7 Important Updates We Made With My New Blog Design
24 Comments
I’ve wanted to re-design this blog for a very long time, and now its finally live! My friend David did a great job with the design, and I wanted to point out the marketing strategy that went into the layout.
“One Big Thing” on the homepage
Traditional blog layouts – with the newest post on top – can lack focus. There is no “One Big Thing” for a first-time visitor to click. With the new layout, I prominently feature one important post at the top of the homepage.
Quickly display new & best content
I wanted to adopt a magazine-style homepage for two reasons: 1) to quickly show what has been recently published, 2) to display some of the site’s most important content (we’re calling this “HMS 101″).
Encourage email signup
I’ve been talking a lot about email the past few weeks, so by now you should see why I want everyone reading this blog to receive my weekly email summary. Because of this, I’m making the email signup box a prominent part of the sidebar. I have exclusive VIP content planned for email subscribers, and want as many people as possible to get in on this.
Encouraging participation
I really want to open up the content here to other voices and viewpoints. While I’ve tried to encourage this in the past, I’m making the options for participating very clear in the sidebar design.
Integrating video
Video will play an increasingly important role in the future, and it’s something I want to do a lot more of in coming posts. Our new YouTube channel will be a mix of me talking into the camera, live interviews, and how-to screen captures. Again, I wanted the design to reflect this new priority.
Improved comment area
Blog communities revolve around the comments section. Typically only a small percentage of readers post a comment, so I wanted to improve the comment area to encourage more discussion. The big things we added are threaded comments (so you can reply to others), and comment subscription (so you can be notified when someone replies to you).
Focus on new “Insider’s Circle” program
This is something I’m very excited about: a toolbox for hotel marketers. It contains everything my colleagues and I use for the day-to-day management of hotel marketing campaigns out in the “real world.” So it’s more than theory and strategy – it’s very practical use-it-now stuff. The “Insiders’ Circle” is opening to the public on Tuesday, and I’ll post an explanation then…
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I would love your feedback on this new design: What do you think? Do you see any little improvements I can make on it?
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Even if I don’t particularly like grey, this is a good design and everything seems to be in the right place. Maybe you should give some space to your special e-books on the home-page..
I have had some problems dowloading the articles and down here you have definitely to get rid of all this “lorem ipsum” staff!
Good job!
I’m glad you think everything is in the right place! Thanks for the suggestion on the ebooks – the “Insider’s Circle” will replace most of those.
I want to avoid any page loading errors, though – what message did you see?
Hi Josiah,
about loading errors, actually yesterday I simply couldn’t download some, but today the website looks a lot faster! Have a nice day!
Josiah,
I really like the new layout of your blog. I’m surprised you did not give it a more “hotel” feel.
However, I do like the “One big thing” on the home page of your website. I think sometimes magazine themes can be overwhelming to visitors with all the info splattered on the front page.
Is your friend “Dave” for hire? I have been looking for someone who has experience creating custom designs with the Thesis theme.
I’m not sure what a traditional “hotel” feel looks like, but if I did, I would probably design the opposite. It’s all about innovation, Bill
Thanks for stopping by!
Congrats on the new look Josiah, it’s refreshing and unique…just love it, will steal a few ideas (lol).
Thanks, Muzi….feel free to steal any ideas here!
Excellent! This is a really nice layout, congratulations and all the best to you.
Thank you for your support!
Josiah: Congrats! Nice design!
Thank you, Manuel
Hi Josiah
Even though we’ve never met, I have really benefited from the ideas in your blog.
Also, more importantly, I feel as if I am not alone and that there is someone out there who is also exploring the challenges of marketing that the web 2.0 is throwing at us. So for that, I am truly grateful.
I could have replied with a nice, congratulatory email about how I love your new blog look blah blah blah.
But to show you my gratitude, I am going to spend the next hour actually analyzing your new blog look and what I like and dislike:
1. The black ribbed menu background at the top. It looks like a leather backed file – very classy !
2. Your tagline – How to use the Internet to increase direct bookings – At a glance, a first time visitor knows what your blog.
