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POSTED JANUARY 19, 2009 - Paul

Have ideas for TrailReports.com? I would like to turn this site into the resource to help you not only plan snowmobiling trips, but also give you what you need for your snowmobile.

Share your thoughts by emailing me at paul@trailreports.com.

Have a great day!
Paul

POSTED DECEMBER 31, 2007 - Paul

As we close out 2007, I look back and laugh at some of the things I ran up against with TrailReports.com this year. It all started out with the whole FishWeb issues, which can entertain you below. That experience as well as talking with reporters for FishWeb helped me realize there is a great place for TrailReports.com that benefits both you, the rider, and the trail reporters, usually businesses.

I have been hard at work putting plans together for a brand new TrailReports.com for the 2008-2009 season. Some exciting things are coming together.

I hope everyone had as great a 2007 as I did.

Looking forward to 2008!
Paul

POSTED DECEMBER 30, 2007 - Paul

Something new at TrailReports.com? I know, it's been a while. Sorry about that! This new thing I am writing about is the Community Trail Reports. I often receive emails from people asking for updates on trail conditions. As most people know, I do not control the reports, I simply offer the tools or the links to get you the information.

So, this new area is geared around the snowmobiling community - so if you have a question, ask everyone else. Or if you have information to share, post a trail report yourself.

Please tell your friends and family about TrailReports.com. If you have a website, please link to us. The more people who use the site, the better the results will be for everyone.

Have a safe snowmobiling season!
Paul

POSTED FEBRUARY 14, 2007 - Paul

Being a snowmobiler, this is one of the very few times I wish it didn't snow. We are leaving for Florida today and our 6a flight to Chicago was cancelled due to weather (snow in Chicago). It was rescheduled for tonight at 8p, so we're losing a full day. But we will be there until next Saturday, so not a big deal.

Hope we get lots of snow while I am gone!
Paul

POSTED FEBRUARY 8, 2007 - Paul

Before I removed the trail report for Atlanta, MI, Tom brought to my attention his last post. I didn't want to waste it by deleting it completely, so I pulled it out and posted it here. I think there is some valuable information here about what it takes to be a reporter, and some of the issues he encountered. I have edited it for relevance:

---------------------------------------

On another note, I received an email from Paul, the owner of this site (www.trailreports.com) about doing a trail report for him. I said I was interested and asked if there was a cost to us for doing the report and I also said it would be pretty easy for me to cut and paste the report to his site. After the first report, Deb received a phone call saying that if we do a snow report on the another site besides the Michigan Interactive site, we would be canceled from doing that snowmobile report. I was thinking if I did 2 reports, we might get better exposure. We get very little business from snowmobilers at our Motel. Deb and I do this as a service to the snowmobilers. We get many emails thanking us for doing this report. We also get some pretty rude emails sometimes. Some people think this snowmobile report is at their beckon call. We have had calls at 2 or 3 in the morning asking about snow conditions or telling us we need to update the report without saying please or thank you. I am a very busy man and own another business besides the Timber Lodge Motel. I dont like anyone telling me what I can and cant do with my free time when I am providing a free service. A service that has become somewhat of a hassle to be honest.

---------------------------------------

Hope all is well,
Paul

POSTED FEBRUARY 7, 2007 - Paul

I get emails from people almost every day now asking how they can help me out. I really have not had an answer if they did not have the time to update a trail report. But tonight I have figured out a way that everyone can help. This is how:

There are a lot of snowmobile related websites out there. Ask your favorites sites to add a link to TrailReports.com. Then, just send me an email with their website address, and I will return the favor.

How does this help? Well, it helps a lot. It will not only drive more traffic to this site, but it will improve its search engine ranking. Since dropping off the links to FishWeb (which hurt my ranking), the ranking for this site has shot up a great deal under phrases like "trail reports" or "michigan trail reports".

So with a little work and a little help from you, we can get this site to the top of the search engines.

Be safe and have fun!
Paul

POSTED JANUARY 30, 2007 - Paul

We FINALLY get all this snow and I can't ride. Go figure. Had lasik surgery last Friday and am hoping the doctor gives me the thumbs up to go riding this weekend.

It has been a while since I have pushed snow with the front of my car...but I did it today. It is a beautiful thing. Our daughter is already planning on NO school tomorrow, so she is staying with her friend. Oh...to go back to those days.

Be safe and have fun!
Paul

POSTED JANUARY 28, 2007 - Paul

There have been some great lessons learned over the past week. And it all boils down to the fact that some people actually think the web revolves around them, and there are others who are always willing to help out, no matter what is going on. And I have found that a LOT of people share this same point of view, and perhaps I will be the one to let them finally voice it.

As a business owner could you imagine volunteering for a website whose owner LIMITS where you can market your own company/area/service? This is still a point that blows me away.

