Plans for Thailand’s Lost Boy blog
So what does everybody think about the new Lost Boy logo? In a bid to remove the enormous, distracting header that I’ve been using for about six months, I’m working to simplify this blog’s layout for the benefit of the readership. That means a small, catchy Web 2.0 logo instead of a full header. Over the next couple of weeks I will also be using a new, cleaner theme to more effectively utilize space.
One thing I am thinking of doing soon is creating a “links” page. I’m asking this to everybody who has a link in my sidebar: Would you mind if I moved all of those links to a specific page, because at the moment, there are way too many outgoing links on my homepage and they are cluttering up my free space? You’ll still have the benefit of being linked to from a PR4 blog, but your link will be moved to a new page. If you’re against this idea then say something here.
Other than that, I will be reintroducing Adsense at some point, either with this theme or the new one. I’m not selling out, but once my pages are re-indexed by Google, Adsense will be a decent earner and I have some plans to step up the promotion of this blog over the next few weeks.
I’d love to hear any thoughts.
By the way: That logo cost me just $10. If you want one of your own then drop me a line and I’ll put you in touch with the designer.
August 31st, 2007 at 6:34 am
looks better without the header ….
August 31st, 2007 at 7:26 am
u better move the links the a page.. coz right now they look like ads on your blog can be misleading. but then again people will lose traffic referred from your blog but oh well.
August 31st, 2007 at 7:47 am
Some of the links look like ads because they are ads. I can’t move those off the front page because they are paid for in deals already. I need to move the links to other blogs cos there’s just too many of them. I will probably move the ads to the footer or somewhere similar.
August 31st, 2007 at 10:44 am
I don’t think it’s too cluttered. I like the list of Thailand blogs and like getting a nibble of traffic too!
PS - Hi Kitty, I sent you an email and have added a link to your blog
August 31st, 2007 at 11:07 am
10 dollars ?? Surely you could have made that yourself? even using MS-Paint! Did u use the guys who made the London 2012 Olympics logo?
I think you missed an opportunity… you could have set up a competition where readers send in their designs and then you use the winning entry. That way you get a free logo while creating another means of attracting viewers..
August 31st, 2007 at 11:34 am
It’s a Web 2.0 logo. It uses fonts I didn’t have and effects I don’t know how to make. Reader-competitions for logos aren’t generally productive, but if you can do something better then send it to me. Otherwise, what’s $10? The most effective logos are the simplest.
August 31st, 2007 at 11:38 am
You could do with making the logo a bit bgigger, too much widspread at the top.
August 31st, 2007 at 11:44 am
It’s that size because of the new theme I’m working on.
August 31st, 2007 at 1:17 pm
OK, yes. There was too much white space. Until the new theme is ready I have nothing else to put there so I’ve added an Adsense block for now. I think it still looks pretty tidy so now worries.
August 31st, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Doesn’t anybody like the logo? :(
August 31st, 2007 at 3:23 pm
your logo looks like a mixture of the macedonian flag and kinder schokolade/chocolate, strong icons. kinder for you maybe just a brand name, but in german it means children. and of course the flag is not the macedonian, more the red and white rising sun japanese military flag but why in the macedonian colours and what have it to do with a blog from thailand? so for me you ’simple’ logo have a lot of references to other meanings or stay in context with them. confusing me.
and if you google the first 4 words of your meta tag content keywords and ‘LB’ you may find out what allways springs to my mind if i see your fav icon. give the whole meaning of ‘lost boy’ a new spin. not really confusing me, but make me smile.
and i hope you didn’t get our last talk in club culture wrong. i don’t mind when you make money with ads, feel free to do. just the place between the article and the comments section was ugly.
and yes, collection and present your outgoing links on a subpage is a good idea. and give them better describing subject headings.
may you should alsp place the archives links on the right side, because i used to find them in other blogs mostly on this side.
August 31st, 2007 at 5:14 pm
instead of that random sun thing, how about incorporating the letter S from the word ‘LoSt’ into a bird’s eye view of a maze.. if u know what i mean.
August 31st, 2007 at 7:24 pm
I once got lost in a maze at Longleat in England. That was a great day. The only way I could get out of the maze was to push my way through a hedge.
