Thank You

First off, a huge thank you to Matt Cheuvront, the designer who made all of this happen! I am so happy to have had the chance to collaborate with Matt; he was efficient, pleasant, and super smart, but most importantly to me, he was willing to operate in a more public way engaging with all of you who left comments and feedback. Matt was flexible and strategic and helped make decisions that would ultimately put me in a position to not need him any more – just what I was after!  Thanks, Matt!  You can check him out at Proof, his new full-service branding company (here’s a list of services, too).

A major thank you to all of you is in order as well! There would be no need for a redesign, or a site at all, if it wasn’t for all of you reading, commenting, sharing, linking, and generally driving this space. I am honored to feel like a curator and instigator here, not the one with the sole responsibility of creating value. It’s very inspiring to be part of a community dedicated to sharing and discussing and am thankful for all of you joining me!

About the Redesign

What’s new? My goal with the redesign was to create a website that provided entry points to valuable content and conversations in multiple directions; instead of a normal or default blog that just presented the reader with a list of posts, I knew from your feedback that some people are after presentations while others are looking for thought-provoking posts, some want round-ups and others want a chance to start conversations. So, here are some changes that I want to highlight that I hope deliver on that goal:

• Featured Resources: This rotating box at the top of the home page showcases resources that may have previously been buried in the site. I can also add and modify this section as I write more books (that’s motivation for you!) or come across more valuable items to share. For those that want the techie side, this was done using the vSlider plugin.
• Shortened blurbs: The recent blog posts that appear on the home page have been shortened to no longer include the full post, but just an introduction. This is done to allow visitors who don’t click through to a specific post to be able to browse more easily.
• Footer menu: This is the fun stuff! These three columns let visitors dive straight into content they are most interested in, like presentations (notes, information, links and slides), roundups (compilations of interesting content and conversations), and event popular blog posts (this is decided based on blog posts with the most clicks and visits).
• Streamlined sidebar: Now that content is highlighted in multiple ways—via the top navigation, footer columns, and so on—the sidebar is freed up to serve as an entry way to other spaces for continued conversation like facebook and twitter, and even an option to jump to the latest comments on the site.
• Presentations archive: I’m really excited about this part! I’ve transferred content that was previously on static pages into posts. Clicking on 2010 Presentations, for example, now let’s you browse through individual posts for every presentation and speaking engagement from 2010 (so far). The advantage of doing it this way means that you can easily find the conference or presentation you’re interested in, and also means you can leave comments, ask questions and follow up on specific events. NOTE: I’ve only been able to archive 2010 and 20009 so far, but all presentations will be in this format very soon.

There is one last major change still to come, and that is changing the way comments are managed. I’m hoping to move over to Disqus, but Matt and I have run into some issues and are still working with the Disqus team to fix them. This switch will provide you with many more options for following conversations and will also save me a bit of time! As any one who has commented on this site before knows, I reply to every comment via email as well as on the site. Using Disqus will mean you get my reply in one step instead of two!  We are hoping to have this enabled very soon.

About the Process

As part of practicing what I preach, I wanted to recap the process Matt and I used for this redesign to offer to you as just one of the many options for engaging with a designer and a community.

Phase 1: Finding a Designer

For me, I wanted to find a designer that was already part of the community or larger network that I am. This was important to me because I needed someone that was familiar with the kinds of content, types of readers, and so on. I took a very casual approach: called out that I was looking for a designer on Twitter and Facebook. Friends and colleagues pushed my call out to their networks, some responded with personal referrals, and some responded with interest in taking on the work. I checked out the interested designers online, looked at websites they had recently worked on, and looked for someone that seemed to hold the same aesthetic values that I did: clean, honest, content-driven.  That’s how I found Matt!

Phase 2: Identifying Goals, Needs, Direction

After Matt and I emailed to get on the same page about timeline, costs, and expectations, we set up a skype call.  Why skype? This let us use video (as we were on different continents) and feel a bit like we were getting to know a real person and made the relationship more than just transactional.  We discussed my goals, content, community, and approach to the design process. I wanted to have an open process so it was important to me to find a designer that was willing to participate and not just design. I was very happy that Matt was so enthusiastic about the approach.

Phase 3: Community Input

As part of the open, collaborative approach to this redesign, I wanted to engage the readers and contributors in an active way, not just collaborate with the designer. Matt and I discussed the most valuable way to do this, identifying a few themes that would help generate conversation about what works and what doesn’t, but also be helpful in directing to he and I the kinds of changes that may be more important or even necessary.  You can check out the blog post series, as well as all the comments, from this process using the links below:

• Introduction: A collaborative approach
• Input #1: The content you want
• Input #2: Focused on conversation
• Input #3: Adding the extras
• Input #4: Recap and reflections

Phase 4: Building, Testing, Tinkering

After gathering all the input from you, Matt and I put our heads together to be sure we had a list of the most important, and then the “would love to if possible” items.  That’s when he really got to work coming up with the design. His initial draft was very close to what we ultimately have in place now and that was due to his critical listening, lots of conversations and questions, and both of us engaging in the public input phase to really understand the users’ side of the experience.  Once the test site was up, we could play, poke and tinker to get things just right.

