Seattle, WA - February 15, 2007 Boats.com and the
National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) announced winners of the
third annual North American Marine Industry Web Awards competition today
during the 2007 Miami International Boat Show Media Breakfast.
Best Marine Site Overall
The award for Best Marine Site Overall was presented to Mercury Racing.
Summing up the judges' decision, Tim Brunelle, head of interactive for
Carmichael Lynch, commented, "The Mercury Racing site has it all.
The design is right on target, nomenclature is clear and they leverage
flash and other animation to enhance users' ability to locate information.
They certainly took the time to craft their story. The attention to detail
was evident in more than just the appearance; the site also featured useful
and intriguing content."
Best Dealer/Broker Site
HMY Yacht Sales received the award for Best Dealer/Broker Site. "HMY.com offers
the best content and infrastructure for sealing the deal," said Brunelle.
"Their technology is very efficient, the use of flash doesn't impede navigation
and the site is well optimized for search engines. If you're looking to buy or
sell a boat, you can't go wrong with HMY."
Best OEM/Manufacturer Site
Judges gave the award for Best OEM/Manufacturer Site to
Meridian Yachts.
"This is a very nicely designed site - the architecture, user interface and
nomenclature all contribute to intuitive navigability," noted Brunelle.
"The site is built with search engine optimization best practices in mind
and it offers well-written and well-produced copy and images."
Best Marine Equipment Site
Blue Sea Systems took home the trophy for Best
Marine Equipment Site. "One of my favorites, the Blue Sea Systems site was obviously
a great challenge, and the designers and developers did an outstanding job,"
Brunelle remarked. "Their skill is evident in the organization of information,
user-interface engineering, production detail and the efficiency of the code.
Equipment sites typically have tons of information - thousands of SKUs, images,
captions, etc. It is to Blue Sea Systems' credit that they embraced such an elegant
and efficient design. Brilliant!"
Outstanding Contribution to the Online Marine Industry
The panel of judges honored Boating Life magazine
for the most Outstanding Contribution to the Online Marine Industry.
"Our vote went to BoatingLife.com because of its deep, easily-accessed resources
on all-things-boating," said Brunelle. "This site supplies useful, third-party counterpoint
to OEM and dealer sites, which in turn benefits the boating industry. It gives consumers
a robust environment in which to begin or compare research, seek objective answers and
increase their boating knowledge. The navigation is simple, copy is purposeful without
going on too long, and images are plentiful - all things the boating industry needs to
make better and broader connections with potential and new boat shoppers."
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