YachtWorld has conducted over 75 such events in the U.S. in the past five years.  The first four of the 2009 series are co-hosted by YachtWorld and the Yacht Brokers Association of America (YBAA) and take place on July 28 in Providence R.I., July 30 in Annapolis Md., August 13 in Seabrook Tex. and August 20 Chicago.  Registration and full details of each University can be found at www.yachtbrokerageuniversity.com

“We have timely subjects and great speakers for this series and recommend early registration” said Jessica Muffett, publisher emeritus, YachtWorld.com, when making the announcement. “Brokers who attend will learn a great deal about the existing market conditions both domestically and internationally, the new trends in social network and Internet marketing as well as the new products and services offered by YachtWorld.”

Four more Yacht Brokerage Universities are planned for California, Vancouver B.C., Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. and Seattle.  Dates, locations and broker association partners are being finalized.

About YachtWorld - YachtWorld.com is the single most powerful and effective global marketing solution for the boating industry.  With over 115,000 brokerage boats worldwide offered by over 2,500 yacht brokerage houses and 10,000 individual yacht brokers in 100 countries, YachtWorld.com receives nearly 2.5 million global visits by boating enthusiasts each month.  YachtWorld.com provides a complete suite of online marketing services for its yacht broker members through BoatWizard and SoldBoats, their proprietary back-end tools.  Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, YachtWorld.com has European headquarters in the United Kingdom, with sales and customer service representation in France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Turkey and Estonia.  YachtWorld.com is a division of Dominion Enterprises, based in Norfolk, Virginia, USA.

About Dominion Enterprises - Dominion Enterprises is a leading marketing services company serving the automotive, enthusiast and commercial vehicle, real estate, apartment rental, and employment industries.  The company’s businesses provide a comprehensive suite of technology-based marketing solutions including Internet advertising, lead generation, CRM, Web site design and hosting, and data management services.  The company has more than 45 market-leading Web sites reaching more than 16.7 million unique visitors, and more than 450 magazines with a weekly circulation of 4.3 million.  Headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, the company has 5,400 employees in more than 200 offices nationwide. For more information, visit http://www.DominionEnterprises.com.

Benefits for the charterer include a choice of nearly 5,000 vessels in more than 300 destinations worldwide, together with stories and reviews on both boats and destinations. The new site also offers online pricing, availability and reservations together with the ability to receive special offers the moment they become available.

“The sheer choice of boats and destinations, on a global basis, are what sets YachtWorld Charters apart,” said Ian Atkins, VP and general manager of YachtWorld.com and Boats.com, when making the announcement. “No one else comes close. Add to this the 2.5 million global visits by boating enthusiasts that visit YachtWorld each month interested in chartering or buying a boat and you can see why www.yachtworldcharters.com is so compelling for both charterers and charter operators.”

Benefits for the charter industry include visitor traffic, the ability to manage their inventory on a day to day basis, to display detailed descriptions of each vessel with multiple photographs, provide real time availability and information about special offers, late availability and cruising areas.

“The Internet is a necessary and powerful route to market for charter providers and www.yachtworldcharters.com will deliver not only a global audience but also essential functionality to allow them to manage their businesses more effectively day to day. This includes the option to receive charter enquiries directly or have YachtWorld manage the whole booking process for them,” said Robert Corden, commercial director, YachtWorld.com and Boats.com International.

About YachtWorld - YachtWorld.com is the single most powerful and effective global marketing solution for the boating industry. With over 115,000 brokerage boats worldwide offered by over 2,500 yacht brokerage houses and 10,000 individual yacht brokers in 100 countries, YachtWorld.com receives nearly 2.5 million global visits by boating enthusiasts each month. YachtWorld.com provides a complete suite of online marketing services for its yacht broker members through BoatWizard and SoldBoats, their proprietary back-end tools. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, YachtWorld.com has European headquarters in the United Kingdom, with sales and customer service representation in France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Turkey and Estonia. YachtWorld.com is a division of Dominion Enterprises, based in Norfolk, Virginia, USA.

