The Museum Turns 3 Years Old, Part 3: Goals and Features

Last year I posted a list of goals I wanted to accomplish and features I wanted to add to the site. Click through to read about how I did in meeting those goals and features, and what I've got planned for the next year...

Here's the list I made last year of the goals I wanted to achieve, and what the results were:

Goal #1 - "Continue to grow the site. While the current number of page views aren't bad for a hobby blog that doesn't get posted to daily, those numbers could be better. I tripled them in one year; for the next year, I'd like to triple them again (at a minimum)."

This one was spot on, as site traffic tripled. I did a little more promoting than the previous year, but this achievement is mostly due to getting to the top of Google's search engine.

Goal #2 - "Maintain, or increase, the amount of taps purchased. This will largely be dependent upon my financial situation, but I have a feeling that will turn around this next year."

As my Part 1 post showed, I did increase my taps acquired from 132 in Year 2 to 186 in Year 3, an increase of 40%, so I met that goal as well despite a continuing poor financial situation.

Goal #3 - "Improved photography. I'd like to take high resolution photos of taps, from multiple angles, with a more professional look. This will be quite an undertaking, as I would need to re-photograph all existing taps."

I also met this goal, with higher resolution photos from multiple angles, using a nice backdrop. I didn't re-take all the old photos, as that will be a large and ongoing project.

Now here's the list of features I had planned on incorporating:

Feature #1 - "The first feature I'm going to tackle is an expansion of the Links section - I'll be removing the tap handle list and adding links to other great breweriana sites."

I did add the feature, but I didn't take it very far.

Feature #2 - "Second, if I can turn the financials around, I'd like to do some kind of contest or giveaways of excess taps that I acquire (some would even be specifically bought for this purpose)."

I haven't incorporated this yet, but I'll be giving away my first tap very soon.

Feature #3 - "Adding a graphic for each tap that contains a rarity rating."

Blogger just doesn't have the tools to make this easy...either that or I just don't know how. Instead I added text to indicate rarity.

Feature #4 - "Finally, I may be updating the overall appearance of the site to make it more readable and user-friendly."

I briefly flirted with black text on a white background, but most readers preferred the white text on black background so I switched it back.

On to my goals for the next year:

• Double traffic for the next year. I think tripling traffic again might be reaching a bit.
• Acquire more rare taps. This might mean I acquire a fewer number of taps, but I'd like to acquire "museum quality" pieces that are very rare or scarce, rather than focusing on quantity as I have been lately.
• Re-take photos and re-write at least 33% of my older posts.

And the features I'd like to incorporate for next year:

• Add more links to great sites.
• Give away at least 1 tap per month.
• Add the tap manufacturer's name to each profile (if I can find out who made it).
• Present ideas on tap displays