gdp's Comments

Aquaviews - Online SCUBA Magazine : Shark Finning Losing Popularity Across the Globe

Thu, 19 May 2011 04:29:02 +0000

The article says "...is viewed as inhumane and unsustainable by animal rights and environmental groups...", so the author is simply referencing reports by others. Furthermore, the definition of inhumane is "Without compassion for misery or suffering; cruel'confining wild horses is inhumane' " (http://www.google.com/dictionary?q=inhumane&sl=en&tl=en&hl=en&sa=X&ei=L5vUTd3-MJL2swP2u8DLBw&ved=0CBgQkQ4)This is a topic that has gained worldwide attention, this article is far from being "over the top".

Aquaviews - Online SCUBA Magazine : Amazing Marine Animal Facts

Sat, 9 Apr 2011 17:57:03 +0000

Sorry, but no:
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anus

Aquaviews - Online SCUBA Magazine : Amazing Marine Animal Facts

Thu, 7 Apr 2011 16:22:03 +0000

Sorry to break the bad news, but according to Wikipedia:
\"The term octopus, pronounced /ˈɒktəpʊs/, is from Greek ὀκτάπους
(oktapous), \"eight-footed\", with plural forms: octopuses /ˈɒktəpʊsɪz/,
octopi /ˈɒktəpaɪ/, or octopodes /ɒkˈtɒpədiːz/. Currently, octopuses is
the most common form in both the US and the UK; octopodes is rare, and
octopi is often objectionable.\"

New Scuba Marketing : What's Social Media Worth to You?

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 20:09:56 +0000

I used to agree with you 100% on this concept, but I've been seeing a few places "outsource" their social media to people who are divers rather successfully. As long as the social media person has a clue about SCUBA and is fed enough information (trips, classes, blog posts) or is willing/able to do their own research, I think an outsourced social media person can be very effective for a dive center that doesn't want to assign or hire someone internally.

New Scuba Marketing : Are you #1?

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 19:22:45 +0000

Yeah, very good point. Once a site has some content and is generating some traffic, looking through your chosen analytics program is a great tool. By "unexpected", are they still somewhat related? I've seen some really odd ones before that I personally wouldn't spend any extra time optimizing for.

New Scuba Marketing : Are you #1?

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 03:29:58 +0000

For a dive shop, I would suggest the following words be prioritized: scuba diving dive snorkel (snorkeling isn't as necessary because it has "snorkel" in it already) gear equipment training class certification license vacation trip tour Add to that list your geographic area (city, state) plus anything you may specialize in (Jack's Diving Locker in Kona is popular for manta dives, so I'd include "manta" as a keyword). Independent instructors probably won't want to focus on the equipment side as heavily and some don't organize their own trips, so the primary emphasis will typically be on the training side. A good starting place for finding key word ideas is the Google Keyword Research Tool (https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal). The problem is for long tail search in our niche, there isn't a lot of data. So think like your potential customer. If you want to teach SCUBA classes in Eugene Oregon, I would target phrases like "scuba diving certification/class/training Eugene Oregon". Although people may omit part like the "diving" in that search query, you have all the other parts so you should still rank.

New Scuba Marketing : SCUBA Email Marketing Gone Wrong

Tue, 1 Feb 2011 06:21:10 +0000

Yes, I got the DEMA survey. It was pretty long, but if they act on the questions, I don't mind. They're a big ship, it can sometimes take a while to change course.

New Scuba Marketing : Building value through continuing education

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:38:22 +0000

I have a hard time encouraging solo diving, but I completely relate to what you're saying, but at an even more neurotic level. The only real dive buddies I like are people I have instructed with. We know how each other dive incredibly well, we're confident in each others abilities and we don't have to really worry about each other. We still follow safe diving guidelines, but never even run into emergencies. If I can't dive with an instructor, I try to avoid diving with someone below rescue because I feel like I'm now the instructor/guide, not actually just a diver.

New Scuba Marketing : Do You Secretly Fear SCUBA Continuing Education?

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:35:30 +0000

It sounds like you and I have had similar experiences regarding co-teaching, "enhanced" standards and a pro-advancement mentality. I may have to do some research to see what this philosophy has on the long term success of an LDS.

New Scuba Marketing : Fans or Groupies?

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:29:39 +0000

Will do, let me know if there's anything I can do to help!

New Scuba Marketing : Facebook Fans are Great for your SCUBA Business

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:26:44 +0000

It's a valid fear, but ROI should be the real determining factor. The few times I've sent updates to my Fans, I've known I would lose a few, and I have. But the update has been some kind of call to action that has converted well enough to offset the losses of Fans. I think most people should just message their group members telling them the group will become inactive at some future date and to head over to the Page instead. I've helped a few people now do that, and most are averaging well over 85% conversion just by sending a couple of messages.

New Scuba Marketing : Measuring Social Media Marketing Success

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:23:25 +0000

Good to see someone else is doing that! I've been keeping topics fairly entry level around here, but I think it's time to take things up a notch. The Twitter plugin I use here, MailChimp and Feedburner does both the GA tracking and URL shortening, it's a real time saver.

New Scuba Marketing : Social Networking for SCUBA is a Fad

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:18:11 +0000

Wow! You guys have a TON of events! That's great that you've set it to send new people directly to your events tab. (you ruined the streak of no one having a custom username, now I'll have to write that post sooner than I had thought :D ) Same question, seen any business from your Page?

New Scuba Marketing : Social Networking for SCUBA is a Fad

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:15:11 +0000

That looks great compared to my murky diving where I live! I love the logo too, great work!

New Scuba Marketing : Social Networking for SCUBA is a Fad

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:14:20 +0000

One of my biggest complaints with Facebook is their lack of support. I'm in the process of trying to do the same thing as you (actually I want to delete some stuff I'm not attached to anymore), but there don't seem to be a lot of options or resources.

New Scuba Marketing : Social Networking for SCUBA is a Fad

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:11:56 +0000

Same question for you Mark, how has the Facebook Page benefited you? Also, is Constant Contact still charging extra for archives? If they are, I'd take a look at MailChimp, they give you archives for free. When I switched, MailChimp had far more benefits at a much lower price than Constant Contact. Just an idea.

New Scuba Marketing : Social Networking for SCUBA is a Fad

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:08:22 +0000

It's been quite a few years since I've taken German, luckily Google Translate pops up automatically :D Great work, what kind of results have you seen from your Facebook Page? (Side note: I'm obviously looking at too many web sites, I can tell the difference between Joomla, Drupal and WordPress without even looking at code :D )

New Scuba Marketing : PADI Member Forum 2010 Review

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:22:51 +0000

I can understand, to a degree, having a set presentation from PADI (or NAUI/SSI/SDI/etc) to teach from because it could be a liability issue. But we're also given a decent amount of leeway since the goal is "mastery" with mostly suggestions on how to achieve it. I think that's great that you incorporate these lessons into the dive leader programs, I'd love to see some of the things your students put together.

New Scuba Marketing : Your Next Student Will Become a SCUBA Instructor

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 20:38:24 +0000

Very cool! I figure if it can happen with me, it can happen with anybody. I enrolled in my class for the PE credit and so I could go diving with my parents on the family vacation to Hawaii. Pretty soon, I was teaching them specialties :D

New Scuba Marketing : How you can perform better than the big names in SCUBA at Social Media Marketing in 3 easy steps

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 20:36:52 +0000

Have any interest in sharing more of your techniques with the readers here? Send me an email (nick at newscubamarketing dot com) and lets talk if you're interested.