Yes, this looks worse than Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus…

In case you hadn’t heard, there’s an ecological disaster going on in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Gulf of Mexico has some incredible diving.

The Gulf of Mexico has some incredible SCUBA diving professionals trying to earn a living.

Luckily, DEMA has created a web site to help promote SCUBA diving for Gulf State dive centers.

Here’s the problem:

The web site is terrible.

Okay, I’m picky, so we can argue the design all day. But from a sheer search engine optimization and online marketing standpoint, it is a complete failure.

Just look at the title tag: “Gulf State Diving, DEMA San Diego, CA Home”

WHAT? I had no idea San Diego, CA was in the Gulf State area. Maybe that was just one typo, let’s go on to the keyword META tag (which doesn’t mean squat, but it shows the level of care): Gulf State Diving San Diego CA, Scuba Diving San Diego CA, Be A Diver San Diego CA, Scuba San Diego CA, Diving San Diego CA, Snorkeling San Diego CA

It’s a good thing this new site will be helping direct SCUBA divers to San Diego.

Their Facebook page only has 156 Fans. We have 1,128. So please go like their page to show your support.

The unshortened URL has been mentioned on Twitter ONCE. So please go tweet about them.

Here’s what I’m going to do

I’m offering my services.

DEMA, if you want me to help with the Gulf State Diving web site, free of charge, just contact me.

If you are a Gulf State SCUBA Diving operator and would like a little extra publicity, contact me and I’ll do everything I can, free of charge.

This is an ecological disaster, let’s all chip in to do our part to make sure it’s not a disaster for an already hurting industry we call our careers.

Photo via dchrisoh

I’ve been holding onto  this on for over a week, waiting for my big comeback oops, I should have shared this earlier since everyone and their brother has shared it in the last couple of days, oh well.

From YouTube:

World champion freediver Guillaume Nery special dive at Dean’s Blue Hole, the deepest blue hole in the world filmed entirely on breath hold by the french champion Julie Gautier. This video is a FICTION and an ARTISTIC PROJECT.

Even if it is artistic and fiction, it’s pretty spectacular to watch.

Image via yonatan zur

I’ve been here for years

Okay, maybe just 10 and a half months. And I’ve been MIA for almost 2 months.

As the title would suggest, I’m coming back

I quit my old job (nothing exciting worth sharing), I started what has proven to be my dream job (details coming soon) and have been going through some family issues (and no, I’m not sharing here), so needless to say, life has been very very busy these last few months, explaining my hiatus.

Summer is insanely busy for my in my personal life, so I’m going to be a bit more reasonable: I’m going to promise an article a week. I may feel ambitious and do more, but you get at least one.

If you have ideas, questions, comments, article suggestions or anything else, please contact me to let me know.

It’s good to be back

Living in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, I’ve had a fascination with octopus since it’s just about the coolest thing we see around here with some regularity. Here’s an incredible video of an octopus stealing a divers camera and running off with it.

Photo via Morten Brekkevold

Hey there gang, been a little quiet around these parts while I’m working on some exciting new projects! I’ll be back full swing – including a couple of guest posts – next week.

For now, I just wanted to share my latest article over in X-Ray Mag.

Click here to get the full resolution hi-res complete issue in PDF format. (22 MB)

Click here to get just the section with my piece in it.

It’s time for me to check in with all of you to see what topics you want covered.

I’ve been designing, programming and marketing since the interwebz have been around, so sometimes I have a hard time gauging where all of you are in the process.

This web site is for me to share with you: from the reasons why you should be using certain tools to the nitty gritty code that makes it all work.

So let me know in the comments below or on the contact page what you’d like to learn more about.

Thanks!

After months of negotiations, PADI Americas will acquire New SCUBA Marketing, bringing all employees and assets into their new Future Online Opportunity Leadership Systems department. The Future Online Opportunity Leadership Systems department, known as “FOOLS” internally will be the industry standard for online marketing instruction to members of the SCUBA industry.

“I’ve been trying to get Nick to relent for months,” said PADI Regional Manager Barry Dunford, “but all it ended up taking was a PADI backpack and travel mug to get him to come on board. Ever since Hulu started hosting old SeaHunt episodes, my VHS collection doesn’t hold the bargaining power it once did.”

The new department will focus on teaching diving professionals how to market like traditional internet spammers for fun and profit.