About Dominion Enterprises - Dominion Enterprises is a leading marketing services company serving the automotive, enthusiast and commercial vehicle, real estate, apartment rental, and employment industries. The company’s businesses provide a comprehensive suite of technology-based marketing solutions including Internet advertising, lead generation, CRM, Web site design and hosting, and data management services. The company has more than 45 market-leading Web sites reaching more than 16.7 million unique visitors, and more than 450 magazines with a weekly circulation of 4.3 million. Headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, the company has 5,400 employees in more than 200 offices nationwide. For more information, visit http://www.DominionEnterprises.com.

The objective of the agreement is to increase the level of professionalism within the brokerage industry, via broker education, and to provide the public with more accurate listing information. YachtWorld will use its broker communication network to educate its members with professional standards developed by YBAA and YachtWorld.

“YachtWorld’s core commitment is the support and development of the professional yacht brokerage industry,” said Ian Atkins, VP and general manager of YachtWorld.com and Boats.com. “This collaboration with YBAA will raise the visibility of listings that are represented by Certified Professional Yacht Brokers (CPYB) credentialed yacht brokers and will educate buyers and sellers as to the identity and value of working with a certified yacht broker.”

“YBAA has teamed up with YachtWorld because of their extraordinary track record and ability to help yacht brokers promote and co-broker their listings to buyers around the world,” said David Pugsley, YBAA president. “We support YachtWorld and their private BoatWizard MLS service for brokers as our endorsed Internet partner and expect great things to come of our combined efforts to raise the level of professionalism in the yacht brokerage community.”

The YBAA / YachtWorld collaboration will also benefit YBAA member brokers through enhanced services offered to members throughout the year. According to YBAA’s Executive Director Joseph Thompson, “YBAA and YachtWorld will continue to offer a program service initiated last year, the regional Yacht Brokerage University events. These one day educational and networking programs offer valuable insights and information for all attending brokers, at no cost to the participants.”

About YBAA - The Yacht Brokers Association of America, Inc. (YBAA) is the oldest (1920) and largest professional yacht brokerage association in the world, with Corporate members (brokerage firms & their brokers) and Affiliate members (companies providing services and products to the industry) throughout the U.S., Canada and several other nations worldwide. Members are committed to professionalism, abide by a strict Code of Ethics, have access to standardized yacht transaction contracts and educational services. YBAA is a founder of the Certified Professional Yacht Broker (CPYB) program, co-sponsored by every yacht broker association in the U.S. and Canada.

“Slow-loading websites are a major frustration to their users and cause them to leave,” said Ian Atkins, VP and general manager of YachtWorld.com and Boats.com, when making the announcement. “We benchmark the best consumer sites in the country to maintain our competitive advantage and thus sell more boats.”

“There are two primary reasons for this performance increase,” added Damir Tresnjo, director of internet technology for YachtWorld.com and Boats.com. “Distance matters, so our first action was to use a content distribution network to place images closer to consumers. The second is that we physically moved our servers from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Norfolk, Virginia, which places them nearer to the majority of our consumers as well. An added advantage is that our servers are now located much closer to the Internet ‘backbone.’”

About YachtWorld & Boats.com
Together, YachtWorld and Boats.com are the single most powerful and effective global marketing solution for the boating industry. With over 140,000 new and used boat listings worldwide offered by over 4,000 brokers, dealers and builders in 100 countries, YachtWorld and Boats.com are visited by over 4 million boating consumers every month who click through over 95 million page views. YachtWorld is the premier online sales channel for yacht brokers around the world with total boat listings in excess of 35 billion Euros. Boats.com provides marketing and Web services to new boat dealers and builders. YachtWorld and Boats.com have European headquarters in the United Kingdom, with sales and customer service representation in France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Turkey and Estonia. Both companies are business units of Dominion Enterprises, based in Norfolk, Virginia, USA.

About Dominion Enterprises
Dominion Enterprises is a leading marketing services company serving the automotive, enthusiast and commercial vehicle, real estate, apartment rental, and employment industries. The company’s businesses provide a comprehensive suite of technology-based marketing solutions including Internet advertising, lead generation, CRM, Web site design and hosting, and data management services. The company has more than 45 market-leading Web sites reaching more than 16.7 million unique visitors, and more than 450 magazines with a weekly circulation of 4.3 million. Headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, the company has 5,400 employees in more than 200 offices nationwide. For more information, visit http://www.DominionEnterprises.com.

