Many times I have heard from a Captain that they can catch fish all day long but they aren't so good on this computer stuff. While this doesn't present a problem for some Captains, it does for many. The question you have to ask is "Do I get all the customers I want from the internet?". For a few the answer will be yes because they are word of mouth, are good at computer stuff or have selected a good person to run their internet site. For the rest of the Captains the answer is probably no.

There are 4 basic things you must do in order for your Fishing Charter site to be successful and get you clients. How successful depends on how well they are done. This equates to time and money. You should always compare internet results to print advertising results. You get a print ad and put it in a magazine and you don't spend much time... but you spend a lot of money. You can spend much less money for your internet results but you have to spend more time. So let's talk about what things must be done for your site.

Your site must work. This sounds obvious but you wouldn't believe the sites I see where some of the links, buttons don't work or it is just so slow I won't wait. So someone has to be responsible for making sure it is still working and fixing it if it doesn't. Typically you are responsible for making sure it keeps working and your web person is responsible for fixing any problem you find. Don't hand this one off to someone. This is a core part of your business. Do you check your print ads when they come out? Well consider your website a print ad that comes out every day.

Your site must get links for success. In order to be listed as a good search site on Google or the other search engines you must have links to your site. This means if you go to another site you can find a banner or a text link that you can click and take you to your site. First you must have a way to add other site links to your site. This is critical. How good you are in the search engines is very dependant on this. The best solution is for your web person to create you a way so you can add links to your site. This will make sure it happens and will save you money. This is one of your biggest jobs for your site. Keep adding your site to other sites; fishing directories, tourism sites, vacation sites, tackle sites and any fishing or travel related sites. Often times you will need to create a link to their site for you to have their link added to your site. This is why it is very important to have a plan on how to do this and who will do this.

Your site must change for success. Google and the other search engines rank your site based also on how much content you have and how often it changes. (If you want to know what Google ranks you, install the Google toolbar and it will give you the "page rank" for every site you visit). A short cool main page might look good but having content on it will make it more appealing to Google and your potential customers. The biggest recommendation for the main page is put on it your latest fishing report which hopefully you can do at least once a month. The report should obviously talk about how many fish you caught and the conditions. However, sell your clients on you! Tell who you went fishing with (they will like to see their story on your main page). Make it fun. Did anything funny happen? Did the big one get away? Make the reader feel you are telling them the story. They want to go fish with you because you catch fish and you are a fun person to fish with.

Your site must have good keywords for the search engines. This is mostly a technical thing for your web person. Keywords are inserted in the page for the search engines and visitors can't see them. This is done by your web person. Ask them to show you what keywords they have in your site. You may think of some other keywords that they should also have. If you have Cocoa Beach in your keywords but not Titusville you may want to add it.

There are many other factors and detail that we don't have time to cover in this short article. The truth is the internet and your site will become increasingly important to your business and your success. Running your site is a part of running your business. Find someone you can trust to work with to have a good or great site. Has your site been submitted to all the search engines ? What is your PR rating ? How many other sites do you have linking to yours ? When is the last time you changed anything on your main page ? The season is coming quickly get ready for it and get your website ready for it.