To answer all the "why isn't my boat selling threads"

[henryf]

I nearly didn't post this for fear of coming across as big headed or crossing forum boundaries regarding advertising. I've obviously decided to post - otherwise you wouldn't be reading it!

The reason I've done so is to highlight what I was saying towards the end of 2011 in response to someone complaining their boat wasn't selling and the only offers they were receiving were from "low ball chancers". I said that the photos of the boat didn't exactly inspire me rush out and hand over my money, in fact from memory the broker was doing a stalwart job as sales prevention officer by photographing every wart and defect close up right down to a stain on the carpet. I'm putting my money where my mouth is and showing how I think it should be done.

I've only just drawn up the advert for our boat and it's not listed anywhere so clearly hasn't found a buyer, but at least we are hopefully giving the old girl as good a shot as possible at finding a new home.

I am constantly amazed by how little effort people put into selling even quite expensive boats. I go on websites looking for boats and am faced with a few lines of text and an out of focus picture of half removed covers, left over breakfast plates, grotty underpants and bedsheets which would probably walk to the washing machine given the chance - Yes I am going to re-photograph the front cabin on our boat because I couldn't find the tailored cover which Mrs Henryf had carefully packed away in a place which I now realise should have been my first port of call

I haven't spent a fortune around thirty quid thus far to buy and host a little website so any cost versus value of boat argument doesn't wash. Similarly I appreciate to photograph a boat in detail you will highlight it's faults, the camera doesn't lie I'm afraid. But as a boat gets older and the price comes down people will accept reasonable deterioration.

I'm intrigued as to what you guys think. Is it a waste of time? Do people merely look for their chosen boat and then scamper off around the country looking?

The next hurdle will be the thorny issue of sea trials - I can't remember what I said on that thread

Anyway, please don't take this a big headed boast - I just wanted to back up my comments with practice what you preach

My advert

Henry

 

[ari]

Best of luck Henry, it'll be interesting to hear how you get on.

It's funny you mention this at the moment as was having a casual browse through Rightmove at the weekend looking at houses. Now that is an eye opener! Quite often there'd be a four bedroom house with not even one bedroom shown! Typical number of photos was about seven, and the quality was generally absolute rubbish. Also very few had floor plan layouts, which is pretty important on a house.

And as an aside, been perusing a few car web sites (just dreaming really) and they typically photograph everything and give a really good idea.

Weird to see 14 photos of a small car, and only seven of a large(ish) house.

 

[WF36]

So this is where the money for the porsche we bought went

Very nice indeed.

 

[ontheplane]

Good ad - Yes, we're looking at the moment, and I can't believe the appalling photos some brokers take (won't name names).....

 

[henryf]

So this is where the money for the porsche we bought went

Very nice indeed.

We have to sell lots of them each year and then do it for a very long time

Henry

 

[DAKA]

Great job Henry good luck.
just a personal observation which you may or may not agree but shouldnt take too long to alter now the hard work is done........


With the text being on the left and all the photos on the right you sort of miss 90% of the photos.

As it takes a while for the photo to load in order to study each one it takes up time.

Perhaps the experience of reading about your boat and photos could be enhanced if the photos were bigger to start with and then several in batches with text broken between.

Just a thought, its good as it is

 

[lisilou]

Well Henry, you've got me....and I'm not even looking to buy!! Good, clear informative ad and you can never hae too many pics as far as I'm concerned. All that's missing is a video under way
Lisa

 

[fireball]

Break down the specification into the areas - so just what is in the galley? Is it just the microwave or is there a hob there too? I think it's a hob ...
Ive seen a number of pictures of fridges - but didn't know (straight away) which one was where...

HOW MANY?! of the same pictures of the saloon do you want?!
Oh - and can you give the pictures a name/label so they don't just say IMG_4375.jpg - it would be more helpful to say "Flybridge_table.jpg" or "Guest_Heads.jpg"

Private family owned, never chartered, no pets, non smokers the boat still retains it's original carpets haven't been replaced or even cleaned !

I hope they've been cleaned!! Vacuuming is cleaning you know!

Photo quality - good ... Number of, labelling and order - room for improvement ...

HTH

 

[Erik C]

Did you create the URL just for this ad? Nice job btw.

 

[benjenbav]

Given that you have gone to the trouble of scanning the RCD compliance certificate why not also scan the original VAT invoice to address the perennial question. I'm sure you could redact names and figures if you wanted.

Trivia: you say that there are no brochure shots: that would be apart from the shots of the, er, brochure

 

[Whitelighter]

Nice advert, boat looks like new, well taken pictures.

I agree with the idea about naming the pictures - its easy to do and adds a little bit making it easier to work out what you're looking at.

Also agree about the carpet comment.

The main thing is thing is though, search in google and your website is no-where. Spend some money (not a lot) on optimizing it for google and other search engines (adwords is good for this) and you've got it made.

 

[z1ppy]

Good job and i agree with your points!

Nice website with loads of pics, if i was in the market i would be interested!

We are just listing our house for sale and have spent the last weekend moving things into store and dressing the house for sale. a little effort make a big difference!

Its not easy living in a house for sale at the best of times, add 2 dogs and winter weather and its gonna be a challange but if i were looking to buy a high ticket item, i would want to see it presented in the best light!

Good luck with the sale Henry.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

You missed something henryf. There's no Millenium Bug price Other than that, its great but the $64k question is how are you going to get it to the top of Google for people searching for motor boats?

 

[jhr]

Get lots of people to click on a link to it by putting it on something like a Web forum or some such, and ..... oh, hang on a minute ............

 

[DAKA]

Get lots of people to click on a link to it by putting it on something like a Web forum or some such, and ..... oh, hang on a minute ............

Surely no one would misuse the forum in such a way
What else , go onto scuttlebutts, deliberately start an argument (col regs never fails) so they all click on your link

 

[mparrish]

Henry

Good advert and pictures. My only comment would be to split it up into a couple or three pages (front page, inside, outside, mechanicals) and spread the photos through these pages making it easier to associate picture with bits of the boat.

Also the suggestion of Google adwords campaigns is a good one. We sold our last boat privately 18 months ago through a small website (similar to yours) accompanied by a Google Adwords capaign. The total thing including domain name, site hosting and adwords cost me less than £100. The boat (alot smaller and lower priced than yours !) sold after about 9 months of running the website. We had about a dozen serious enquiries with 5 viewings (most from Europe). The buyer was eventually UK based and we agreed a deal within half an hour of him viewing the boat. The sale price was within about 5% of the asking price.

So - I would say the way you're approaching it works !

Good luck and happy hunting for the next one.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Get lots of people to click on a link to it by putting it on something like a Web forum or some such, and ..... oh, hang on a minute ............

Heh, heh, well spotted

 

[mjf]

Nice job HenryF

i like the format and pix show her well

Good luck with the sale - what's the plan then?

 

[jonic]

Surely no one would misuse the forum in such a way
What else , go onto scuttlebutts, deliberately start an argument (col regs never fails) so they all click on your link

But has he got a client account or will he just take the money, load the boat up and disappear?

Nice ad and some good comments on here, but you need to get it in front of 1000's of eyes. Not only those searching for your specific model but those with a similar budget who are searching for competitor models.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Nice ad and some good comments on here, but you need to get it in front of 1000's of eyes. Not only those searching for your specific model but those with a similar budget who are searching for competitor models.

And, let me guess, ummm, thats where you come in