Hello and welcome to beautiful Inspire With Hope.

Review of design & content, plus feedback plea

Enjoy reading All Things Bright? Then you might be interested in my plans for it this coming new year, especially as you have the power to change things here, just by leaving me feedback.

On 11 December, I asked for your help with considering changes for All Things Bright, what kind of design & content you'd like here and what you think of teasers (i.e. excerpts of entries).

I made the mistake of not publicising the entry, so I've not had many responses. I'm now rectifying that mistake by letting more people know about this entry and asking for feedback.

So, please let me know what you think of the proposed changes in the comments. I invite you to add your own suggestions too, because I listen.

Ian replied to the previous request for feedback and I've implemented the changes he suggested. Since then I've had some emails with further feedback, specifically regarding the images to text ratio here (i.e. why so few images?), so I'll be focusing on that for the next month.

Action list

Executing & following up on ideas from 2006

Advertising: On 13th August, I stated that I'd remove AdSense if it didn't pick up by the end of the year. So that's what I'm doing. When All Things Bright is more established, I may put it back, but currently it's not worth it. I'll review in three months, at the end of March.

Much more important to get the word out about All Things Bright than it is to try monetizing it with something like AdSense. (I have some better ideas for monetizing, mainly affiliate recommendations, but you'll see as next year unfolds).

Marketing: I'll be focusing more on marketing next year, for All Things Bright and other projects. In addition, I'll be generally extending and deepening my knowledge of marketing.

Goals for 2007

Specific goals for All Things Bright, to fulfil my dreams of greatness & growth (via increased popularity), with details of how you can help if you are willing and able to do so.

Me: Extending the Community

  • Become part of a suitable, reputable blogging network, which is of personal value and interest to me.
    How? Join Mind Petals: Young Entrepreneur Network
    If you know of others, please do send suggestions to me(at)inspirewithhope.com. Thanks.
  • Reply to my comments much more promptly.
    I'll be working out a schedule to allow a specific time slot for replying to all the wonderful comments my lovely readers take time to leave me.
  • Read other blogs and leave comments on them; because "good bloggers are a part of the community of blogs".
    See Marketing Profs: Daily Fix (and also The Viral Garden) for more discussion.

You: Come, join me!

Readers, here's how to support All Things Bright, should you so desire

  • One, tell me what you love, dis/like, loathe about All Things Bright. Send me comments & emails, feedback very welcome. In turn, I always listen and I'm going to be even more responsive.
  • Two, tell others about All Things Bright, so they can enjoy it too. Thanks. :)

So, what do you think?

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Posted on 31 December '06 by Kathleen Bright, under About, General.

9 Comments to “Review of design & content, plus feedback plea”

#1 Posted by IanW (01.01.07 at 00:02 )

I'm very excited about the marketing changes you talk about; I'd love to see this blog become even more popular.

I love the idea of using (more) images, especially on the front page.

You mention joining a blogging network, have you considered joining a less-virtual group? Although I haven't been to any sessions yet, I'm planning on attending the European Young Professionals meeting in January; http://www.eyplondon.org

Finally, one more thought I had about the current design; I love the sidebar you have, full of useful and interesting 'sections', but I always forget what sections there are, and have to scroll through the content of all of them to remind myself. Is it possible either to have those sections 'collapsible' or to have an index to the sections somewhere? I appreciate that this would entail making the pages longer, so I'm a little wary of suggesting it, but overall I think it would be more beneficial than harmful.

Thanks for replying to the comments too, by the way; that definitely helps to make me feel useful!

Ian

#2 Posted by andrea / ibiji (01.01.07 at 12:19 )

hey Kathleen!

it's difficult 4 me to reply to your call for suggestions because I have 2 approaches:

1 is about self-expression. I really believe any individual should express self as she/he likes! I feel very very strongly about it. You gotta do your website any way YOU like!

2 the flip side is marketing, which you're obviously very interested in. MAYBE marketing involves pleasing the crowds / chainging your site to attract others? or maybe you want to attract others EFFICIENTLY, but attract them to the way you want to do things PERSONALLY / your style.

