Just a few months ago, i added a new theme to theleavingcert.com. I also designed a new logo and made some tweaks. I said at the time i’d continue to tweak it and work on it until i’m happy but of course i’m never happy 😉
I’ve decided now that it needs another revamp. Logo will remain virtually intact, but everything else will change.
theleavingcert.com started out as a personal site. Just me giving my own thoughts on things. Because i’m no longer a leaving cert student, i made the decision a while ago to back down and leave the talking to current students, so right now the site is more of a community driven site rather than a personal site.
That back seat role suits me – i’ve more than enough on my plate as things stand so i’d much rather an admin/development role rather than a writing role 🙂
With the current theme however, i just don’t get that ‘community’ feeling. It looks decent and i know it’s about the leaving cert but i don’t really know what it’s all about and why i should read it or where it’s going to go…. (that’s me stepping outside the box for a minute).
So what i’ll try to do now is strip back as much clutter as possible and put more emphasis on the community element of the site. It will still remain a blog – that’s essential – but there needs to be a greater emphasis on ‘who’ the site is run by (the community).
I’ve taken the site from strength to strength over the past few years and i’m determined to hold on to it and keep it heading in the right direction. If i can get this revamp right & combine it with a social media push, i’m confident it can continue to grow and dominate this niche. I’ve said that many times before but i mean it.
At this stage, i know what has to be done to promote it and to establish it as no.1 – it’s just going to take a lot of work and time and they’re the only things holding me back. I’m my view, it’s all in the design… get it right and everything else seems to slot in to place. Get it wrong and it’s back to square one – revamping every few months.
Realistically, i’ll get nothing done on this however for another couple of weeks at least. I simply don’t have the time, but now that i’ve blogged about it, i’ll be thinking about it and i’ll know that i must deliver on my promises. So it will be done, but when is the question…
I think you should really look at intergrated a forum into the site , so students can talk more easily among themselves on each topic without you having to drive all the content on the site.