Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Site Updates

A few updates to the site:
  • I added a new search tool, just above my monthly archives, Google powered to look through my site (and even my writing at BMG and DailyKos). Having more than one way to search through this site is a definite plus, as different search systems tend to yield different results.
  • I added a link to join BlogLeft Mass - the progressive netroots organization in Massachusetts. It's under "About Me." Click it and join!
  • New links to Protect Dogs.org, the Mass Trans Political Coalition, the Bay State Stonewall Democrats, Gladys Kravitz (the anti-casino, Middleboro blogger extraordinaire), and Sabutai's blog. If I haven't linked to your blog and you think I should, send me an email.
  • I got rid of a few ineffective ads, trying out some new ones (including a Youtube one that looks fun but useless).
    • A note about ads (since it's always a touchy subject): Despite the fact that I have ads, I actually lose money on this site. Typically, over the course of a year, I may accrue upwards of $100 from ads... which doesn't go anywhere near covering all the events and forums I attend, mainly to write about them on this blog. So don't be afraid to click if there's a blog you particularly like, because clicking is the only way they actually yield anything.
  • Lastly - any suggestions? Eventually, I want to completely overhaul Ryan's Take, get my own domain and hosting, but I'm not quite ready for that yet. For now, I'm sticking with blogspot.com, but if there's any neat tools readers are demanding nowadays, let me know and I'll see what I can do.

4 comments:

Gladys Kravitz said...

Ryan! YOU are the blogger extraordinaire!!

BTW - I'm also in the midst of blogerrehab, but still find blogger.com is the way to go. Wordpress is pretty, and has lots of features, but still...

Keep up the great work,
Gladys

Ryan said...

Honestly, I run another site with Wordpress... I don't do a lot of the tech stuff on it, but I can say that site's been very, very delicate. I swear, post a title that's a little too long and it throws a tantrum!

Lots of good features and it's easy to integrate them, but I prefer jumping into the muckity muck that is blogger's html.

Quriltai said...

Thanks for the link, Ryan. A lot of hard work goes into this site, and I can't imagine whining about anyone who makes money blogging, except maybe the giants. My only quibble is this...do we really need that hideous orange star on the top line? I'd be happy to come up with a title design if you'd like (I do a fair bit of graphic design as a hobby) -- just holler.

Ryan said...

Hmm.. that does sound like a good idea. The star never bothered me, but something a little more Massachusetts-centric would be a good idea. If you think you could turn the orange star into an orange Massachusetts, that would probably look good.

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