Six Months Later

Sorry it's been so long, but I've been a little busy. I am happy to report that our online store, Boat Name Gear, has enjoyed record sales since our last post nearly 6 months ago. Each month, from November 2012 through this April, the store has brought in more revenue than the same month from any previous year since it opened.

Boaters check out the BNG booth at the Bay Bridge Boat Show, April 2013.

With Father's Day approaching and a string of new customers from recent boat shows, word of mouth, and other promotions in the works, I expect this trend to continue as long as we keep pushing.

Your Quarterly Update

Quarterly is way too long to go between blog posts for someone who considers himself a blogger. Now that that's been said and is behind us, here is a little of what I've been up to...

I exhibited at the Norwalk Boat Show for the first time last month, and will most likely do it again. With my BoatNameGear booth on display I was able to gain a bunch of new customers right in my own home state, and reconnect with a few boaters that I've seen at other boat shows over the past couple of years. I was also able to make a couple of corporate connections, and am currently delivering a large order to a boat manufacturer for products they will use at the Fort Lauderdale show in a couple of weeks.

Technical issues seem to have plagued my multiple hosting vendors over the past 60 days. My old friends at OLM seem to have dropped the ball once again recently when a power outage seemed to leave them clueless. Every issue these guys ever have seems to put them in bind. Luckily only one of my sites, FirstBoat.com, is hosted with them. It won't be for long. I used to work for OLM, so maybe I am jaded having looked under the hood and having seen how messy the engine actually is under there. I always figured you're better with the devil you know than the one you don't, but I think it is finally time for a change.

Another frequent offender is Volusion. This is the e-commerce host that powers BoatNameGear. I switched to Volusion from Yahoo right after Christmas 2011 because I thought they looked more professional than a yahoo store, and they were also recommended in an article about a store that sells millions of dollars worth of UCONN gear each year. I had seen some bad press in forums about Volusion having trouble with slowness and downtime, but I chose to believe the good press about the company's improvements. I may give them some more time, as moving an e-commerce store is a pain in the ass. Hopefully they will get better.

Thirdly, GoDaddy had issues in September  - this is the first time in 10 years of holding domain names with GoDaddy that i have been noticeably affected by any issues with this company. I don't actually host any websites with them, but I have many domain names that forward to other websites - these domain names were down for about a day while GoDaddy sorted out their issues.

On another technical note, I've been diving into WordPress a lot lately since creating NortheastBoater.com on the platform. If it continues to impress me as much as it has been, I expect to be creating several new sites on WordPress between now and the end of 2013. This blog and several other sites I manage are created on Google's Blogger platform, and that certainly is easy to use and still has some advantages. If anybody is interested in my thoughts on Blogger vs. WordPress, contact me and I'd be happy to share my experience. 

Hopefully my next post will be a positive one about some funding that I am working on, and hopefully it will be sooner than 3 months from now!

Local Boat Shows

BoatNameGear occasionally exhibits at boat shows in and around Connecticut where I live. The shows give me a chance to see a few existing customers in person, get feedback on products, get the name out there, and meet all kinds of great people. If time permits, I also get the chance to talk to folks about the other sites in the network - I usually can find a story idea or two for Daily Boater or the new Northeast Boater.

This is the back of the booths at SailQuest in Mystic, CT, last year. SailQuest is moving to Milford this year.

And since Father's Day is one of the website's busiest times of year, I was especially excited to find a couple of events right in my home state right before things get really crazy for the big holiday. The two events are in-water boat shows, and both are on the Connecticut shoreline.

This will be my first time at the Brewer show, which should be interesting - I'm told the land vendors like me will be "in the shed". I'm looking forward to it! Westbrook and the surrounding towns are great boating communities, so it seems like a good location for a show.

I'm also looking forward to SailQuest, which will be my third time exhibiting at the show, which is every year it was held. I'm also hopeful the show will draw a bigger crowd than it has in previous years due to its new location, free admission, and the fact that the promoters have now had two years of experience. It will also be a bit of a homecoming for me as I grew up in Milford and spent many a summer boating in and out of Milford Harbor.

