Explore Corner: Beach Reviews, Beach Photos and a Travel Guide

6 thoughts on “Explore Corner: Beach Reviews, Beach Photos and a Travel Guide”

1. 1.My initial impression of the homepage is that the search button should be more visible.  I think keeping it simple is best here similar to google.  Most people that go on vacation have an idea of where they want to go.  ….  I also believe that this site should be social media focused…where are the testimonials…those are really powerful!
   2.  I typed in “Maldives” and no results were found.  I did not find what i was looking for.
   3.  No.  I am not encourage to sign up for anything. I dont think there is enough of a pull for me.  why should I sign up.. what are you going to offer me because I assume..that you will send me tons of emails…I think the front page should give something away for free that has value…Tease us a little!
    
   4.  i typed in “information on the best beaches in the world” and I saw that tripadvisor was at the top.  I would choose tripadvisor because of the testimonials.  Most people buy things based on the recommendations of others… tripadvisor.com also has a list of the top 25 beaches…this is really powerful and draws the visitors of the website in.
    
   5.  I think having a list of the top beaches and testimonials of each beach would be very powerful for your website.  you could also try and receive testimonials from visitors to your website as well.

2. 1) After looking around the page, this site has a great layout and has a positive initial impression. It is very clear what the purpose of the site. The images are relaxing and inviting. It seems to me that first time visitors would be likely to click on the links to see reviews and info on beaches.
    
   2) I looked for some info on beaches in the United States and I could not find any info. I tried Myrtle Beach SC and I clicked on Palm Beach, but that Palm Beach is in Australia. The homepage makes it appear that info is available in many countries around the world, but the US is not represented. That part is confusing and they will have many US visitors or visitors coming to the US exiting quickly.
    
   3) I am discouraged from creating an account because as a visitor in the US, I am more likely to visit a domestic beach than an international beach.
    
   4) I used the term beach reviews in google and tripadvisor.com appears many times in the top 10 results. It seems that tripadvisor is much more established because of the many user reviews that reflect their personal experiences. I believe site visitors trust these reviews as more authentic. For these reasons, I prefer tripadvisor as well as the fact that I have used tripadvisor previously for domestic info.
    
   5) The site name/url explorercorner.com does not match an exclusive beach info site. It seems it would be more accurate for general travel site, which maybe they have plans to expand to that. I don’t think of beaches with just the words explorer corner.

3. 1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?
   The home page is a blue colorized picture of a beach. Apparently your site is about exploring beaches around the world.
   2) Think of something you want to find on this website. Now try to find it. Did you find what you were looking for? Was anything confusing?
   I typed in “Panama City Beach” and nothing came up. Where are the search results? This tells me that your site needs more beaches or a more user-friendly search results section. I can’t even click on the magnifying glass in the search bar from the “Click anywhere on the map to select the beach location.”
   This is confusing as to why your search bar is not working. I have come to the conclusion that your search bar at the top next to “EXPLORE Corner” just doesn’t work. You need to remove it if it is not working.
    
   3) Are you encouraged to (create a new account, subscribe, sign up for a free trial, etc.)? Can you tell us why (or why not)?
   Well, after being frustrated by the search or lack of search, I would not sign up for a free trial. I have not been shown that your site even has beaches in my region of the U.S.
   4) Go to search engine of your choice and find one other company that offers a similar service. Compare the two companies. Which on do you prefer? Why?
   When I type in “look up beaches” the top site populated is Expedia for beach vacations. I don’t think there is even a competition comparing your new site to Expedia.
   I see a way to look up nearby accomodations on your site, but since you have not developed or demonstrated that your brand is reliable or trustworthy, there is no way I would book a hotel or vacation through your site.
   5) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.
   It appears that you only have European beaches and some island beaches. I suggest that you add U.S. beaches into your database. That would greatly expand your audience.
   I don’t get your Sun ratings. There are 5 suns, but who has rated these beaches. Are these user ratings and an average of all ratings or the rating of the person that submitted the beach? If only one person rated each beach, then you wouldn’t have an accurate representation.
   I don’t see why you need to know the next closest beach. Maybe if a beach was too crowded, but other than that, most people pick one beach to go to.
   I like how you have pictures of the beach. That is handy.

4. 1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?
   The site very straightforward which from my first few seconds spend on the website i can tell it is like a travel guide for people who looking to spend their holiday on beach. The blueish cover photo isn’t that attractive to me. It does not give me a feeling of, “hey, this site show some beautiful beaches around the world by looking at your cover photo and I wanted to know where is the place”. The blueish colour has covered the beauty of the picture. It should have a beautiful sunlight with a very clear sea view. Your cover photo play an important role in attracting visitors to use your website. It is not just a theme or a layout or a background image for your site, it is the centre of your site, it is like a picture that explain what your site do and in the other hand it is also play the role of advertising your website as a professional site that suggesting a lot of beautiful beaches. I suggest you could use some more beautiful and amazing picture to attract the visitors.
   2) Think of something you want to find on this website. Now try to find it. Did you find what you were looking for? Was anything confusing?
    
   I was trying to look for Bali Beach and i do not know which country it is at, so i used your search engine and i found it is located at greece. I trying to know what are the attraction at Bali beach, which i can found it under the activities you stated for this beach. I found that you displayed quite a lot of information such as the weather which i think it is very useful. You also provide to search for hotel nearby. But the search option is only available 1 and 2 adults? this is the only thing that i am confused, i suggest it would be good if you allows the visitor to search for the room type such as small room, double room, or superior room. Others i don’t find it confusing as it is very straigtforward/
   3) Are you encouraged to (create a new account, subscribe, sign up for a free trial, etc.)? Can you tell us why (or why not)?
   Yes, because i like islands and beaches. So i would like to know more about the beautiful beaches around the world and it is very useful for me to search for the activities and details about a particular beach and i also like to share some beautiful places with others.
   4) Go to search engine of your choice and find one other company that offers a similar service. Compare the two companies. Which on do you prefer? Why?
   
