Digs.ie

Pentax

Hi All,

I have create the attached site over the last 6 months and really not sure how to market it. But before I start to promote the site I would love some feedback from you guys. The site is called www.digs.ie and has been developed to help those, such as myself, who have to move away from home during the week for work reasons. It has also been created to help students find accommodation but until I have a few more ads I don’t want to separate the databases.

I have tried to make the registration and listing process as simply as possible, would love to know what you think.:)

Regards

John

tricky D

Homepage is good. It gets right down to the business at hand, right slap bang in the middle, exactly where it should be and without any fluffy text content which would merely state the obvious. The illustrations are well done and logo is good. However there's more to be done on it, especially wrt search...

As well as having a search box, I'd suggest you have a county listing and/or map. Some sort of 'digs within X kms' functionality would be useful both on the search form and the results which would be 'other digs near...' (already done).

The listing script you're using breaks the back button on individual listing pages which shouldn't happen.

The types of digs at the bottom would be better as links to subcategories. That's sort of what they look like, but then do nothing much, counter to user expectations. I suspect an SEO angle here.

Of course your biggest problem right now is that there's very few listings, so you've got to roll up your sleeves and go to colleges, figure out how to get listings from industries with transient workers and a few other resources. Perhaps a trawl through some daft listings to contact prospects that way.

No results found page could have search again form below the 'Your search returned 0 properties' instead of having to go back.

About Us is really legal info kind of stuff, not really about you which wouldn't be bad to have perhaps including some contact info to help trust.

You could merge login and register pages.

List your digs treatment could do with some improvement. First, the listings are free to put up which is a big seller (probably free for the time being until critical mass is achieved), so make it much more prominent, not buried in the terms. Also a how it works/walkthrough of the process could be handy, even a very short simple one. Also look into monetisation model like: 1st month is free then € per month, priority placement listings in search results or county/category pages, volume listings discounts...

A notice that the service is free to searchers, a simple walkthrough and that they don't need to register wouldn't be a bad thing too.

hello@digs.ie is not a mailto link, make it so.

No 404 page. Make and put sitemap in it. The current sitemap page should be changed from xml to a regular html list.

Page background colour is not explicitly specified. Add background-color: #fff; to the body in digs.css.

Pity the site isn't responsive; pity as it could be handy for small devices on the ground while looking for/at properties.


Hope that helps/good luck/keep up the good work

PaulPinnacle

tricky D wrote: »

... I suspect an SEO angle here.

I'd assume the same.

I can't comment from an algorithmic point of view, but if your site got flagged for a manual review they would fail the test as attempted keyword stuffing.

If they were links to subcategories they'd have a specific reason for being there and wouldn't be an issue from a manual review pov, although could still trigger algorithmic issues depending on the specifics.

Long story short, either include the subcategories as Tricky suggested (best case) or remove the keywords until they have a specific reason for being there.

sgealbhain

The site looks great - If I were you I'd get straight onto Facebook and start targeting your audience with some paid for adverts.

garlicmayo

Looks good, would suggest a "wanted" section, similar to daft's tenant/roommate database.....

mneylon

You need a privacy policy as a separate page - I wouldn't expect to find it in the "about" page

Same with your T & Cs

Also - check your spelling

With regard to the site's layout and design - it's nice and crisp

Mr. G

I think its ni, gets to the point.

I don't like the Facebook and Twitter icons to be honest. Text at bottom aren't links and there's no privacy policy.

Pentax

Hi Tricky-D,

Thanks for taking the time out to send me your comments. They are really good an constructive, just the way I want them. We have taken all your comments into account and we are going to try and implement them.

I will send you a PM regarding our responses in more detail.

Regards

Digs.ie

Pentax

Hi Paul, Thanks for your comments. I have included our responses below in RED.

PaulPinnacle wrote: »

I'd assume the same.

I can't comment from an algorithmic point of view, but if your site got flagged for a manual review they would fail the test as attempted keyword stuffing. I agree with what you are saying, this has crossed my mind. Because my front page is so simple trying to get ranking in Google is very difficult. Ideally I would like to convert the words to links to certain sections within the site.

If they were links to subcategories they'd have a specific reason for being there and wouldn't be an issue from a manual review pov, although could still trigger algorithmic issues depending on the specifics. As above, we are working to change these to links to subcategories.

Long story short, either include the subcategories as Tricky suggested (best case) or remove the keywords until they have a specific reason for being there.

Noted.

Thanks for your comments.

Regards

Digs.ie

Pentax

sgealbhain wrote: »

The site looks great - If I were you I'd get straight onto Facebook and start targeting your audience with some paid for adverts.

Thanks sgealbhain, thanks for your advise. Right now we want to try and get the site right before we advertise properly. Marketing is not my strong point, have you any suggestions as where to fond out more.

Pentax

Hi Blacknight:

Blacknight wrote: »

You need a privacy policy as a separate page - I wouldn't expect to find it in the "about" page I agree we are working on a About us page.

Same with your T & Cs

Also - check your spelling Will do.

With regard to the site's layout and design - it's nice and crisp

Thank you appreciate it.

theholyghost

Pentax wrote: »

Marketing is not my strong point, have you any suggestions as where to fond out more.

Depends what your budget is, an obvious option to me would be to send a flyer via that company (can't think of their name but they advertise all the time) to houses in the vicinity of colleges and on the bus routes.

Edit: I think it is Admailer? An Post may also do similar and really let you target specific areas/homes.