Anyway's, thanks to everyone who has jumped up to help me out and sent the kind emails. Some I would love to share...but I will not. And the people who sent me hate mail in the beginning, nearly all have changed their mind once I was able to tell them the true side of the story. It is really amazing how everything evolves.

Overall, Dave "denying" me to add links to his site has only helped me out, a lot. My visitor base is way up, I am getting more positive feedback than ever, and more trail reporters. Not bad. :)

And for anyone reading this that may be a reporter and is interested in receiving a FREE consultation related to marketing your business or service on the web, please email me. This is a website I developed for free and support for the love of the sport. But I do work. In fact, nearly 400 companies across the world trust the work our great company provides, and I am sure I can shed some light on a few facts for you.

Have a safe snowmobiling season,
Paul

POSTED JANUARY 24, 2007 - Paul

I have consulting with my attorney and had him confirm I never used the information in any way that would be considered copyright infringement. All links opened up into a new, separate window that had NO mention of TrailReports.com. Millions of website's out there do this every day, Google specifically.

Take their image search for example. Do you think they have contacted every website in their directory to get approval to display their images? No, because it is not illegal. They are not selling the images, just like I am not selling memberships to these reports. If I were charging you, the visitor, to view a report on FishWeb, YES, it would not only be immoral, but copyright infringement. Google is providing a service: traffic. Traffic that companies pay millions of dollars for. I was simply doing the same and making it easier on reporters who were interested in offering their report to more people than on just one website.

Please know I have never collected a penny from TrailReports.com to date, yet have supported it since 2003, costing me thousands of dollars. I recently added Google Adsense on the site which could help me one day cover a monthly hosting bill (I hope). This site is here because I love the sport and want to be able to help.

Have a safe snowmobiling season,
Paul

POSTED JANUARY 23, 2007 - Paul

Everything happens for a reason. That is how I look at things, and the latest situation with TrailReports.com is no different. I removed the links to FishWeb.com after lawsuit threats from David Gabrish, that sites owner. I made a few phone calls and 2008 is going to be a good year for visitors to TrailReports.com.

In the meantime, I have to wade through the mess this has created and provide quality info to you, the visitor.

Please be patient with me. I am trying my best, and this is just a personal website.

Oh, and by the way, Randy from the email below ended up being a very nice guy. He was very polite and appreciative of my response and likes TrailReports.com!

POSTED JANUARY 22, 2007 - Paul

David of FishWeb.com has a problem with the fact that I am sending traffic to his website. He posted a note asking people to email me to stop linking to his site. I replied to David and Randy, which you can read below.

If you would like to share your feelings, please email me about it. Sounds like this may become a running post.

----------------------------------- Email To Me ------------------------------------------

From: [removed]
Sent: Sunday, January 21, 2007 10:49 AM
To: paul@trailreports.com
Cc: dmg@fishweb.com
Subject: Michigan Snowmobile Trail Reports

If you are using "fishweb.com" trail reports through your website without compensation to fisheweb, you are stealing! I rely on the reports posted on fishweb by his sponsors to determine my snowmobile plans. These reports are very important to prevent uneccessary travel when the conditions are bad and to alert me when the conditions are good.

Get your own sponsors and firsthand trail reports if this is the business you want to be in. Otherwise you are just a "computer hacker" using others and taking credit.

Randy [removed]

---------------------------------- My Response -----------------------------------------

Hi Randy,

I appreciate your feedback.

The entire concept of the web is linking. Google bases their search engine ranking on many factors, one of which is inbound linking. The fact that I am sending traffic to FishWeb.com via links is only enhancing their search engine ranking, Google PageRank, and traffic base.

Traffic is what makes any web business a success. I have clients who spend a lot of money to obtain traffic to their sites, yet I refer traffic to FishWeb.com and many other sites for nothing. Keep in mind that this is just a personal website, not a business. If anything, the traffic I’m sending to David’s site is giving him the ability to sell more advertising at higher rates.

I am very aware of the premise behind trail reports, which is why I created this site.

If you rely on FishWeb to determine your snowmobile plans, why did you visit TrailReports.com? I am guessing you completed a search or visited another site that had a link back to TrailReports.com. By clicking on the link you landed on my website and then landed back at FishWeb. How exactly is that hurting David?

TrailReports.com is making the experience for the snowmobile enthusiast a little easier to navigate. I highly recommend you continue to use FishWeb.com as they have excellent trail reports and reporters.

I have a system in place in which reporters can post directly to TrailReports.com. Many reporters were pulling “double duty” of sorts by posting to FishWeb and TrailReports.com. Basically, it could become too much considering these are volunteers. So I recommended to anyone updating on FishWeb to continue to do so and I will just link to their report. You see, David’s site is a business. TrailReports.com is not. My interest is to help David, not compete against him. If a reporter were to drop FishWeb, it could potentially hurt his business. And why would I want to do that? My intention is to provide information, not take away.