If you're in the area, please stop by:

Brewer Spring In-Water Boat Show
LOCATION: Brewers Pilots Point Marina, Westbrook, CT
DATE: April 28 - 29, 2012
MORE INFO: Brewer Spring In-Water Boat Show

SailQuest Boat Show
LOCATION: Lisman Landing Marina, Milford, CT
DATE: May 18 - 20, 2012
MORE INFO: SailQuest Boat Show / WindCheck

Industry Stuff

Went to my first CT Marine Trades Expo yesterday and saw some great presentations. The folks from the Connecticut Marine Trades Association did a good job pulling the day together. Some folks from an Internet services company spent a couple of hours convincing the local marine businesses in the room that they should have a website, and that they should use it to increase their sales. I stuck around for a presentation after lunch which included a panel of boat salespeople from around the state sharing some ideas on how to sell boats in these tough economic times. All four of the panelists described ways in which they really went outside the box to get their boats in front of people, including showing their boats in local parades, at malls and airports, and even at non-nautical fairs such as an apple harvest festival!

The group also stated that they have significantly reduced or completely done away with print advertising; instead they are getting involved in community initiatives, and marketing on the web - placing ads on boating websites such as those in my nautical sites network. Would this be a good place for a shameless plug? You bet! Contact me directly if you'd like to advertise on my boating websites. You'll get a tremendous value for your money, and you'll reach the recreational boaters that are most likely to be interested in products and services like yours.

Readership of the Daily Boater has continued to grow, and I've been trying to give more back to our readers. As such I have engaged a new guest author to write a weekly column for the site. Whether you are a novice sailor or have years of experience, you'll enjoy the insights of John Jamieson. Captain John teaches sailing skippers the no-nonsense cruising skills they need for safer sailing worldwide, and now he shares that experience on DailyBoater.com. Of course, if you want all-Captain-John all the time, sign up for his FREE sailing tips newsletter at http://skippertips.com. You can also become a paying member for instant access to 425+ articles, video tutorials, newsletters, and free eBooks.  The articles that Captain John has contributed to the Daily Boater are available for free at the following link: http://www.dailyboater.com/search/label/Captain%20John

On a national note, I have been continuing to try to collaborate with the NMMA, and just this week they placed a link to BoatNameGear.com on their Grow Boating resources site - the website for the organization charged with the task of increasing participation in boating. Here's the link - scroll down to the bottom to see the t-shirt picture and link to BoatNameGear: http://www.growboating.org/toolkit/promotionalmaterials.aspx

I also exhibited for the first time at the Newport Boat Show last month with a booth for BoatNameGear. The weather was beautiful, which helped the crowds come out in pre-recession numbers. I am pleased to report that we put a lot of personalized gear into the hands of folks from the northeast, and met a lot of nice people from not only Rhode Island, but also CT, NY, Mass, New Hampshire and New Jersey. People came from everywhere for this show. I was able to snap a few photos from the Newport show which you can check out here.

I opted not to do the local Norwalk Boat Show the following weekend, and that turned out to be a blessing as the show was practically rained out. Next up: probably Hartford and Boston in 2012.

Hopefully I'll have some updates before then!

One Crazy Summer

I haven't posted anything in a while because it truly has been one crazy summer.

Just this morning the Daily Boater was featured in a British boating newsletter, with a nice write-up about our boating news site: Boats On TV Newsletter.

But what really kept me busy this summer was all the exposure that Boat Name Gear has received. The timing couldn't be better, as Boat Name Gear will be exhibiting at the Newport (RI) International Boat Show next month for the first time (if you are going to the show, please let me know via the Boat Name Gear facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=235880156440536).

What exposure? The best kind - inexpensive and widespread. One of our endeavors has even helped encourage people to boat! Over the past few months, Boat Name Gear has been one of a handful of top-brand sponsors of a contest being administered by the NMMA. We are in good company with likes of Sperry Top-Siders and BoatU.S. - all offering prizes to encourage people to invite their friends out boating (Welcome to the Water Contest). We gave away dozens of t-shirts with the "Welcome to the Water" logo across the back, and each of the winner's boat name embroidered on the front-left chest. Also, Boat Name Gear has been in the Sun Sentinal, the Baltimore Sun, and in an editorial article in the Miami Herald.

