For an active online scuba store, we realize that we have really been behind the eight ball on our technology.  Our move to the new website is one of several elements of our strategy to “get with the program” on the Internet technology front.

Finally, in our 8th year of business, we are starting to use email promotion to advance our business and let our friends know what is going on here at Dive Sports.  Our first Newsletter was sent out yesterday.  We used this first issue to announce the new website and to talk about some of the features that we think will be very satisfying to our customers.  Future newsletters will focus on what’s going on here at the store, announcements about new products, and information about our group dive travel and dive training.  We will also be sending periodic “special” emails that promote specific products or product categories.

Brad has created a Newsletter Archive link in the left column of all of our pages.  This will allow you to link to an index of all of our newsletters.  Obviously, we only have one newsletter in the archive, so I am providing a link directly to it below:

Dive Sports February 2008 Newsletter

If you know of anyone that might be interested, please direct them to our website or to this blog so they can sign-up for future editions.  We want to thank everyone for helping us build our business where is it today.

Phil Ellis

Get the Lowest Price and the Best Service on Name-Brand Scuba Gear!

Just wanted to post a note to remind everyone to use the email signup box in the right column to sign up for our emails blasts.  With the control the manufacturers are now placing on price advertising, email is the ONLY way we can let you know about some of our specials.  Thanks.

 Phil Ellis

Join Our Email List Now!

Some of you may have already noticed, but we switched our domain name over to the new server on Friday afternoon, a couple of day before the plan.  Over the past two days, some people have been getting the new site and some have been getting the old site.  Well, this morning, I officially switched the redirects off and everyone should now be getting the new website.

We will be sending our first email newsletter out early this week.  In the previous 8 years in our store, we have never used email as a promotion tool.  We realize that is now going to have to change.  We will be sending all of our promotional and newsletter email out through Constant Contact, a completely Opt-In email service.  We will not  purchase email lists or engage in any type of  email adress harvesting.  If you are not on our email mailing list, or if you are not sure, use the sign-up box in the right-hand column of this blog page.  Enter your email address and confirm on the page that follows.  Or, you can visit our new website at www.divesports.com and page down the left column.  You will see a sign-up box there.  With advertising and manufacturer price controls, there will be lots of specials that we will ONLY be able to promote through our emails, so please get on this list so you will not miss out on the great deals.

Thank you all for your support and I hope this new website provide you with a much better shopping experience, a much faster surfing experience.  We will continue to work hard to improve the website and the content.

Phil Ellis

Join the DiveSports.com Email List for the Latest Information and Bargains!

Well, this afternoon, we changed our DNS name server locations with our domain name service.  Some of you should begin to see the NEW DiveSports.com later tonight or tomorrow.  This is a little earlier than we had planned, but we couldn’t find any task left undone.  We certainly hope you guys will like the new website.  It is much easier to use, offers much better customer service options, and is certainly going to be a pleasure to maintain.

Watch your email box for our first email campaign.  We thought is would be important to let all of our customers know about the new site.  Thanks for all of your support.

 Phil Ellis

Visit the NEW DiveSports.com

Well, I have spent the last couple of hours taking a look at the new site, and I can’t find anything left that I can do today.  With just a little more product work left, I think this thing is almost ready to go!  Next week, all we need to do is run one more item price check, add some brand new items that we will feature as sale items for the launch, and take a few more photographs.  Our home page on the new site will also feature about ten special items; special products that can really save you some money while catching your attention for innovation and uniqueness.  We have to get those ready and then we are finished.

We will officially launch the new site on Wednesday morning, January 30, 2008.  We plan to make the DNS name change late in the day of Monday, January 28, so some of you will see it a day early.  It will take a day or so for the web server pointer to completely switch over, but EVERYONE will see the new site on the morning of the launch date.

Dive Sports is still just a little scuba store in Decatur, Alabama, so this new website is a big deal to us.  Certainly, these changes would be just a chip shot for the big boys, but it remains a big accomplishment for us.  I can’t wait for all of you to see it.  I think you will be impressed.

 Phil Ellis

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As many of you know, we are pretty well known for our live-aboard trips to the Dry Tortugas aboard the Ultimate Getaway.  After a “vacation” from this trip for a season, we now can offer it again for the 2008 season.  Our customers love spearfishing and lobster hunting, so we have a Dry Tortuga’s trip that should suit them well.

We now have a fall date scheduled with the Ultimate Getaway.  We will again have an extended 5 day trip leaving Ft. Myers on Wednesday evening, September 17, 2008.  With a 7PM departure time, everyone will wake up in the Tortugas banks on Thursday morning ready to dive!  With our return to dock scheduled for Sunday afternoon, September 21, 2008, this will give everyone an opportunity to do all of the dive they could possibly want to do in this short time.  In fact, we expect to do 25 or more dives over these four days.  Once again, for our local customers, all you need to do is walk on your flight in your shorts and t-shirt.  We will have a truck going down will all of the dive gear, all of the bedding, and even your suitcases!  When you get to the airport in Ft. Myers, we will be waiting for you in the terminal.  You gear will already be on the boat, ready for your setup and diving!  We think it couldn’t possibly be any easier.

