Ozello Shrimper is the name of a recreational shrimping device invented by my close friend Don Kelly about thirty years ago.  It is a handheld shrimp trap used in low tidal impact zones that enables an individual to catch up to five gallons of shrimp in a single night by walking through grass flats at night without needing to bend over to pick them up.

I grew up using this shrimping equipment and in about 2007, I partnered with Don Kelly to setup thehttp://www.ozelloshrimper.com website so that we could sell the equipment online and handle the volume of orders we were receiving.

The site is setup on a Joomla backend running an off the shelf template.  It incorporate a phpbb3 forum that is integrated into Joomla framelessly using the jFusion component to Joomla.  All electronic commerce is handled by the ZenCart shopping cart solution though, I am anticipating replacing it with the Joomla integrated RedShop component in the near future to give users a more streamlined interface.  It is integrated with the iPhone and Android OS platforms using the TapaTalk forum application and incorporates Google Maps with customized KML for users seeking not just the right methods and equipment needed to go shrimping but the right places to go as well.

At present, the site has nearly 600 members and is routinely ranked as the #1 Recreational Shrimping website globally among all known competitors by sites such as Quantcast, Compete and others.

This project encompasses both a web development challenge and a personal business motive.  It is my objective to patent the Ozello Shrimper, convert it into a easily manufactured item using plastic injection molding and then market it to a larger clientèle than is currently possible.  Until then, I intend to continue developing the site with new improvements to keep up with the internet age and the demands of our users.

Due to the base of clients who purchase the equipment each year, the site operates ad-free and all information is given away freely to the public.

With exceptions for messages from the original inventor – Don Kelly, I am the primary content provider for the site as well.

Edit this entry.

I initially started doing this about four years ago when my personal website – www.ozelloshrimper.com became too large and expensive to operate.  I realized at the time that for the price I was paying in bandwidth and storage costs, I could easily purchase a full reseller discounted package and put as many websites as I liked on the same server.  So, here I am.

One of the interests I have is setting up an online WHMCS installation to automate my web hosting enterprise.  WHMCS is a server side software application that automate the setup, billing and shutdown of client accounts on the internet.  So, if someone was interested in purchasing web hosting services from me, they would simply fill out the online forms, pay by credit card and off they go – much like any other web host.

It has been a bit difficult to get the software setup and I have generally put it off because I don’t necessarily have clients breaking down the door to get at the services I offer but, I have formed a concept and have registered all the necessary domain names for the domain www.handtossedhosting.com.  My vision is a pizza-themed web hosting service that makes ordering web hosting “as easy as a pie.”

I have already staked out pricing tiers named after pizzas and installed the necessary software but the pricing schema for the WHMCS software is steep.  As a result, the site goes down periodically when I don’t pay the bill.  No big deal.  Time will determine if I continue the venture but it has definitely been a learning experience.

If you need web hosting in the meantime, don’t wait for me to launch the handtossedhosting.com site, I can set you up manually immediately and my prices are extremely low.  I also can price out some web development in the monthly service agreement if you like.

This video was produced using a standard handheld video camera and Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.

The video highlights one of our products.

Feel free to look around and if you have any questions, please get in touch with me.