On top of this, we've been adding a bunch of new products - including environmentally-friendly premium polo shirts, fleece blankets, and sailcloth boat bags.

The other sites in the Nautical Sites network, including FirstBoat.com, Daily Boater, BoatlinX and the Boat Name Blog,  have been adding advertisers such as Empire Covers.

All that, and we survived Hurricane Tropical Storm Irene - only one of our websites was down (FirstBoat.com for a few hours, and yes, we're finding a new web host company), and none of our Internet orders were lost or even delayed. For some pictures of some boats and marinas that were not so lucky, check out our collection on the Daily Boater.

There's more, but there are not many more boating days left this year in the northeast. We'll see you soon in Newport!

Thirty Days Later

Seems like an eternity to go without a blog post.  We've gone longer, but a lot has happened over the past month.

A custom shirt from BoatNameGear

First, we've been flat out busy with our two online stores. Taken as a whole, it's the busiest time of year for the two sites. Custom Boat Names is active as people are ordering new boat names for the back of their boat to kick off the season. And Boat Name Gear is hopping for Father's Day... our personalized gear makes great gifts!

We've also done a boat show recently, again exhibiting as Boat Name Gear; this time, it was in Mystic, Connecticut, at a new show called SailQuest Mystic.  The weather was rough, and the crowds were small, but this new event has potential if the organizers keep at it - and the timing (spring, right before Father's Day) and location (on the water at historic Mystic Seaport) are perfect for our business, so I hope it continues. While the sun was out, and without many attendees, I was able to snap a few pictures of both the newer boats on display for the boat show as well as the historic boats that are part of the Seaport. Thanks again to the folks at WindCheck Magazine for their effort with the show.

The weather was beautiful on the 1st day of the show...

On other fronts, we are:

 - putting out a press release (in just a few minutes) announcing a partnership that allows us to put some intense video of sailing news on FirstBoat.

 - sponsoring a huge contest with the NMMA to promote their new Welcome to the Water campaign (Look for details any day now on the NMMA's Discover Boating facebook page). BoatNameGear is the sponsor, and is in good company with the likes of Sperry and Bass Pro Shops.

 - getting close to finally launching a new boating site or two, and continuing to expand our existing sites.

 - seeing a lot of activity on advertising, and we've even closed a few deals, so be sure to visit our sponsors anywhere you see a new banner or text link. Contact me (via email or the contact link to the right) if you want to get in on the action, and by that I mean buy some advertising!

 - now under contract to exhibit (in our BoatNameGear booth) at the Newport (RI) Boat Show in September, 2011.

I'm sure there's more, but gotta get back to the press release I promised you.

Tight lines,

Andrew

Boat Name Gear at the Boat Shows

Had a great time and, more importantly, some success, at the Hartford Boat Show last weekend.  Fortunately, Connecticut's wintriest winter ever took a break from the snow for long enough to allow boating enthusiasts from across southern New England to attend the show.

Of all the Nautical Sites properties, I have been exhibiting as Boat Name Gear at the shows to offer personalized products to boaters. I did the 2011 Hartford show for the 2nd year in a row in order to get the web store's brand out to local boating families, and we were very well received. The show organizers claim 11,000 people came through the door and that Sunday saw bigger crowds than usual. Everybody I know was home shoveling snow off their roof in preparation of the next big storm. That may have kept the crowds at bay on Saturday... it's hard to know for sure.

I was pleased to have met several existing Boat Name Gear customers and I even saw a few folks that I remembered from the 2010 show. A few people also came by the booth after seeing my offer on the Daily Boater to "mention 'FirstBoat' and get a free hat or t-shirt".

Me in front of my booth. Photo by Randy Kessler of Barnum Financial Group

Obviously the boats were not as big in Hartford as they were at the New York Boat Show (review, pics) a couple of weeks ago, but there were some nice Sea Rays on display from Bassett Marine, as well as a large assortment of cruisers, cuddy cabins, bow riders and deck boats, fishing boats and the like from marinas and dealers who were mostly from CT, with a few from RI and Mass.

Here are a few more photos from the show, and there are dozens more on the FirstBoat page on Facebook.

The largest (and smallest) watercraft at the show.

There was sort of a boat show within the boat show.