Phase 5: Pulling it Together

Once the test site was ready to go, Matt moved everything to the live space. Some things, like Disqus, the rotating banner, and social media links weren’t put in until this stage. The content changes, like the presentations section, weren’t made until this phase either. We did much of this simultaneously, both plugging away at the WordPress admin panel while on skype together. Matt took time to walk me through changes that effected the way posts were created or how I could administer new options, and I worked on content changes.  It was a great way to spend a couple hours on a Sunday afternoon!

Invitation

And here we are – ready to launch! I hope you’ll take this as an invitation to poke around the site, explore, and comment. Please let me know what you think, what you wish was better, and even what you like! I’m really excited to have an updated space to share with you

Redesign wrap-up: What you said, Where we’re going

Last week’s posts had three topics: Content, Comments and Extras.  The comments and feedback really helped clarify thinking, confirm ideas I had, and make clear the opportunities for improvement. Here are some of the high-level key points. If I’ve missed something, I hope you’ll let me know!

• Categories and Tags: Using content categories like (presentation, case study, opinion and so on) can help people find the type of content they are after, as well as categories and tags that indicate topics, conferences and tools. We’ll be using these to a much higher degree to help surface and sort content much more effectively.
• Diverse Content: Most people noted that they come to the site for case studies and presentations as well as more opinion-style pieces. But I also took note that there’s a great opportunity to diversify content further by sharing short updates, news or reviews to jump start conversation. Look for that!
• Where’s the Action: There’s lots of opportunity to improve the real-time-ness of the site. Many folks recommended/requested ways to see what posts were most popular/read/commented on. I have a worry there about the cycle of because a post is listed as popular, it then gets more visits, which then makes it to the list of popular posts – but I trust we can work on that.  And focusing on where the action is also means highlighting posts that are getting a lot of comments so folks can find conversations that are taking place. Definitely something we’ll be sure to tackle!
• The RSS Connection: A comment from Emily got me thinking about the different experience readers have when they follow the blog via RSS opposed to visiting the site itself. There are a lot of RSS subscribers and I want to make sure that the redesign tackles not just the design of the site, but the way content can be more valuable to all readers. This means brainstorming ways to integrate changes to the content so readers anywhere find it even more valuable.
• More than Posts: Many comments touched on the fact that this site is about more than the blog posts so there’s great opportunity to bring other spaces and resources into the spotlight, whether it is the public NPTech RSS dashboard, books, or other resources – or content and conversations on Facebook and Twitter.
• Ability to Navigate: Right now, the site really operates with stock WordPress options, but from the feedback last week I know there are a lot of readers interested in being able to navigate the site/through content in a much more elegant way. For example, being able to connect to similar content types or topics from post to post, using suggestion widgets to generate the “you may also like” recommendations, and so on. I’m excited to try some of these options out!

This list gives an overview of some of the issues and ideas Matt and I will use as a point of departure for redesigning this site. I’ll keep you posted as things develop and let you know in advance before the new site appears. But, you can always leave feedback either in the comments or in email – any time.

Thanks again to everyone who provided feedback last week! I’m really excited for making this a more valuable space

Thanks to everyone that’s shared comments so far in this process – it’s been a great experience and I am so thrilled to have such thoughtful, honest, sharing folks like YOU contributing here!

Redesign topic #3: Adding the Extras

When I say extras, I mean the widgets, plugins, apps and other random bits that can really add a bit of flavor, not to mention functionality, to a website. I know that I have some that I really like and imagine you have lots of great suggestions.  So let’s hear them! I’ve broken the two areas down into some of the things I’m already using (so you can weigh in and say “keep that!” or “lose it!”) and then for everything else.  Looking forward to your ideas!

Focus: What Exists

Any of these things worth keeping? I know you’ll be honest!

• Postalicious – this fuels the “round up” posts
• MyBlogLog – this lives in the side bar
• Twitoaster – this fuels the “tweet this” button on posts and replies via twitter in the comments
• Site search
• WordPress built-ins like recent posts, comments, etc.

Focus: Everything Else

There are so many tools out there designed to plug right into a site – what have you used or seen that you recommend adding here? And why?

Please share your responses in the comments – that way others can respond/reply to your feedback as well as leave their own. Matt and I will be both be responding, asking questions, and participating as well! Please share your ideas and feedback!

