It's been well over a year since we changed our approach to blogging here at ResIM. The results have been both favourable and thought-provoking.
It started in a basement office with six guys and a whiteboard.
In early 2010 we decided to start planning a complete overhaul of our web site; both from a visual perspective and in how we approach content. The plan involved creating a simple, one-page site that would stand-out among traditional web sites, allow us to frequently change the user interface, and be supported by uniquely designed blog posts every 4-6 weeks. The blog posts allow us to create and share content while giving our design team room to try new things and think beyond standard web interface design.
The results.
The new site launched in June of 2010. Here are some interesting pageview results captured during the first year:
Our most viewed post after the redesign was 'Improving the Speed of Your Website' by @mikealmond and @andrewprocter. In addition to great content, this post was very well designed and featured a couple of shareable features (an animated GIF rocket and parallax scroll). The post gained initial momentum through Twitter before being featured in several blogs and design galleries and being shared via Stumbleupon.
Some other interesting statistics:
In comparing these statistics it's obvious that even though our traffic isn’t much at all we experienced a sizeable increase to the tune of nearly 10,000 additional visits. At first glance the next two metrics seem to point to little or no improvement. That's not entirely true.
Context matters.
A marginal increase in pageviews and a decrease in the number of pages per visit makes sense because, quite simply, we have a one-page web site with a limited number of landing pages in the form of highly customized blog posts. Less pages = less pageviews and fewer pages per visit.
Bounce rate, schmounce rate.
In most web analytics circles the bounce rate, or percentage of visitors who only access one page prior to leaving, is a highly-regarding metric -- the lower the better.
It's interesting to consider what happens to this metric when you have a one page web site.
Does bounce rate matter when everything the visitor needs, including a conversion point, can be found on one page?
In my opinion, not really.
The same thinking applies if you look at each page on your site as a landing page or your entire site as a collection of home pages, each with a conversion point.
Our next move.
From a content perspective I think we've found that our perfect formula is a mix between valuable, usable content and intriguing, unique design. Nothing new here, but it's rewarding to put content theory to the test.
*Includes data from custom designed, feature posts only.
Though the interface and experience offered by our one-page web site has changed recently I think it's safe to say we'll be sticking with what works from a blogging perspective.