As far as me taking credit, all the reports on FishWeb open up on David’s site, not TrailReports.com.

Like I said, I appreciate your feedback. For this reason, I have posted your email and my response to the site. I am curious to get other opinions on the topic, because in 4 years I have never received a complaint besides lack of updates.

You can view it here: http://www.trailreports.com/paulsposts.cfm

Have a safe snowmobiling season,
Paul

POSTED DECEMBER 28, 2006 - Paul

From everyone (me) at TrailReports.com, we (me) would like to wish you and your family Happy Holidays!

Have a great day!

Paul

POSTED DECEMBER 18, 2006 - Paul

You may have noticed I have updated the site a little bit. Sorry about those old links that have been around for the last year. Everything is cleaned up now with a lot of new, exciting locations.

I don't know about you, but my favorite area of this site is the weather conditions. I am still impressed with this page after 3 years. You can view all the weather conditions, including areas that are under a weather advisory, all from one page. Very nice if I do say so myself.

I have some great plans for the site for the next year. Just need time to get it all together.

If you have anything you'd like to sell, just email me. The listings are free and I have been able to sell just about anything I have listed. It does generate some interest.

Please, if you have any ideas on making this site better, or new areas you'd like to see, please email me. I would like to hear from you.

Have a great day.

Paul

POSTED DECEMBER 06, 2006 - Paul

Isn't it like Michigan to snow and then get warm? Enjoyed a nice couple rides while the riding was here. It warmed up today and lost most it. It's trying again right now, but it is only a teaser as its supposed to be in the 40's next week.

Hope you have snow wherever you are.

Paul

EMAIL TO PETE FROM SLEDHEADS OF FREDERIC - This puts everything into perspective:

Hello Pete.
I don't know if you will read this or not. You probably don't have the time to read all kids of stuff from people you don't know. But i just wanted to tell you that I go to your web site often and I have shopped in your store a few times. Anyway's. My wife and look forward to our snowmobile trips to Waters. We have a place in Guthrie Lakes. I spent the whole week getting my sleds ready,and getting my trailer ready. I have 4 sleds and a 4 place in closed trailer which i bought new last year. I enjoy the whole process of going through all the sleds: cleaning carburetors, changing plugs, greasing them up. Everything to me... that is part of the trip. It is part of the excitement, just getting it all ready to go. So we come up there Friday morning and the snow is wonderful. The trails are good. We go for a ride Friday night and all is good. We ride for a while saturday on very nice trails with the snow coming down. Just wonderful. And then my daughter's sled breaks down near Lovells. We are all very disappointed because the riding was excellent and here we are broken down. We spend hours towing it out of the woods, going back to the cabin to get a trailer to bring it home. My wife has to ride on the back of my mxz which you know is not a two up. She was miserable. I had to borrow a two place trailer from a friend of mine because there was no way my wife and I could pull that sled up into my 4 place in closed trailer. On the way back to get the sled the trailer top opens up. I didn't realize it and I lost my friend's snowmobile covers and tie downs. They flew out onto the road I guess and I had no idea. So I have to replace all his stuff. Totally my fault. We pick up the sled, get it home and Sunday morning we head into Gaylord to drop off the sled in the shop. On the way to Gaylord we start losing the wheel on the trailer, the lug nuts came off. There was only one holding it on. I tried to fix it up best I could but traffic was right on top of me, and the roads were very slick. I was scared to death so I drove about 10 miles an hour trying to get to the rest stop before Gaylord and then a state trooper comes up behind me. Did I mention that I had no lights on the trailer, and I put the license plate from my trailer on this trailer so I could sneak my way into town to drop off my sled? I thought for sure i was gonna get some tickets but I didn't. The state trooper escorted my to the rest stop. I unhooked the trailer, went and got a jack to jack it up to make the tire switch, I went and bought some new lug nuts, came back to the trailer, fixed it up, went out to lunch with my wife dropped off the sled, and 4-5 hours we were back home. IT WAS TOTALLY A DISASTER. But ya know what????????? I have more stories to tell in the future. I have more stuff to laugh about in the future. And I am home and in good health. For as bad as it all was, I still a lucky man. I didn't get to ride as much as I wanted. I had to spend a lot more money than I wanted, and my kids didn't enjoy themselves like they wanted. But to me... it was a success. MY HEART GOES OUT TO ALL THE FAMILIES WHO ARE DEALING WITH DEATHS THIS WEEKEND BECAUSE OF THE SPORT WE LOVE SO MUCH. Take care and I hope I didn't bore you with my letter.
Mark