Now that I know my visitors and their capabilities, it’s time to dive into what they come to my site to see and then begin to build my messaging and branding around that.
What Are You Doing Here?
Well, more often than not you’re looking at technology-based articles or screencasts. One of my most popular posts, with several hundred unique visitors is the Google Sync vs. MobileMe article and its ensuing follow-up. The screencasts, especially ones that teach web or Photoshop-related topics, regularly receive a good number of visits as well. This is a good thing, because these are definitely the paths I’d like to pursue when moving forward with this blog. There are only 4 pages on the site: About, Portfolio, Archives, and Contact. About and Portfolio get the most views, despite not being updated since the site has gone live. Archives seems like a huge gateway for people to find what they need, though I believe the ability to sort this page by certain criteria (popularity, # of comments, etc) would be a massive usability improvement.
Trimming the Fat, the Message, and more…
Taking a bird’s eye view of the site, it’s definitely geared towards technology; both physical things like electronics as well as intangibles like code and video. There’s a bias towards Apple, for sure, but not in an anti-Windows way. Occasionally I’ll post personal (life) things, reviews, and little bits of fun Photoshoppery. So, thematically, it’s all over the place. I think the first thing I’d like to do is narrow my focus down a bit to a few key points. I really like the way Tumblr handles this, where everything falls into 7 categories:
- Text
- Photo
- Quote
- Link
- Chat
- Audio
- Video
Taking that a step further is a company like Panic, whose blog uses different treatments depending on what category a post falls into. Observe: http://www.panic.com/blog/
So I think my new site will have a small number of vague primary categories (as opposed to my current, very specific 30+) and then pertinent subcategories for people who want more granular control over their browsing experience. Another option would be to keep the vague primary categories and then fill in the gaps with tags or Wordpress 3.0’s new taxonomy system. All of this will be covered in a later step, for sure.
The homepage will no longer be simply just the blog; a years worth of data has proven that’s the best way to increase the bounce rate well above average. I intend to create a page that briefly tells people who I am, perhaps showcases some recent work, and then gives a few samples of things from other areas of the site.
In a nutshell, here is how I would describe myself:
I’m a web designer by trade, passionate about cutting edge technologies and semantic markup. I love utilizing video not only in the form of screencasts to teach but also in personal or corporate projects as a means of communication or just having fun. I work with all types of clients, big and small, and love discovering great new things to share with the community.
I have to make sure I build my brand around that core message, which shouldn’t be too hard since I practice what I’m preaching.
What Am I Found For?
Most of the terms I’m found for correlate to what I discussed in the first paragraph: apple vs google, mobileme vs google sync, etc. I also get a lot of traffic from “How To…” searches in regards to web development on Mac. A surprising number of people also Google my full name to get to the site. Not sure if they’re looking for one of the other Andrew Gormleys out there in the world, but it’s hard to imagine as the people who find me via that search term tend to stay on the site for an average of 5-6 minutes. In this regard, I think I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing, but start to trim the fat and work on more concise post titles for easier findability.
Summing It Up
I now have a really good understanding of my audience and what it is I’d like to say from a messaging point of view. Fortunately these two things are very similar in nature so it’s not a matter of sacrificing one or the other, but simply making the two more cohesive.
The Next Step
In the next installment, I’ll actually start diving in concept art and mapping out ideas for the new site. This is where I think things will start to get really interesting, so stay tuned as I continue on my journey to a great new site.
Post a Comment