“This is a big step for New SCUBA Marketing,” said Nick Bostic, founder of New SCUBA Marketing, “I look forward to leading a highly motivated team of FOOLS to keep PADI at the forefront of internet marketing for the SCUBA industry.”

Expect new courses, multi-lingual training materials, a member update, various emails, application forms and fees, porpoise-delivered decoder rings and marketing materials in your mailbox by the second Tuesday of next week.

In case it wasn’t obvious, happy April Fools day!

Originally, this months contest just went out to email subscribers. I’ve had a few people tell me my emails have been blocked by their corporate spam filters, so I’m opening this up to everyone.

If you are interested in winning some cool stuff, be sure to check out the contest.

You have until the end of today to get your entry in, so be snappy!

Photo via D.Begley

Sorry gang, I’ve been a little absent the last couple of weeks working on a couple of the largest projects of my life. Real game-changers for me. Thanks to everyone for the support, without you, these projects wouldn’t be in my lap.

Enjoy:

Video not loading? Click here to view.

Post image via Jared Kelly

Fun Dive: as much fun as us SCUBA professionals love teaching, a fun dive is one without students or any type of professional SCUBA diver-related work.

I always hated getting homework over the weekend, so I’m going to try to not give you any online marketing related chores for your SCUBA business on Fridays.

Instead, we’ll do a fun dive

Take a trip down memory lane since Popular Science made their entire archives available via Google Books.

Peruse through the results of a search for SCUBA amongst the archives.

I particularly like the first result:

Post image via Jared Kelly

Our first contest has officially come to a close!

Since I don’t require the use of names when registering for the email newsletter, all I can tell you is the winner is Chris! Thank you all for entering.

First Monthly Email Newsletter

For anyone on the list, you will receive the first monthly email newsletter this coming Wednesday. Each month, I will offer my perspective on some topic related to marketing for your SCUBA business that won’t immediately (or perhaps not at all) appear on the main site.

For anyone not on the list, you may want to sign up because the next contest announcement will appear exclusively in the email newsletter. Not only will there be a tangible prize, but also some free publicity for your SCUBA business.

Thanks again to all who entered!

Tuesday night, I attended Portland’s PADI Member Forum (disclaimer: I am a PADI Master Instructor).

If You Didn’t Attend DEMA, You Should Attend Member Forum

There is a lot that is new in the professional world of PADI. The Undersea Journal can only do so much, being able to see the materials in person and hear about success stories is incredibly valuable. However, much of this information was discussed at DEMA last November in Orlando.

If You DID Attend DEMA, You Should Attend Member Forum

Yes, you read that right. Even if you went to DEMA or attended an IDCS/CD update elsewhere, you should still attend. Not only is a refresher of everything worthwhile, but being able to network with your local dive professionals and hear specifically what they are or are not doing is worth the time.

Barry Dunford

Barry is my PADI guy. I don’t know about your PADI guy/gal, but Barry is awesome. He knows his materials, is comfortable in front of the group and is easily able to deal with questions thrown at him. You’re probably thinking every dive instructor should have these attributes and you’re right. That’s what I like about Barry, he is a SCUBA instructor, knows the things I’m supposed to know and uses a proven presentation system/style.

The other great thing about Barry (and all of the PADI people I encountered at DEMA) is they get people (at least some) excited. My wife isn’t current with her teaching credentials, but I dragged her along and she told me halfway through that she’s going to get back to active status ASAP. That’s Barry’s doing.

PADI

I love the new programs, partnerships and promotions coming out. But (and maybe this is just me as a professional presenter), could someone in their slide-making department pick up Presentation Zen, Presentation Zen Design, Slide:ology and The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs? The biggest no-no that is always violated: putting all of the textual content on the slide. Your audience reads it instead of listening to and watching the presenter, then are off what he or she is saying, then start to nod off because they’re lost.

Again, maybe just me being nit-picky.

The Crowd

This is what I really went for. I had two incredibly cool events happen:

1. Someone (Richard aka @scruffydiver) that follows me on Twitter actually was there! I’ve been a slacker in getting back to him, but we will go diving some time! See, real life connections from the online world!
2. I got a shout out from Barry.

I didn’t collect statistical data, but I would guess the average age in the room was about 45. Take away the crew I belong to and the staff of Seven Seas SCUBA and that number would go up.

