The New Big Bass Zone, Designed to Deliver Cutting Edge Fishing Content to Any Device
Hey everyone, Bill Siemantel here. We've got some exciting BBZ news for you, and I'll let our lead technology guy get you up to date...
Hello BBZ! I'm Jason Barone, a web designer and web developer and I've known Bill for years now. Bill came to me with an idea to completely rework the BBZ to deliver a better experience to the fishing industry. Bill has thousands of hours of high quality footage, as well beautifully written articles by BBZ contributors. Contributors like Derrek Stewart, photo journalist and freelance writer, Bertrand Ngim, Ph.D., freelance writer and international columnist for SA Bass - South Africa, Mike Jones, former B.A.S.S. writer and photographer, and thousands of anglers all across the World.
It was pretty clear to both of us that the next BBZ website would have to present all of this great stuff, all in one place, while being extremely accessible no matter what device you're on. Here's what we did:
The New BBZ, Overview
Quite simply, we redesigned the entire website from the ground up. We created a simple, endless stream of content accessible from the homepage. You can scroll through everything with ease, and quickly jump to specific types of content, such as Videos, Articles, and Social Media posts.
Many fishing websites don't focus on compatibility with tablets and mobile devices. The BBZ, however, works on any device. We want you all to be able to get expert fishing advice, wherever you are. So on a tablet and/or mobile device, you'll notice the BBZ automatically redesigns itself to fit your device.
Finding Content
In terms of helping you find content, we did a few things. First, we tried to make it incredibly simple to sort and filter content. So we started with this simple category filter:
BBZ Content Filter. Available on the homepage.
However, you don't need to use the category filter if you don't want to. You can simply skim through the content stream similar to how you might do it on Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest.
Upon clicking a piece of content, you'll notice that we made some significant changes to the content itself, and we're still working on improving each existing piece of content on the BBZ. For now, we're going to surface related content. This means if you find a piece of content you like, you can easily move right into something related.
BBZ content pages
Related Content areas
It's never been easier to find awesome fishing content. We really hope you like it!
Finding Products and Recommendations
As you can imagine, Bill gets dozens of requests per day asking for product recommendations. Well, we tried to make that easier too. First off, we improved the BBZ store to surface all of the products Bill uses on a daily basis. If you need fishing equipment, make sure you stop at the BBZ store first! We'll send you directly to Tackle Warehouse, where you'll get the guaranteed lowest price. For Mercury Motors products, we'll send you to Boatmasters. It couldn't be easier. Here's how it all looks:
The BBZ Store
Oh, and we also added related content to our product pages, so we can link you right to useful content on the BBZ! Check it out:
The BBZ Store's Related Content areas
We REALLY hope you like what we did with the BBZ. Our primary focus is making the BBZ an accessible, useful, fun resource, which we feel is desperately needed in the fishing industry. As always, keep it in the BBZ!
We'd love to hear your feedback! Let us know what you think in the comments below!