@Matt, I couldn’t agree more on: “developing an accessible structure for people first, search will naturally follow” building sites and strategies with that in mind should prove to give an edge over competitors.

@Brian, tell me your hat size and I’ll have one sent your way

@Daryl, Metrics makes up 50% of my professional life, so yes, we have set up goals and are looking heavily at visitor’s behavior.

As you sure will understand I can’t disclose any figures for goals or what the actual traffic is. What I can say is that we have very high expectations and feel confident they will realize.

Maybe with time I’ll be able to be a little less “cryptic”.

One question: did you set up measurable goals for this campaign? If so, are you at liberty to share these, and how close are you to achieving them?

Thanks,

Daryl Pereira

If I wore a hat, I would tip it in your direction! It is beyond refreshing to witness such a prompt response. I had pretty much figured that you had relegated Jennifer Laycock’s article to just more unused sage advice. Thanks for proving me wrong!

Brian

Thanks for taking the time to address Jennifer’s article. I spent a lot of time helping her write the article and evaluating the architecture of the site.

One of my main concerns is that by not being search friendly, it also means that the site is not accessible. Many times, companies think about search first, but in developing an accessible structure for people first, search will naturally follow. Search engines are the most “disabled” of all users of a website, so an open architecture and access to information is critical to assistive technology devices.

The WordPress platform is naturally accessible, so to see so many of the useful features stripped out was disconcerting, and also resulted in a lack of the SEO principles that Jennifer outlined.

I applaud you for making changes and your openness in doing so. We’ll be watching the site to see how it progresses over the next few months.

Matt Bailey

My kudos to you and your team. Your response from the start was classy and professional, as well as open and accepting.

The fact that you so quickly put changes in place speaks volumes about your team and your willingness to continue improving things.

I also thank you for explanation on why you didn’t do some of the things I suggested. You give some great reasons and while we’ll continue to disagree on which way was the best to go at it, I understand your points and see it as a different approach rather than a wrong one.

More so than anything, I’ll continue to say I love this campaign and I think it’s fantastic you guys have worked to draw more attention to blogging athletes (and not just the medal favorites.)

I’ve already Twittered this link and will be editing my original post to include a link to yours.

Well done all around.
Jennifer