Major Changes Happening at Solostream (Need Your Help)

In case you hadn’t noticed, there are some major changes happening here at Solostream. Yes, even though it’s been dormant for a few months, Solostream is alive and well, albeit still pretty immature from a business standpoint. Over the next 6 months, that will change. Before I get into what I’m planning, lets briefly recap the recent changes. I warn you in advance, this is a bit long (but necessary).

I’ve updated the About Solostream section of the site. To get caught up, you may want to read that first.

You may have noticed I’ve re-configured the Solostream site. That includes a complete re-design and major overhaul of the content categories. After working with WordPress for the last 6 months, I’m feeling extremely confident in it’s viability as a development platform. It really is an amazing program, and it continues to get better every day. And my skill level is improving every day.

Another recent change is the addition of Helaine Iris as a guest author. She will be writing the Small Business Life section here at Solostream. She an amazing writer, a brilliant business coach, and her wisdom is something I’ve come to rely upon heavily over the last few years (we’re great friends too). Now, if I can just get her more involved in further developing Solostream with me.

I’ve changed the email list. I was using Feedblitz for a long time, which is an excellent little service, but not quite what I want going forward. I’ve temporarily brought the email list in-house until I find a better option for our needs. For those of you who receive email updates, you used to receive a single daily update with all posts from the previous day. You’ll now receive an email each time we add something to the Solostream site. I’d be interested to hear if you prefer a single daily update (like before) or an update each time something new is added to the site. You can email me or just post a comment to this post.

Another change is the Solostream homepage. It now looks more like a portal than a blog, and that’s what I have in mind. I’ve taken inspiration from other portal-type sites I like - such as CNET, ZDNET, SitePoint and Robin Good’s MasterNewMedia, and Chris Pirillo’s Lockgnome - and I’d be interested to hear any feedback and/or suggestions (positive or negative) you’d care to offer about it.

I added a more extensive subscription center. Now, not only can you sign up to receive email updates or grab the RSS feed, you can also grab the RSS feed for each individual category. That will set the stage for what I have in mind going forward.

Plans for the Future/Major Priorities

Continued reconfiguration/development of Solostream content areas. This is my major priority right now. Solostream has to continue growing beyond a blog (what it’s been for the past few months) into a content portal. My goal is to create mini blogs/content areas within the larger Solostream site. You may remember way back when I started Solostream, the plan was to create several individual “free-standing” blogs as part of a blog network. Well, lord knows we don’t need another blog network, and the management aspect of it just didn’t work based upon my limited resources.

For a rough example of the type of structure I’m talking about here, take a look at the blog area over at Sitepoint. The only real question for us here at Solostream is what the actual content areas will be. I have my ideas, but I’d love to hear anyone’s thoughts on what content areas are a priority for you.

Continued partnership opportunities. This is my second biggest priority. Solostream is a media company, and that means lots of content. And since I’m not as prolific a content creator as I’d like to be, I need partners to help create that content. I’ll be establishing a separate partnership area of the site where I’ll flesh out all the ways people can work with Solostream. If you’re interested, let me know, and we can have a conversation.

Right now, I need people who want to write, teach and/or podcast for Solostream, as well as joint venture on product development. Naturally, there’ll be some sort of revenue sharing, although I’m not sure exactly what it’ll be yet. I’m open to suggestions.

Continued development of email and RSS systems. As the content areas change, so will the available channels of communication. My goal here is to have email and RSS options available for each content area. So, for example, if you just want to receive updates for the WordPress Wizardry section of Solostream (rather than all content areas), you’ll have the option to get just that section’s content via email or RSS.

We’re almost there when it comes to the RSS part. I just need to figure a way to easily integrate Feedburner into WordPress for the individual content categories. As far as the email option, I actively researching the options and am open to suggestions.

That’s pretty much it for now. There are other things, of course, but none as big a priority as those three. I look forward to any comments you’d care to make.