Monday, August 13, 2012

Getting Started with sQuidd.io: new one-page guide

We just published a quick getting started guide for you convenience. Hope you find it useful. Please let us know if you have suggestions on how to make it better! Thank you

Getting Started with sQuidd.io

  1. Search for your favorite marinas, anchorages or other Destinations. Simply click on the Find Destinations button on the home page (or click here). If you can't find the ones you are looking for please add them, and help us build the greatest user-sourced repository of sailing destinations in the world. It would be a great gift to the entire sailing community for generations to come. If you own a boat, make sure that her home port is one of the destinations in the database and, if it isn't, add it. You will need to assign a home port to your boat in case you intend to charter it, or simply to let sQuidders in your follow list know where your boat is normally moored.
  2. Complete your user profile here. It's up to you what information you want to include in your profile, but we recommend that:
    1. you include your Satellite Phone number if you plan on sending Log Entries from offshore. Check our Frequently Asked Questions for additional information on geo-sms messages.
    2. you include your Mobile Phone number if you plan on renting boats from other sQuidders. This will allow you to avail yourself of or mobile-check in feature
    3. you enter a brief synopsis of your sailing and cruising experience in the resume section, particularly if if you plan on renting boats from other sQuidders
    Please note that your profile will only be viewable by users in your follow list, that is people you have either invited or whose invitation you have accepted!
  3. If you own a boat, add it to your profile. Go to your Dashboard (this little green button at the top of each page) and click Add a Boat (or click here). Enter your boat specifications and upload a few pictures. Choose the best photos you have, and show both the exterior and the interior of the vessel, if possible. If you plan on chartering your boat, good quality pictures will be your most important asset. If you don't feel the specifications describe your vessel sufficiently well, you can create a free-text HTML data-sheet (there is tab in your boat profile for that). There is no limit to how much information you include in the data sheet, and you can add links to manufacturers, reviews, blogs etc.
  4. Invite your friends to sQuidd.io and create a Follow List, so you can follow each other on a map. You can do this in a number of ways:
    • Go to the You Are Following section of your Dashboard and click on the Update Follow List button, right below the map (or click here). You will be given the option to send an email message to your friends and, if you have joined sQuidd.io through Facebook, your Facebook friends.
    • Search for sQuidd.io users you know by their first and last name, or boat name. Just click on the Find Other Cruisers button of the home page (or click here), and then type the name int the Keyword Search field. If you find anyone you would like to invite, click on the Invite Follow Request button of their profile page.
    • Alternatively, you can search for other sQuidd.io users near you, or in a place or region where you believe your friends may be sailing. Just click on the Find Other Cruisers button of the home page (or click here), and then select Search Near Me or Search by Region options. If you see anybody you know and you would like to follow, open their profile (click on the icon on the map) and invite them to your follow list.
  5. If you plan on making your boat available for charter, please spend sometime searching for available charters in your area. Review week and weekend rates and low season and high season rates for boats similar to yours. Read the Frequently Asked Questions for information about listing your boat, synchronizing your calendar and creating a charter agreement.

This should be enough to get you started. As you become more familiar with the service, you will discover more exciting features, such as the ability to send geo-tagged SMS messages from a satellite phone, send private messages to people in you Follow List and many others. Contact us at info@squidd.io with feedback and product ideas. We'd love to hear from you!