“Our goal is to promote the value of the professional yacht broker to buyers and sellers,” said Ian Atkins, VP and general manager of YachtWorld.com and Boats.com. “This new service allows the individual broker to promote their professional profile, accomplishments and credentials.”

The Broker Spotlight service displays the listing broker’s photo and personal contact information on the brokerage house listing already advertised on YachtWorld.com. This “photo signature” links to the broker’s personal website. Components include:

• Broker signature with name and photograph on YachtWorld.com listings
• A search-engine-friendly website with a unique domain name
• Pages with the broker’s listings and the listings available through his office or house
• Logos to showcase his association memberships
• A personal toll-free number
• An optional Private Label Search to display other boats available for co-brokerage

Brokers can sign-up online via their house account on BoatWizard or contact YachtWorld at
1-877-336-9527 xtn 2

About YachtWorld & Boats.com
Together, YachtWorld and Boats.com are the single most powerful and effective global marketing solution for the boating industry. With over 140,000 new and used boat listings worldwide offered by over 4,000 brokers, dealers and builders in 100 countries, YachtWorld and Boats.com are visited by over 4 million boating consumers every month who click through over 95 million page views. YachtWorld is the premier online sales channel for yacht brokers around the world with total boat listings in excess of 35 billion Euros. Boats.com provides marketing and Web services to new boat dealers and builders. YachtWorld and Boats.com have European headquarters in the United Kingdom, with sales and customer service representation in France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Turkey and Estonia. Both companies are business units of Dominion Enterprises, based in Norfolk, Virginia, USA

About Dominion Enterprises - Dominion Enterprises is a leading marketing services company serving the automotive, enthusiast and commercial vehicle, real estate, apartment rental, and employment industries. The company’s businesses provide a comprehensive suite of technology-based marketing solutions including Internet advertising, lead generation, CRM, Web site design and hosting, and data management services. The company has more than 45 market-leading Web sites reaching more than 16.7 million unique visitors, and more than 450 magazines with a weekly circulation of 4.3 million. Headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, the company has 5,400 employees in more than 200 offices nationwide. For more information, visit http://www.DominionEnterprises.com.

“The appointment of Dickman Marketing is an important part of our strategy to develop our role as the most cost effective and efficient provider of online marketing and business solutions for yacht broker and dealer communities worldwide,” said Ian Atkins, VP and general manager of YachtWorld.com and Boats.com. “Their unique blend of Internet skills coupled with an in-depth knowledge of the way that yacht brokers and dealers operate will be a tremendous additional resource for our customers.”

Dickman Marketing represents the return to agency ownership for Mike Dickman who began his first agency in 1993.  Dickman has developed successful advertising and marketing campaigns for Bertram Yacht, Ferretti Yachts, Jtech (pager systems), the ATP World Tour, Pershing Yachts and HMY Yacht Sales. These campaigns included, but were not limited to: traditional print, radio, television, event production and management, co-branding programs and search engine marketing campaigns.

“I look forward to being part of a team that has demonstrated their understanding of the importance of Internet marketing and the opportunities for its clients,” said Mike Dickman, president, Dickman Marketing. “Maximizing online return on investment for yacht brokers and dealers is a major element of our brief.”

About YachtWorld.com & Boats.com

Together, YachtWorld.com and Boats.com are the single most powerful and effective global marketing solution for the boating industry.  With over 140,000 new and used boat listings worldwide offered by over 4,000 brokers, dealers and builders in 100 countries, YachtWorld and Boats.com are visited by over 4 million boating consumers every month who click through over 95 million page views.  YachtWorld.com is the premier online sales channel for yacht brokers around the world, providing a complete suite of online marketing services through BoatWizard, its proprietary back-end tool.  Boats.com provides marketing and Web services to new boat dealers and builders, and offers a “For Sale By Owner” classified service.  Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, YachtWorld.com and Boats.com have European headquarters in the United Kingdom with sales offices in Germany, Italy and Russia, and sales representation in Dubai, Australia and China.  Both companies are divisions of Dominion Enterprises, based in Norfolk, Virginia.

