Viewer Feedback Wanted: How Am I Doing?
I have had BTI up and running for quite awhile now and I have learned a lot along the way. I wanted to open up the lines of communication here and ask you for your feedback. What do you think about BTI?
Regular viewers,
what are something that you would like to see more of? What are somethings that you would like to see less of? When you visit my site, what do you come here for? What are things that interest you the most? Is there something I can do to make your visit more enjoyable?
New viewers,
Thank you for taking the time to visit! How did you find BTI? What did you come here looking for? Did you find what you wanted? What was your initial first impression of the site? What are things I could do, that would create a need for subscribing to the site’s RSS feed?
To all viewers,
I really do appreciate everyone interested in the site. I want to thank you for each and every time you visit the site. Thank you for viewing the articles and contributing your feedback and comments. BTI is nothing without you!
I want to invite you to voice your thoughts… your response doesn’t have to be long and detailed… even if you were to drop one line just to point out one thing that you like or dislike, or would like to see differently. Feedback on BTI is valued as high as gold.
Again, thank you for your continued interest in the site, and I look forward to continuing to build and expand the site.
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October 22nd, 2006 at 9:47 pm
More stability
More chat about fashions
More talk about how Firefox has hoodwinked the online idiots.
Two of the above are important - one should be implemented pronto. The last one belongs in Vogue.
October 22nd, 2006 at 10:09 pm
Vex,
Thanks for the feedback… sometimes it hard to figure out when you are joking and being serious. I am guessing that your feedback is partly a joke and partly serious. But then again, I don’t know… because you said more talk on fashions and more talk about FireFox, but you said the last (FireFox) belongs in vogue… ??? I think I am reading a little sarcasm?
Seriously, let me know if I am reading you correctly… you feel it would be a good idea to talk more about the benefits of IE and try to talk more to FireFox users about using IE again?
If that is the case, then I would really enjoy and appreciate a few posts from you talking about that. I don’t know a lot of details about security and bugs in browsers. The only thing I do, is point out the things that work well or break/crash.
Your previous articles are always very detailed and informative. Unfortunately though, I don’t like that they sit well with a lot of the other viewers here because it seems that a lot of people the view BTI are FireFox viewers.
I don’t want to offend anyone here. I really do value each and every visitor that comes to the site. Viewers that spend time here quickly learn that I use Internet Explorer… I feel I tell everyone that I enjoy IE better than FF and there has been a couple situations where people have decided to at least download IE again and give it a try.
The problem I see with FireFox is its attractive. And to people that don’t know better (which I am honestly one of those people) they fall for using something alternative… something different. People always want to use different things and that is why makes FireFox so attractive… well, at least that is my FF story…
Anyway, let me know more closely what you are saying in your comment, to make sure we are on the same page.
October 23rd, 2006 at 1:01 am
For a moment, I thought you had it. THen you went and confused yourself again.
Now, read it again. You got it? Good.
Now - make sure you got it good…
October 23rd, 2006 at 1:44 am
@ Vex:
That is so funny! I never did see the “More Stability” at the very top, so I didn’t realize there were three suggestions…
I won’t even go there with stability… at this point my actions will speak louder than my words… and only time will prove the increased stability of BTI.
Fashions? What kind of fashions? Do you mean popular gadgets, like cellphones, and iPods? Or, do you mean clothing fashion and styles? If that is the case… I am doomed because I am a Wal-mart and Goodwill clothes shopper. I dress in a way which allows me to stay comfortable in the environment. Especially now with the weather getting colder. Typically I wear worn jeans (they are clean) but have paint, oil, and dirt stains on them… I grab whatever tee shirt is clean… when the weather is cold, I wear a long sleeve sweat shirt under it. I wear dirty work boots (even when I wear shorts) and wear socks that never match. Lately, I just grab a handful of them and put two mixed pairs on my feet because its cold and the rest of the handful goes in my tool bag just in case my feet get wet. I wear ragged old sweatpants under my jeans to keep my legs warm and usually do it anyway when I do plumbing jobs just so my butt crack doesn’t show (I don’t like being stereotyped). I haven’t been to a barber in over 5 years, I sheer my head once every three to six months and just let it grow out until it gets too long to go without combing it. I forget to by razors when I go shopping, consequently, I use the same electric shaver to shave my beard, so I constantly have this patchy six o’clock shadow thing going…
So… if all this represents fashion…then man, I have tons to talk about… if not, then I am doomed!
Browser talk is getting boring… people will eventually catch on and try IE, in fact I would challenge that there are many people out there that are “Closet Internet Explorer” users… LOL!!
Seriously though… I will take these considerations to heart, and honestly, I have been working on the stability. I went with anaconda as the theme and have made some minor edits to the code. I like it, and I am not so focused on themes anymore… honestly.
@ Everyone:
I look forward to hearing more feedback from everyone. Please feel free to comment and leave your feedback, even if it’s just a line or two… your comments have a lot of value. I want to improve BTI and who else other than the viewers can tell me how to do that better.
October 23rd, 2006 at 12:16 pm
Hey Garry, Vex’s comments are good ones.
