One day I decided to make a site which was going to present my interests, which are technology/computers and also photography, but particularly photography of yachts. I did not think it would be a big deal but i was wrong. Actually it turned out that the majority of visitors wanted to check the yacht photographs and not my technology info. So i had misunderstood the market on that basis.
Everything was ok with the hosting package until I started to post my photographs on Carl's YachtForums.
i was talking with Carl about the large bandwidth that my site started to have since i started posting on YachtForums this month. He said that in the end it would double the bandwidth in comparison to February which was when i introduced some great photos to a competitors forums.
In the end it indeed almost doubled and i exceeded my bandwidth in July and had to upgrade to a more advanced package. We became well ahead of schedule after posting on Carl's forums. Carl joked "even talking about yachts is expensive..."
Anyway internet yachting has become very interesting to me. I just love the community and i like that the internet is becoming well ahead of the magazines with the latest information and photography from every port in the world. The network of yacht spotters in each port that is evolving is incredible. Soon no yacht will escape the spotters camera lens and the days of lost info and missing links are gone. Refits and name changes, newbuilds, they are all documented immediately by the internet spotters before they can be published by the monthly magazines and directories.
The manufacturers can see that this new media is a bandwagon that they have got to join. Everybody is browsing the net in their offices for up to date info about this industry. We have already seen even major owners and their friends, future owners and charterers browsing the forums and asking for information (so we have to be careful what we say
). Everybody wants the info that the forums provide.
Unfortunately I see minor contributions to the forum in comparison with the amount of people browsing the forum. If you can contribute photos and information then please do and you will make a name for yourself on the yachting internet. Join the yacht spotting community and help us have coverage in every major port.
Probably you are reading this and thinking Carl put me up to it but I am just interested to give something back to the forums. If you are in the industry and need promotion then please contact Carl for an ad or give him press releases or photographs and experience yourself the marketing power of the forums.
Check my bandwidth graph below and see in July what Yacht Forums brought to my site. That is 8400 megabytes monthly transfer on a 160 megabyte site. 3580 visits for July!