It’s been a while since i blogged about any development work but that doesn’t mean i haven’t been developing anything. I’ve wanted to blog about development work on theleavingcert.com but couldn’t because it would ruin the ‘surprise’ and give competition a heads up on what we’re doing…
Site upgrade, phase #1
What we’re doing is pretty huge. Huge compared to our existing leaving cert site/s. We’re merging the two but we’re also revamping everything. Logo, theme design, structure behind the scenes and loads of new features.
We’ll be introducing the first major change next week. There will, however, be many more. This entire revamp is designed, ultimately, to increase traffic… let’s get that clear. I’m not going to play the “we’re doing it for our users” card. Yes, we’re building it with users in mind and we’re making decisions based on what we feel users want, but it’s not user demands that motivate us.
Why even bother mentioning that? Because it’s important to know the direction in which we’re taking the site. It’s no longer viewed by either of us as a part time / hobby type project. We know it’s oozing with potential and that all we need to do is work hard, be creative and work hard… we’ll get the rewards in the end. Work rate is key. So this whole upgrade isn’t just a change on the site itself, it’s a change in our attitude. A change for the better if you’re a user of the site.
Outside the box
I can’t talk about a feature we haven’t launched yet but i’ll do my best 😉 If you think purely from a search engine traffic point of view, what do you think about if i say the words ‘leaving cert’?
Well you can answer that below if you want but it was more of a rhetorical question. Thinking narrow mindedly, here’s what i think would be popular leaving cert terms people would search for;
- leaving cert tips
- leaving cert notes
- grinds
- exam papers
- past papers
- exam paper answers
- leaving cert timetable
And i’d be absolutely right. That’s what people do search for. Up until now we’ve done well at getting traffic in for terms like those. But what we’re starting to do now is to think outside the box more. So far outside the box we’re falling off the table the box is sitting on 🙂
You’ll see that with some of our new features. Some of you will pass no remarks on the features, others will see just how creative we’ve been. I’ll come back an explain exactly what i’m talking it once those features go live.
These are exciting times if you’re a fan of leaving cert websites in Ireland. I know there are millions of you out there 😉 We’re stepping things up a gear or two and at long last trying to finally ditch the competition and ride off in to the sunset, never to be caught up with again.