I lean more to #1, but … as i always say, it's up 2 you!

anb BTW, i LIKE your site already!

smiles

andrea / ibiji

#3 Posted by Dr. Mohamed Taher (01.01.07 at 22:23 )

Hi Kathleen
Thanks for the encouragement and support for my blogging spree.
You rightly say, it is a hard resolution to respond to every one.
But, see it is so simple to click and click. I am already here, before your wink.
And, I agree with you, I have undertaken a mssion that is "project imppossible" but goals: "project possible"
Pray for my success with God Speed.
Best, MT

#4 Posted by Kathleen (03.01.07 at 00:31 )

Ian, glad to hear you're excited about the changes; I am too! :)

Yes, I definitely need more images, can't believe I didn't think of it myself!

'Real-life' groups would be good too, be great to meet people in other mediums too, yes. One thing I like about 'virtual' blogging networks though is increasing my reach. I wonder what opportunities there might be in face-to-face encounters.

Interesting idea about the sidebar. I have been looking at a tabbed solution, which might help. Will look in to collapsible navigation too. Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.

Thank you for being so helpful!

Kx

#5 Posted by Kathleen (03.01.07 at 00:40 )

Hey Andrea, thanks for commenting!

It seems to me that blogging always involves a dynamic (sometimes a conflict) between the writer and the readers, so there'll always be an interplay between self-expression and marketing.

So, yes, I agree, All Things Bright has to reflect me and it has to fit with how I want it (and it always will). :)

On the other hand, I always welcome suggestions and it's brilliant to get feedback on what I'm doing: Helps me to get clearer on what I want, I suppose, and how I want to implement things.

For example, I want to site to clear and easy to navigate; it's much easier for others to tell me when I'm achieving that.

So, the two sides work well together here, I feel. (I hope!)

"attract them to the way you want to do things PERSONALLY / your style."

Yes, that's exactly right, All Things Bright is about me. It's about entrepreneurship, my experiences, but it's about me too. So if it weren't imbued with my style, something would be very wrong.

…and I'm very pleased you like my site already, that makes me SMILE! Thank you for contributing.

Kx

#6 Posted by Kathleen (03.01.07 at 00:43 )

Dr. Mohamed Taher,

Not a problem for the support: More commenting is a very worthwhile enterprise in the blogging world!

Yes, you are right, it is simple; I think it's easy to forget that. (Certainly it's easy for me to forget).

I'm much inspired by your mission and send you best wishes & intentions for achieving your goals.

Kx

#7 Posted by Robert (03.01.07 at 11:21 )

I always prefer to read a site with a strong personality and style behind it. I may even miss some good advice from other sites just because the content is too dry for my tastes. I love the blog that Trizle.com do for this reason (incidentally, thanks for the recommendation for this one).

May I suggest I new graphic header with a decent, friendly (and welcoming) photo of you on it? I think it's always good to know who's talking to us, especially when the web can often feel very impersonal.

I do agree with some other people in earlier posts – images are always good to break up a page and provide visual interest – iStockPhoto.com is reasonably priced, and StockXchng is utterly free. I recommend the former to any budding photographers out there, as you can submit your own photographs, and earn site download credit from them.

Above all, may I wish you a very happy and productive 2007, and wish you every success in your ventures :-)

#8 Posted by Kathleen (05.01.07 at 01:30 )

Thank you, Robert,

Particularly for letting me know about iStockPhoto and StockXchng; hadn't come across them before. I should hae thought to ask you, knowing your interest in photography!

Will start working on a header posthaste; in the meantime, have added a photo of myself to my sidebar.

Thank you for the good wishes too, much appreciated. Good luck with your ventures too, will be checking up on your progress soon. :)

Kx

#9 Posted by My New Year’s goals, dreams & aspirations : All Things Bright by Kathleen Bright (28.01.07 at 21:06 )

[...] Work on All Things Bright & Ethical Beads. For details, see my forthcoming entry on Sunday, New Year's Eve. Update: Review of design & content, 31 Jan [...]