by Paul S Usowicz on May 26, 2008
Following on from my decision to only have 5 domains active here is #1. PGR4.co.uk is one of my current web sites. It does nothing more than explain how to gain the 60 achievements in the Xbox 360 game Project Gotham Racing 4. This started out as an experiment in niche blogging. I knew there were only ever going to be a finite number of posts about a specific game on one console. Despite this it has had over 150,000 page views so far making this my most successful web site to date.
My goals for PGR4.co.uk are limited due to the extreme niche of the web site and the fact that the game is quite old now and visitor numbers are dropping. Apart from housekeeping (backups/updates) I only have 2 goals:
- Reply to any comments left within 48 hours.
- Update the web site whenever I unlock a new achievement.
Neither of these need scheduling and will require very little time so I’m happy to let the web site live on (for now - the domain expires in February 2009 when I will decide whether to continue it or not). So in the short-term I will just slightly alter the site:
- Add a tagline
- Re-order the posts so that the most popular/commented on are on the front page
- Add an ‘About’ section/page/link
An interesting side effect of the web site is that a lot of people I have come in to contact with via the web site assume I am the worlds best PGR4 player ever. Sadly not true - I’m just good, not great 
by Paul S Usowicz on May 25, 2008
You’ve probably noticed that I haven’t posted recently and that not a lot else is going on here. There are two main reasons for this:
- I am currently doing the 2nd year of an Open University Diploma in Design and Innovation and it is taking up way more time than I expected. Yes, I am enjoying it and I’m getting good scores for my assignments but the amount of effort involved is immense.
- I’m getting slightly overwhelmed. I have about 2-3 ideas a day for this or another web site. I have several lists I maintain of these ideas and they are just getting longer and longer. Whenever I get some time to do some web site work I have a look at these lists and decide to do some maintenance instead as it’s easier than going through the lists and deciding what to work on.
So what am I to do? Well, the Open University course will, until October, still have to take priority. So long as I knuckle down though I should have 2-3 weeks free between assignments where I can direct time towards my web sites. So here is my plan of attack:
- 5 Domains. I already have several web sites and loads of ideas for web sites. I am going to only have 5 domains in operation. Any other web sites I currently have I am going to cull. I don’t have the time to have an active web site on all 32 of my domains so I need to get ruthless.
- Purpose. I need to decide EXACTLY what each web site is going to be for. Ideally this should be obvious from the domain name, web site name and tagline.
- Schedules. Regardless of the type of web sites I have I need to ensure that the content is up to date and the web site is correctly maintained.
- Goals. I’m a very goal-oriented person and don’t like doing things just for the sake of it. I need a milestone to reach so each of the 5 web sites will have some form of goal to reach. I will also have an exit strategy which will probably form part of the goal. I don’t want to be putting time and effort into a web site that is no longer serving its purpose or stands no chance of achieving my goal for it.
Right, I’m off for some serious thinking now and will be posting my conclusions here so I may post later today or I may post next week!
by Paul S Usowicz on April 13, 2008
One of the great things about Wordpress is that it is completely, 100% free (sort of - whilst the source files cost you nothing there is invariably a fee involved in hosting and acquiring a domain name or 32!). So how come I’ve just spent £35 on a theme?
Gasp! The horror of it all! £35 for a theme - do I not know that the Internet is literally bulging at the seams with free themes for Wordpress? What could ever have possessed me to spend my own pound notes on a theme?
Well let me tell you…
Paying for a theme immediately gives you one great advantage. Not many other people will pay. This means that whereas a free theme is available to everyone a paid-for theme, whilst still available to everyone, will only ever be purchased by a few so you already have exclusivity on your side. Add to that the support for the theme and it starts to look like a good use of my money (to me anyway!).
Sure, I am more than capable of generating a theme myself but the Thesis theme was so close to what I wanted it just wasn’t worth my time. Not only that but I can still modify the theme and individualise it to my hearts content and even use it on my other blogs if I so wish. Sounds like a bargain to me!
by Paul S Usowicz on April 12, 2008
With so many blogging platforms out there such as Blogger and Typepad why am I using Wordpress?
Professionalism
Some of the other blogging platforms I have tried just do not give off an air of professionalism or polish the same way Wordpress does. And I’m not just talking about the resultant web site either. The Wordpress dashboard, and especially the latest 2.5 version, is a joy to use.
Configurable
Nothing pleases me more than a chance to tinker and tweak. Wordpress is made to be tinkered with. I have full access to all the source files, the database and all the plug-ins. This allows me to do just about anything I want with the blog. For the most part I leave it as-is but occasionally like a little delve into the details. Wordpress also has an absolutely staggering amount of themes and plug-ins available which makes customising real easy.
Control
I love being in control. I especially love being in control of things I want to work a certain way. By hosting Wordpress on my own web space I can install, configure and maintain usowicz.com exactly how I want to and if it goes wrong then only I am to blame.
by Paul S Usowicz on April 11, 2008
I have read a lot of blogs. Hundreds I reckon. Of those I only read about 25 of them regularly. A quick scan of those revealed 3 types of blog. What are they and which one is usowicz.com?
The Niche Blog
Niche blogs are the most common type of blog that I read. These are blogs dedicated to a single, specific subject. This could be quite broad such as Yanko Design which is about good examples of design or extremely narrow such as icanhascheezburger which consists mainly of funny pictures of cats with captions. usowicz.com is not a niche blog. I have other blogs for that.
The Notification Blog
A notification blog only serves one purpose for me and that is to inform me of something I may want to know immediately. A great example is the Wordpress blog. I always want to know when a new release is available or an interim bug fix. Again, usowicz.com is not a notification blog.
The Friends and Family Blog
Now we’re getting somewhere. This type of blog is written by, or written for, friends and family. Two guys I work with have blogs that I love to read. One of them, Coding Grasshopper, is more niche than the other, Team Sumpter, but both of them offer articles that I enjoy reading. This is more where usowicz.com resides too.
Not only will usowicz.com attempt to inform and entertain my friends and family it will also serve as a landing site and web portal for anyone sharing the same interests as myself. Over the next few months I’ll be expanding the blog with regular posts, which will cover all manner of topics, and new pages will be added which will concentrate on specific subjects of high interest to me including Silverlight, Design and the Xbox 360.
