April 26, 3013: It has been over a week since I made my last post and it’s high time that I let everyone know what’s going on. I have always worked on the site by myself with very little consultation with anyone else. Recently I have been trying to overcome shyness. I’ve been getting out and talking to people from all over the state about what the site has to offer them. My perspective on BestofNJ.com is shifting because I’m able to see the site more like other people see it. I realize that I’ve been working inside my own little box at my own little computer for far too long. With this new perspective, I will be implementing some big changes.
I want all of you to be able to access the truly useful parts of the site more easily. The navigation here is really bad and needs fixing. I’ve been working with my partner Val to make some structural changes. I’ve also done some looking over my Google Analytics and I’ve noticed that I’m losing a lot of you simply because you don’t know where to click to find what you’re looking for. Finding the calendar for the entire state or the calendar for your county or your town is way too complicated. Right now you have to click through multiple screens to get where you want to go. What I thought I set up as logical was just too complicated.
With Val’s help, and your suggestions, BestofNJ.com is getting smarter, simpler, and leaner. I would love to have your feedback.
Update: November 3, 2013: BestofNJ.com is still changing and still getting better. It has been one incredibly technically challenging year here. We’ve completed the moving of the N.J. Events Listings of the site into the main hub of the site and now we are in the process of moving the rest of the New Jersey Travel & Leisure stories into a New Jersey Living Section, moving the business-related stories and features into an expanded New Jersey Business Section and moving all the wedding features into an expanded and revived New Jersey Weddings Section.
Note, this was a blog post written in 2013 as I was working to improve my website BestofNJ.com. I have since sold that site but I am very proud of what I built there. It has become something much bigger than what I had imagined.