Not too surprising, but further validates my point about the advancing age of the SCUBA industry.

While most people either accepted or were enthusiastic about the technological advancements of PADI (which I think could still be improved upon), there were still people in the crowd who just wanted to complain and fight back.

Prime example: why is the PADI Member Forum available online in October? It’s old news then.

It’s available in October because they want people to come to the forum so the PADI representatives can meet with the “foot soldiers”, build our local SCUBA communities and immediately answer questions. If it were available online in January, I would imagine a large number of people would just watch the video and call it good. If your staff can’t make it, take copious notes and debrief them at a later time.

Next week, when I discuss the new Google Buzz, I’ll be talking about the effectiveness of complaining about technology (thanks to a great discussion with my sister last night). The sneak peak is that there’s not much point in complaining and that we just need to figure out how to maximize the tools.

Was the PADI Member Forum Worth the 2 3 Hours?

You’d better believe it. Make sure you attend yours.

Have you been to yours? How was it?

This site has no affiliation with PADI beyond the author being a PADI professional. Don’t want to hear only about PADI? I’d love to hear from instructors from other SCUBA diving agencies!

Just a reminder, Monday I will be announcing the winner of a copy of CrushIt! by Gary Vaynerchuk. So if you haven’t entered, or know someone who may be interested in entering, be sure to check out our first contest.

Also, I just had my first article published in X-Ray Magazine. If you haven’t seen X-Ray, they put out an incredibly detailed, beautiful SCUBA magazine in an environmentally friendly and interactive PDF format. If you’d like to download the latest issue, there is a smaller (16MB) lower resolution version and a larger (21MB) high resolution version.

Tomorrow, I’ll be sharing some reflections from a PADI Member Forum I attended Tuesday night. Next week, we’ll be talking about Google Buzz, the new social networking tool from Google that integrates with GMail. I’ve been playing with it for a couple of days now, but the big flood of connections has come in today, so my verdict is still pending.

Photo via Mik Canavan

There’s a boat full of divers and one PADI instructor, one NAUI instructor and one SSI instructor.

The boat starts to sink.

The NAUI instructor says, “Everybody get your BCD on, inflate it and we’ll wait for a rescue.”

The SSI instructor says, “Everybody gear up, we’ll go for a dive, then surface and wait for a rescue.”

The PADI instructor says, “Everybody sign this paperwork and pay me $200; we’re doing a wreck diver specialty course.”

The funniest part is that the same joke can be told by instructors from all three of those agencies and, to the appropriate audience, they’ll sound like the one with the right idea.

Contest Reminder

All jokes aside, today I simply want to remind everyone of our first contest. It’s super simple, if you haven’t entered already, make sure you check it out for a chance to win.

As an extra incentive, the next contest will be announced via the email newsletter exclusively.

Photo via jocelyn.aubert

Last week, Apple announced their upcoming iPad and Des was first on the scene to discuss the implications of the iPad for the SCUBA professionals among us.

Although I am seeing more and more potential uses for the iPad as the days go by, there are 4 reasons why I won’t be using one for SCUBA instruction:

1. It’s the first generation. Anyone who follows Apple knows you are taking a large risk by purchasing anything from Apple on their first attempt. (Kind of like the 27″ iMac I’ve eyeballed)
   If this is the only device you decide to bring to class or out on a dive weekend, do you really want to risk problems to be an early adopter?
2. No multitasking. When I teach, I’m often jumping in and out of the presentations to take notes, show other videos or look something up. Relaunching everything doesn’t sound very efficient to me. I can see this being even more of an issue when teaching Instructor Development Courses because I bounce around the various course materials even more.
3. No camera. How cool would it be to literally use this as your only device? Snap a photo of your student to keep on file to send with an online PIC when the course is over. As it stands, not only will I not be able to take a picture, I’ll have to carry my digital camera AND a new adapter to get the pictures from my camera to the iPad.
4. No PADI/SSI/NAUI/etc app. This isn’t actually a deal breaker, but can you imagine an app that has your instructor manuals, presentations and a PIC entry system all in one?

The iPad is Growing on Me

When I started this list, I had more items, but I’ve come to realize they aren’t true deal-breakers. Of the four items I’ve listed, only two are real potential deal breakers: multitasking and camera. There are plenty of rumors that the iPhone/iPad OS version 4 will allow for multitasking (Jailbreaking has allowed for it for some time), so that just brings it down to the camera.