Just the other day I was doing a presentation about monetizing websites without selling products and I had every intention of using your site as a demonstration to about 100 people, but you changed the theme to something I wasn’t familiar with so I couldn’t get reacquainted up on stage..
Also, Firefox being where I am going to base this, but it applies across the board, you want to make sure you don’t alienate visitors. IE may or may not be the better browser, but give good information and allow readers to make the choice.
Other than that, just give good information and advice, as you always do. Find a couple blogs that give you good inspiration and write about what you think. Sometimes when I am combating writers block, I will tool over the Seth Godin’s blog or a handful of others and something I read generally inspires my thinking.
Blog about what you like, whether that be designing websites, making money online, technology in general, or something else. Brand yourself and establish a presence through this site. Everything else will come.
October 23rd, 2006 at 7:38 pm
Garry,
Good suggestions above. Don’t wear yourself out on the appearance of your website. I think it looks great (Although I’m not sure about the latest 10 posts at various blogs on the lower right side), but in a post-Web2.0 world, 80% of your readers aren’t going to visit your website. Its important to have a functional search engine and good content. The rest is just icing on the cake!
If you want my recommendation, spend some time extending the conversation (thats the point of blogs, isn’t it?) and start linking out to the various blogs you enjoy. Link to their post and explain why you liked the post and/or what your thoughts are on the topic. There are many great conversations to be had out there!
Keep up the good work.
October 24th, 2006 at 9:38 pm
@Jason:
Wow… I am sorry about that. One, for screwing things up a little bit for you, and two… man, you were about the spread the word about my site to 100 people! People do tell me a lot but there is one thing that everyone has shouted. Keep the site consistent. Not only in content…but also the appearance and design. Got it! I think I finally do… I will take your advise on being careful not to alienate viewers. I need and will remember that it doesn’t matter how people view this site, Firefox, IE, or RSS… its the content people are after and not the design on the site. Valid point and its well taken… thank you.
@Kyle:
You and Jason are saying the same thing, just as Vex. Keep the site the same. I appreciate your feedback totally. I do have a question about part of the yourcomment.
Can you describe more about what you mean in this statement? I want to pick your brain more about this.. Basically my thoughts on having the latest posts on these other blog sites is the be helpful by giving people references to great content. What are your thoughts about having this displayed? Honestly, I decided to do this to be different, I was originally going to put some amazon products there, but figured I would step up and be different. I want to make money off the site, don’t get me wrong… but I don’t want to sacrifice viewer experience to gain a few dollars. I have YPN code in the posts… it’s not overwhelming or overpowering. Doing it like this gave me a lot of free space on the site. So, long story short… providing the feeds is part of how I help contribute back into the blogosphere. One, I want other blog sites to be successful or continue to be successful, and two… I want to help people find content they are interested in. On that note, however… that space is for sale. I would sell ads there in a flash. The money is for BTI to use towards its growth. If I landed a $100/month ad deal, the latest 10 would likely become the latest 5. I do appreciate the comment, and I really look forward to reading your response!
October 26th, 2006 at 12:06 am
Where should I start on the huge sites where people regularly slam IE and praise FF? Or how about the ones where Windows is dissed and Mac is trumpeted? Maybe the Linux forums are the place to go for not alienating readers. Should we look at the huge turnouts at the WP site when someone talks favorably about Movable Type? How about we roam over to the arstechnica.com site to see how they came up with a half million members when no one can be civil with each other on computer issues?
If people stop coming because of my stand on Firefox, oh well. I would stand by the thought that my writings are actually attracting all of those FF visitors.
The vast majority of FF users are under the age of 20 anyway. Even the corporate users who first tried it are running from it in droves. So, I can write bad things about FF and alienate the small portion of the under 20% of Windows users who might be overly sensitive. Or I could lie and say it is good stuff and alienate the 85 % of computer users who DON’T use FF.
Plus, if I were to hold to the latter, those people would know I was a gullible sellout idiot, pandering to the FF propaganda machine.
But that won’t happen, because I am not gullible, I am not under 20, plus I pay for my computers and my network.
Stop the changes, Garry - people might say they like change, but it needs to be substantive change. Anything else just makes people uncomfortable.
October 26th, 2006 at 3:44 am
Vex,
One thing I wanted to add to BTI was a scrolling marquee of my tag cloud. I had it up for a few hours two nights ago, as I was working on the HTML code and have it ready to launch. What are your thoughts about that? I thought it looked really nice and was catchy to the eye and really helps promote the content within BTI. How do you feel about that? I really want to ad the marquee, it would be scrolling at the top of the pages, directly below the nav buttons.
October 26th, 2006 at 7:49 am
“Can you describe more about what you mean in this statement? I want to pick your brain more about this.. Basically my thoughts on having the latest posts on these other blog sites is the be helpful by giving people references to great content. What are your thoughts about having this displayed? Honestly, I decided to do this to be different, I was originally going to put some amazon products there, but figured I would step up and be different. I want to make money off the site, don’t get me wrong… but I don’t want to sacrifice viewer experience to gain a few dollars. I have YPN code in the posts… it’s not overwhelming or overpowering. Doing it like this gave me a lot of free space on the site. So, long story short… providing the feeds is part of how I help contribute back into the blogosphere. One, I want other blog sites to be successful or continue to be successful, and two… I want to help people find content they are interested in. On that note, however… that space is for sale. I would sell ads there in a flash. The money is for BTI to use towards its growth. If I landed a $100/month ad deal, the latest 10 would likely become the latest 5. I do appreciate the comment, and I really look forward to reading your response!”
