Comments on: Website design for gites – 3 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/website-design-for-gites-3/2009/07/ Living in France and daily life for a UK expat in the French blog! Thu, 24 May 2012 13:33:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Boris http://www.francethisway.com/wp/website-design-for-gites-3/2009/07/comment-page-1/#comment-16027 Boris Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:04:35 +0000 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/?p=1104#comment-16027 Hi John, Lots of good questions, thanks! Two websites or one? There are good arguments for both. In principle there are advantages in having two but in practice I would go for just one site (the .com version) and have a French 'section' and an English 'section' both within the same site. The issue is mostly to do with how sites get found in the search engines - google etc look how many links there are from other websites to your own, and then rank it higher if there are more. Links are generally pretty hard to get hold of for one site, even harder for two different sites. After all, in what circumstances would someone decide to link to your b&b website? (or my gite website? I'm not being personal!), So better I think to focus on getting one site to rate OK than have two sites that don't rate at all. That is what we do with this site by the way - although most of the French version is waiting for my daughter to do the proper translations (failing that it's my big prject for the next 12 months). Google etc are pretty good at knowing the language of a page, but it is true that a separate French only site, hosted in France, would show better in google.fr than a 'mixed' site (if it had links to it). Yes, it is better if the separate sections have appropriate keywords in the relevant language. The longer the phrase (eg 3 words rather than 1) the eaiser it is to rate for the phrase...and the less people search for it. Go to https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal and try a few options, see which phrases get searched for most often (usually hard to rate for) and which don't. Of course there's no point being first for 'attractive centrally placed bed and breakfast in Bourges' if it's not something anyone ever searches for... Just say if that's not at all clear, it's a bit of a whistle-stop response. Thanks for the comments about the site, it's about 3 1/2 years old now, I reckon another 2 years and we'll be looking pretty complete. There are still some embarrassing gaps in coverage at the moment but we do work (and travel) non-stop in an attempt to improve it! Hi John,
Lots of good questions, thanks!
Two websites or one? There are good arguments for both. In principle there are advantages in having two but in practice I would go for just one site (the .com version) and have a French ‘section’ and an English ‘section’ both within the same site. The issue is mostly to do with how sites get found in the search engines – google etc look how many links there are from other websites to your own, and then rank it higher if there are more. Links are generally pretty hard to get hold of for one site, even harder for two different sites. After all, in what circumstances would someone decide to link to your b&b website? (or my gite website? I’m not being personal!),
So better I think to focus on getting one site to rate OK than have two sites that don’t rate at all.
That is what we do with this site by the way – although most of the French version is waiting for my daughter to do the proper translations (failing that it’s my big prject for the next 12 months).
Google etc are pretty good at knowing the language of a page, but it is true that a separate French only site, hosted in France, would show better in google.fr than a ‘mixed’ site (if it had links to it).
Yes, it is better if the separate sections have appropriate keywords in the relevant language. The longer the phrase (eg 3 words rather than 1) the eaiser it is to rate for the phrase…and the less people search for it. Go to https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal and try a few options, see which phrases get searched for most often (usually hard to rate for) and which don’t. Of course there’s no point being first for ‘attractive centrally placed bed and breakfast in Bourges’ if it’s not something anyone ever searches for…
Just say if that’s not at all clear, it’s a bit of a whistle-stop response.
Thanks for the comments about the site, it’s about 3 1/2 years old now, I reckon another 2 years and we’ll be looking pretty complete. There are still some embarrassing gaps in coverage at the moment but we do work (and travel) non-stop in an attempt to improve it!

]]> By: john hfalkner http://www.francethisway.com/wp/website-design-for-gites-3/2009/07/comment-page-1/#comment-16026 john hfalkner Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:57:55 +0000 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/?p=1104#comment-16026 Hi Boris, Have once again spent some happy time on your site, and have also tried to take on board your advice / tips on creating a website. As the headache slowly dissipates I was wondering if you could pass comment on the following. If we wanted to create an Anglo/French website - for our b & b in Bourges - would we need two ( UK/FR) web hosts? A French friend will probably help us with the design so the original site would be in French. We would then translate the same content/captions etc into English. Though our web address would be a .com would it be necessary to translate all the key words into both languages ( I am guessing yes) and would it be advisable to have,say three, words strung together that mean something in both languages ? I guess francethisway is aiming at primarily at the English ( speaking) market? ( And boy,what a change from a few years ago.You're site is getting close to a one- stop- is -all -you- need- to- visit -France situation ) Looking forward to hearing from you if you have a moment Best wishes from whatever is the opposite of a computer tekkie, John. Hi Boris,

Have once again spent some happy time on your site, and have also tried to take on board your advice / tips on creating a website.

As the headache slowly dissipates I was wondering if you could pass comment on the following.

If we wanted to create an Anglo/French website – for our b & b in Bourges – would we need two ( UK/FR) web hosts?
A French friend will probably help us with the design so the original site would be in French. We would then translate the same content/captions etc into English.
Though our web address would be a .com would it be necessary to translate all the key words into both languages ( I am guessing yes) and would it be advisable to have,say three, words strung together that mean something in both languages ?
I guess francethisway is aiming at primarily at the English ( speaking) market?
( And boy,what a change from a few years ago.You’re site is getting close to a one- stop- is -all -you- need- to- visit -France situation )

Looking forward to hearing from you if you have a moment

Best wishes from whatever is the opposite of a computer tekkie, John.