I think the price, from entry-level to top of the line, is reasonable and I will not be surprised to see a few in circulation as teaching devices within the SCUBA industry.

Will you be getting an iPad for your SCUBA business?

I’ve updated the OPML file for the master list of SCUBA blogs. Thank you all for your submissions. If you want to get in on the next round, help me build a list of SCUBA blogs.

One important note: I’m looking for real blogs. Twitter accounts and Facebook Pages, although they have RSS feeds, are not blogs. Sorry if this inconveniences anyone, but I’ll be teaching you how to set up a blog very soon.

In case you don’t remember how to import the OPML file or what Google Reader is, be sure to check out my original article discussing SCUBA blogs.

If you’re still wondering why blogs are important (you must be new here ), even the Pope wants priests and church leaders to blog.

Google Reader is the only way I’m able to stay up to date with all of this information:

Here’s the OPML file to help you get kick-started reading other SCUBA blogs from around the world: OPML List of SCUBA Blogs (199)

Depending on your browser, you may need to right-click and choose a “save link as” option.

Photo via Sue Waters

Just out of my own curiosity, how many people did you certify last year? Please use your personal numbers, not for your entire dive center (that poll will come later) or certification agency.

I have to thank my good friend Eric Thornton for sharing this fun site with me. I was still sleeping and wouldn’t see Godin’s post for several more hours

Cross Promotion

Something I’ve been wishing for (and asked Tom Ingram about) is more cross promotion outside our industry. Looking back at these vintage SCUBA ads, we can see some strange cross-promotions involving SCUBA. Vintage SCUBA can also help us realize that we have come a long way, but at the same time, not much has changed. Here are a few vintage SCUBA ads I like.

Random Associations

The "Shark Killing Gun" can't kill that tire...

Of course, wedding dresses and SCUBA, it all makes so much sense

Big Names

This was the only certification agency ad I saw

Uh oh, a Delta Airlines ad featuring only one tour company, somebody better start complaining about DEMA

Cars

This category seems so obvious to me, I would like to see SCUBA equipment in car ads far more often!

The way they're posing with the car, they sure look proud of it

All I can say is $2545 for a car? I thought technology was supposed to make things less expensive?

Cute girls, convertibles, Italy - it just screams SCUBA

Did Chrysler really have a bad name back then too?

Change is Bad

It's good to see Ikelite hasn't changed their design...ever

Things that Don’t Mix with SCUBA

It always amazes me when I see divers light up between dives, now I guess we can thank the advertisers

I'm going to need to start drinking more 7Up if it's "the man's mixer"

Ah yes, booze and SCUBA

It's brewed with "more courage", any homebrewers out there able to tell me where I'm able to pick up extra courage for my next IPA?

To see more, head to the Vintage Ad Browser

We’re going to start having some contests here on the site!

I will ask you to somehow engage with me or the community surrounding New SCUBA Marketing and in return you get something.

The Prize

This time, I’m giving away a copy of Gary Vaynerchuk’s Crush It! It’s a quick, painless read, but discusses the need for passion and how easy it is to use modern tools to show off that passion, so I think it’s a great book worth reading.

To Enter

To enter, sign up for the New SCUBA Marketing email newsletter. That’s it. This is an easy one.

About the newsletter: you will receive a weekly email with a brief introduction to the previous weeks articles on the site. Starting in February, you will also receive a once-monthly email with content that won’t be found on the site immediately. Future contests may be announced ONLY in the email newsletter at my discretion.

Logistics

I will export the entire list from MailChimp, remove family members (sorry mom, you can borrow my copy), put everyone into an Excel spreadsheet and use this random number generator to pick a winning row number. I will then email you directly and announce the winner on the site.

If you live in the US, I will either ship you the book or buy you a gift card for $10 so you may purchase the Kindle edition. The choice is up to you.

If you don’t live in the US, we’ll have to discuss the best way to get the book to you since I’ll be buying you a new copy via Amazon. But you are still eligible even if you don’t live in the US!

Winner Announcement

You must be on the list by 5 PM Pacific Time Friday February 12th to be considered eligible. So you have plenty of time to decide if you are able to receive one more email a week

If you have any questions, let me know in the comments below.

Photo via JVManna