for me either.

I really like it, and as someone who travels and uses sites like these, it has all of the right elements to help me make a decision about whether or not to stay with you, and I like the "what's on" section a lot.

The colors are great, it's easy for my eye to find the elements I'm looking for.

I think the only nits I have to pick are:

1. Put the name of the person who gave you the testimonial, and the date. Even if it's just "Richard M., 22.06.10" or even "Richard M., USA, June 2010" it's the kind of validation I look for.

2. The banner says "welcome to our B&B" - so I wonder who "you" are. I might have this little "welcome" notice signed by the proprietors - since it's a B&B it's important to know who you are staying with, so a little "Looking forward to your visit with us, Doris & Ian" or whatever their names are.

Again, great job, not only on the home page but on all your secondary pages as well!

This is a clear, well-laid out website. What works in your favour is:

• clear and large labeling for headings (e.g. What's on)
• Large images that give visitors a clear idea of the location and give them a feel for the place
• Regional/local information to make the case for visiting G'bury
• Call to Action buttons

As was previously mentioned, you could make the primary horizontal navigation stand out more by giving out a background colour, and the Call to Action buttons should probably receive more emphasis, e.g. you could use orange colour there instead of blue.

Also:

• On the homepage, you could link your testimonial to more comments by satisfied customers on a subpage
• The contact phone number in the Welcome to our B&B page could be located higher up, perhaps above the primary navigation bar, to receive more emphasis
• Don't know if you have a Facebook page, but if you do you may want to mention this on the site?

Nice work!

First thing I notice is the lack of content, but probably this is not the case here ... because you probably are in the early stages of the design.

The main menu doesn't have enough contrast and on some monitors, because the color is so similar to the background, might not be readable, especially if your target is 25-70, a lot of the old people could have sight problems.

Your call to actions are not showing enough, I think your call to actions on the home page are "view our Accommodation" and "view Availability" and the second area as importance is What's On. Now if that's the case here, you should make the first call to actions pop some more.

I would make the logo bigger, I think it's to small ... it feels lost up there.

Here is an idea for the call to actions and for the menu:

Hi Dave, I like what you have already got with this. It only needs a few changes:

• Same line-height setting throughout the site. It seems that different sections have a different setting. That is inconsistent and makes your text less attractive, which in turn makes your site less attractive.

• Space out your footer. It seems mushed together. This could be coming from the image or the fonts used, but it looks horrible. Also, if you are going to put your logo down there as well, keep its color in it.

• Maybe make the title tabs wrap around. I think it would look better if the tabs were wrapped around the sections corners.

• Your testimonial. Honestly, some people might not know what that is. you might want to label it just so everyone knows its purpose. Also, I would like to see the quotes on the outside of the text, maybe try black font color, and make the text italic.

• Put the info of your B&B up first. As of right now, at first glance I have no idea what this site is for. It also doesn't help with the current section at top. By switching them up your visitors will immediately get the info they want to know.

• Change the hover state in the nav menu. That blue is not strong enough to stand out.

Well, that's all I have to say. Hope my comments help!

Although I give you and A for usability, I can't say the same for what it looks like.

This doesn't feel like a bed and breakfast, It feels like a tourist website where I can find stuff to do and multiple places to stay. I feel your giving a metropolitan vibe to a place that you can do a really cool/elegant/rustic treatment to. Right now the website lacks character in general.

I'd love to see you somehow embed the charm of the city and bed and breakfast into the website and branding somehow. Looking forward to seeing what you think up.

Once again though great job on making it easy to navigate and read through. Just need to breathe a little more charm into it.

i like this design, quite simple and clean. maybe you can change top right images, but it's looking good now.

While overall I think the design is good there needs to be some kind of call to action. "The idea of the site is to encourage people looking for a place to stay in the Glastonbury area to come to this B&B." great but there doesn't seem to be anything that says point blank here's why you should stay with us. "Ranked #1 in customer satisfaction...click here for our summer/winter/fall/spring promotions" "B&B with the best views of Glastonbury etc."

Also, offer some kind of promotion where visitors need to opt into your mailing list. Then send then information on Glastonbury, seasonal rates, best times to visit etc. I know that doesn't have much to do with the overall look of the site but it relates to having something on the site telling the customer to sign up for something and getting them into your sales funnel.

Overall, I love the cleanliness of the site. While there is a decent amount of information it isn't cluttered.

Think its very clean and contain all the information I would love if I stayed there.

...but this dosnt sell the cottage B&B, this design would be awesome if it was a hostel for young people.

Make it more calm and sell the feeling of relaxness and being taking cared of.

Best of luck.

The logo needs work, and really doesnt go with the site

The colors are fine alone, but when you mix them together like this, it detracts from the concept. I would like to see the orange and green and blue condensed to one less or in the same family.

good job. I like it. May still need some more polishing but overall, good job. Maybe do some more work on the color story, be sure to use complimentary colors. Footer could be livened up a bit.

• i would like to see the actual address somewhere on the screen.

  • i would like to see a big button 'reserve now' on the screen. view availability would be the first step in the reserving process.

• i would like to see the contact phone number on the homepage (more prominent.. not just part of the text)