David Fiske A subtle blend of affiliate marketing and web development

Everyone else has gone for crafty affiliate links on their blog in order to qualify for an entry into the sunshine.co.uk affiliate prize draw (Kieron and John Lamerton) so I thought I would break away from the mould and be more blatent!

Introducing sunshine.co.uk...
 
Who Are They, What Do They Do and Why Should I Use Them?

In a nut shell, it's a low cost travel agency. They offer low cost holidays, budget flights and discounted hotels, all bookable online with no hidden extras.

Having lost a couple of days searching for our honeymoon at the right price, it's the "with no hidden extras" that appeals to me. The honeymoon was quoted as a very low price in the brochure, but it transpired that the price excluded a heft wad of taxes. Add them into the equation and the once competitive holiday is now considerably not so.

Given that there was no stipulation about the content of said review for said competition entry, I am going to briefly analyse the website from a new user perspective, given this is my first visit to the site.

The Good Points

The site design is clean and user friendly. The navigation bar is exactly where I would expect it (to the top and the left). Search options are given at the top of the page which is one of the first things I looked for.

The use of Google Maps is welcomed, for the maps are helpful and non-intrusive.

I also like the area guides such as the Gouvia Hotels guide.

The Bad

I got lost! I navigated using this path: Home > Costa Brava > Top Paradis Park Aparthotel. I spent a good five minutes looking for the call to action. How do I book? I then noticed the sidebar search options had been pre-filled to check availability. My advice here is to add a form at the bottom of the page that mirrors the availability search box to make it a) easier for users and b) more obvious for users to understand what to do.

The destination list isn't tremendously large though I'm sure that's just a growth thing that will resolve itself over time.



Anyway, there's a long winded competition entry. Given that this year's prize and freebie list stands empty, I'm not hopeful. Nevertheless, you have to be in it to win it (as they say).