Tools I Use

Some of this web stuff gets confusing sometimes. When people ask me what tools I use to do one thing or another with my websites or social media, I am always happy to help. But on the tools that I "set and forget", I am often living proof of why that phrase exists.

This post is about those tools so that the next time someone asks, I can refer to or share this link...

For this and many of my other blogs, I usually use Blogger, which is free and is owned by Google. In fact, many of the tools I use to run my business are both free and owned by Google.  These include my ad-serving software, analytics tools, email and calendar. While I am comfortable and happy with Blogger, I am also testing out WordPress for a new site that is launching soon, and so far it is great... WP is also free, but not currently owned by Google.

For some of the trickier stuff that I sometimes forget about (when they are working smoothly)...

When I write a blog post on the Daily Boater, it instantly shows up (title, link and summary) on the Daily Boater Facebook page. This happens thanks to a free app called  networkedblogs. (You can get it by viewing one of these posts on Facebook and clicking on the networkedblogs link below the post: http://www.facebook.com/DailyBoater/posts/308912592489987).

The 2nd thing that happens automatically.  That same blog post I mentioned above is also sent to Daily Boater Twitter followers as soon as I post it on my blog. I don't have to log into Twitter as frequently as I used to. This is thanks to TwitterFeed.com. Free. Non-Google. I haven't looked into it, but this tool could probably replace what I use networkedblogs for, as it looks like it allows me to post to both Twitter and Facebook. I only use it for twitter. On the other hand, Facebook pages have a setting that now makes this service obsolete (on my FirstBoat Facebook page, every post I write directly on Facebook from that page gets automatically tweeted  from @FirstBoat / to do this, go to your Facebook business page, edit your page, and click on resources.)

This one is big...
The 3rd automatic thing that happens when I write a blog post on the Daily Boater is it gets sent out via RSS. When initially setting this up, I found RSS, which I believe stands for Real Simple Syndication, not so simple. However, with yet another free tool from Google called Feedburner, my blog posts on Daily Boater are automatically syndicated. This allows the blog post to:

1. show up on the home page of FirstBoat.com
2. Get delivered to my RSS subscribers' emails
3. Show up in peoples RSS readers or iGoogle or myYahoo home pages if they "subscribe" to my feed.
4. a bunch of other stuff that I can't think of right now. Which brings me back to my original point in this blog post. I have relied on a lot of great automation tools as I ramp up this growing network of web properties, and when they work well, you don't have to even remember what they all are!

Okay, now it's back to work using these and other tools... contact me if you have any questions implementing these things or about other solutions I use to run my business.

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

Thanks for the Mentions

Last week, we announced the most popular boat names of the year via a press release from FirstBoat, and we were pleased to see the top ten list get so much press from other publications around the web.  Here are a few of the first that we'd like to thank:

Messing About in Boats

Boater Life Online

Boating Industry Magazine

Boat Safe

North American Sailor

RIBCRAFT USA

If you're planning mentioning FirstBoat or the top ten boat names in an upcoming article, or if you did and I missed it, please email me.

It also did not go unnoticed that several of our FaceBook and Twitter friends shared our list. There were too many to mention all of them, but here are a few folks you should follow if you tweet:

@‎marineproducts

@Perri_Marine 

@Take_Me_Fishing

@LouMintzer

@caughtinthewild

Top Notch Marine and RV

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.

Linked In Group for Boaters

Just a quick post to invite you to join one of the largest boating groups on LinkedIn.

The FirstBoat Business Networking Group is a place for both boating enthusiasts and folks in the marine industry to connect to discuss virtually anything. You will have the opportunity to network with other executives who share the common interest of boats and boating.

Members include executives from all different industries... all aspects of the recreational and commercial boating industry, from all over the world, as well as people who work in energy, government, education, software, manufacturing and insurance, to name a few. The group includes advertisers, logistics officers, pilots, headhunters, and even a Space Shuttle Instructor. All share a love for boating, whether they own one or aspire to some day.

So if you are on LinkedIn, stop by our group and say hello. You'll be glad you did.

Building a Champagne Brand on a Beer Budget

I remember boat shopping at a few marinas along the Connecticut shore about ten years ago and being told by more than a few dealers that my tastes far exceeded my budget. In fact, I'll never forget one woman telling me that I had champagne tastes and a beer budget.

Well, I finally did get a great boat at a fantastic price, but that's another story.

The boat shopping memory came to mind today as I was stepping up efforts to promote BoatNameGear without breaking the bank. Just today I announced two new ways for customers and potential customers to interact with the brand using social media sites FaceBook and Twitter.

It's not that I think these two tools are the end-all-be-all of marketing solutions. I simply want my brands to be where the customers want them to be. In less than few weeks since creating a FaceBook fan page for BoatNameGear, the page already has over 150 fans. And the best part is they all seem to interact with the brand and with each other. Moreover, the conversations and a contest on the page have already generated new product ideas that I've put into place and a few that are now in the pipeline. The twitter account started just today and I'm hoping for similar results.

And the other nice thing about of all this social media stuff is it's all free - if you have the time for it - leaving room in the budget for some "traditional" web advertising and local trade shows.

Sure there are other sites on the radar, Google Buzz, YouTube, Flickr, FourSquare.  But you can't be everywhere on a beer budget so I recommend you go slow and stick with what you know - expand to other properties when you can. Don't get sucked in to any of these communities and overdo it, as they can easily drain a resource that is just as valuable as money to a start-up business - your time.