Redesign topic #2: Focused on Conversations

I’m happy to take on the role of conversation starter, sharing news or case studies or ideas that are interesting and letting all of you run with it.  And that’s just what happens here most of the time: there are around 500 posts and over 3,700 comments!  Clearly there’s a lot more going on than just blog posts and I want to be sure that the redesign creates valuable ways to elevate and highlight the conversations and contributions from everyone visiting this space.

There are two focus areas below and some options for answers – please note there’s an “other” listed for both as I’m sure there are things I haven’t thought to include and hope you’ll feel open to listing them!

Focus: Content that’s conversation worthy

What helps or inspires you to dive into a conversation or share your own knowledge/experience after you read a post?

• Questions included at the end
• Seeing comments from others
• Direct/personal invitations
• Options to comment via other methods (Twitter, etc.)
• Other

Focus: Finding and following conversations

How would you like to be able to find conversations or follow them either on the blog or using other platforms tools?

• Recent comments highlighted in sidebar
• Popular conversations highlighted in sidebar
• Subscribe to comments
• Options for sharing comment/post via social media
• Other

Please share your responses in the comments – that way others can respond/reply to your feedback as well as leave their own. Matt and I will be both be responding, asking questions, and participating as well! Please share your ideas and feedback!

How this works:

This week, there will be 3 (yes, 3!) blog posts asking for your feedback, each with a specific topic and options. Hopefully that means it’s really easy to weigh in and you’ll give lots of feedback After all, this process is designed to make it easy for you to get even more of what you want from me!

Redesign topic #1: The Content You Want

For today’s topic, I want to talk about the kind of content that is interesting to you and keeps you coming back for more. Figuring that piece out means that Matt and I will be able to highlight content for you, design the site to feature what you’re after, and even help me write more of the interesting stuff! There are two focus areas below and some options for answers – please note there’s an “other” listed for both as I’m sure there are things I haven’t thought to include and hope you’ll feel open to listing them!

Focus: What is the content you come here for most?

• blog posts and conversations
• presentations or speaker slides/notes
• case studies or examples
• other resources (please describe)

Focus: What elements would make content easiest to find?

• search for tags or categories
• search for titles or conferences
• search for organization names or case study topics
• other (please describe)

Please share your responses in the comments – that way others can respond/reply to your feedback as well as leave their own. Matt and I will be both be responding, asking questions, and participating as well! Please share your ideas and feedback!

Why

This website has been a great place for me to post ideas and share lessons learned, store content from presentations, and share resources. But, it was always something I had as the last bullet on the to-do list to update the CSS, to change the theme, generally “make it better.” As much as I have enjoyed all that we have been able to do together in this space, I’m much more excited about what we could do together in a more organized, easy to use space.

Right now, this blog could really be categorized as a blog. But I’d like it to be seen for what it is: there are tons of presentation resources (slides, notes, videos, etc.), books/publications, and other resources. But what’s really important to me, is that there are A WHOLE HECK OF A LOT of conversations here: there are around 500 posts and over 6,700 comments! I want to ensure that what you all are saying gets a lot more visibility.

Who

As I’ve been meaning to revamp the site for a couple years now, I knew that getting to done on this project would take more than myself! I put out on Twitter that I was looking for someone to help me redesign the site and connected with Matt Chevy:

I’m excited to be working with Amy and it’s clear that she’s established an outstanding community here. When she initially mentioned to me that she wanted to involve all of YOU in this process, I immediately bought in. In the world of online marketing and Social Media we talk about engagement and community involvement, and we hope to really emphasize this by encouraging and requesting your thoughts, suggestions and feedback from beginning to end. I couldn’t be more excited to get started; I’m thrilled to have connected with Amy, and I look forward to interacting with all of you!

Matt’s going to be doing the heavy lifting on the back end. But I can’t do a redesign without you, the readers!

How

So, how’s this open process going to work? Well, first of all, I’d love to hear what is most useful or valuable to you, why you keep reading and commenting, what you wish there was more of (or less of!) and any other feedback you have about doing a redesign of this site.

Next week, I’m going to be asking for lots of feedback and ideas in a series of posts. Today’s post is mostly an announcement and a heads up; next week there will be three posts asking for your ideas and preferences. That information will help Matt and I ensure that the redesign delivers on just what you want, need, and already like!

I’m really excited to update and upgrade this space and so thrilled to be working with a designer willing to work with me in this collaborative approach, keeping all of you in the process! Really hope you’ll join me next week to share your ideas.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave a comment here or email me any time.

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More about Matt:

Matt Cheuvront is the founder of MATTCHEVY – a Chicago-based online marketing consultancy and web design firm. With a background in advertising, marketing, e-commerce, and PR, Matt has a passion for the online medium and works with small businesses, non-profit organizations, entrepreneurs, and bloggers in improving and establishing their overall web presence.