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!

FirstBoat Adds Boating News Show

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Weekly fast-action boating news report to air on FirstBoat.com.

Newington, CT – June 2, 2011 – The premier boating information site for new and experienced boaters, FirstBoat.com, today announced that it will make “World on Water” available to its visitors. “World on Water” is a weekly news program produced by Boats on TV covering international sailing and powerboat races and events in a fast-paced and visually stimulating format.

This is FirstBoat’s first venture into video programming in its ten-plus years of providing helpful information to boaters that has included articles on buying a boat, getting insurance, boat loans and the basics of boat names. FirstBoat founder Andrew Canepari stated, “World on Water complements First Boat perfectly, providing an engaging show that continues to expand our breadth of content beyond the basics of boating”.

Jeremy Baulf, the managing director of Boats on TV's "World on Water", added, “We are excited to partner with a quality site like FirstBoat to give our TV shows significant exposure to boaters in North America.”

A new episode of World on Water is available for viewing each Friday at: http://www.FirstBoat.com/TV

About FirstBoat.com
FirstBoat.com is the flagship site of Nautical Sites Media, which publishes a network of websites that provide information and resources to recreational boaters. To learn more about FirstBoat and other properties in the Nautical Sites network, visit www.NauticalSites.com.

About Boats on TV
Boats on TV, the Web's best Boating TV Channel, is the home of everything to do with water-related activity. It covers all aspects of sailing, racing, cruising, the Volvo Round World Race, TP 52’s, Farr 40’s, 18 Footer Racing, iShares Cup, World Match Racing Tour, Ice Sailing, UK, USA, Australia , Power-boating, Racing and Instruction, P1 Powerboats, Honda Formula 4-Stroke Racing and more. See all this plus historical and special interest videos at www.boatson.tv.

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Media Contact: Andrew Canepari, (860) 249-1166, andrew@firstboat.com