I would greatly appreciate your feedback.

geminidawn

Through my own experiences I have found a need and then set about developing this website http://www.marinedirectory.ie but what's important here is those that are going to advertise and those who want to use it. Any and all feedback will be greatly appreciated.
Kind regards,

M

PjC

What you need to do is put a pile of flyers together and send it to every boat club, surf shop and marine store in the country.

Great idea i think if you can get everyone to register their business with you

geminidawn

PjC wrote: »

What you need to do is put a pile of flyers together and send it to every boat club, surf shop and marine store in the country.

Great idea i think if you can get everyone to register their business with you

Thanks PjC, I don't know if mailshot is the best form of marketing. The site has jus been floated so it is yet to be indexed by Google. It's a bit of a catch 22 at the moment I need lots of hits to attract the advertisers and I need lots of content to attract the hits. Different to most other websites, marinedirectory.ie is for Ireland or those wishing to visit so the market is limited.

JamesM

I think that most directories don't charge, they depend on adds like google adds and hits to make their money. You won't get anybody to pay to advertise on a site that can't be found. Do a google search for marine directory and you will find "Afloat" in Ireland, and many others.
Jim.

geminidawn

JamesM wrote: »

I think that most directories don't charge, they depend on adds like google adds and hits to make their money. You won't get anybody to pay to advertise on a site that can't be found. Do a google search for marine directory and you will find "Afloat" in Ireland, and many others.
Jim.

Thanks Jim, I'm not charging for a basic business name & phone number entry but the thumbnail set out with the extra info and the hyperlink takes alot more time and maintainence so there will be a charge for that, on saying that it's not much. The site is just new so it'll not be indexed or recognized by Google for a while but once it dose it will be top of the list. I was hoping to avoid the pay per click ads as you end up surrendering some of your webspace to others to do with what they wish and I wanted to keep this site strictly Irish Maritime related.

Tabnabs

I think you would have to establish yourself before getting any serious responses.

What's the draw to your site? If I'm a broker, why do I advertise on your site instead of Afloat.ie or Apolloduck etc.? It's all well and good having advertising, but who are your target market and how are they learning about this site. At a time when money for advertising will be at an all time low, what puts you above the rest?

geminidawn

Dyflin wrote: »

I think you would have to establish yourself before getting any serious responses.

What's the draw to your site? If I'm a broker, why do I advertise on your site instead of Afloat.ie or Apolloduck etc.? It's all well and good having advertising, but who are your target market and how are they learning about this site. At a time when money for advertising will be at an all time low, what puts you above the rest?

Thanks Dyflin, "Marine Directory" dose exactly what it says on the tin.A online "phonebook" that carries hyperlinks back to the advertisers own website. Which means you can open the "phonebook" find the listings for what you are looking for and if the hyperlink is there and the advertiser has an online presence be in their "shop" in a "click". I will not be listing boats for sale like "Apollo Duck" just advertising the people that do. Neither will I be writing or publishing articles "Afloat" dose a perfectly good job of that and a "Directory" is not a place you'd expect to find good reading. It is just a listing which will point you in direction you want to go which is why I want to make it as easy to navigate via computer and mobile phone. Regarding cost for advertisers there is a free phone book style listing available.

Tabnabs

But where are you going to advertise it? Afloat already runs ads for commercial companies as does apolloduck and the IWAI site and publication. What's the advantage of your directory over google for example?

geminidawn

Dyflin wrote: »

But where are you going to advertise it? Afloat already runs ads for commercial companies as does apolloduck and the IWAI site and publication. What's the advantage of your directory over google for example?

Google works on keywords, Marine Directory works on titles, Google's helping a great deal and it's not a competition. Once the site gets enough hits it will start to advertise itself furthermore there is a lot of interaction already from Irish Maritime Businesses. Again Afloat has pages and pages of readable content, articles and so on, the "marinedirectory.ie" is aspiring to be exactly what it says, an online "directory" for the "marine" environment.
Apolloduck dose pages and pages of boats the "marine directory" dose not, just quick to the point maritime advertising.

matt-dublin

i would suggest redesiging it as the text is very hard to read with that background, try to keep it simple with clear font types such as arial or verdana.

keep the site whites and blues, take the greens and blacks out of it.

Any advice send me a PM