   I found tripadvisor.com as a site that offer similar service like your site, but they not only introduce about beaches, they also introduce other travel points. I could not find any other site that only offer the services of introducing beaches around the world. From tripadvisor.com it homepage cover photo is much more attractive which it make feel like wanted to go for a vacation right away. I try to search for bali, greece from the site. They did not really have detail information about what are the attraction for that place instead they recommend hotels and restaurants with rating. From here, i would prefer your site because you provide lot of travel details which i could not get from tripadvisor website. 
    
   5) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.
   Overall your website is a great site for people who are looking for best beach around the world. However, the design of your site is not attractive and interesting enough to make people feel like they wanted to go for a travel immediately after seen your site. In your homepage, you suggest some popular beach around the world, the way you present it isn’t attracting me to click on any of them as I did not see how amazing is the beach until I click inside. But i wouldn’t want to click on it at the first place because the image is too small to let me see how beautiful is the beach. I suggest when people mouse over the beach that you listed under the popular beaches, you can make the image bigger like photo zoomer and make sure the picture is attractive enough. You wanted to show a most popular beach, to make people believe it, you have to show a very beautiful side of that beach by using a picture.
   Besides that, when i click into a beach and want to know more about it, the layout of how you present the information isn’t attractive enough as well. It is too blank in colour which all i can see is white colour. I think it would be more attractive if you use some colours for each category of information from general information until the weather forecast. Each section have a different border colour would be more comfort for the eyes to read and difference.

5. 1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?
    
   When I see the name, ExploreCorner, I think of travel. However, I don’t think of beaches and don’t realize that the site is about beaches until I look further.
    
   The blue photo does provide a cool and beachy feel.
    
   Being able to click directly on the countries is great; the US does not appear to be included yet. So is a listing of popular beaches.
    
   What I am missing is a video with the sound of waves splashing onto the shore and various beach sites: quiet beaches, beaches with children playing, drinks with umbrellas. Nothing to really entice me.
    
   I also see recently uploaded photos and that I can upload photos. Does that mean that this is a social site? Do people get to share about their beach experiences, where good places to stay and eat are. What sites there are around the beaches?
    
   I see people can suggest beaches, but it doesn’t appear to be a social site.
    
   2) Think of something you want to find on this website. Now try to find it. Did you find what you were looking for? Was anything confusing?
    
   I want to find other people, who I can discuss different beaches with. I don’t see it.
    
   So, I decided to visit one of the beaches to see what information is provided. Being able to book a hotel is a nice feature; I am not familiar with book.com. Listing amenities is helpful, as is listing nearby beaches. I also would like information about places to eat, nearby sites, shopping. Visiting a beach is great, but it is not something that I would be doing 16 hours per day. I want to know what else is around.
    
   Having the temperature and weather conditions is excellent. Please have the temperature in Fahrenheit and wind in miles per hour. Most of us in the US, aren’t able to convert these without assistance. Also pressure1023mbar means nothing to me. 29.5 would.
    
   3) Are you encouraged to (create a new account, subscribe, sign up for a free trial, etc.)? Can you tell us why (or why not)?
    
   No, I would not be encouraged to sign up. Although I like the idea of being able to visit any beach in the world, virtually or physically, this site still needs work. And it really is begging for a social aspect.
    
   4) Go to search engine of your choice and find one other company that offers a similar service. Compare the two companies. Which on do you prefer? Why?
    
   I was not able to find any other sites specializing in visiting beaches worldwide. There are sites for specific locations.
    
   I found the “World’s 100 best beaches” on cnn.com, which provide some information and some really cool photos from 100 beaches.
    
   So, it looks like you have found yourself a niche that isn’t being served yet. That is very unusual. Congratulations!
    
   5) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?
    
   Since the average visit to a website lasts about 6 seconds and you are alone in the niche, why are you using a general name like ExploreCorner? Why not BeachWorld or BeachesWorldWide or BeachesInternational or BeachLovers?
    
    
   And I really would encourage you to consider adding a social networking component. Have groups for surfers and families and . . . It could really make a difference to the popularity of the site, such as: “Hey, Harry. What beach to you want to travel to this year. I’m thinking of Brazil.” “Why don’t we hop on ExploreCorner and see what others are saying about the Brazilian beaches?”

6. when I first open the website, I found the layout of the website very appealing. The muted colors were very attractive. I like the fact you have the search and suggestion toolbar locked at the top of the page so it is always available as you scroll down the page.  I would suggest however that the background in the search box should stand be the same color as the suggestion button. I was a little surprised that the United States was not in the list of countries. I would think that some people have their favorite US beaches. I believe you might get a negative reaction from the US user group. The option for users to submit pictures of their favorite beaches will encourage them to make use of your site. 
   I found the search option very easy to use. I like the full-screen option. I checked out the American Samoa beaches. It enables the user to see where the beaches are in relationship to each other. I like the filter box feature. My suggestion there would be to expand the filter options in each category.
   I believe your attempt  to encourage users to sign up is weak on both the homepage and the search page. The coloring on the sign-up option should be as prominent as the coloring on the submit pictures option. Again, the coloring of text in this area does not attract users to features.
   Another breach review site I found was not as well thought out as yours. I know I feel and was much more difficult to navigate around.
   I give your site a big thumbs-up.

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