MAS o Menos

Here comes yet another year end post.  I’ll start off with how well I did with my web empire in 2008.

CriticalMAS: A+  criticalmas.com

Earlier this year I dumped Blogger and started using WordPress.  I moved over 2 years of posts.  Every photo gallery was linked back to the blog.  All legacy content going back to 2000 was rolled into the new format.  And I did it in a way that not a single link broke (301 redirects).

The frequency and quality of posts (I think) got better this year.  Instead of fighting with Blogger, I was able to focus on creating content.

DeepFitness:  B   deepfitness.com

Back in February, I coded some additional enhancements to the site.  The number of XHTML compliant articles went from 1000 to 2000+.  The site is 100% automated.  For a while, Google rewarded the site with visitors.  Then nothing for months.  Recently the traffic has started to return.

Digital Colony:  W  digitalcolony.com

This site still uses Blogger and I vowed never to use that tool again.  So I took a “W” or withdraw on creating new content for this site until I can move it to another publisher.  I did create a new home page and logo which I think is much better than the old one.

INeedCoffee:  I   ineedcoffee.com

The plan was to spend a few months moving old content into a WordPress database, just I like I did so successfully with CriticalMAS.  I way underestimated not only the time it would take, but my comfort level with WordPress.  I also had LOTS of computer problems this summer and fall.  The redesign is still not completed, so I score this as an “I” or Incomplete.

MichaelAllenSmith: A  michaelallensmith.com

After a domain battle with GoDaddy, I was FINALLY able to setup a simple portal page on MichaelAllenSmith.com.  The design is very basic, but it serves its purpose.

Despite the continuing problems with the next version of INeedCoffee – it was a decent year.

2009 Web Empire Goals

1. INeedCoffee redesign – This MUST MUST MUST be done by April 4th.  Hopefully sooner.  That is the 10 year anniversary date for the site.
2. INeedCoffee new version – I expect to spend months after the redesign getting the site to run smoothly.
3. MichaelAllenSmith redesign – Version 1 was a placeholder for a better design.
4. CriticalMAS – Maybe create local versions of photo galleries that call SmugMug APIs?  Low importance.
5. Digital Colony – I’m thinking sometime in the 4th Quarter, I can revisit this site and start the move away from Blogger.  It will also turn 10 years old this year.

Tags: criticalmas, deepfitness, digitalcolony, goals, ineedcoffee, michaelallensmith