About Dominion Enterprises

Dominion Enterprises is a leading marketing services company serving the automotive, enthusiast and commercial vehicle, real estate, apartment rental, and employment industries.  The company’s businesses provide a comprehensive suite of technology-based marketing solutions including Internet advertising, lead generation, CRM, Web site design and hosting, and data management services.  The company has more than 45 market-leading Web sites reaching more than 16.7 million unique visitors, and more than 450 magazines with a weekly circulation of 4.3 million.  Headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, the company has 5,400 employees in more than 200 offices nationwide. For more information, visit DominionEnterprises.com.

“This partnership allows YachtWorld.com to continue distributing our broker’s listings to an ever growing list of well trafficked Web sites,” said Jason White, director of business development for YachtWorld.com and Boats.com. He went on to add, “Our YachtWorld.com listing brokerage houses will now have their listings appear on Sail and PMY’s Web sites, offering further value to the YachtWorld.com list of clients.”

“We’re excited about this partnership,” said Josh Adams, publisher of SAIL. “It will enrich the user experience at powerandmotoryacht.com and sailmagazine.com by giving the active sailors and power boaters on our sites instant access to YachtWorld.com’s extensive boat listings.”

About YachtWorld.com & Boats.com – Together, YachtWorld.com and Boats.com are the single most powerful and effective global marketing solution for the boating industry. With over 140,000 new and used boat listings worldwide offered by over 4,000 brokers, dealers and builders in 100 countries, YachtWorld and Boats.com are visited by over 4 million boating consumers every month who click through over 95 million page views. YachtWorld.com is the premier online sales channel for yacht brokers around the world, providing a complete suite of online marketing services through BoatWizard, its proprietary back-end tool. Boats.com provides marketing and Web services to new boat dealers and builders, and offers a “For Sale By Owner” classified service. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, YachtWorld.com and Boats.com have European headquarters in the United Kingdom with sales offices in Germany, Italy and Russia, and sales representation in Dubai, Australia and China. Both companies are business units of Dominion Enterprises, based in Norfolk, Virginia.

About Dominion Enterprises - Dominion Enterprises is a leading marketing services company serving the automotive, enthusiast and commercial vehicle, real estate, apartment rental, and employment industries. The company’s businesses provide a comprehensive suite of technology-based marketing solutions including Internet advertising, lead generation, CRM, Web site design and hosting, and data management services. The company has more than 45 market-leading Web sites reaching more than 16.7 million unique visitors, and more than 450 magazines with a weekly circulation of 4.3 million. Headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, the company has 5,400 employees in more than 200 offices nationwide. For more information, visit http://www.DominionEnterprises.com.

About Source Interlink Media Marine Group - The Source Interlink Media Marine Group, a division of SOURCE INTERLINK MEDIA, covers all things boating from power to sail. Comprised of Power & Motoryacht, the top ranked enthusiast magazine in the country, and SAIL, the world’s leading sailing magazine, the two publications provide full and complete coverage of the marine industry.

SOURCE INTERLINK MEDIA is a division of Source Interlink Companies, Inc., (NASDAQ: SORC), a media and marketing services company. Source Interlink (www.sourceinterlink.com ) is one of the largest publishers of magazines and online content for enthusiast audiences and a leading distributor of home entertainment products, including DVDs, music CDs, magazines, games, books and related items.

“Few editors anywhere involved in boating media have the breadth of experience and vision of John Burnham,” says Ian Atkins, VP and general manager of YachtWorld.com and Boats.com.  “People interested in boats haven’t lost their passion just because of tough economic times, and John’s appointment is the key to our strategy to feed their appetites for all things boating.  Boats.com provides an unmatched database of new and pre-owned boats for sale supported by more than 1,500 boat reviews together with regular updates on a wide range of boating topics.”

Burnham, former editor of the award-winning Cruising World magazine, will represent the websites at the Miami International Boat Show, providing event coverage through the new Boats.com blog. He’ll also be working with outstanding writers including Matt Trulio, Brett Becker, Charles Plueddeman, and Kim Kavin. While Boats.com editorial will cover a wide variety of boating topics, YachtWorld.com will initially promote education and discussion in a special brokers-only editorial area with proprietary market reports.