August 31st, 2007 at 8:03 pm
mmm…err…
i have been staring at the logo for the last 15 minutes or so and all i can think or do is smile…:) neat. but i have yet to decipher what it means…if it should mean anything :)
anyway, was away from this blog for a long time…got lot of catching up to do. will read rest of the articles…
September 1st, 2007 at 1:00 am
Yes, I mean “white space”, sorry
The ads, are they necessary to be at the top?
Personally (speaking), “TheLostBoy” does not stand out because the square is too big. When you look at the logo, you will notice the square before the name. What does the square signify anyway? Yes, I agree there are too many links.
You just need to tidy tge blog a bit, I think.
September 1st, 2007 at 1:10 am
Sorry, I mean you just need to tidy the blog a bit. What the heck is wrong with me today? I keep misspelling. Maybe I should tidy myself too.
Don’t worry too much. In general, your blog is pleasant to look at, especially the colour. I think it is lovely.
September 1st, 2007 at 2:56 am
I feel that the font used for the logo seems a little too ‘cute’ for the ‘lost boy’ else, it’s nice. Your blog is an informative blog so if you move the links to another page, can you leave the links to useful information/resources on your main page for convenient navigation? :)
September 1st, 2007 at 3:15 am
Sooksiam, have you been drinking?
Sanne, I will leave some important links sitewide.
September 1st, 2007 at 4:22 am
mmmm…I don’t know. It’s a little commercial for my taste and not what I’m used to for a personal bog, but I understand your desire to clean up your blog’s look and maximize space:). As for links, I wouldn’t mind. I just moved all my links to a separate page. I still don’t know what people think of it, but I like having space to write a little blurb about each one. I used to be a PR4 blog, but I removed myself from Google, so now I’m a PR 0 blog, haha.
September 1st, 2007 at 4:31 am
It’s for branding!
September 1st, 2007 at 1:12 pm
Am I not good enough to go in your blog list Matty? :-(
September 1st, 2007 at 8:26 pm
well, i like the color and i don’t mind if you move the links … there are too much , it’s confusing !
i think your logo looks small cuz of the space the ad is taking up next to it … or is it too close together ?
September 1st, 2007 at 10:04 pm
Consider yourself added RnW. It’s an oversight you’re not already.
September 2nd, 2007 at 2:34 am
Matt, allow me to rave about the the old look: the juxtaposition of the three photos made quite an impression on me. You have an obvious knack for this kind of thing.
With some tweaking, the new look shows promise. It’s rather too early to evaluate the total effect of your new scheme. I suspect that once you have cleared away the links, ads, and other stuff at the top of the page, the overall impact of your new logo scheme will be greatly enhanced.
September 2nd, 2007 at 12:15 pm
I really like the new logo. Yes, the flag resembles a bit the Macedonian flag, that was also my first thought when I came here the first time, but it is soon clear it is about Thailand.
The only strange thing are the ads next to it. A while ago you wrote about the stereotype thinking about Thai women and I fully agreed with you. But now you are “offering” Thai women for dating and Thail women looking for love. On the other hand, we are all grown ups and should be able to see what is your opinion and what is Google’s. Right?
I would not change the links to another page. It’s not too busy and sometimes your weblog had the tendency to load very slowly. Changing to another, also slowly loading page, is not something I like.
September 2nd, 2007 at 1:11 pm
The ads on this blog do not represent my opinion; they represent me covering my server bills, etc. I’m not a particularly big fan of liposuction, but people are free to do what they want. It’s also difficult to make money with Adsense if you start filtering out ads.
The page was loading slowly partly because there were too many links. Removing the links from the homepage (as I’ve done) means that the page can load quicker. I’ve also removed a few of the graphics and buttons, changed the number of posts on each page from 10, down to seven, and now down to five, and got rid of anything that isn’t directly necessary.
keep the feedback coming!
September 2nd, 2007 at 8:54 pm
@ Vanalli: I know the ads are not your opinion. It’s Google Ads. Sometimes quite amusing. Here in Holland is a news site which has Google Ads underneath each story. And the ads are automatically chosen depending on the content of the story.
How sad the story sometimes is, the ads are sometimes very funny.
I think removing the graphics etc improved more then removing the links. But I like it this way.
September 9th, 2007 at 8:37 am
I prefer the new design. Could you share your logo designers address with me Matt? I really need to replace the 5 minute logo I made for http://www.bangkokdiaries.com.
Only complaint I have is that everytime I click on the reply box, I get redirected to http://www.soulcast.com. What’s up with that?