Change Is On The Horizon

By jeffcAdvertising

Since 2005, Performancing has done a great job helping bloggers to succeed. Whether it be through our tips, reviews, suggestions or Performancing services, we have helped many people take their blogs to the next level. However, it’s 2008 and blogging about blogging is not the same as it was in 2005. It’s time to spice things up around here but before we do, the team at Performancing is requesting your help.

We have three questions that we would like you to answer.

1. What content are you most interested in seeing covered on Performancing? (e.g. monetization tips, web 2.0, online tools, sites and services, plugins, themes, news)

2. What services are you most interested in Performancing offering? (e.g. project launchpad, custom WordPress plugin development)

3. Last but not least, What would Performancing have to do, to encourage you to participate within the Performancing community. (e.g. portal like frontpage, easier commenting system, incentives)

In exchange for spending your time answering these questions, we will be handing out three free Hive Accounts to three random people who leave a comment, answering those three questions.

The time is near to reshape the Performancing mold and we would love for the Performancing community to partake in this transition. This post is the first in a series which will ask for your input on specific ideas as we come closer to the transition period. Your answers will play a vital role in the decisions we make.

29 thoughts on “Change Is On The Horizon”

  2. I will tell you that the reason i visit Performancing is the good content. As for design, i feel that this site is just that, more of a site, than a blog.

    I would like to see more of a blog community type of interface, such as:

    1.) A top commentators section, to gauge how much activity you guys get.

    2.) The most recent comments on the sidebar.

    3.) Your most popular posts on the sidebar. Not the most recent, but the most popular. (great way to digg deeper)

    4.) Highlight your authors, as you have some really good ones. Make their page or name an RSS feed, so we can follow our fave(s).

    5.) Make your Blog Jobs section (in the forums) feedable, i have been wanting to subscribe to just that feed, but alas, can’t.

    6.) I want a blog from Performancing, not a website.

  3. 1) Agreed that the blogging world is vastly different in 2008 than it was in 2005. In fact, it will be vastly different in October 2008 than it currently is in July 2008. I think blog-related news is an untapped market (at least a market not yet with a true champion, like techmeme).

    2) Launchpad is good.

    3) Regarding community, Performancing + Twitter goes a long way! Plurk would only add to it.

  4. I actually was first drawn here because the site uses Drupal and there were sometimes posts specific to Drupal. I respect your change of focus, and there are still non-platform-specific news or opinion topics that would catch my interest. WordPress only posts would be a turn-off, but I recognize that I am in the minority.

    I like the metrics and hope to upgrade to the paid level. I would be unhappy if new services took away from the existing ones, but if you did come up with something unique I am sure I would try it out.

    A list of recent comments in the sidebar may be helpful. Sometimes older posts can gain new life, or just never quit when visitors are aware of the discussion.

  5. 1. What content are you most interested in seeing covered on Performancing? (e.g. monetization tips, web 2.0, online tools, sites and services, plugins, themes, news)

    Getting more readers, building community

    2. What services are you most interested in Performancing offering? (e.g. project launchpad, custom WordPress plugin development)

    I can’t think of any services I need, but if you could come up with something good and convince me I need it.

    3. Last but not least, What would Performancing have to do, to encourage you to participate within the Performancing community. (e.g. portal like frontpage, easier commenting system, incentives)

    easier commenting, nothing that you have to pay for. A long time ago I used to post in the forum maybe I should start doing that again.

  6. (1) marketing tips, increasing traffic, and monetizing strategies…”how-to’s”, basically
    (2) wordpress theme customization and plug-ins are always a good thing
    (3) I read from rss – incentive to click through would help.

  7. 1. I would like you to cover more monetization tips, online tools, news, and copy tips.
    2. Continual quality on the blog. A cool plugin directory/top100 would be nice as well.
    3. Remove the subject field from comments and have more incentives (like this). Another idea is featuring top commenters in the sidebar.