“As we build magnet communities suited to the nature of each site,” Burnham says, “we intend that boaters will find unique opportunities to learn about, buy, and sell boats with access to the largest databases of boats on the market.”  He adds “For all those outside of the marine industry with a passion for boats, Boats.com will provide a connection with their experience of being on the water. In addition to talking all about boats, we’ll demonstrate the fun and excitement of on-water adventures, the tradition of the marine world, the latest technology of boating gear, and the respect we learn for the water environment every time we go out.”

About YachtWorld.com & Boats.com

Together, YachtWorld.com and Boats.com are the single most powerful and effective global marketing solution for the boating industry.  With over 140,000 new and used boat listings worldwide offered by over 4,000 brokers, dealers and builders in 100 countries, YachtWorld and Boats.com are visited by over 4 million boating consumers every month who click through over 95 million page views.  YachtWorld.com is the premier online sales channel for yacht brokers around the world, providing a complete suite of online marketing services through BoatWizard, its proprietary back-end tool.  Boats.com provides marketing and Web services to new boat dealers and builders, and offers a “For Sale By Owner” classified service.  Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, YachtWorld.com and Boats.com have European headquarters in the United Kingdom with sales offices in Germany, Italy and Russia, and sales representation in Dubai, Australia and China.  Both companies are business units of Dominion Enterprises, based in Norfolk, Virginia.

About Dominion Enterprises

Dominion Enterprises is a leading marketing services company serving the automotive, enthusiast and commercial vehicle, real estate, apartment rental, and employment industries.  The company’s businesses provide a comprehensive suite of technology-based marketing solutions including Internet advertising, lead generation, CRM, Web site design and hosting, and data management services.  The company has more than 45 market-leading Web sites reaching more than 16.7 million unique visitors, and more than 450 magazines with a weekly circulation of 4.3 million.  Headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, the company has 5,400 employees in more than 200 offices nationwide. For more information, visit http://www.DominionEnterprises.com.

“This partnership will allow the BWS visitors a much greater choice of boats to buy online.  It also provides enhanced visibility for boats being advertized by YachtWorld.com and Boats.com broker/dealer clients,” said Jason White, director of business development, YachtWorld.com and Boats.com.

George Day, publisher of BWS, remarked, “We recognize that boats for sale are a high traffic driver on marine Web sites.  Partnering with YachtWorld.com and Boats.com gives our advertisers greater visibility and a true value-add to a print buy with BWS.  There was only one choice for us—YachtWorld.com and Boats.com have the lion’s share of yachts for sale that our audience is interested in, and exposing our content to their millions of visitors made sense to us.”

About YachtWorld.com & Boats.com (www.YachtWorld.com, www.Boats.com)

Together, YachtWorld.com and Boats.com are the single most powerful and effective global marketing solution for the boating industry. With over 140,000 new and used boat listings worldwide offered by over 4,000 brokers, dealers and builders in 115 countries, YachtWorld.com and Boats.com are visited by over 4 million boating consumers every month who click through over 95 million page views. YachtWorld.com is the premier online sales channel for yacht brokers around the world, providing a complete suite of online marketing services through BoatWizard™, its proprietary back-end tool. Boats.com provides marketing and Web services to new boat dealers and builders, and offers a “For Sale By Owner” classified service. Headquartered in Seattle, Wash., YachtWorld.com and Boats.com have European headquarters in the United Kingdom, with sales offices in Germany, Italy and Russia, and sales representation in Dubai, Australia and China. Both companies are divisions of Dominion Enterprises, based in Norfolk, Va.

About Dominion Enterprises (www.DominionEnterprises.com) 

Dominion Enterprises is a leading marketing services company serving the automotive, enthusiast and commercial vehicle, real estate, apartment rental, and employment industries. The company’s businesses provide a comprehensive suite of technology-based marketing solutions including Internet advertising, lead generation, CRM, Web site design and hosting, and data management services. The company has more than 45 market-leading Web sites reaching more than 16.7 million unique visitors, and more than 450 magazines with a weekly circulation of 4.3 million. Headquartered in Norfolk, Va., the company has 5,400 employees in more than 200 offices nationwide. For more information, visit http://www.DominionEnterprises.com.

