Pixel FiveBlogging Community

We realize this may mean that some of you will have to choose new themes, and for that we extend our deepest apologies. However, we would rather apologize, and have your Blogs working properly, than to leave them as was, and apologize because they DON’T work.

I am sure some of you have notice that there has been a lot of design changes going on around here! Well, we have decided to make a few changes, until we have found exactly what Pixel Five means to us, in a design. This is not an easy charge, and requires a lot of trial and error type work.

I have been very busy, trying to deal with some minor issues on the site, as well as add more functionality to Pixel Five. I have installed a few new plug ins that I have found to be useful, as well as made some changes to the core. Some changes include:

• Akismet Spam Guard - has been updated, and a Spam Counter has been installed.
• API Fix - The old API would not allow Administrators or Contributors to login, and Post on the Fly. This one does.
• New Widgets. - Recent Comments, Track Backs, Posts, Tag Cloud, and Login widgets installed.
• New Admin Bar
• BuddyPress - Social Network add-on. Profiles, Friends list, avatars, and Message Center.
• Paged Theme Selection. - No more waiting to load 200 themes, list has about 20 to a page.
• New Share This Module. - Faster, More Sites, and Animated.

As everyone already knows, Pixel Five is running on a free host. The one big issue I have run into on a free host, is that there is always a problem of some kind. My most recent realization is that I don’t have enough space on this host to do what needs to be done to make everyone as happy as I would like to. Oh for now I can do what needs to be done, but I am thinking a lot further ahead than now!

So, this morning I decided to take a peak around and see what I could find that would better satisfy the needs of Pixel Five. Thinking I would make a transition, if possible, to a faster, bigger, better free host, while our customer base is still very low. However what I have found is a bunch of hosts, myths, and half truths. This brings me to this post.

Vandelay Design offers “Common Reasons a Website is Unsuccessful”, ten basic bits of advice for websites and blogs to determine their success or failure. The list includes:

1. Lack of a Purpose
2. Lack of Focus on the User
3. Little or No Significant Content
4. Poor Marketing Strategy
5. Bad Choice of Niche or Industry
6. Infrequent Updates
7. Lack of Commitment
8. No Call to Action
9. Ineffective Monetization Choices
10. Poor Design