Wednesday, May 28, 2003
Preview of revised home page
We have received many suggestions regarding the home page, and would like to thank everyone who submitted feedback.
After taking all of the input into consideration, we have created a preview of a revised home page. Since it is impossible to communicate all of BN through one page, the goal is to balance rankings with diversity, while encouraging readers to explore many different blogs.
As you will see, the preview features a random selection of popular blogs from different categories, and still makes it easy to see the most popular blogs.
To see the preview, please go here. We would appreciate any feedback you might have.
Pricing change for new subscribers
With the number of writers growing rapidly, new subscribers get more for their money every day. As a result, the subscription fee for new subscribers is now $5.95/month.
This change will significantly increase the money available to writers, and allow the BN staff to invest further in development and marketing. Discounted yearly subscriptions will continue to be available.
In appreciation, current subscribers will continue to be charged the original subscription fee of $2.99/month. This special pricing will be in effect through 2003, and subscribers will be notified of any change in advance. If you have a yearly subscription, there will be no change until your subscription renewal date.
(Important note for current subscribers: if you cancel your subscription and later resubscribe, you will be charged the new price.)
Tuesday, May 20, 2003
New categories
We have received many emails with ideas on additional categories. As planned, “Writing Advice” has been renamed “Writing” and the following categories have been added:
- Opinion
- Journal
- U.S.
- Family/Education
- Food
- Home/Garden
- Pets
- Blogging
If you are a writer, please take advantage of the new categories. For example, if you have an opinion blog in World or Everything Else, consider moving it to the new Opinion category. To do this, go to the blog editing page and choose “Change name and description”.
With the new categories, there is no longer enough room on the home page to display the top 3 blogs from each category. This helps the home page load faster, and we also hope this will encourage members to explore the category pages.
Please note that Mature Audiences is now a subcategory of Everything Else. In addition, MA blogs no longer appear in New Posts. To check for new posts in MA blogs, please go to the MA category page and click “sort by: date”.
Monday, April 21, 2003
Community Changes
As planned, the New Comments section on the home page has been replaced by an expanded New Posts section.
As part of this change, we are introducing a new hangout: The BN Café. And, don’t forget to check out the community blogs.
Are you a writer? As requested, we have introduced a personal New Comments page, available from the Write page, which allows you to view and delete the latest comments.
Thursday, April 3, 2003
Community blogs
Many subscribers have requested a place to discuss various topics. To address this need, we are introducing a new system of community blogs. We will add community blogs as needed, e.g. for popular categories.
Community blogs allow any subscriber to post by clicking the “Add post” link on the top of the community blog’s page. Please note that readers do not pay writers for posts on community blogs. Naturally, the Terms of Use also apply to community blogs.
Once we’ve tested the community blogs, we plan to retire the New Comments section on the home page. Since the Network is expanding rapidly, spam is making this section less useful. The existing system of blog comments, along with the new community blogs, will provide solutions that can grow with the Network.
Monday, March 31, 2003
New rankings
Blog rankings are now based on the number of unique readers each day for the past week. We expect this to be a better indicator of the value of a blog, since it benefits blogs that consistently attract readers.
The previous rankings, based on the number of unique readers in the last 24 hours, are now available on the Today’s Top 100 page. The home page includes a link.
If you're a writer, here are some tips to help improve your blog's rank by increasing your readership:
- Post consistently and frequently.
- Whenever possible, add new posts to an existing blog rather than creating a new blog. To do so, click the "Add Post" link next to the blog's name on your Write page.
- Create new blogs only when you plan to update them consistently. Single-post blogs typically have fewer readers.
There are more new features in the pipeline, so please keep the feedback coming!
Thursday, March 27, 2003
New Posts page revised
Want to see who wrote a blog, or which category it's in -- before you click on it? Are you waking up at midnight to check New Posts so you don't miss a great post?
The revised New Posts page shows each blog's writer and category. And, you can page through all the blogs with new posts, not just the last 25.
Finally, you can get some sleep -- and still catch up later!
We're planning to apply the new format to other pages, such as the Category page, so feedback is welcome.
Wednesday, March 26, 2003
New Favorites page
Tired of missing new posts in your favorite blogs? With the new Favorites page, it's easy to keep track. Many people have asked for this page, and now it's here!
Go to any blog and select the Add to Favorites link at the top of the page. Your Favorites page will let you see all of your favorite blogs, automatically arranged in order of last update.
You'll never miss a new post again.
Thursday, February 27, 2003
New categories
As planned, there are many new categories. We received a lot of feedback on this issue, and have tried to incorporate as many requested categories as possible, as long as there were enough blogs that would fit in the new category.
To help transition people to the new categories, we moved a number of blogs into the new categories. Although we tried to be careful when selecting blogs to move, it is a subjective process. If you are a writer, you can see -- and if needed, change -- your blog's category by going to the blog editing page and clicking "Change name and description".
As always, we're working on more requested changes, so please feel free to comment on features or categories you'd like to see!
Layout improvements
Based on feedback, the space for categories on the home page has been expanded, the Write page has been streamlined to make it easier to see blogs and all of the available actions, and several other minor changes have been made to improve the overall experience.
