Strategy: Site Expansion.

I have been thinking of making a few modifications to my current Internet infrastructure to allow the platform to grow in the years to come.  Before going into detail, I think it’s important to share my perspective on the site as a whole:

What’s Working:

1. Good foundational online presence.
2. Excellent initial placement in search engine rankings.
3. Microsite concept allows for easy expansion.
4. Hosting infrastructure is top-notch.
5. Majority of time is spent on content generation.

What’s Not:

1. Not every microsite has SEO functionality.
2. Presence of older content is not reflective of current skill-level.
3. Some duplication of content across sites.
4. No clear long-term strategy.
5. Some technical gaps exist.

While there will always be opportunities to explore, I would like to focus my time on a select few.  The best way to prioritize is to first revisit my objectives for my online presence:

• Growth Enabler - I want to continue this online journey as it has strengthened my ability to focus and explore new ideas.  To be more specific, I want the content to enable the continued creation of both online and offline projects.

• Relevance - I want visitors (employers, collaborators, friends) to have access to information, ideas and content that is most relevant and is most reflective of my capabilities at that time - and not be distracted by older information. At the same time, I would like to keep older sites active as they collectively are a part of who I am.

• Presentation Ability - I want to go a step further in improving my communication abilities by presenting new concepts in HD.

• Ease of Use - I want to make it easy for visitors to learn about me and my capabilities.

• Pervasiveness - I want to maintain and broaden my standing in search engines through additional content generation and an effective SEO strategy.

Ultimately, this online presence is to support my personal and professional goals in a way that is self-fulfilling; one idea leads to another, essentially cross-pollinating between sites and into new online and offline endeavors.

Going a step further, I hope I can help others see things in a different way and encourage them to push themselves into new territories.  In a best case scenario, the site can connect me with other individuals with similar goals and interests for potential collaboration.

In short, I want the site to be an extension of myself. Given this context, what needs to be done now?  Actually, quite a bit!  Here’s the list:

1. Make final modifications to existing sites that will remain and formally close out sites that are no longer needed.
2. Upgrade to the latest version of BasicMaths to allow for video embedding.
3. Upgrade to the latest version of Wordpress for existing sites.
4. Figure out the best backup strategy for existing Wordpress sites.
5. Revisit SEO strategy for existing and new sites.
6. Redesign Pixeldust microsite to focus exclusively on digital photography.
7. Document current infrastructure.
8. Design new homepage that allows for greater content flexibility.
9. Create sitemap to illustrate microsite connectivity and potential redundancy.
10. Launch SoundCloud presence.
11. Figure out how to share brainstorming notes in a way that shows clear traceability to real content (designs, illustrations, posts, etc.).
12. Formulate a long-term strategy.
13. Develop a workflow for HD content generation and presentation.

Fortunately, a fair number of these tasks have already begun.