]]> By: Charente Property http://www.francethisway.com/wp/website-design-for-gites-3/2009/07/comment-page-1/#comment-15892 Charente Property Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:10:50 +0000 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/?p=1104#comment-15892 Quite agree. A proven track record, examples of previous work and preferably testimonials from happy customers is a good start before you part with too much cash Quite agree. A proven track record, examples of previous work and preferably testimonials from happy customers is a good start before you part with too much cash

]]> By: Boris http://www.francethisway.com/wp/website-design-for-gites-3/2009/07/comment-page-1/#comment-15888 Boris Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:20:03 +0000 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/?p=1104#comment-15888 I think there are two purposes to a (holiday rental) website - (1) increasing conversion rate from enquiries by giving more information, more pictures etc than can be included in a normal advert, and (2) increasing sales directly, if the site itself is found in search engines. As you say both of these are hard to achieve, the second probably more so. I agree with what you're saying about finding a professional - as long as someone knows how to find a professional and expects to pay them accordingly. There are a lot of people who become 'website designers' without knowing very much about either design or online marketing - and there is a real danger of paying a big price for something that still isn't successful. But find the right person for the job and certainly it's money well spent. I think there are two purposes to a (holiday rental) website – (1) increasing conversion rate from enquiries by giving more information, more pictures etc than can be included in a normal advert, and (2) increasing sales directly, if the site itself is found in search engines. As you say both of these are hard to achieve, the second probably more so.
I agree with what you’re saying about finding a professional – as long as someone knows how to find a professional and expects to pay them accordingly. There are a lot of people who become ‘website designers’ without knowing very much about either design or online marketing – and there is a real danger of paying a big price for something that still isn’t successful.
But find the right person for the job and certainly it’s money well spent.

]]> By: Charente Property http://www.francethisway.com/wp/website-design-for-gites-3/2009/07/comment-page-1/#comment-15887 Charente Property Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:04:16 +0000 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/?p=1104#comment-15887 From what I can tell the majority of home made websites that are built by people who otherwise aren't interested in the finer points of code or the esoteric art of online marketing end up taking an inordinate amount of time for what is too often not a great result. Yes, a simple webpage is pretty easy to build, but will it do anything? Will it instill confidence and make sales? Will it even be found by people searching online? The hours of hair pulling are worth avoiding if you can find a reasonable professional to take care of it for you. Similarly I get my car serviced by a professional. It's not that I couldn't learn how to do it myself, it just seems a better use of my time to leave it to someone with a fully equipped garage and a lifetime of experience in that field. From what I can tell the majority of home made websites that are built by people who otherwise aren’t interested in the finer points of code or the esoteric art of online marketing end up taking an inordinate amount of time for what is too often not a great result. Yes, a simple webpage is pretty easy to build, but will it do anything? Will it instill confidence and make sales? Will it even be found by people searching online? The hours of hair pulling are worth avoiding if you can find a reasonable professional to take care of it for you. Similarly I get my car serviced by a professional. It’s not that I couldn’t learn how to do it myself, it just seems a better use of my time to leave it to someone with a fully equipped garage and a lifetime of experience in that field.

]]> By: Boris http://www.francethisway.com/wp/website-design-for-gites-3/2009/07/comment-page-1/#comment-15884 Boris Tue, 22 Sep 2009 10:19:32 +0000 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/?p=1104#comment-15884 Hi I agree...almost. But I think they look at the order of text and links in the souce code of the page rather than on the page itself. So in the main francethisway site there are horizontal menus on every page, near the top - but in the code they are at the bottom (then positioned at the top with CSS). So for this site google would always see those as the last links on the page (it's different in this blog section). Perhaps from what you are saying I should move the menus up to the top of the source code - I'll give it some thought! Thanks for the idea. Hi
I agree…almost. But I think they look at the order of text and links in the souce code of the page rather than on the page itself.
So in the main francethisway site there are horizontal menus on every page, near the top – but in the code they are at the bottom (then positioned at the top with CSS). So for this site google would always see those as the last links on the page (it’s different in this blog section).
Perhaps from what you are saying I should move the menus up to the top of the source code – I’ll give it some thought!
Thanks for the idea.

]]> By: Immobilier South France http://www.francethisway.com/wp/website-design-for-gites-3/2009/07/comment-page-1/#comment-15883 Immobilier South France Tue, 22 Sep 2009 08:55:21 +0000 http://www.francethisway.com/wp/?p=1104#comment-15883 One key thing to remember is that Google reads a page like a human i.e. top left >> to the right then down. The important thing is to have your best key phrase (something like "Gite Rental XYZ Town") at the top left as a link to your site and not something silly like "welcome to my site" as this is the most important link on your site :) One key thing to remember is that Google reads a page like a human i.e. top left >> to the right then down.

The important thing is to have your best key phrase (something like “Gite Rental XYZ Town”) at the top left as a link to your site and not something silly like “welcome to my site” as this is the most important link on your site :)

]]>