Feeling the love

I'm writing this post to thank all the media outlets that recommended BoatNameGear.com as a source for holiday gifts for boaters over the past several weeks.

The love started pouring in way back in October when Alan Sorum included BoatNameGear in his article, Unique Christmas Gifts for Boaters, which was posted in Alan's Boating & Sailing blog on Suite101, as well as in a print boating publication in Long Island.

Being featured in the Florida Keys Fishing Examiner warmed our hearts so that we felt like we were actually in the Florida Keys! Thanks to author Christy Johnson for chumming the waters on Black Friday with our special offers of the day.

The love continued with a story by Ericka Watson, the About.com Powerboating guide, who wrote, "By personalizing an item for the boater in your life, you are meeting a practical need with a personal touch." Ericka then went on to discuss BoatNameGear and the products we offer.

The most unexpected endorsement came from the printed Lake Wylie Pilot (Lake Wylie, S.C.), where the author included BoatNameGear's products among those "that as a boater myself I would love to have." A similar story appeared in a blog that included BoatNameGear in their "Top 10 Christmas Gift Ideas for Carolina Boaters."

If we missed someone, please post it here. And thanks to all the writers, bloggers, twitterers (tweeters?) and facebookers who helped get the word out about what great holiday gifts can be found at BoatNameGear.

We're doing our best to live up to all of your recommendations.

I only hope that the high expectations of some of our recent customers are a result of great service that they've received from us in the past. I further hope that we meet or exceed those expectations - in quick service and quality, personalized products. It's too late to get any more personalized gear from our store, but you can still get a gift certificate with all the thoughtfulness of our gear and the flexibility to buy and receive the gift right up through Christmas Eve.

Happy Holidays everybody!

Good Business

Sometimes it's the simple things that keep successful companies ahead of the competition.

Mar-Lan Industries is a 50+ year old Texas-based supplier of electrical products to the marine industry. 12 days ago Jim Desai, the company's CEO, posted a small but sincere offer for a free calendar in a group I run on LinkedIn for boaters to network with each other (FirstBoat Business Networking Group).

I was impressed that Mar-Lan - a B2B company - seemed to get social media. The offer was from the CEO himself, and he didn't "spam" the discussion group with a blunt message like "Click here to view our electrical accessories" - he was smart enough to know that people viewing the offer in his post could find out more about his company if they were so inclined.

I signed up that day to get a free calendar.

And within 7 business days, I had my new calendar (pictured here). Turns out it's a nice wall calendar with motivational slogans on each page below pictures of outdoor adventures - from kayaking to surfing to mountain climbing. Mar-Lan also sent a "happy holidays" note on company letterhead with the contact info for their key customer-facing employees. Oh, and of course the calendar has Mar-Lan's contact info including web address across the bottom of the calendar so that I'll look at it all year.

Now, I am admittedly not necessarily Mar-Lan's target audience. But if anyone ever asks, I'll speak of Mar-Lan with a warm fuzzy feeling because they gave me something for nothing. And heck, I might even blog about them...

Top boat names picking up steam

Thanks to Alan Sorum for writing about the top boat names on his blog at Suite101, and also to the Hartford Courant and The Des Moines Register for posting the list in their fine publications.

Seems like even though there is too much snow and ice to boat in many parts of the country, boat show season and people's affinity for lists is keeping this story topical.

If you'd like to discuss a strategy to get publicity for your organization, or if you are an editor or blogger and would like to carry a story about the top boat names in your publication, please contact us via our online contact form or email (andrew [at] nauticalsites.com).

Social Media

Is social media right for your marine business? FaceBook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter and the rest are no longer just for kids. If harnessed appropriately, social media may be able to help you generate more business.

With the launch last week of Fishington - a social media site for boating and fishing enthusiasts run by the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation (RBFF) - now is a good time to review other places that boaters "socialize" online.

By the way, Fishington has already has about 2400 members as of this post.

Here are some other popular or up-and-coming social media sites for boaters:

SailMonster is run by a friendly couple who sincerely welcome you when you join - this site has potential and is worth checking out.

Bluemapia.com took a while to open and differentiates itself as a "mobile" social network. Cool mapping technology let's you track where you've been or where you're headed.

TheBoaters.com seems to have a large following, possibly drawn to the network by their facebook ads as well as their frequent podcasts, originally hosted by Julie Perry.

activeboating.com - maybe 200 members at most; hard to 'make friends' because it's hard to find friends to make. If you only have time to visit a couple of sites, perhaps hold off on this one.

DockWalk.com, the social media site for crewmembers and other yachting professionals. The site's 5500 members include deckhands, chefs, yacht owners and more. Looks like a nice community.

Zooors.com - Launched in Feb '08, this social networking site is aimed at yacht owners. Still looks like a work in progress, but big beautiful photos and video screenshots make it pleasing to the eye. Not sure, but the site just may be a tool for promoting yacht charters based on the multiple text links at the bottom of the pages. Boater beware - if you join this site, you might get pitched to charter a yacht... Not that there's anything wrong with that.

BoatingPassions.com - find a date who likes to boat. I had this idea 5 or 6 years ago and added a section to a forum I ran, but the only posts were from porn spammers.

By the way, you can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/canepari and http://twitter.com/FirstBoat