When I thought I might be ready to begin again writing new posts for the GMC (after a break of more than two years) I thought long and hard about how I was going to do some things differently. Here’s what I came up with:
- Make it simpler, less cluttered, easier to read, and take extra care in the selection and placement of images and videos.
- Present the content in a clear, free-flowing format, one with effortless navigation among menus, posts and topics.
- Keep doing some of the nostalgia/music articles we’ve always featured, but also go in new directions and cover widely different subjects.
- Loosen up the schedule. Write and post when I have something worthwhile, rather than worrying about a deadline.
- Keep it light!
So that’s how I approached it, and now here’s a progress report after the first month.
- It looks pretty good to me. Veteran visitors can decide for themselves if the look has changed for the better. (Remember the old one, with the blue background and silver text?)
- The new format seems to be working well, and the home page with excerpts of recent posts adds a quick and easy way to explore.
- I’m still writing conventional posts, such as Johnny Hallyday Was Known As The French Elvis and Anatomy Of A Song – A Russian Classic Goes Pop, but also mixing in posts like Say Hello To The Squeaky Wheel and Beware The Super-Blue-Blood Moon. Mission accomplished.
- So far I’ve been posting a couple of times a week, but that’s likely to go up or down depending on how the ideas come to me. No pressure, right?
- Hopefully I’m succeeding in keeping a light tone with a touch of humor, but Mrs. BG says I’m not as funny as I think I am so I’ll have to keep working on that.
Now we get to the really fun part. I’ve been receiving some positive comments about the new GMC (and I love those, so keep ’em coming) but here’s your chance to vote in a poll. I promise it’s just a simple little gizmo that won’t be asking for IDs, etc, just a quick and easy vote. And I’m keeping it pretty basic, but feel free to add comments or suggestions below it. (BTW, the ads you sometimes see on the website are not from me, so it wouldn’t do any good for you to suggest dumping them!)
Geezer Music Club 