Looking for feedback on new scuba diving website

[surfaceinterval.co]

And we thought this might be a good place for that

Hi ScubaBoard,

Our goal is to create an independent website that has all the information you'll need to plan your next dive trip. But we still have a long, long way to go, so we could use some help.
This is what we have so far (including information about more than 2000 operators):

Homepage: https://www.surfaceinterval.co
Country page: Scuba diving in Thailand @ Surface Interval
Dive operator profile: Reviews of Aqua Life Bali @ Surface Interval

We would love any feedback, ideas, things that we should add etc. We are aware of the fact that there is work to do, so please feel free to leave a reply of send us a message.

PS we have also posted on reddit about this. An upvote is highly appreciated:
We're making a review site for divers : scuba

 

[flyboy08]

Most of that info is right here for either the asking or searching.

 

[Bubblesong]

Please, Ask your reviewers to go long on physical descriptions; (temp, vis, bottom contour current and that type of detail) and short on subjective, (spectacular! Phrase alone Does not give a visual image )
I don’t know if everyone wants the type of unfiltered review I prefer, (St. Croix: The Good, The Bad, The Fugly) that manages expectations to a fine point.
But more details about diving conditions does help people choose a destination within their limits (For example, I don’t want to dive places that require a reef hook or that will rip your mask off if you turn your head, so I want to avoid strong current locations, and find easy current locations)

 

[Compressor]

Welcome to SBoard.

 

[surfaceinterval.co]

Welcome to SBoard.

Thank you!

 

[surfaceinterval.co]

Please, Ask your reviewers to go long on physical descriptions; (temp, vis, bottom contour current and that type of detail) and short on subjective, (spectacular! Phrase alone Does not give a visual image )
I don’t know if everyone wants the type of unfiltered review I prefer, (St. Croix: The Good, The Bad, The Fugly) that manages expectations to a fine point.
But more details about diving conditions does help people choose a destination within their limits (For example, I don’t want to dive places that require a reef hook or that will rip your mask off if you turn your head, so I want to avoid strong current locations, and find easy current locations)

That's a good one. We might want to write an comprehensive guide on how to write te best review and make small bits available with tooltips when people are writing the review.
For example: good visibility vs 25 meters visibility. In some places 5 meters is very good, in others 10 is worst day of the year.

What do think are important aspects of dive operators? We now have:
- staff
- equipment
- group size
- safety

 

[surfaceinterval.co]

Most of that info is right here for either the asking or searching.

Although forums are valuable and potentially have all this information, we want to make all the information readily available for everyone (not just for the users of one specific forum) and easily searchable. Joining a forum can be a bit daunting, leaving and reading reviews at our website must be easy.

 

[Sean Walberg]

Although forums are valuable and potentially have all this information, we want to make all the information readily available for everyone (not just for the users of one specific forum) and easily searchable. Joining a forum can be a bit daunting, leaving and reading reviews at our website must be easy.

If that's your hypothesis then asking for advice on a forum (especially this one and Reddit) may not get you the point of view you're after, as anyone answering has already shown that joining a forum is not daunting enough for them.

Before you get too far into building your site, I would suggest you go out and find a dozen people for whom your proposed product solves an immediate need. Maybe you go to a dive event and ask around. Maybe you drive some paid ads to a landing page asking for emails. Maybe you know the people already. But if you can't find 12 people that have the problem then you're going to have a problem finding enough of those people to make your site sustainable.

Another thing to consider is that you're building a two sided marketplace. You need enough reviewers to make the site worthwhile, and you need enough people to read reviews to pay the bills. The general advice here is to pick one side of the marketplace and try to get those people on, first.

Good luck!

Sean

 

[Bubblesong]

Can you make the description items filter searchable? Here is why:
I see Scubaboard as a “discussion”, so if someone posts a critical description about an operator, (and they sometimes go so far as to tell people to stay away), then others get into thread either adding to description, or criticizing the original poster for being unreasonable or even a danger to themselves and others. In other words, SB goes into personal experiences with more depth.
I was thinking this new dive site would be about getting all the dive destination information in one place, and be FILTER SEARCHABLE! So that i could find all resorts in Honduras for x$ per night, meals inclusive, with A/C, with nitrox and shore diving With less than 1 knot currents. or all resorts in Indonesia like that. That way, when i see a great airfare, i can quickly get a list of options, which i can then take to SB to get the nitty gritty first person experience and discussions about the place, or else start one.

 

[surfaceinterval.co]

If that's your hypothesis then asking for advice on a forum (especially this one and Reddit) may not get you the point of view you're after, as anyone answering has already shown that joining a forum is not daunting enough for them.

Agreed, but these are the places where we probably can get valuable feedback, because people on forums are used to giving feedback.

Before you get too far into building your site, I would suggest you go out and find a dozen people for whom your proposed product solves an immediate need. Maybe you go to a dive event and ask around. Maybe you drive some paid ads to a landing page asking for emails. Maybe you know the people already. But if you can't find 12 people that have the problem then you're going to have a problem finding enough of those people to make your site sustainable.

That's exactly what was our plan. We have already found those people. Apart from this being a thing of scratching your own itch. For example posting on reddit got us 2 legit reviews without us asking for it (and our site is far from complete).

Another thing to consider is that you're building a two sided marketplace. You need enough reviewers to make the site worthwhile, and you need enough people to read reviews to pay the bills. The general advice here is to pick one side of the marketplace and try to get those people on, first.

That is good advice. We will focus on reviewers first. Also there is a third side: the dive operators.

Thank you for you thoughts Sean!