The newest addition to the Squirrelinabox Network, How the Web Works, has just launched. It’s a new type of project for me, as I’ve not done a purely static informational site before. Topics include search engines, Web hosting, Web 2.0, and how websites make money. It’s purpose is to be an informational site that’s an introductory guide to the inner workings of the Web.

The site’s design is very basic, emphasizing the content and pretty much leaving the visuals plain. There’s also a good amount of ads on the site, as it is a project I hope to make a little money off of. It’s also site I won’t have to add new content to or update often since it is just a guide of sorts.

There’s not much else to say about it other than to tell you to go check it out and see for yourself.

Seeing as how it’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything, I figured I should give a few updates on some projects and such. First, the reason I’ve been a little slow on updates is because I’ve actually been looking for a new job the past couple weeks and just recently found one that looks promising that I’ll be starting in a couple weeks. While I enjoy this network and doing my own projects on the side, I do still have a full time career that takes up most of my time. I wish I could just work on my own sites all day long, but I can’t really live off the few bucks I make a month with web advertising (not yet at least).

Anyway, I do hope to launch a new site this week (maybe even launch it sometime this weekend - but no promises). It’s a purely informational site, and it’s definitely something different for me. When I do launch it I’ll be sure to mention it here so keep your eye on this space.

As for other projects, there are a few that are all kind of related in a way that I need to do them in order. This includes my store, a brand new project, and also some updates to a few existing sites. I’ve mentioned before that the store will be getting a new website storefront. What I don’t think I’ve mentioned is that the store is actually going to take on a new name that will hopefully help branding and marketing it better. This project is still a little ways out, but once it’s done I’ll hopefully be able to let on a little more information on a new project I have planned that will tie a few things together.

I would like to point out that last Thursday the BladeTVSeries.com site had an all time high visitor count of more than 1400. I haven’t had a site come anywhere near that, with the Blade site having a previous high of around 1000. It’s great to see the site grow, though it’ll be interesting to see how much the stats will drop off after the season is over.

One of the most interesting things I’ve noticed about blogging for a television series is how much of a pattern the visitor counts follow. With Blade: The Series airing on Wednesday nights, Thursdays prove to be the day I get over double my average number of visitors. Similarly, Wednesdays and Fridays seem to carry a residual amount, making those two days consistently above average as well.

It doesn’t even really matter what I post about on those days, they always seem to be the most frequently visited. As such, I’ve made sure to post my popular episode recaps early on Thursdays when I was previously waiting until Friday or Saturday to post them. I’ve been trying to publish good posts on the slower days, but they still don’t seem to attract near the attention as the previously mentioned days.

I think a strong reason for this is because much of my traffic is from search engines, and as such, most people do their Blade searches near the air date of the new episode. This obviously isn’t a surprise, but it’s still amazing just how much of a boost it is.

I will say that I’ve learned a lot from my short time covering a television show. It’s not at all like my other projects and it’s definitely a challenge staying on top of everything. I will also say that so far it’s a blast as the community behind the show has been very engaging and supportive.

So I’m the type of person that always has to be doing something. The problem is, I also like to keep changing up what I’m doing. This definitely comes into play with my web projects as I always seem to be working on a billion different things at once. Well, I guess the problem is that they aren’t technically all at once, but rather the process is usually me bouncing from project to project rather than just focus on one and complete it.

Right now, the main new developments I’m working on include a new content site, a new storefront to my store, phase 2 of the Wii Play site, and a new secret project. Also, I’m still working to keep my current sites going, which includes adding daily content to my blogs. For the most part, my current sites haven’t suffered from my new developments, though Almost True News is suffering a bit (I do plan on adding more content to that one soon). Also, Wii Play hasn’t had any new updates in awhile, though much of that is due to there not being that much news for Nintendo’s new console.

Now, I’m probably making my life harder by not concentrating on developing one project at a time, but it makes things much more exciting for me. Take the Wii Play site for example. The new developments I have planned for that include a decent amount of custom programming that will take me a few months. If I were to focus on just that project I’d be able to get it done a lot faster. However, I’d also likely to get burnt out quickly, maybe even sacrifice some features that I want to implement. As such, I like to mix it all up. But that means things, as a whole, go a bit slower.

The great thing is that each of the 4 main new projects are all at different stages of development. With the Wii Play site, I’m currently working on developing the code for it. The content site is fully designed and ready to go, I just need to add all the articles I have planned for it. I’m working on the design of the store as well as a few added features, and the secret project is still in the “idea” stage.

As it lays now, I’ve got projects in four completely different stages, which means everyday I don’t just choose what project I want to work on, I choose what kind of work I want to do (design, programming, writing, or planning). While I’m not sure it’s the most productive way of going about things, it sure makes it more interesting.

Well, I mentioned a new site was coming this week and here it is: Food TV and Me. The site is a blog covering various Food Network programs and chefs such as Rachael Ray, Alton Brown, and Ina Garten. If you’re a fan of the Food Network, or just cooking in general, you’ll probably enjoy this new site.

Now, I did mention yesterday that the new site would have something completely different with it that none of the other Squirrelinabox Network sites have. You see, I’m not the author of this new site. In fact, my younger sister is the Food Network fan who’s doing the content. I did setup and design the site, but the content is all her. It’s her passion for cooking and cooking shows that will be driving the blog, so head on over and check it out!

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