NewWoodworker.com in 2010

And beyond

By Tom Hintz, publisher

NewWoodworker.com LLC

Posted - 12-21-2009

2009 has been a big year for NewWoodworker.com LLC in several ways. Traffic continues to soar far beyond anything I thought possible and that forced a very public problem and a not-so-visible change. I have also added several new features that have been a long time coming but judging by the viewer reaction they are being well received.

Traffic & Moving

Early in 2009 the NewWoodworker.com site began experiencing occasional and largely unexplained outages. Around mid November those problems got a bunch worse. After investigating the problem it was determined that the ever-growing traffic was simply overwhelming the capabilities of our "unlimited" servers. The host tried moving the NewWoodworker.com site to a server system with more capacity but the problem continued. The only option was to move the entire site to a new, more hosting service and servers.

Just loading the NewWoodworker.com site takes around 40 hours on a DSL line so this change was not taken lightly. The good news is that the move was completed and a few small bugs worked out at the server in less than a week. Since then NewWoodworker.com has been functioning smoothly and reliably. And, we have lots of room to grow on the new servers in terms of pure traffic numbers and the size of the site itself which is now right at 1000 pages! (Note: I do not break up one story into multiple pages to inflate the page count.)

New Features

I also added some new creature comfort features to NewWoodworker.com. First was an automated, database-driven FAQ (frequently asked question) system. You will see a clickable FAQ logo in the upper right corner of each page that brings up the FAQ system. The questions/answers are arranged in logical groups but are searchable as well. The system also provides a way for you to email questions to me directly. In many cases, that question and the answer will be added to the FAQ system because virtually all questions serve other viewers as well.

I also added a full-on banner advertising system, all of which runs in page spaces already occupied by banners without infringing on content areas or their sizes. The design and functionality of this banner system makes it very useful to advertisers without compromising the site for our viewers. The advertisers are able to produce their own detailed reports through a separate portal using their own custom user names and passwords, again without impacting the site for our viewers.

I also added a very sophisticated Live Support system. There is a small active banner at the bottom of the right hand margin on each page. When the Live Support system is being monitored, the logo changes to say On-Line. When I am not monitoring the system, the logo says Off-Line but you can still click on it to send your question to me via email.

This is just another way I am trying to keep NewWoodworker.com user friendly and to respond to viewer concerns as quickly as possible.

NewWoodworker.com Guild

A special email list was created in response to demand by the NewWoodworker.com viewers. Here again I skipped the cheap way out in favor of a system that gives you full control of your membership. Joining this list requires you to sign up and respond to an email that prevents others from signing you up without your knowledge. You also can leave anytime you want by clicking an "unsubscribe" link included at the end of each newsletter I send out. The NewWoodworker.com Guild email addresses will be used for this list only and not rented or loaned to anyone.

The Guild Newsletters will be sent out only when I have info that is pertinent to the site or my viewers. Advertisers that help to support NewWoodworker.com will be able to make special offers within the newsletters but it will not become a stand-alone advertising vehicle for them.

I will use this newsletter to keep you information on what is happening, what is coming or other things that I think you need to know about. I will not send out pointless newsletters just to meet a schedule. You get enough junk email.

Forums At Last!

Finally, I have created our own NewWoodworker.com Forums! This is not an add-on to the NewWoodworker.com site. It is a full-on, stand-alone forum using the industry standard Vbulletin software. The NewWoodworker.com Forum is housed on a separate site with it's own URL.

The registration process is designed to keep this a woodworking forum, populated by woodworkers and safe for family members to view. There will be no probations or second chances for spammers or anyone who can't be civil. I want this to be a family-oriented, useful woodworking forum and because I own it, I will administer however I must to maintain that. No "Off Topic" or other non-woodworking sections will be included. The motto is "All woodworking, all of the time" and that is how it is going to be.

There is a Forums link in the nav bar on the left side of each page. You may want to add the NewWoodworker.com Forums to your "Favorites" because it truly is a stand-alone site with a different URL from NewWoodworker.com.

2010?

So what can possibly be left for 2010? Lots actually. I just placed orders for new, more powerful computers and software that will enhance the production of NewWoodworker.com content. I am sure that there will be more hardware investments along the way as well. Over the 10-plus years NewWoodworker.com has been in existence it has become very clear that it will never be a cheap site to operate. The monetary investment and effort necessary to maintain the quality and flow of material never subsides.

I do plan to skew the percentage of Tool Reviews to How-To content a bit more to the How-To side in 2010. I also plan to update some of the early videos to apply our new and much-improved technology that is coming on-board now. The list of needed stories always grows and the suggestions from the NewWoodworker.com viewers continue to come in so a lack of ideas is not a problem.

Stay tuned, stay in touch and watch NewWoodworker.com continue to grow. I honestly have no idea what features may appear in the future but I am positive that I am far from done growing NewWoodworker.com.

As always, I appreciate your support and input. NewWoodworker.com LLC was built around the woodworker and that concept will never change.

Best regards,

Tom Hintz, publisher
NewWoodworker.com LLC
thintz@newwoodworker.com