  8. 1. Marketing tips for other niches, traffic building, and monetization methods

    2. WordPress design or custom coding help. Less expensive marketing and brand/authority establishment services.

    3. Offer random prizes, maybe one point for each meaningful comment.

  9. 1) Community Building
    2) Plugins for WP (and also firefox maybe)
    3) some design improvments. This page is a little funny looking, for example.

  10. I’ve been a long time lurker of Performancing, it’s been a must read on my RSS reader for years. I think the site is great and has served a great purpose. But I also realize that as trends change, so should business models. Here’s my opinion on how Performancing could serve its community the best:

    1 – Focus on topics about community growth, social marketing, and general webmaster tools-of-the-trade. WordPress and drupal tips are always great, since they are very common platforms and accessible to any webmaster. Also, I’d love to see Performancing touch on tech trends and news. I’m always interested about what other similar minded webmasters have to say about current tech vibes (MS vs Yahoo, Viacom vs. Google, Twitter, Friendfeed, Lively, etc).

    2 – Exclusive plugins. Expand beyond WordPress though. Think Gadgets, Widgets, Facebook, Bebo, etc.

    3 – I’d have to say a new design would go a long way for Performancing. Also, non-monetary incentives would get more people involved (i.e. points system, karma, profile, non-no-follow links, etc).

    That’s my two cents. I hope this helps. I’d love to see Performancing continue to grow.

    1. Interested in seeing monetization tips, online tools for productivity improvement, plugins (for browser and CMS) as they relate to the previous two
    2. Project or blog support (such as hive), more specifically designed plugins for what you talk about: SEO optimisation, social media sharing as it relates to seeding or monetizing a site or a post, advertising… all of which would necessarily increase community participation on my part (pt3)
    3. Incentives. At this point the community would be there to help me, and I don’t think the services are there at the moment that I would ask the wider community to help me with. So unless there are services where I will talk to other members on topics of mutual interest for networking/help, incentives are all that would do it for me. Case in point – this incentives based comment request.

  12. Most important to me is tips on how to monetize content. We produce youth media television and internet television and we are at a loss how to make this pay for itself. Any suggestions on how to take the content which we have tons of and turn it around would be appreciated!
    I think custom wordpress applications would be useful. I think many site owners pay a small fortune to people who don’t know very much!

    I read Performancing in a RSS reader each day so any incentives to actually visit the site help participation.

    Thanks for all the valuable help!

  13. 1. Monetization tips, especially in the current economic situation, would be most appreciated. It is the ‘brass ring’ that is most attractive to those of us who are attempting to step off of the soap box and onto the blog train.

    2. Project lauchpad, of all services that come to mind, is both the most basic and the most critical of any offering that could be available. The greatest idea in the history of man is lost until you put it in front of the masses.

    3. Personally, I acknowledge that the incentive idea is proven by my taking the time to answer these 3 questions. The ability to interface with video blog would also be highly attractive.

    I have been a fan for quite a while, and truly enjoy your work.

  14. Jeff,
    All of your ideas are welcome, but if I have to choose in preference;
    1- monetizing
    2- lauchpad
    3- incentive

    Thanks.

  15. 1. Optimizing and securing websites.
    2. Custom WordPress plugins sounds good.
    3. Incentives would be great!

    Already am a fan of the blog!

  16. Today is Saturday so we’ll hand out those Hive accounts sometime on Friday next week. Thanks for all those who have given us feedback thus far.

  17. Driving Traffic seems to be popular. I’m interested in that but would like to see some specifics about how to build promotion into a site. Also would be nice to see coverage about which programs and plugins work the best and where to integrate monetization into the site for the most impact.

    I’d like to see you move to a commenting system like Disqus. I think the conversations would be easier to follow.

    Thanks for the great content, themes and plugins so far!

  18. Part of my job at Performancing is to create content and promote Performancing services. These services are integral to Performancing’s progression as an authority within the blogosphere.

    I can assure you that everything I write on Performancing is truly journalistic in nature and design. (Biases are unavoidable: I am disgusted with PayPal, for example) Regardless, I could not, with my morals and beliefs in the truth (which I deeply value more than you could possibly imagine), try to trick or influence users into believing that a product is better than another.