Garry,
I apologize for being so vague in my original post. I like the feature itself, as its a unique twist to the standard blogroll you see on so many blogs. Part of growing your blog in the blogging community is extending the conversation to others. Your reasons seem to be correct, but your linking out to several major blogs within the community that have tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of readers each day. They certainly provide great content, but they aren’t going to notice your links to them as they get so many inbound links each day. I think you’ll find if you “spotlight” some of the smaller blogs around the blogosphere that do great work, they’ll notice, be greatful, and probably link back, or comment on your website. This leads to a conversation, which is the whole point (beyond making money obviously). Many major blogs report the news, it is the role of the smaller growing blogs to take that news and give their opinion, discuss and debate it, etc. You seem to get a lot of comments on your website, so your doing many things right. The next step is extending the conversation to others through commments on their websites and outbound links. Successful bloggers seem to have a give/take approach. You have to spend alot of time visiting other blogs to truly get the most out of blogging.
Keep up the great work!
October 26th, 2006 at 8:36 pm
Kyle,
That is a piece of very useful feedback. Very excellent and I totally agree with that. So now comes time for the hunt for smaller blogs with excellent content related to blogging, computers, Internet, software, or technology.
BTI can display the latest post from up to 9 different sites. Yes, you are right… the sites currently displayed here are very popular and well established sites. Indeed, they offer great content to BTI viewers but on the flip side not as much is being offered back to us in return from these sites that will aid in our growth. I am sold on that…
Maybe you can help me with this hunt. We are looking for smaller blogs that need the aid more than these bigger sites. These smaller blogs sites need to have excellent content and be related to blogging, computers, Internet, software, or technology. What do you have in mind?
For that matter… if anyone else wants to chime in and offer their suggestions, that would be great as well.
Again, that is an awesome piece of feedback and very appreciated. Lets see what kind of list we can come up with.
Talk to you soon,
Garry
October 26th, 2006 at 8:48 pm
Garry,
Glad to hear you found the suggestion useful. I am going to leave that up to you as to which blogs you link to. Because your a technology guru, I’m going to assume you track several other websites within a feed reader. Which are your favorites? If your not sure, head over to Technorati and do a search for “technology”, “blogging”, and whatever else you are interested in. Bookmark or subscribe to several of those sites for a few days and I’m willing to bet you’ll find some websites that do great work!
I manage roughly 200 subscription feeds, tracking both big and smaller traffic blogs, and keep a list of many of my favorites within my blogroll at: http://www.kylescove.com/blogroll.html .
I am constantly adding and deleting feeds to keep a solid pulse on the blogs I have an interest in. Sometimes it can take a little extra work, but it will spread the word about your blog and more importantly, help you make money and friends!
October 26th, 2006 at 10:30 pm
What are you planning on using to scroll the tag cloud? Java and DHTML will tend to slow down the site and limit the number of useful views of the links. You may also introduce browser errors. At the very least, you will increase the bandwidth.
Forget the gimmicks.
October 26th, 2006 at 11:15 pm
I wanted to use the basic marquee tag, such as this:
No gimmick, I just thought it would be a great way to promote internal pages within the site. Great articles tend to get lost real quick in blogs… much different than message boards, where if someone responds to a post, the message gets bumped to the top. It doesn’t matter with blogs… the more time that goes by and the more articles that get written the deeper and deeper the previous articles get pushed away from the viewers eyes. The tag word marquee I thought would be neat because people tend to catch things that move on the screen, and seeing relevant words relating to the content they are searching for, would likely encourage clicking and viewing previous articles based on the selected tag.
You really don’t like that idea? I am not using java or advanced code to produce the marquee, its just the old school marquee tag in front page…
Having said that… do you still not favor the idea? I look forward to hearing more about this.
October 29th, 2006 at 2:59 am
Well, there are a few issues with that.
1. The marquee tag is really only supported by IE. Netscape & FF don’t take too well to it.
2. The marquee tag doesn’t support a mouseover pause. One way to really piss folks off is to have them chasing a link.
3. Slower machines might have the hyperlink and the test out of sync - click on one link and you get the link next to it.
4. A test marquee for you. Is this line moving?
Me? I’ve always scanned right past the things. They only get in the way of me finding what I was looking for.
November 1st, 2006 at 12:40 pm
Hey Vex,
Sorry that I have been gone for awhile. We have had family over for a few days and I have been pretty busy. I totally understand what you are saying about the marquee and its compatibility with other browsers. And I understand what you are saying about the tag cloud. But what would you suggest in reference to helping people find older articles? The search button is very effective, but it doesn’t seem like people like to utilize that feature. I look forward to your response.
Garry
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