When we launch the new site later this month, I will post a link to the information page about this trip.  Space is very limited, so if you want to go on this trip, you should phone us at (800) 601-DIVE!  We want you there and we want you to have fun!

Phil Ellis

Dry Tortugas Liveaboard Diving with Dive Sports

Sorry I haven’t been posting regularly over the past three weeks or so.  The final stages of the development of the new DiveSports.com have been very time consuming.  Both Brad and I have spent every minute of our computer time trying to get the final touches in place.  We have done pretty extensive testing on the payment system and everything is working perfectly.  Compliance with the Payment Credit Information (PCI) standards is very rigorous and it requires a ton of testing.  Our website will be among the most secure systems available, and it will certainly rival many surpass any of the “big boys” that operate in the scuba business.  Credit card security will certainly be world-class.

One of the most difficult tasks is finding and correcting all of the spelling errors!  I can’t believe how many we find on every scan; even on text that has been scanned several times already!  Seems that the text that Brad puts into the system is pretty good; mine is dismal.  Oh well, I have never claimed that spelling is my best skill.

I spent most of the day today testing the shipping program and its application to orders from all over the world.  We are implementing some steps to make sure customers don’t select shipping options that make no economic and timing sense.  For instance, if you order from Georgia, you will only be offered three UPS options…UPS Ground, UPS Second Day, and UPS Overnight.  Since UPS Ground get to all Georgia in two days (with 97% certainty), we offer UPS Ground as the default option.  However, if you want it GUARANTEED in two days, we will also offer the GUARANTEED 2 day service, UPS Second Day air.  Of course, for those that ABSOLUTELY need it the next day, there is UPS Next Day Air.  No 3 Day Select will be offered, because UPS Ground will get it there in that speed at lower cost.  Of course, if you order enough, the shipping will be FREE.

Thanks for you patience with my infrequent posts as we come down the final stretch in the new site development.  Once it is up and going, I will do much better.  Thanks again.

 Phil Ellis

Buy Discount Scuba Gear from DiveSports.com

This morning we will be completing the final testing stage for the new credit card gateway that will be used on the new www.divesports.com website.  In the past two days, we have isolated and corrected a large number of payment, card verification, and information transfer problems.  For the next few days, we will be installing and testing the Customer Management Program that will be used to communicate with our customers and solve problems.  This puts us only a matter of a few weeks away from launch.

We will keep you advised here as to the final launch date.  We are really excited about this new site and feel strongly that it will radically improve our online business and our relationship with our customers.  Stay tuned for more news!

 Phil Ellis

Buy Discount Scuba Gear Online

We have been working on the final development stages of the new website that will replace our existing static htm page site at www.divesports.com.  Brad is handling the primary development work on the new site and his eye for style and appearance is clearly better than mine.  I can’t wait to finish the last steps so we can finally retire the old site and give our customers access to our store with all of the technology of the Web 2.0 revolution.

At the current moment, we are finalizing all of the help text, the informational articles, and publishing the last of the products in our catalog.  Our biggest obstacle now is the transition to a new credit card processing routine.  The credit card gateway we are currently using is not sufficient for the new site.  When we launch the new site, we will have the top credit card authentication and security technology available to anyone on the Internet.  We are really excited about this new security protocol, but the work to put it in place is daunting.

We are also working on the final stages of our website customer contact and communication protocols.  We will have real-time live chat available on the new site, customers will have the capability to review any previous orders, print their own copies of invoices, and many other capabilities that define the whole concept of using the internet to talk WITH our customers instead of talking TO them.

Ease of use will probably be the biggest change in our new website.  While we have been successful with the old one, it will simply be daunted by the customer-friendly nature of the new site.

Stay tuned to further information about the new site.  We are only a few weeks away from the launch and I hope to be able to post some screen shots on this blog prior to our actual launch.  Thanks for your support, your time, and your past support of our little dive store.  We hope 2008 will bring you even more value as you choose Dive Sports to be your local scuba store, no matter where you live.

Phil Ellis

Dive Sports - You Local Scuba Store, No Matter Where You Live!

The long holiday season, our work on the new website, and a lot of end of the year issues have kept me from making  posts for several days.  I hope to be able to make several posts a week during all of 2008 and beyond.  For the upcoming year, I really want to use this blog space at the place for getting the local news and views of the Dive Sports staff.  I also hope that 2008 will  bring us more comments from our friends and customers; maybe even from those who want to dispute information found here.

 As we begin the 2008 dive season, we have many new things in the works here at Dive Sports.  We are working hard to launch our new DiveSports.com website, finally bringing our online business into the Web 2.0 generation.  We are also making plans to begin to add content to our newest website, www.divegearreviews.com.  This will give us an opportunity to publish our own reviews of the products we sell and dive, along with the reviews and viewpoints of our customer, both locally and online.

Stay tuned for some exciting announcements about our business.  As I stated earlier, we are working hard on the new website and we think others will agree that our effort is a good one.  Thanks and welcome to the 2008 dive season!

 Phil Ellis

Buy Discount Scuba Gear from DiveSports.com