What’s new in boating

Date: Aug 12, 2008
By: Party Boating

I have to admit there are times when I simply cannot understand the logic behind something I find on the Internet.

The other day I was searching for something boating related on Google. The search results came to the screen along with the typical sponsored results in the right-hand margin. One of the sponsored results was a website called, “WhatsNewInBosting.com.” Okay, I’ll bite.

As the Internet is intended to do, I click on the sponsored link and am magically whisked away to the site for WhatsNewInBoating.com. Keep in mind that the operative word here is sponsored link. Someone somewhere is paying cold hard cash to have this link in the sponsored section of Google’s results. Low and behold, what do you think appears on my computer screen? Nothing! All that appears is a splash page telling the visitor that the website is “Coming Soon.”

Okay, so you probably think this rambling stops right here. Wrong. On the splash page is a link. The link says blow-boaters should check out their other site, “WhatsNewInSailing.com.” What do you think happens when you click that link? Yep. You’re taken to another splash page where is says, “Coming Soon.”

Hard cash for a link to nothing. Not sure I understand that business model. Hey, maybe there’s a hidden revenue stream there somewhere.

Try it yourself if you’d like. Go to Google and type in “boating news.” It should appear in the right margin under “Sponsored Links.” You might have to click a couple times to get the link to appear.