It's Official - TON Expansion

Bismarck, ND – The Total Outdoor Network (TON), which umbrellas several outdoor Web sites including FishingBuddy.com, today announces the launch of TON 2.0. A complete visual and operational redesign, TON 2.0 offers users a one-of-a-kind software package that integrates social networking technologies while retaining the many applications and information that have made the TON Web sites popular among sportsmen and women and outdoor enthusiasts.

“We felt a major upgrade was in store not only for those involved behind the scenes, but for the loyal members who make the site what it is today,” said Tim Sandstrom, FishingBuddy editor and general manager. “They deserve it.”

New features to FishingBuddy.com, the Dakotas’ largest outdoor Web site, and TON sites include a robust member center where users can create their own profile pages, hunting and fishing logs and add other users to their “Buddy” list. Other features include: advanced fishing and hunting reports, a complete outdoor sports section, member blogs, advanced photo uploading and member albums, member video uploading, integrated mapping systems sourcing from Google Maps and Google Earth, advanced talk forums, free classifieds, outdoor calendar, outdoor business directory, weather data, moon phases, sunset/sunrise times, a wild game recipes section. TON staff plan to add more to the system as the Web sites continue to develop.

“There are two key things that drive this new Web site: information and social networking,” said Eric Kubischta, TON programmer. “Outdoors men and women are looking for any resource they can to help them expand their hobbies and seek out people with similar interests in order to exchange information, ideas and stories in order to grow their knowledge of the outdoors.”

FishingBuddy.com was started 11 years ago to gather an outdoor online audience to share their stories and trade information on the outdoors in North Dakota. Since its inception, the outdoor Web site has grown to over 80,000 unique visitors a month who visit the site about 300,000 times a month. Such success brought the addition of sites in South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota and Alaska with plans to launch sites across the world in years to come.

“The Midwest is full of great people and many of them have a deep passion for the outdoors. FishingBuddy and the other sister sites offer those folks a place to share their passions. I feel fortunate to be a part of the TON Team and am very excited for the future growth we are striving for,” Sandstrom said.

For more information, visit www.fishingbuddy.com or www.totaloutdoornetwork.com to view other TON sites.