We're shredding the old assumptions of the Frommer's and Fodor's, and building a fresh, new, living online guide that constantly changes to meet your needs.
Lots of outsiders try to tell you about visiting Sausalito. Lots of outsiders try to sell stuff to people who live here. But there is only one Insider's Guide to Sausalito.
1. Traditional guidebooks treat Sausalito as an afterthought to San Francisco. We're the only major all-Sausalito guide, online or in print.
2. Traditional guidebooks only serve visitors. We serve both visitors and residents, with in-depth content for each community.
3. Traditional websites bury 50 Sausalito listings amid 1,500 San Francisco pages. We have triple the Sausalito content of any other site. And nothing else.
4. Traditional websites have no human editor who knows that Tiburon isn't 2.3 miles from Sausalito, and that "checking in" at the Alta Mira now has a whole new meaning.
5. Traditional guidebooks say things like Lonely Planet's "A coffee, a quick shopping stroll and a walk along the bayfront are enough to satisfy most day visitors." (1) We know they're wrong, and we're mad as Hell about it.
6. Traditional websites cover Sausalito from New York, LA or Seattle. We cover Sausalito in person, from Ft. Baker and Hurricane Gulch to Gate 6 1/2 and Pohono.
7. Traditional websites scatter Sausalito information. We collect data from hundreds of websites to concentrate Sausalito information in one convenient place.
8. Traditional websites want to keep your page views, not connect you to resources. We have three times more outbound links for Sausalito than any other site.
The only traditional things about OurSausalito.com are good writing, opinionated editors, and wide-open listening for your feedback.
Mission Statement
Our
mission is to gather all the Sausalito information that a visitor or resident might ever need, and make it readily available in a well-organized, continually-updated and easy-to-use format.Who We Are and Where We Came From
Our Editors love Sausalito. Some are residents, some lived in Sausalito when they were kids, others have lived here or nearby for years. One editor moved to Sausalito two years ago and challenges our home-town assumptions.
Our families helped build Sausalito over a century ago; rode the ferries before the coming of the Golden Gate Bridge; worked in the Marinship shipyards during World War II; and were here for the Summer of Love in 1967.
OurSausalito.com is the product of those Sausalito roots and our pride in this community.
How We Earn Money
OurSausalito.com is an ad-supported site focused solely on Sausalito. We're just entering the phase of our roll-out where we're selling ads. To inquire about advertising click here.
We also offer cost-effective consulting services to local businesses, with deep expertise in social media, online marketing and community building.
In addition to our editorial team, we also have the tech wizards behind the Online Experience IndexTM . This technology and process are also available for licensing to other regional sites.
OurSausalito's Sister Sites
One section of OurSausalito.com became so large that we redesigned it as a specialized "sister site." This is OurGoldenGate.com, with information on visiting or commuting on the Golden Gate Bridge.
In early 2010 we added pages for Muir Woods and Alcatraz, which tour operators frequently "bundle" with Sausalito on vacation packages. These pages also drew an audience, so we spun them off as OurAlcatraz.com (for visitors to Alcatraz), and OurMuirWoods.com (for visitors to Muir Woods).
Separation of Church and State
We do not have any financial interests in any Sausalito restaurants, hotels, stores or attractions, nor do our families.
Ads and banners (like that of charter sponsor Poggio Trattoria) will be clearly displayed as advertising. If any business listed has been a consulting client, we will disclose the relationship.
Content Guidelines
We encourage open discussion in our comments sections, and in articles submitted by Contributing Editors. If you disagree with our opinion and post your ideas in a constructive way it makes our site better, because readers now have two perspectives from which to choose.
We will, however, immediately delete or edit obscene or offensive language, personal attacks or disparaging statements about individuals or groups, weblinks in comments (alias "link spam"), copyrighted material belonging to others, and anything that we feel holds the potential to offend our readers and violate their sense of appropriate content.
Contact
We look forward to hearing your comments and suggestions! Email us at:
Note: We launched in November, 2008 as ComeToSausalito.com, and changed our name to OurSausalito.com in February 2009 to better reflect our content for local residents.
Copyright (c) 2008-2010, OurSausalito.com. All Rights Reserved.
Keep up the good work, and BTW, why not be an affiliate site with Amazon and others?
All the Best, Martha
Green Pacific - PR for the Planet
Posted by: Martha DiSario, 196 Spencer Avenue, Sausalito, CA 94965 | 07/25/2009 at 11:10 PM
Martha, we have considered doing Amazon affiliate links and may elect to do so down the road, in which case we would list it here. I've seen a handful of other places where prestigious online sites were affiliates who received commissions on books etc. they recommended, and it worked.
What concerns us is that some sites become so anxious for affiliate revenue that they "sell out" and recommend whatever will make them a buck. That betrays the trust of readers, and that trust is the most valuable commodity a site like OurSausalito.com can have.
So that's why we're very conservative on these issues, and all our business relationships will be listed openly so our readers always know what's going on.
Thanks, Martha, for your comment -- it is an interesting and complex issue.
Posted by: Editors | 07/26/2009 at 12:33 PM