List a Boat for Charter

Why you should list your boat

The internet has become a huge force in marketing. For a number of our clients, it is now the ONLY medium they use. Used properly, it can bring you extraordinary results for remarkably little cost.

New Zealand Charterguide has been on line for more than 10 years. With more than 150 vessels and 15,000 - 45,000 visitors a month, it has become the marketing cornerstone for many charter businesses just like yours. There is no charter boat directory like it in New Zealand.

There are two essential aspects to internet marketing: Providing the right sort of information, and getting that information to your customers. People need different information at different times: Muddle your messages and you lose your customer. Internet users have very specific requirements.

A TV or cinema audience can be moved to book your vessel by showing them what a great time they will have on board. The reader of a tourist newspaper needs to know where you go and when you depart. A radio audience will want a snappy, easily remembered means of contacting you, and your magazine ads should be tailored to suit that mag's readership profile

So what are internet users after? They have learned to flick through huge piles of information very quickly. They dont have the patience to download the glorious image of your favourite bay that made your brochure so successful or to hang around figuring out which flashing doodad will lead them to your rate card.

Like readers of the yellow pages or classified advertisements, they will have come to your site because they are looking for the specific product or service you have to offer. They don't need or want to be told how much fun boating can be. They want detail - nouns and numbers, not adjectives and estimates.

The Charter Guide directory provides easily chosen options for different types of charter. Listings are concise, yet packed with detail. They are purposely kept to a single page, and your text is professionally prepared from the information you give us, ensuring a uniformity of style that makes it easy to read.

Our format is not a matter of guesswork - before we put finger to keyboard, an intensive survey of charter boat users told us what sort of information our readers wanted. Since then, feedback from users and focus groups has refined and improved our presentation.

How we get you work

SEARCH ENGINES

Search engines like Google crawl websites to include them in their search results. They do their best to decide what your site is about and then file it under a variety of headings.

Your customer enters the words into the search engines he thinks relate to the topic he is looking for and gets back a long list of search results with websites. If he does not find useful information about the topic he is looking for in the first few listings he will try different words or use another search engine.

The NZ Charter Guide is online for more than 10 years now. Focusing on providing easily accessible, useful information has seen us achieve top, or near-top ranking in boat charter related searches on all popular search engines.

LINKS

Links from other sites are a good way to publicise a web site, but unless they are from a specialist directory site, links are unlikely to be used by those actively looking for a particular service. Their greatest use is for encouraging surfers to visit and bookmark a site for later reference. Some search engines - such as Google - count inward links in ranking their search results.

Worthwhile links need to be individually applied for - sometimes using an online form, but more often than not they require a personal email. Paid links can be very effective too, but deciding which are worth having requires a lot of research. NZ Charter Guide has hundreds of inward links from relevant pages because its a directory including detailed boat information.

DIRECTORY SITES

Just as the yellow pages bring similar services together in print, directory sites maintain online directories of businesses - providing links, contact details and varying amounts of information. Within NZ the Yellow Pages host general business directories, while 100% Pure NZ, the AA and Jasons concern themselves with tourist-related enterprises. Niche guides, such as The Bed and Breakfast Guide, Book a Bach and New Zealand Charter Guide provide in-depth coverage of their specialist fields. With the exception of 100% Pure NZ, which is sponsored by Tourism NZ, all these sites charge for their services.

How we can help you & what it costs

• YOUR CHARTERGUIDE LISTING - $250+GST pa
  Your vessel's standardised listing is the cornerstone of the Charter Guide's success. Concise, easy to read, and packed with solid information, it makes it easy for potential customers to understand exactly what you have to offer. To add your boat to the fleet we need at least one (max 9) good beam-on photo and a completed listing form.
• UPDATES - Free
  We pride ourselves on providing accurate information all the time. If you move your vessel from one area to another, change your rates, phone or email address - or even get a better photo, we want to know about it. Email your alterations to us at any time. Listing changes are uploaded immediately and free and of course you can update your listing yourself online.
• ARCHIVED EMAIL RECORD - Free
  All initial email inquiries you get through Charter Guide are archived in our log files. If at any time you want copies of them you have only to ask.
• SELL YOUR BOAT - $50 one time fee
  If your boat is on the market, tell us the price and we will include it in a special sub-directory for a one-off charge of $50.
• BOOKING SERVICE - 10% Commission
• To allow busy boat operators to concentrate on their core business we can also offer a Booking Service to manage and process your customer enquiries.
• For example, some customers know very little about boats and are unsure which part of New Zealand they should be looking in - so they ring us on the 0800 number with a variety of enquiries. For these potential customers, our booking service will check availability, obtain quotes, arrange/collect payment and provide you and your customer with comprehensive details regarding the charter.
• New Zealand Charter Guide liaises with the clients and the operator and once costs and availability are confirmed, and on the receipt of the operator invoice, we transfer 20% of the basic charter fee to secure the booking and 70% four weeks before the charter (we retain 10% commission).

Cancellations:
If the customer cancels the charter no refund is given on the deposit. For customer cancellations within 4 weeks of the charter, a refund can be given at the operator's discretion. If the operator cancels the charter, the customer receives a full refund.

Costs for extras, e.g. fishing gear, bait, diving equipment, food etc. are payable directly to the operator on the day of the charter.

MULTI LISTINGS - List your fleet and save
Do you run more than one boat? Two or more listings under the same address each attract a $50 discount.

Testimonials

Thank you for this great resource. - Alison Heckler, Australia New Zealand Amazing Travel, California

I must say I am VERY impressed with the website, this is exactly what our customers want when they are hiring yachts - Nina Farrimond, Taylor-Made Travel, UK

Your setup is a tremendous resource for getting folk into the right boat and I wonder if boat owners really appreciate what an effective tool it is. The charter industry is a very difficult and fickle business at the best of times given human nature, the weather and propensity of the best laid plans to go wrong but amidst all of that your service shines forth as a terrific internet tool for the industry. - Frank Vogels, Charter Broker, NZ

Had a good 1st season - most of my work through charterguide web page - Terry Breeze, Te Aura Charters, BOI

Have had some good business from web site, and any more you can point our way would be great. - John Doherty, Kilvay Charters, Auckland

Your site works very well, right now I am getting at least one to three inquiries a week for my business - Christy Butterfield, Melinda Sea Adventures, Tonga

Thanks for all your help during the past years in helping me to sell my product. I will surely recommend your site to any new potential operators. - Tom Waters, Windborne Charters, BOI

I would just like to take this opportunity,of thanking you so much for everything that you have done for us over these past years. - Nellie, Hinetai Charters, Auckland

Charterguide is good value. We check EVERY enquiry to find our where they found us. - Peter Tait, Talisker Charters, Stewart Island

Your site is the only one we use now. The website of ours was a waste of money for a small hobby business like ours, so we intend to rely on you to make our way in the world. Thanks for the work you do on behalf of Charter boats etc. It's great. - Marilyn & Den Port, Pipedream Charters, Marlborough

Must say we have received some very good positive enquiries from your site and a number have turned into firm bookings...we cannot ask for more than that ! - Carol Denton, Moondance Charters, Auckland