This is a bit of a diversion from the usual talk about the club specifically, but it is just applicable as I wanted to reach our 24,000 unique monthly readers. Aston Villa Life is in the process of evolving the next stage of the site, officially titled “AVL 3.0”, and the focus is simple – serving the community effectively and efficiently. I hope to launch the new design by this Saturday at the latest so look out for it.
As regular readers will be aware, the site has grown significantly from humble beginnings in March 2011 to our current state where we have tens of thousands of readers each month. To say I am delighted is an understatement – I always had faith in the fan community around our beloved club, but to know that we have as many readers as we do is a testament to the team of writers we have on board, as well as those who actively comment and give readers an idea of the views of our fans in general.
Part of the next stages of launching Aston Villa Life 3.0 involves asking our readers for your stories and your memories. I want to create a new area of the site where your memories can be stored and shared, and I want those memories to be passed on to our other readers because you, the fans, are an important part of the tradition of our club. So whether you have photos of old games at the club, or recent pictures from when you have attended games, I’d be glad to see them and include them in our new section.
If you would like to send us some photos to be included in the new “Memories” section, you can do so by getting in contact via the contact form and giving us your details. From there, we would be glad to get your memories on site.
Our plans don’t just stop there though – I want to make the most of the cutting edge of website design and take Aston Villa Life forwards in new areas. As mobile users will know, I launched a beta version of a mobile site for Aston Villa Life and have found that the site is receiving quite a lot of dedicated traffic on the mobile platform – mobile visits on iOS, Android, and Blackberry platforms account for approximately 40% of all traffic to the site.
With Aston Villa Life 3.0, the new design will unify the desktop and mobile experience under one platform rather than having two disparate branches of designs that grow separately. Doing so should iron out some of the creases in the mobile platform that were fed back to me, as well as cultivating a new, fresh, and easy to use platform for people on all devices, mobile or otherwise.
I will also be investing in more server capacity as we have seen a remarkable 100% increase in traffic in the past month alone, taking the site from around 12,000 readers to over 24,000 unique readers a month. For those who have visited the site, whether you are a new reader or someone from the start, we’d like to thank you for your support – Aston Villa Life would be nothing without the community of people who visit and contribute to the cause.
I’m also aware that the servers can get very congested when a new post is put up due to spikes in traffic, and I’ll be working to create a more agile platform in terms of handling traffic which should mean that spikes of traffic, no matter how large they are, can be handled with ease. Obviously this will all come at a cost, but I’ll endeavour to get these moves done as soon as possible to offer the very best reading experience for our valued users.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to remind people that they can donate to the site via the link at the top of the site. The site has cost well over £1000 in server costs alone since I launched it in March 2011. These costs do not include the amount of hours put in to the project in terms of writing, editing, and otherwise developing the site so, as you can see, it currently costs a fair amount of money out of my pocket to keep the site going. Obviously any contribution, no matter the size, would be gladly welcomed as the site currently is a cost burden rather than a profit maker, though we hope to change this in the future.
I’d also like to make people aware of our Kindle edition of the blog that is available for 99p/99c a month. If you have a Kindle device, and you want the latest articles delivered to that device whenever a new post is put up, you can register your interest in a Kindle subscription here (if you are in the UK) or here (if you are in the US). All subscriptions come with a 14-day no cost trial so you can see if the service is suited to you.
I’ll be launching a few surprise sections as we go too, as well as offering new ways for readers to interact with the site and otherwise become a more integral part of our valued community. I’ll be sure to let you know closer to the time about each project, although I’m sure you will enjoy each one as and when they launch.
Thanks again for your role as part of the Aston Villa Life community, and a heartfelt thanks for helping make this site as popular as it has become in its short lifetime to date.
The Author
