My idea is that contents are the key point of success. If you are the only
place when one can find some special information, people will sniff it. To
compete with general directories is an waste of time.

If one uses good old html, he can do all the work by himself. And when the
site begin to be
rentable, by some small ads for example, then one can consider using a
professional.

A idea for content. A directory of marine bookshops. A place to look at when
you are in the middle of nowhere and needs some marine printed stuff, you
know, charts, these books about harbours (portolano in Italian), etc, also
programs. Seems it not exists. The only thing I've found is a directory of
resellers of Admiralty charts. Unfortunately they are not shops.

My half penny.

Fran


"Phil" a écrit dans le message news:
...
On Mon, 2 Feb 2004 15:33:06 -0400, "ken jones"
wrote:

I'm developing a website pitched at the sailing/boating community

I'd like two things if anybody would care to have a look at it -
http://www.sail-the-net.com

1) General feedback on the site and anything you think that might improve
it


1. Employ a professional web site design company. Your site looks
amatuerish and that doesn't engender confidence in your visitors.
There's no reason why your front page has to scroll like it does - you
could easily fit that content onto a 800 x 600 resolution screen and
make it more visually interesting at the same time.

2. Spell check it before you publish. Your 'glag' to get our
feedback?! Really - this is pretty basic stuff!

3. Have a clear vision of what you are trying to achieve with this web
site and the steps and resources required to get there. It's not
enough to have an idea - you need to follow it through.

4. Don't publish the site until its got some usable content! There's
little of interest there at the moment so you have to provide the
content yourself - a big job - or give people a reason to send you
content. If you don't source the content first the site will fail.

5. What are your USP's? (Unique Selling Points) Why should I visit
your site as opposed to any of the other dozens of sailing web sites
out there?

Don't be too discouraged by the above comments - we all started
exactly where you are now....

Cheers

Mike