About Blue Water Sailing magazine

Blue Water Sailing is the leading world cruising and offshore sailing magazine in North America and around with the world with 52,000 circulation per month. Blue Water Sailing was founded in 1996 by circumnavigators George and Rosa Day to serve the audience of sailors who are the buyers and owners of offshore quality sailboats in the 38-foot and up category. Blue Water Sailing also publishes the free weekly e-newsletter Cruising Compass (Circ. 26,000 opt ins), Premier Cruising Boats (annual, 50,000) and the new supplement to BWS called MQ-Multihull Quarterly (52,000).

The YACHTWORLD BROKERS VILLAGE will create a vibrant area for boat show visitors to view high quality, professionally presented information about hundreds of boats for sale from accredited yacht brokers and boat dealers.  The display allows brokers and dealers to promote brokerage listings, part exchanges and stock boats.  The YACHTWORLD BROKERS VILLAGE will be fully staffed by YachtWorld personnel who will forward all enquiries to the listing broker or dealer in real time.

“Twenty major brokerage houses have recognized the unique opportunity the YACHTWORLD BROKERS VILLAGE provides and have signed up” says Robert Corden, Commercial Director of YachtWorld.  “They include : Bates Wharf, Berthon, Bluewater Algarve, Maiden Marine, Marina Estrella Mallorca, Northrop and Johnson, Power to Sail, Princess Motoryachts,  and Sunsail Brokerage.

The YACHTWORLD BROKERS VILLAGE is also now sold out for the Düsseldorf Boat Show from 17 – 25 January 2009.

The BROKERS VILLAGE will cover 144 square metres and is strategically positioned in the centre of the North Hall, stand N20.  Each broker or dealer will be able to promote around 20 of their boat listings on a branded display and use the stand facilities to meet and transact business with customers and prospective customers.  As an additional benefit all participating brokers will have an entry in the Show guide and on the London International Boat Show website.

About YachtWorld & Boats.com

Together, YachtWorld and Boats.com are the single most powerful and effective global marketing solution for the boating industry. With over 140,000 new and used boat listings worldwide offered by over 4,000 brokers, dealers and builders in 100 countries, YachtWorld and Boats.com are visited by over 4 million boating consumers every month who click through over 95 million page views. YachtWorld is the premier online sales channel for yacht brokers around the world with total boat listings in excess of 35 billion Euros. Boats.com provides marketing and Web services to new boat dealers and builders, and offers a “For Sale By Owner” classified service.

YachtWorld and Boats.com have European headquarters in the United Kingdom, with sales and customer service representation in France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Estonia and Turkey.  Both companies are business units of Dominion Enterprises, based in Norfolk, Virginia, USA.

About Dominion Enterprises

Dominion Enterprises, headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, USA, is a leading media and information services company serving employment, real estate, automotive, recreation and industrial markets. The company operates a variety of technology businesses that offer Internet marketing, Website design and hosting, lead generation, CRM, and data capture and distribution services including Advanced Access, PowerSports Network and Dealer Specialties. The company has more than 500 paid and free magazine titles such as The Employment Guide, For Rent, Harmon Homes, Cycle Trader and RV Trader with a combined weekly circulation of over 5 million, and more than 40 market-leading Websites such as EmploymentGuide.com, ForRent.com, Homes.com, and TraderOnline.com, reaching more than 8 million unique monthly visitors. The company has nearly 6,800 employees and 2007 annual revenue in excess of U$1 billion. For more information, visit http://www.DominionEnterprises.com.

About London International Boat Show

The 2009 London International Boat Show is taking place at ExCeL, London from Friday 9 – Sunday 18 January 2009.  For more information log onto www.londonboatshow.com.

About the BRBA

The Boat Retailers and Brokers Association (BRBA) is a group association within the British Marine Federation and represents all companies and individuals involved in the sale of new and second-hand craft. It encourages the training and development of individuals working in this field and aims to identify, debate and resolve the specific issues affecting the boat retail and brokerage sector.