GearTrends® appears on CBS Saturday show

The CBS Saturday Early Show tapped GearTrends® and its co-publisher Michael Hodgson as an expert to talk about outdoor gear being used by the military in the war against Iraq.

Hodgson spent four minutes on the April 5 morning show live with co-anchor Russ Mitchell discussing the technical and protective features of selected outdoor apparel, footwear, hydration packs, sunglasses and goggles.

It was a quickly scheduled show since CBS contacted GearTrends and Hodgson late on the afternoon of Thursday, April 3, seeking his participation. In preparation that resembled a Mission Impossible script, Hodgson had to pack his bags and stand ready until receiving a call early Friday morning with information about his booked flight, hotel and schedule. Eight hours-plus of travel later, GearTrends’ Hodgson landed in New York. He stood ready in the studios at 7 a.m. Saturday morning (even getting some face makeup smeared on).

Hodgson was asked to talk about products from Oakley, CamelBak and GoLite, explaining to Mitchell and the CBS viewers how the products worked and, in some cases, how they had been adapted to meet the very specific needs of a military application — Oakley goggles filtering out the harmful effects of laser technology, for example.

During the segment, CBS displayed the GearTrends website address, www.geartrends.com. In addition, CBS has published a story on its website with links to both GearTrends® and Adventure Network® — www.adventurenetwork.com is owned and operated by H.I. Endeavors Inc. and licenses content to GearTrends. Click here to read the CBS story.

GearTrends® launches consumer guides

In related news, GearTrends.com has launched significant consumer-oriented content with a Buyers’ Guide section, as well as links to and from both www.adventurenetwork.com and www.totalfitnessnetwork.com, both of which have long operated as consumer-information sites, license content to GearTrends, and together enjoy consistent traffic of 30,000 unique consumer visits each month.

The Buyers’ Guide section will be updated regularly and will have more than 50 separate guides expected to be live by summer. GearTrends member products will be linked from the Buyers’ Guides to further serve the needs of consumers and GearTrends members. Already, the Buyers’ Guides are receiving significant traffic and are appearing consistently in the top five URLs presented in Google searches.