3. Call me old fashioned but I still think the name of the website/blog (i.e. Hotel Marketing Strategies) must still be above the menu (preferably top left). Also, in your case I think its a bit too small and gets kinda lost.
4. Love the idea of a featured post although Id prefer having 2 to choose from (just like in my blog http://mitaroygoahotel.wordpress.com).
5. Again love the idea of having summaries of the posts (like on my blog http://mitaroygoahotel.wordpress.com). However, I think you need to have a few more lines in your summary for anyone to get a clear idea of what the blog post is all about.
6. For me, search always has to have prominent place on a blog/website preferably right at the top right hand corner. Thanks to google, we are so used to searching first that I feel kind of lost without a search bar at the top. Category cloud and post cloud after the search is a great idea. Just put the whole thing at the top right hand side.
7. Again love the feel of the footer.
8. What I dont like is that your photo and details and intro is right at the bottom. In today’s day and age, personal branding is what it’s all about. So ideally, I would like to have a profile (nice large photo of you with introduction) at the top right hand side after the search button. And not a mug shot but maybe you sitting at a bloggers conference or something more natural. Also, why not call your blog Josiah’s Hotel Marketing Ideas/ Strategies ? Remember, Personal Branding buddy !!!
At the end of the day, you need to sell yourself through the blog and you can only do that by positioning yourself at the top of your blog.
9. I like the idea of you encouraging participation through Twitter, Youtube, writing a blog post etc etc. I might just take you up on your offer !!!
10. A clear call to action. While its great that you provide so much free information, Im sure that is not you final aim. Your final aim is to make money, just like the rest of us. So try and see how you can incorporate clear calls to action to people who have read and benefited from your blog. These are the people you need to ask to spend some money on your products/ services.
These are a few things I would do if it were my blog. I hope I haven’t offended you but as I promised, this is my honest opinion on your blog.
Once again, thanks so much for all your help these past few months. I certainly look forward to meeting you somewhere sometime soon…
All the best for your blog!
Cheers
Mihir
P.S. Id really appreciate it if you could take some time off and do the same for my blog http://mitaroygoahotel.wordpress.com
Mihir, I am deeply grateful for the time you took to go through and provide some very meaningful feedback. Let me think this over, and see what I can implement.
I’ll take another look at your blog later today….
Cheers
Glad to be of help buddy !
Cheers
Mihir
P.S. In your last theme, all my details (Name, Email, Website etc) were stored on your blog so that I didn’t have to key them in each time I commented. That made it much easier for me and encouraged me to comment.
Not so anymore. Why ?
This is a great improvement Josiah, not that it wasn’t good before. It is important to show that we all evolve, and need to be ready for changes.
A very good template, it suits the idea, your concept.
Keep the good work. The knowledge that you share is always constructive.
Regards,
Marc
Josiah, as I am already a member of your newsletter from over 6 months now, do i need to join again for a new database?
Marc, if you are already subscribed to the weekly update, you do not need to sign up again. It’s the same email system
Congrats on the launch, Josiah! It was a lot of fun working with you on this project and I hope we get the chance to work together again in the future.
Best of luck,
David
Thanks – you did a great job, David!
Hey Josiah!
Great job with the updated. I could see all the improvements and the direction you took with the redesign before I read this post, so spot on!
Just one small tip, it would be great to see your avatar show up on the comments instead of the default blue and white avatar you got now, and in order to do that, all you need to do is register with a wordpress.com account, and then upload an image. The rest will be taken care of for you.
Wish the best of luck with everything,
-Franklin
Thanks for the comments and tip, Franklin!
You’re doing a great job yourself…I was just on your blog, and like how you’re using video. I think video interviews are a great way to share ideas.
Dear Josiah, the new look is wonderful
It catched the eye on most important things
Allows to personalize the content
Allows engaging in discussions and get feedback…
Astonished!
Please GO ON like that
I’m glad you feel that way, Mila – thanks for the kind feedback.
Just put the whole thing at the top right hand side.