SearchEngineWatch about to become a butterfly...

[evilgreenmonkey]

SearchEngineWatch has always been the number one resource for Search Engine Marketing information, although perhaps seen as the ugly duckling in the industry.

Well, the SEW guys will kill me for announcing this first - but we're about to receive a facelift. We've heard the cries of usability issues and cluttered pages on the site, and are addressing this with a new, improved and user tested look to your favourite SEM destination.

I sneaked into the Incisive HQ today and gained an exclusive preview of the new homepage, let me tell you - it's superb. Us forum goers won't be left out in the rain either, with a fully integrated design and forum software upgrade.

To celebrate this milestone, I'll soon be introducing an exciting new array of features on the forums, including status rankings for long-serving members and some awesome prizes to the most helpful and sociable members.

Although a closely guarded secret, I'd estimate the new look going live as soon as next Monday. I can't guarantee that we'll be 100% bug free at launch, although feel free to PM me with any bugs that you find.



Rob Kerry (evilgreenmonkey)
SEW Forums Editor

[pleeker]

How can the SEW guys kill the nicest bloke in SEO?

Anyway, looking forward to seeing what's new - thanks for whetting the appetite, Rob.

[beu]

I can't wait to see what you guys have up your sleeve!

[Mel66]

I (heart) EvilGreenMonkey! Great news! Can't wait to see it.

Melissa

[Discovery]

Nice way to smooze a new status ranking 66!

You're not Evil enough for EvilGreenMonkey

Well it's true! You're semi-evil. You're quasi-evil. You're the margarine of evil. You're the Diet Coke of evil. Just one calorie, not evil enough!

[sportsguy]

Best of luck with the change-over guys and gals. Hope everything goes nice and smooth.

I'll be refreshing like crazy hoping to catch the change-over...

Ah, the e-glee I'll experience will be worth it.

Duane

[PPC]

I hope the forum doesn't change much. I like this format a lot - easy navigation, organized, great display of the threads, etc. I find more fancy forums to be less efficient and more prone to spam. I really don't need to see anyone's avatar or care about their signature links that lead to their site(s). This forum is great because it has the most knowledgeable moderators and participants and the majority of contributors here that are driving most of the threads are experts in SEM/SEO. Compare that with the forums over at Digital Point - sure, they might have more traffic over there, but the discussions seem to be driven mostly by affiliates, borderline spammers and black hatters, MFAs, garbitragers, SEM beginners, etc. Even the format at Webmaster World leaves alot to be desired... you would think with all the "webmasters" there, they would be able to design a cleaner format than that.

Keep the forums simple and efficient I say.

[Mel66]

Well, what does everybody think?

[rustybrick]

I like the new software, quick replies rock.

[evilgreenmonkey]

I really like it

Please bare in mind that the forum is still undergoing changes. The forum software hadn't been updated for years, so the upgrade wasn't too smooth. I'm fixing some permissions at the moment and the Featured Threads section on the homepage should re-appear soon. I'm also hopefully going to introduce Avatars and member rankings this week, followed by a few new forum changes. If you were expecting something that isn't currently live on the forums, let me know and I'll see if we can add it.

[PPC]

It looks much better now than the format I was seeing earlier this morning.

[David Wallace]

The site as a whole definitely looks a lot better and has a much cleaner interface. Although it did detract from the user interface, I will miss having a link in the blogroll that used to exists in the left navigational table on the SEW Blog but is absent from new site.

Any chance on the blog roll that used to exists at blogs.searchenginewatch.com being listed on its own page/section?

[sam890]

I like the look a lot better but I think it is harder to navigate I probaly just have to get used to it

[AussieWebmaster]

Originally Posted by Mel66

I (heart) EvilGreenMonkey! Great news! Can't wait to see it.

Melissa

lol.... suck up

[AussieWebmaster]

Originally Posted by David Wallace

The site as a whole definitely looks a lot better and has a much cleaner interface. Although it did detract from the user interface, I will miss having a link in the blogroll that used to exists in the left navigational table on the SEW Blog but is absent from new site.

Any chance on the blog roll that used to exists at blogs.searchenginewatch.com being listed on its own page/section?

nice catch Dave I was on there too...

[evilgreenmonkey]

I wasn't in the blogroll, so it was taken down.

Thanks for the ego boost Mel, I was starting to think that DaveN was getting all the SEO love.


His excellence,

evilgreenmonkey

[AussieWebmaster]

Originally Posted by evilgreenmonkey

I wasn't in the blogroll, so it was taken down.

Thanks for the ego boost Mel, I was starting to think that DaveN was getting all the SEO love.


His excellence,

evilgreenmonkey

dropped blogroll = dropped vote

[evilgreenmonkey]

Originally Posted by AussieWebmaster

dropped blogroll = dropped vote

I'll look into it, although I'm guessing that it was a PITA to look after with the hundreds of search blogs all wanting to be listed. Plus, how many people actually used the blogroll to find new SEM sites?

[David Wallace]

Originally Posted by evilgreenmonkey

I'll look into it, although I'm guessing that it was a PITA to look after with the hundreds of search blogs all wanting to be listed. Plus, how many people actually used the blogroll to find new SEM sites?

It was the link juice from such an authority site that I will miss. It is probably one of the crucial factors that has me ranking # 4 for "David Wallace," a very common name with some pretty famous competition. Nevertheless, I have to admit that all the links in the old blogroll did look cumbersome. That's why it would be nice to have a separate page with them listed, kind of like Andy Beal does at Marketing Pilgrim - (http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/blogroll/).

[Marcia]

Lovely looking, but I can't see threads on the list once I've posted in them and like to follow up, which will be nigh impossible to do

http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/...archid=1053964

They disappear once they've been read once, unless there's been a new reply. And sometimes if there hasn't been a new reply, there needs to be one.