Name of your website?Costa Rica Surf Institute: Tamarindo CR
Your name?
Alex Hazell
Your Location (city, etc)
Tamarindo (Calle Real)
Please give us a short summary of your website?
The Costa Rica Surf Institute website is both a business tool to bring in more students, and a tool for current students and past students to learn and network. All of our curriculum is online as well as blogs and message boards to allow current and past students to communicate and keep up with what is going on at the school.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
In this day in age, it is a must to gain exposure and bring in quality customers.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
Our institute was founded five years ago and we have been trying to build a web presence ever since. The first website I launched was to get our class materials out to our surf students.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
Well it is our school's name so it was a no brainer. We would have preferred something shorter but it was not in the cards so we made due.
What makes your website different from other, similar offerings?
I think it is more aesthetically pleasing because it is simple and we do not sell any ad space on our site. You know what we are and what we do right away and we do it well. I think our website speaks to this.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
We will continue to build and grow our website, listen to feedback to students and hopefully make it more useful and of course more visible.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
Without getting into specifics, we have had a very impressive ROI with our website.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
I think we would spend a bit more on advertising, getting our name out there. We would probably bring someone else on full time to run and edit it as well so we could spend more time surfing.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
How big we talkin? Sure!
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
We have not really had any unexpected costs. Headaches sure, but our business division is really good at planning ahead and using conservative estimates so we always know what the worst case scenario for any situation could be. That way we are never caught off guard.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Our biggest challenge is making sure our website shows how we differentiate ourselves from the tens of surf schools out there. We are an institute and we take pride in giving our students an education experience. We want our kids to understand surfing, the ocean and the beach. We don't just give someone a board for the day and push them into waves.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
I think just word of mouth organic buzz from past students has been our most successful marketing tool. If you love what you do and provide customers/students with a great product and an unforgettable experience they will tell others and people will find you. There is no quick way to success, you just have to do what you do well. People see quickly through BS so you have to make sure you are genuine and the rest will fall into place.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
Obviously there are always unexpected things that arise whenever you start a business or a website for that matter. I think all in all though most things have gone smoothly and there have not been too many surprises.
How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?
2 years. It will be up forever hopefully!
Where is the best place in the world to learn to surf?
COSTA RICA!
What is your website address?
Costa Rica Surf Institute: Tamarindo CR
