• Markets
• Economy
• Federal Reserve
• Housing
• Energy
• Digital Media

Big Picture Redesign, part III

The third and final installment of our redesign saga, for those of you who find this stuff remotely interesting. Tonight, we look at final design, the goals behind the changes, and how the content is being re-organized.

There were a bunch of things I wanted to accomplish with the new site:

Clean Design: I wanted to make the site less busy, less colorful, and more content focused. A bit more professional. I think we accomplished that, with lots of white space, wider columns for bigger charts, and cleaner fonts.

Word Press: That's right, I made the big leap to Word Press. All the geeks insisted it had to be WP.  There are all sorts of cool things you can do with plug ins, and we are going to make the site hum. I am open to any and all suggestions as to how to customize the many things WP can do.

Guest authors: I know all of these brilliant fund managers, great journalists, unique traders, and clever analysts -- none of whom have an outlet for their less formal work. They cannot be bothered running their own blogs. Hence, the Big Picture Cafe -- an instant platform for these voices. I already have a killer line up of guests, too. Lots of things I am not getting to -- more coverage of the financial media itself, various money management firms, people and personalities. And if this stuff doesn't interest you, well then, don't click that tab.

Book and Video Tabs: Some people don't want to bother with the video or book reviews. Well, now they are all in one locations. All of the videos, and all of the book discussions, each get their own area. Its fluid, but I may even set up a book discussion forum via some software (I hear Beast is pretty good).

Job Listings: I get quite a few resumes per week, none of which I can use. We went to JobThread to set up a financial/market/economics job board for us. Looking to hire someone? Looking for a job? You've come to the right place. 

Advertising: I wanted to make the site more advertising friendly -- the main column is 710 wide, perfect for those banner ads. The right column is 300 wide, for the 250 X 300. There is room at the end of each post for an occasional advert.

Traffic: I get a pathetic 1.2 page views per visitor (most sites get more). More of the content is going to be structure within the tabs, and less material will appear on the front page. Click people! Get used too it.

Monetize this: I haven't done much to let people use the blog to find our commercial services. Rather than beat people over the head with it, I kept it very subtle. You want to know about our Asset management? Click Nav bar button. Interested in our software tool? (click) Media looking for a quote? (click) Need to contact someone? (click) Want to advertise on the blog? (click).

The nice thing about actually monetizing the site is that I can plow alot more resources back into it: Hire a dedicated researcher, an intern, a person specifically working on X. 

And the final design? Its after the jump. Launch is 6 am tomorrow . . .

The use of flash is only for the header -- these come in as snowy TV sets, which then focus:
(click for bigger graphic)

When they are done loading, they look like this (and they change eveyr 10 minutes or so): 
(click for bigger graphic)

Wednesday, October 29, 2008 | 07:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (52) | TrackBack (0)
add to de.li.cious | digg this! | add to technorati | email this post

Comments

Excellent Mr. R. Your site is now as clean and cutting edge as your thinking. I look forwrd to more hours of BP pleasure on the new site.
Seriously, you have been an funky fount of edgy wisdom all year--a real antidote to Wall Street dreck-- and are much appreciated.

Posted by: Bob Markman | Oct 29, 2008 7:42:14 PM