Rock and Roll... Book a fishing trip at rockandrollcharters.com

Some fish boats and an affordable Larson bowrider from LouisMarine.com

One more of my booth - with some people around it this time.

I have a LOT more photos from the show - mostly taken Sunday morning before the doors opened - on the FirstBoat page on Facebook. You don't have to log-in or have a Facebook account to check them out, but if you do, please click "Like" on the page.

Next up for Boat Name Gear in February and March: The Northeast Fishing (and hunting) Expo in Hartford, and the big New England Boat Show in Boston. Hope to see you there!

Everybody Loves NY

I stopped by the New York National Boat Show on Thursday to check out the boats, as well as to scout out story ideas, advertising leads and the competition. There are more pics on the FirstBoat Facebook page, but I included a few below, and also a write-up on the Daily Boater.

Love the classic look of Silverton Yachts

This seems like bad business. Shouldn't they have at least shown up and talked about their product?

Deadliest Catch in the house. These guys were a riot.

Chaparrals always look sharp.

Providence (and more) Boat Shows

I attended the Providence Boat Show yesterday (see my Daily Boater article for a few boat pics) and met lots of great folks. Attendance was not great when I was there (and I heard it was even worse on Thursday), but I was there on Friday afternoon during business hours when people who can afford boats were working at their day jobs; I suspect traffic will pick up over the weekend.

Hopefully I'll be seeing many of the exhibitors I met again over the next few weeks when I exhibit (for BoatNameGear) at the Hartford Boat Show, the Northeast Fishing Expo, and the big New England Boat Show in Boston.

Not exhibiting, but I'll be doing a similar drop-in at the New York Boat Show next week and will try to bring back some stories and pictures... Stay tuned.

By Way of Norwalk

Stopped by another boat show this past week, this time in Norwalk, Connecticut. The Norwalk show is the only big show in Connecticut with boats in the water this year, and as such draws a pretty good crowd of boating enthusiasts from across the state. It takes place on Connecticut's gold coast, one of the wealthiest counties in the United States, and is just a stone's throw from New York City. Add in the fact that the show is located both geographically and chronologically near big shows in Newport, Annapolis and Boston, it's no wonder the show is a great place to see a large selection of yachts, boats and boat products.

Similar to my trip to Newport the previous week, I rushed in and out of the Norwalk boat show in two to three hours - I again spent less time at the show than on the road. But it was still enough time to see all of the land vendors, and walk all of the docks and even board a couple of the bigger boats. I got to speak with some interesting folks I know including the president of the Conn. Marine Trades Association, the editor-in-chief of WindCheck Magazine, and the guy who sells Nantucket Baggs at every boat show I've been to in the past year. Also met a bunch of new exhibitors (new to me, but most of them seasoned exhibitors, actually), many of them based right here in Connecticut and New York - some of them offering services nationwide, and some of them just trying to reach northeast boaters.


Anyway, got some good photos and story leads and had a few good, albeit short, conversations, and was impressed with the crowd for lunchtime on a Thursday. The parking wasn't bad, but would have been rough for someone to just pop-in during a lunch break from the office, so I suspect the crowd got even bigger as the day and weekend wore on.

Next up for me is the Boston Fall Boat Show, and instead of just a few hours I'll be on-site all weekend, exhibiting as BoatNameGear. I'll also have our new northeast sales rep on-hand if anyone wants to discuss advertising on our nautical sites network .


Here are a few photos from the Norwalk show - you can see more on flickr.

Remind me to used this on DailyBoater.com next July 4th.

I call this a "Billy Joel" boat, because it reminds me of the style he cruises in around Long Island.

An electric boat

Geico: The bigger, faster, brighter the better.

A view from the docks

The Lagoon 400 - this catamaran looked as wide as it did long.

see more on flickr

Newport to Boston

A view from the Goat Island causeway

There's nothing like going to a boat show on the water, and in this job I get to go to them all the time. The other day, for example, I went to Newport RI for what I believe is biggest in-water boat and yacht show in the northeast. As the publisher of a diverse network of boating websites, I attended the show with several goals, and accomplished all of them in just a few short hours.

First and foremost, I attended in an editorial capacity. I was looking for story ideas for our boating news site - the Daily Boater - and found some unique new products that are worth writing about (see pics below).