    For example, before even before learning about PMetrics (and the Performancing blog, for that matter), I used Clicky (the company that licenses the Clicky service to Performancing), and it is, in my honest opinion, one of the best services for bloggers who really want to learn about their reader’s habits throughout the day. Google Analytics is the king, and I use this on everyone of my sites, but for checking up on your users throughout the day,it is my favorite. Now that I’m writing for Performancing, I have no issue with promoting PMetrics.

    However, you will notice that I have previously praised Google Analytics and Woopra. I believe those to be excellent products as well. I’m of the opinion that competition is great for everyone—bloggers in particular.

    However, I would not dare to compare Google Analytics vs Performancing Metrics or attempt to tell you which is better.

    When I promote Performancing services, they tend to have a dedicated post: for example, the Performancing Buzz. This is the way I do it.

    I never have or will write content that is influenced by sponsors and/or advertisers.

    In addition, I would not work at a place where I did not have the freedom to express my opinions. Here at Performancing, I express myself in a reverent, sensible, sincere, and, if necessary, critical manner.

    I also try to avoid creating content which would ever present a conflict of interest.

    Hopefully this clears up any concerns you may have.

  21. I’ve been following Performancing since it was started, but I don’t seem to have time to contribute.

    Btw, I definitely want more insightful articles on blogging, especially promotion tips and Web 2.0, although the latter may be too broad to be related to blogging.

  22. 1. Driving traffic and creative marketing strategies to get your blogs/sites noticed
    2. i like the optimizing a theme suggestion, and second would be wordpress plugins
    3. incentives, because I too just usually read through the google reader and don’t want to take time to click though

  23. Yes yes yes. Everything suggested seems to fall in line with “Performance as a blogger”. I.e., everything Performancing should be again.

  24. 1) wordpress security – a few days ago one of my sites got hacked and since than this topic is very high on my list. and since than I know how little I know about it
    2) tips and tricks how to achieve even better search engine results, optimize a theme (php-code and design), latest web 2.0 marketing trends
    3) honestly – I don’t know, I am a long time rss reader of yours and hardly ever post comments. but I am happy with it and I don’t need an incentive to do so

  25. In my view, this is what Performancing needs to move into the future:

    1. Content plugs at the bottom of every post designed to send readers to our best content
    2. Content organization, in the form of tutorials. Similar to: http://performancing.com/best-of-performancing but more in line with something like this: http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/02/14/blogging-for-beginners-2/
    3. Persistent highlighting of the best content and best services that Performancing has to offer
    4. The infrastructure to encourage community participation (this is the most difficult task)

  26. 1. I’m interested in web 2.0, plugins and themes, and (sometimes) online tools. What I need is ‘stuff’ to make doing my job (blog editor) easier and quicker, and to improve the results.

    2. I’d love to see custom WordPress plugin development – and I already know what my first request would be.

    3. It looks like you’ve already made commenting easier (do I remember registration required?). The problem with participation is … I read these posts in my feedreader, and pressures of time mean I don’t usually click through. I know, I’m all take, take, take, and no give. What pulled me through today? The request for input, and the lure of the Hive. Perhaps this means simply that these are questions I can answer, while often the community seems more expert than I am in certain areas.

  27. Thank you two for your answers thus far. I hope more people contribute by giving us their answers as this will really help us steer Performancing in the right direction.

  28. 1. I’m interested in driving traffic, successful marketing tips, and new ways to make money.

    2. I like the blog, so I’m most interested in informative posts that help me make my own business stronger.

    3. This isn’t meant to be stupid…I’m always attracted to pretty pictures and simple directions. If you advertised your services along sides the blog posts, I’d be more likely to investigate.

    Hope this helps. I like what you do here, and look forward to seeing what you bring to the next level.

  29. 1. web 2.0 marketing stratergies and monetization

    2. personally happy enough with tips and articles, but perhaps something like a FAQ link love page, where you can link to answers to questions many bloggers ask, whether in your own posts or not.

    3. not reall sure here, perhaps just promote your forums some more (I only just noticed it and I have been an RSS subscriber for awhile

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