Many recent articles in popular scuba magzines have written about "social networks" as a great way to promote a business or stay in touch with customers. DiveBuddy.com is the only "social network" designed exclusively for scuba divers and it’s free for anyone in the scuba industry to join.
Greg Davis, Owner and Member 1 of DiveBuddy.com, provides dive centers with a non-threatening environment that allows them to indirectly promote their products/services by participating in blogs, forum discussions, photo sharing, event postings, comments, dive site listings, reward point offers and more. Every dive professional and scuba diver on the site has their own web page or "profile" that is used to provide more information on that person or retailer. Profiles for dive professionals may contain contact information, a map location, a detailed description of products/services provided, photos, customer comments and more. Visitors of DiveBuddy.com use an advanced search form to find new dive buddies or retailers in their local area or vacation destination.
Nearly everything on the site is geared towards scuba divers. In fact, members help control the content by "voting off" things they don’t like...this helps to limit spam, other unwanted/incorrect content, or blatent advertisements in areas where ads shouldn’t be.
When you write a blog or answer a question in the forum, your profile screen name and default photo is displayed, along with a link to your personalized profile. Every page on DiveBuddy.com is quickly indexed by all the major search engines, such as Google.com, due to the SEO technigues used by Mr. Davis on the site. SEO stands for "Search Engine Optimization" and proper SEO is required for any site to receive popularity on the internet. The dive retailers that use DiveBuddy.com as their social network, benefit from this massive distribution of information all over the web. Their business is indirectly promoted by participating on DiveBuddy.com.
DiveBuddy members also receive Reward Points for activity on the site. Dive retailers may list discount Offers on their products/services in exchange for Reward Points. These points are used by dive retailers to help pay for banner or text advertising on DiveBuddy.com. Mr. Davis doesn’t allow just anyone to advertise on the site, hence the "non-threatening" phrase used above. Every ad is thouroghly reviewed before it’s approved. Ads for "online only" gear companies are not allowed and dive centers are restricted from competing outside their local market OR from displaying prices or discounts lower then permitted by the manufactures. And if any member feels an ad OR member should be removed from the site, they can report it to have it "voted off". DiveBuddy.com would prefer to display banner and text ads for manufactures or resorts rather than individual dive centers.
1000’s of dive centers and instructors all over the world already have a profile on DiveBuddy.com. It’s free to join and everyone in the scuba industry is encouraged to participate. Together we’re building a better and safer dive industry by making it easier for scuba divers to stay up-to-date, find other divers, find dive retailers and find new and different places to dive.
