Newsletter Volume 1.4 - July 2nd, 2007
Welcome back to Pittsburgh Designers for Volume 1.4 of our newsletter.
Quick Community Stats
Some quick statistical numbers since our inception back in December 2006.
- This Community’s Age: 7 Months - Getting older by the minute…
- Number of Members who have made redesigns of their own website: 13
- Page Views: 11,862 - via Statcounter
- Unique Visitors: 4,454 - via Statcounter
- Total Members: 84 - Keeps on growing…
- Active Members: 71 - Thank you all!
- Total Comments: 14 - Kind of sad. I guess the 1% rule still applies.
- Total Spam Comments: 75 - Even sadder. All the thanks goes to the Akismet plugin.
Pittsburgh’s 2007 Web Standards Initiative
The time has finally arrived. 6 months since the initial announcement, I spent a few hours validating every designer (member and non-member) site’s CSS and HTML. If your site validates - you should be very proud of yourself. For those of you who didn’t get the best of marks, maybe next year. Good luck to all.
View the 2007 Web Standards Initiative Report Card Results
Other Important News
- The Interview Circuit Call - If anyone would like to be added to this series, let me know. I am also accepting ideas on who I should reach out to to see interviewed… any ideas?
- Partners Page - Please let me know if you or anyone you know has linked to Pittsburgh Designers in some way, shape or form so that I can add it to our “Partners Page“.
- Keep your Business Information Current - Without current information, our visitors cannot make informed decisions.
- Finish your Registration - Still, some of our members registered, but never came back to complete their profile. It is crucial that you fully complete your profile. Without it your business will not be actively listed on Pittsburgh Designers. If you have any questions, or somehow never got your initial password email (which has happened before), please use our contact form and I promise to get back to you ASAP.
New Features Added at Pittsburgh Designers
- Advertising Available - This site has taken up a lot of my free time and generates me absolutely 0 revenue, but still I obsessively work on it. The site is not about making a profit, but bringing the design community in Pittsburgh together in one central area. However, I also see an opportunity to provide a very cheap way to advertise a business to a core set of designers and design interested visitors. The revenue from these advertisements will never come close to repaying all the time and effort put into this site - and that is completely OK by me. This is a passion, a hobby and most importantly - a great place for local designers in Pittsburgh. I am proud of that, no matter if I make nothing at it. Thank you to all of those who understand and appreciate this site.
- NEW FIELDS - Work Status & LinkedIn - After exchanging some emails with designers and clients, I found that the site needed a way to distinguish between the larger companies and the smaller freelancers. You will now see a drop down box in your “Edit Profile” page where you can choose your Work Status. Also newly added was a place for you to include your LinkedIn page to your profile. LinkedIn is all about making connections & and professional relationships, and what better place to do this than here where all your fellow designers are. I highly recommend that all active designers sign in and update these two new fields. They are important to you and also your business, and only a few minutes of your time could boost your profile tremendously.