Next, as the storekeeper for BoatNameGear, I went to the show to meet a couple of my vendors, as well as scout out new merchandising opportunities. Anything that can be personalized and used on a boat caught my eye.

Third, I was seeking potential partners or sponsors for the content sites in the Nautical Sites network. With a couple million visitors and growing, our websites are a great advertising outlet for many of the folks who were exhibiting. While I restrained myself and did not solicit anyone directly at the show, I came home with more than a few ideas for companies that my sales team will be happy to contact.

Lastly, I was investigating the show as a potential place to exhibit next year. Seeing the show in person confirmed my belief that this event - less than two hours from home - is a must-do for next summer. The only question remaining is which 'brand' to exhibit at the show!

The Newport show definitely got me jazzed for the upcoming Boston Fall Boat Show (Oct 1 - 3 at the Seaport World Trade Center, official website). While the Boston show is not quite as big as Newport, it will be great to be there for the entire weekend, putting BoatNameGear on display and talking to customers. If you're looking to get away for the first weekend of October, Boston is beautiful this time of year. And in addition to the boat show, there is plenty going on around town; the Yankees are in town playing the Red Sox, Notre Dame is in town playing Boston College, and the fall foliage is in town early and will be near its peak (fall foliage website).

Hopefully we'll see you in Boston, but for now here are a few pics from Newport and some of the products you may see more of soon on our sites...

A little yacht I passed on the way to the boat show

These yachts looked a lot bigger in person

We'll be writing up the Baby Sea Rock soon

More child's play. Opa Cove founder Richard Barbis proudly displays his Sea Squirts swim and life vests.

Boarding bars from Ding-EZ make boating easier for the young at heart

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Minutes from Mystic

This time last week I was setting up the BoatNameGear booth for a boat show - The Northeast Maritime Exhibition at Mystic Seaport. I was as impressed with WindCheck Magazine’s ability to get this inaugural show off the ground in the short amount of time that they had, as I was with their venue selection in the Seaport.

The show started out looking like a dud on Friday with stormy weather and a constant flow of nothing but school children on field trips marching by the tent… not very promising if you’re trying to sell stuff to boat owners.

The weather cooperated for the rest of the weekend, and traffic picked up a bit. I anticipate that if the show is held again next year, perhaps a few weeks later (when school is out and families are more apt to attend the Seaport), we’ll see a much better showing. The location is ideal with its long docks and makes for a nice contrast when you see new boats on display among the historic wooden ships that are the norm at the Seaport.

Overall, I was glad to get the BoatNameGear brand out there in my homestate, and send some t-shirts and welcome mats home with a few fine folks. I also made some great connections in the industry, giving me plenty of fodder for a few Daily Boater articles, including Mobile Mariner, Sailors for the Sea, and the crew of the Spirit of Massachusetts which is part of the Ocean Classroom Foundation. Make sure you subscribe to the Daily Boater to catch our posts on the latter two organizations within the next couple of weeks.

Now for some more pictures from the show and the boats at Mystic Seaport.

Boutique Boat Shows in CT

It seems Connecticut is hosting about a half dozen boat shows this year, most of them small and first-time shows organized by boat dealers that are pulling out all the stops to make 2010 more successful than last year.

Today, I attended one of these shows in Essex, CT, and I'll be exhibiting BoatNameGear at another one in New London on June 19th. There is also one happening in Mystic at the Seaport next month. The New London event appears that it might be much larger than what I witnessed today in Essex, as it is being organized by the same folks that put on the huge SailFest every year.

As for Essex, here's what I saw on this beautiful Friday afternoon. One dock with boats, three non-boat vendors under the tent, and a couple dozen boats to look at. And there seemed to be a lot of yacht salespeople and Soundings writers and photographers milling around - at least for the kickoff of the event.

Still, you couldn't have asked for a better day weather-wise for a boat show.

Overall, I think Soundings, Brewer, Hank Aldrich Yacht Sales and the other yacht brokers involved with the event did a pretty nice job with the inaugural "Spring Boat Show" in Essex, CT. The show began today and goes through Sunday, April 25th. Here are a few photos of my favorite boats from the show.