Creating a website to sell a boat

One vital aspect nobody has commented on is that there is absolutely no point creating a website to sell a boat unless there is a way for people to find it. It's like having a lovely boutique shop hidden in a hole at the top of a mountain. It might be a great showpiece for your product but if nobody sees it, nobody will buy. If you create a website to hold and display the boat details the way you want to show them, you will also have to find ways of linking people who are looking for a boat to your website. This is neither cheap nor easy. The likes of BoatsandOutboards and ApolloDuck spend a fortune grabbing as much boat buyers internet traffic as possible. You will also need to create listings in the main boat sales resources and link those listing to your website for further details - if you are allowed links.
 
Owners Association also being a good place.

It still makes sense though as probably all of those place will limit you to how much you can post, especially on the photos front.

Gumtree is free and allows for a lot of data.
 
Pay for a 3 month basic ad on Apollo Duck and use the ability to link it to a detailed Drive page which is very simple to assemble with all the text photos and video you might want to include.No web hosting or code involved -just add your own files.
 
The other thing is make the pictures look good. Put everything away, polish the interior, clean the engine bay, hank the ropes. A tidy interior looks bigger. The "lived in" look doesn't work. Its like selling a house, people want to imagine how they will add themselves to it, not how they wil get rid of what you have done.
 
topcrickets said:
It's too difficult to create a website by yourself, it may be much better to sell on an existing website
Click to expand...
Both ways work - depends what you want to pay and what you want to do. I can't write web code at all and don't want to learn but I have sold two boats and created a site for a self catering apartment we ran without needing to and it cost virtually nothing and took a couple of hours. Even if you use someone elses web system someone has to write the blurb and take the pictures and if isn't you it will cost. I always thought I was the best person to write compelling copy about my boat - I knew it better than anyone else and was more committed to selling it. By the way - welcome to the forum, always interesting to see someone new starting off with a nice clear dogmatic statement like that.
 
bluerm166 said:
Pay for a 3 month basic ad on Apollo Duck and use the ability to link it to a detailed Drive page which is very simple to assemble with all the text photos and video you might want to include.No web hosting or code involved -just add your own files.
Click to expand...
Like that - I can see the cloud taking over from web sites for things like this - thanks for the idea.
 
topcrickets said:
It's too difficult to create a website by yourself, it may be much better to sell on an existing website
Click to expand...
I know this is an old thread but I can't let that last post stand without replying that in 2015 I bought a suitable domain name and created a website and I sold our first boat easily and quickly. The actual platform I used isn't relevant - the previous advice about how to do this is as good now as it was then. I used the owners association to get enquiries and that was good because it pre-qualified the prospects. I didn't get a single casual hull-kicker, I got 6 enquiries from people who knew exactly what I was selling and why they might want it, followed by 3 viewings including someone who came from France to see it, and a firm sale to a lovely couple who were no trouble at all. I used the RYA forms for the paperwork, took a deposit, quickly agreed a discount from the asking price to cover the important faults found on the survey (including a seacock whose bolts had corroded right through which I hadn't noticed :() and the sale was complete about 6 weeks after my website went live.
I totally agree that you must de-clutter the boat for the photos. The poor quality of boat preparation in photos amazes me. You must make sure there isn't a single personal item to be seen anywhere - this makes the boat look more like a new boat in people's minds. I cleaned the boat thoroughly and emptied all the lockers one by one and photographed every nook and cranny - after all there's no extra charge for extra photos on your own website. The boat was 30 years old and looked almost like a new boat in the photos.
If there isn't an owner's association it's much harder. You may be better off using a broker who specialises in your sort of boat. But if I was doing that I would still do a website and make it clear I wouldn't take enquiries directly, all enquiries through the broker.
 
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