My last theme upgrade came in June 2008. Previous to that, i had version 2 installed since November 2007. Version 1 ran from Nov 2006 to November 2007.
- This current theme has remained virtually untouched for 6 months.
- Previous to that, my 2nd theme was installed for roughly 7 months.
- My original theme was installed for 12 months.
In January 2009, i plan on launching ‘version 4’ of smemon.com. It’ll be much more slimmed down and with a ‘less is more’ approach. I’ll also be moving away from the wicketpixie theme and using another popular theme as a base to build upon. I’ll be doing this all on my own from design to some custom code 🙂
There’s a few reasons i’m making the switch;
- To improve overall speed – the current theme is a multimedia hog which tends to slow things down.
- To simplify things – the blog can appear cluttered to a first time user
- To sell myself more – i’ll be including a portfolio / list of skills and online achievements in this new version to first and foremost, help me keep track of all my projects and sites
- Change is good – even if it’s bad, change is good as i’ll learn something from it.
- More content – expect to see a lot more blogging from me in 2009 mainly due to the fact i’ll have a netbook by my side when i’m on the move.
I’ll also be doing something similar on the BeerChief blog (creating a new custom theme) and possibly theleavingcert.com also. Cash will be tight from now on but if i can keep improving smemon.com and get BeerChief up and running, i can rest easy as the cash that will motivate me will be in terms of assets gaining value.
smemon.com has received over 75k unique visits so far in 2008, already a 300% increase on 2007’s figure of just under 25k unique visits. RSS readership is also up from 50 to 120+. As it’s the only site i’m constantly ‘working’ on, it’s probably the only accurate measure of what i’m capable of when i put my mind to something. That sort of exponential growth is not fluked by any means. Had i done nothing in 2008, traffic & RSS subscribers would be down on last year – simple as that.
I’ll be working harder than ever in 2009 on this blog. All the time i spent this year sorting out BeerChief will be given back to me and to an extent, i’ll be ‘project free’ starting off 2009. It’ll give me a chance to focus on writing quality content and get more RSS subscribers.