Time For A Fresh Cup – Blog Update

Well, I wish I could say this only took me one cup of coffee to complete, but the fact is, this update took several! And although this was on my list of things to do for the New Year, it has sadly taken a back seat to other client projects and life. However, after working on WordPress and Thesis blogs for several other clients (here is one of the latest), I decided it was time to spend a little time on my own. So here it is and why I made some of the changes.

The Social Latte hadn’t been through a design or upgrade in over a year and there have been a lot of things that have changed and that I have learned over the past 12 months. Unlike a traditional website, as a blogger/blog owner, I think you always have to keep your eyes and ears open for new ways to improve your site. Updates are necessary so that not only can you provide better content in new ways and formats that make it easier for your readers, but also so that you can create, produce and distribute content better as a writer and add new functionality as it makes sense for your business. Some of the most important changes taken into account in this design are the ability for Thesis to use drop down menus, integration with Posterous for content creation and distribution, and better use of categories for content organization and the new version will be mobile friendly.

In addition, after volunteering at Social Media Arizona (check out the Twitter stream from the event here #SMAZ ) and taking in Jason Baer‘s presentation on 11 Must-Dos for the Serious Blogger (presentation slides below), there were some ‘look and feel’ changes I wanted to make as well.  Some of those include:

• Humanity – I wanted to make The Social Latte a little more human and ‘me’ so you’ll see my photo top left and I am going to rotate different images in and out of that slot.  I think that some of the best blogs show a bunch of personality so I am going to include more of mine going forward.
• Community – Included with the photo is an introduction of what I do, types of clients and things I like to do in the Social Media Community.  I hope that statement feels welcoming and gives you some different connection points and a reason to stop and say hello.
• Header Navigation – By adding the four information categories to the header in terms of what I believe are some common social media questions, I hope to make information easier to find and questions easier to answer -  especially as I develop additional content. (See areas to work on – Consistency!
• Most Requested Items Section – I hope this makes it easier for visitors to find my favorite and most powerful resources for their use.  Whether it be your first time hearing about The Social Latte or you’ve heard me speak at and event, I hope this section makes it easier to find what you are looking for and that you consider subscribing to email updates.
• Connect – I have been surprised by the number of emails I have had from my ‘Contact Form’ so I have decided to keep it front and center and have also included my phone number for inquiries.  If social media is about the conversation than I hope the Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn links in the header along with the contact form provide a multitude of ways for us to connect.

Items that I’ll be working on this year include Jay’s ideas on

• Extensibility – This relates to commenting on other blogs.  His guideline is that for every 1 hour you spend on your blog, you should spend 3 reading and commenting.   Let’s just say that I am way behind in this department!
• Blog Anchor – I’m also working on the blog anchor.  The idea of an anchor has to do with creating a series of regular posts that you do with regular frequency.  For example, Jay has his Twitter 20 where he asks a thought leader 20 questions via Twitter every month.  Some people have a Top 5 Posts Week in review.  I am not sure what mine will be, but stay tuned and I’ll run some ideas by you shortly.
• And lastly, CONSISTENCY!  Enough said about that but I’m working on it!

OK, so there you have The Social Latte Blog State Of The Union.  If you have thoughts on the design changes, I would love to hear them.  Or if you would like to share any of your personal blogging goals for 2010, that would be great too.  Cheers!

Tagged as: LinkedIn, SM Strategy, Social Media jls, WordPress And Thesis