February 19, 2007

Good News for Boat Buyers: OnlyInboards.com Exists

When we heard about OnlyInboards.com, we were concerned that the site would become the next Flipsell.com. Let me explain: we're of the opinion that if you are offered the opportunity to put up an advertisement for something, and don't have to pay for it, you are more likely to list an exorbitant asking price then you are going to have your ad ignored. And as a person that trolls these sites as an always-looking kind of buyer, I can say that is a total turn-off. By proxy, if your site is filled with ads like these, you will have your site ignored. Essentially Flipsell is (or rather - was; it isn't coming up for me) a modified online sales Web application, with no further customization. That is not the way to handle something like this: it takes work. And if you want to monetize the site, you need to charge for the ads.

OnlyInboards.com takes the right approach. Ian Brown, who runs the site and reads this one (yay!!! that makes 2 of us!) put up a content-rich and clean Web site. Calling it simply content rich is a bit of an understatement. You'll see that he took the time to write, and to populate, that Web site with informative synopses of the different boat manufacturers, what their strengths are and what to look for during the buying process. He also covers parts of boat ownership and logistical details around the purchase process that are very important to know about beforehand. The ads themselves are easy to set up, and it is easy to research by brand and browse the listings.

As a professional Web Developer and Designer, the nerd portion of my psyche noticed that Ian decided to use images instead of CSS styled text for many of the labels on the site, and those can be difficult to maintain. But we hope Ian saved all of those PSD files in case he ever undergoes a redesign. Gosh my fingers are crossed so tightly that I think I just heard a metacarpal snap.

If you are in the market for a new inboard tow boat, or want to learn about some of the high-level benefits of the inboard form-factor, we strongly recommend that you check out OnlyInboards.com. We wish OnlyInboards was around when we were looking for our ride.

Posted by erik at 02:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack