Following on from my recent article regarding the way that crew bloggers are influencing the megayacht industry – I wanted to share with you some of the best tools and products I am using on my blog; things which you can use to help your blogging efforts get underway [regardless of what your role is within the megayacht industry].

First off, let’s start with the blogging platform and the subject of themes for your blog.

Regular readers will have noticed that this blog has had an overhaul in recent days – the new look is based on Chris Pearson’s amazing new Thesis premium Wordpress theme, which in my opinion is the best blogging platform out there.

Thesis has all the grace and style of any of the ‘free’ themes that are available, but what’s great about this is that it’s totally customizable to fit whatever you’re writing about within the megayacht industry – its also backed up by what seems like almost daily tweaks and upgrades (free for life!) and also a lively support forum.

I’ve tried many Wordpress themes, and spent countless hours searching for the best theme for this blog, and this is by far one of the best themes in the entire blogosphere.

A list of advantages to Thesis would run and run, but my favourites include:

• Super typography, as you can see from this site - I’ve never even seen another Wordpress theme with drop caps, for instance. Your site will look effortlessly great
• Thesis is easily tweaked, due to its logical structure, even by the less skillful coders out there
• The Thesis support forums have seen most problems before, so it’s the work of minutes to find a solution to a common customisation query, such as inserting blocks of ads or changing the header
• Chris is writing excellent Thesis tutorials, which have expanded my knowledge of Wordpress as much as of Thesis. A great bit of icing for the cake…
• Finally, there are more goodies to come from the Thesis stable, such as a magazine-style Wordpress theme.

To be honest, Thesis made it pretty easy to smarten up. It costs $87 to buy, which is $87 more than all the free themes out there, but with the volume of Internet sites out there nowadays, I’m not sure free really cuts it anymore. And that $87 entitles you to lifetime upgrades, and currently a special second theme that’s in the works from Chris, too.

But don’t just take my word for it, check out these Thesis Testimonials.

Monetising Your Blog

What follows is a quick summary of my main income streams from blogging. Before you read it though - keep in mind that every blog is unique in how it can make money. Some of the following income streams will work on some blogs a lot better than others - the key is to experiment with as many as possible and see what works best for you.

Google Adsense

I continue to use AdSense with amazing effect; their normal ads work a treat and continue to be the biggest earner for me.

The scope of how AdSense works is huge and therefore is a little out of the scope of this article.
However, in a nutshell, AdSense displays targeted ads depending on the content of your blog. It’s easy to setup and maintain and it’s a big earner too.

Amazon Associates

Amazon’s affiliate program has been one of the latest additions to this site. I am currently making a few odd dollars from it - however earnings are growing on a quarterly basis.

Chitika

Chitka continues to be a great performer for me – most of my traffic is from the United States so I’m working with their Premium ad unit and eMinimalls which displays relevant products to this segment of my readers.

Chitika offers a range of ad units that I experiment with; I also find that their Related Product Units are also good.

There are a number of other ad networks worth playing around with but these are the three which seem to work best for me – you’ll need to test the various options to see which products work best for you.

Blogging is a great way to explore subjects within the megayacht industry – it is also nice to see that extra pay check each month on top of your crew salary!

If you are already blogging, I’d like to hear from you - which products and services you are using on your blog?

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Blogging is one of the greatest phenomena’s ever to be produced by the internet – it is also a becoming a popular hobby for crew.

The role of blogging within the megayacht industry is developing at a rapid pace and more and more crew are jumping on the ‘blogging band wagon’ and enjoying the associated benefits of social networking.

One only needs to look as far as Facebook to understand the power of a social network and it would seem that companies within the yachting industry have been quick to catch on.

Most notably perhaps is the website of Dockwalk Magazine, who have very cleverly employed the use of bloggers [like myself] to provide articles and other associated media – all of which collectively help grow their brand within the market place.

Personal blogs are becoming more popular with crew and the benefits are not limited to just social networking – it can be financially rewarding too.

To give you an idea of how easily it can be done, I started my blog less than six months ago with a basic understanding of how money can be made through blogging and today, roughly 20% of my total income is made from blogging and working as a freelance writer. 

So how do you become a successful blogger / freelance writer in the megayacht industry?

Diane Byrne runs the independent Megayacht News and has been covering megayachts for over 15 years. She writes for Power & Motoryacht, the leading American yacht magazine. Among her most well-known bylines are the exclusive annual features “The World’s 100 Largest Yachts” and “America’s 100 Largest Yachts.” She’s also regularly quoted by media outlets worldwide, including CNBC, Reuters, the Associated Press, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Forbes, for commentary about the marine industry.

I asked Diane how she saw the role of bloggers and writers developing within the megayacht industry.

“I’ve noticed there are more crew blogs now than a year ago, and I think it’s great.

As long as a crewmember has the blessing of his or her boss to reveal certain information about life aboard [since many yacht owners are private] I think it’s a terrific way to educate people, even entertain them and if a crewmember wants to be a professional writer, it’s the perfect way to prove his or her talents.”

Diane says that blogs are a great way for crew to practice their writing skills…

“As an editor, I love reading blogs, because they contain "raw" copy. They’re not articles that professional editors have polished up to fix spelling, grammar, and punctuation, they reflect whether the writer him - or herself knows these things and pays attention to them.”

Quality over quantity it would seem.

I asked Diane to explain how best to go about marketing yourself as a freelance writer to various yachting publications.

“The key aspect to approaching a yachting publication is to know the publication’s focus: don’t assume all yachting magazines take the same approach or reach the same readers. Some are focused on lifestyle, others emphasize technical know-how. Buy a copy of The Writer’s Market, which is the bible of freelance writing. It lists every magazine that accepts freelance contributions, along with a summary of what it focuses on, who to send queries to, what the pay range is, and how many freelance submissions it accepts annually. Also contact the magazine to get a copy of its writer’s guidelines” - she says.

There are so many different aspects to the yachting industry it can be difficult to decide on a particular subject – in such cases one will inevitably experience a case of “bloggers block” or “writers block”.

Diane says that there is a simple way to ensure that your creative juices keep flowing…

“Write what you know: while it sounds like a no-brainer, unfortunately in some cases it’s not.

A writer pitched me a story a few years ago about tuna fishing, and even though I knew the person was talented, I could tell that the subject was not an area of expertise. It just doesn’t make sense to hire someone like that, particularly if the readers, like PMY’s, are well-experienced: The editors would have to rewrite incorrect information, which defeats the purpose of hiring a freelancer in the first place, and if the editors missed an error, the readers would have jumped all over us.

Bottom line: If you have an area of expertise, stick with it, and explain in your query letter why you’re in the best position to write about this. For example, "I’ve been the chief engineer on yachts for a decade, and therefore I’ve done everything from troubleshooting to repairing systems," or "I’ve used more cleaning products, both good and bad, within the past year as a deckhand than many people do in their entire lives.

Also, if you have a blog or a photography-based Web site, don’t forget to mention it”.

Diane says that one of the most important qualities to being a successful freelance writer is perseverance…

“Don’t get discouraged: pitches can and do get turned down, for a number of reasons. Sometimes a story just doesn’t quite meet the publication’s needs, other times it’s one they’re already planning to cover. .

“The Power & Motoryacht 100" – the definitive annual list of the world’s largest megayachts has been running for the past twenty three years, and is always a hot topic of discussion for yacht enthusiasts from across the globe.

I asked Diane to describe some of the challenges she faces in the process of writing the article.

“It involves a lot of research; contacting captains and owners’ representatives, shipyards, designers, brokers, classification societies, you name it.

 It’s an all-year-long process of making note of when yachts are launching, what their specifications are, whether photos are available, and what some of their features are. Sometimes it’s like searching for a needle in a haystack, but the end result is quite rewarding”.

For more information on Diane and Megayacht News checkout www.megayachtnews.org