PSDFAN is 2 Months Old
This post is just a quick update (OK a rather lengthy one) looking back on the past 2 months that PSDFAN has existed. More updates coming later today.
2 Months, 35 Posts and 150k visitors later…
Wow, I can’t believe that 2 months has already gone by since I started up PSDFAN! To be honest things have been amazing. I’ve been stunned by how well the site has taken off, and have to express my thanks to all my loyal readers/commenters.
Since launching at the end of June the site has gone from strength to strength. July drew in approx 50,000 unique visitors, whereas August reached over 92,000! The site has also been featured on some of the largest design blogs out there, including the world famous PSDTUTS!
I can feel a really solid community building, and I’m keen to continue this growth over the coming months. Speaking of which, this is probably a good time to let you know what to expect from PSDFAN in the future…
September
September looks to be a very exciting month for PSDFAN. After sitting down and thinking hard about where I want to take the site I’ve decided something important:
PSDFAN is going to become a more full-time project for me.
This isn’t to say that I’ve not given PSDFAN much attention up to this point - to be honest I’ve worked my butt off. However, despite loving what I’m doing here, it comes down to the equation that time=money. I simply couldn’t keep the site going without it drawing in a decent amount of revenue as it really uses up a lot of my time to keep updating, researching, responding to comments, developing etc…
On this note I have to thank my fantastic sponsors, all of whom I recommend you check out. These guys help keep the site running and I really appreciate their support.
With the support of such great sponsors I’m able to take PSDFAN to the next level. That’s why for September I’m going to be launching a Flickr group (more on this later today!) for my visitors to share their design works. I’ll also be hosting the first PSDFAN competition, so keep an eye out for that this week. There’s going to be more community, more contests, more tutorials and hopefully even more growth. I’ve even got an interview lined up with Fabio Sasso, one of my favorite all time designers (and owner of Abduzeedo.com).
Some Practical Changes
I’ve made some practical changes to the site today to deal with it’s increasing popularity.
First of all I’ve integrated a search form into the sidebar. Our archives are getting a little more full now, so I figured that this should help people find the exact tutorials that they’re after.
Hopefully today or possibly tomorrow I’ll be launching a resources page, which should prove really valuable to people. The resources page will simply act as a directory of web/design related tools and websites. Visitors will be able to suggest notable websites to be included.
I’ve also integrated a few more ad units. I don’t want PSDFAN to become inundated with advertisements, so have tried to keep ad placements tasteful and unobtrusive. You will see a banner ad above/below all tutorial posts, as well as a small icon ad beneath the main sidebar ads. Hopefully you guys won’t mind these too much, and to be perfectly honest they can only be a good thing. The more revenue that PSDFAN is able to draw in, the more time that I’m able to spend on the site, and the better it should become. If you’re interested in snapping up these ad spots then you can purchase one here.
Subscribe
I know that many of you are subscribing to PSDFAN via RSS, but I’d just like to encourage anyone who hasn’t yet subscribed to do so. I’ll do my best to deliver top quality tutorials direct to your inbox :).
A Shout Out to My Host
I’d just like to give a shout out to my web host, who have been absolutely perfect for the past couple of months. I’ve not been aware of any downtime, and they’ve handled the site’s growth very efficiently. If you’re thinking about purchasing any hosting yourself I’d highly recommend them.
They’re called This* Web Host (you can see their logo at the bottom of the sidebar), and they rock!
Check Back Later Today
I hope that you’ll check back later today, when I’ll be posting more updates and posting my next tutorial. Apologies for the disorganized update right now, but it’s late and I just wanted to finish August by looking back on the site’s progress.
The Flickr group should go live today, so look out for that. I can also tell you that our first contest will be in some way related to it.
Thanks again to all of you for taking the time to visit, and I’ll post again soon.
beets @ 4:20 am | September 1st.
awesome Tom… you should be very proud of what you’ve created here. Carry on, and best wishes.