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Hey folks, Ryan here. I’ve been wrestling lately with the current status of this site and it’s future. So I thought I’d put it to you guys and gals for some feedback.
When the site was forced to move domains (well not really forced, as that would indicate I had a part in the process!) it took a stiff bitch slap across the analytics. Pageviews and visitors are at a low I haven’t seen since before I started monitoring stats. Google hates the site. I’m not even sure where it turns up in search results for “Danny Elfman”. For reference, it used to be THIRD.
I was making good progress on a significant and hearty redesign of the site. Unfortunately I need to balance multiple projects and the small ones that pay always take the priority.
I wonder in this day and age of Twitter and Facebook whether this site has become irrelevant or useless. Long gone are the days when an Elfman fan had a handful of sources for information. That was basically the point in creating this site some 16 years ago. Now you have Danny’s agent sending personal missives on Facebook to psycho faux-fans who couldn’t tell you the difference between DOLORES CLAIBORNE and EXTREME MEASURES, BACK TO SCHOOL and SUMMER SCHOOL, or DARKMAN and DICK TRACY.
I don’t want this to come off as some angry rant. I’m seriously wondering what you think. Does MFADP have a place in the current and future internet. Would a redesign be worth the time and effort. What do I need to do to get traffic up to justify the entire endeavor?
Thank you for your thoughts.
Ryan
The first thing you should do is make sure everyone is aware of the new domain. If it wasn’t for your Twitter account, I never would have found this place. Secondly, since you usually get advance copies of Danny’s new albums, make video reviews for YouTube and post them on Facebook and Twitter and include links to the site. If that doesn’t work, consider expanding the site to include other composers. This place is, more or less, dead when there isn’t news on Danny and his movies.
This site, as it stands, feels irrelevant in this current age. Following MFADP on twitter or Facebook seems more logical to get what I want (information about Danny Elfman and his upcoming scores/CD releases) and to communicate with fellow fans. I love the site and have been visiting it since High School. But the times have changed. And I don’t feel the instance gratification here, like I do with various social media networks. We can connect strongly and more productively elsewhere. I love your work, Ryan. But I say, it’s time to retire this site.
Thanks so far, DIM and Monsterhead.
The next gen of the site will be WordPress-based. Commenting, sharing, etc. Twitter, Facebook, etc. All easy to do. If I can find the time
Interested to hear more. I know there are people reading this board. Let’s hear it!
I pretty much use this board and it’s one of only two that I even waste my time to write on. I LOVE the fact that we Elfmaniacs all have a forum like this and have follow some of my fellow Elfmanites forays into music and other endevors. I’ve had friends come and go on this site, and I consider this a social network just for us… It would be sad to see the forum go, so I would say this is what I love the most and I just have a hearty THANK YOU for you, Ryan! Bravo!
Hi Nat – thanks for that. I definitely want to retain the forum, however I’ve noticed some performance issues since porting it over from the old host (and it wasn’t easy!) I wish it ran faster, and was based on all-round better software. My hope is that with the forum and robust commenting on the site, people will be encouraged more to interact. If I can clear this winter/spring (I move into a new house at the end of May) I hope to dedicate lots of time to the site. Though I usually get inspired when a new Elfman score comes out – say, DARK SHADOWS. We’ll see. But we still need to figure out how to get Google love
Well, I noticed that there aren’t many new posts lately, but I’m pretty sure that a lot of people have no idea that the site still exists. It took me a long time to find it…
Anyway, I don’t want this web site to disappear. I know that Facebook and Twitter are a good way to communicate, but it will never replace this web site and this forum.
It’s been part of my life ever since I was a teenager. Every morning, I check my e-mail, and I visit this web site. I’d feel pretty much like an orphan if it should disappear….Hey Ryan,
Another member from “a while back” here…
First off, I fully agree with what has been said until now, so I won’t be repeating the same comments.
I do think that you could trim the website down to a minimalistic (in terms of theme and data) wordpress blog as (unfortunately) websites don’t rely on exhaustive content anymore but on instant interactions.
However, I do think a board is still pertinent as it is less intrusive and a more powerful tool than just a Facebook group. We are a very small community here but a durable one. We know our subject and are able to talk about more in-depth subjects than “I really love Tim Burton’s films because they are so different” or “What’s the track’s title of the Gremlins theme Elfman wrote” ? That’d be all over a Facebook group I’m sure. Even more geeky communities such as reddit have very poor knowledge in terms of film music, no to mention Elfman’s work.So my advice would be : keep this website as archive, go wordpress all the way, include a very small wordpress board plugin (something light and fitting our needs) and that’s it. From there, we could always build on top if needed as wordpress is such a malleable tool.
And finally : if you need help, don’t hesitate. I was toying with the idea to actually open an Elfman wordpress blog a few months earlier as I thought this one was shut down for good and thought I could fill the void. So, I’d be happy to help.
PS : if you could change my username to “DannyBiker” instead of “Danny Biker”, your soul will be blessed forever.
DannyBiker (yes, your new username – though you may need to login again. Same password, btw) very good points. WordPress obviously takes on a lot of the heavy lifting involved with a site this size. I’m looking forward to a time where I can just dash out an article/update without having to change five files. By the sound of things, the forum seems to be an essential component of the site.
Ryan
How about having members to this site contribute some content?… I actually helped out with Film Score Monthly when they first started taking reader contributions for their site and even wrote reviews for their paid online magazine. It is an easy way to get content without any time, money or effort on your part Ryan. I’m sure there are people who frequent this board who could contribute or even take on assignments. What do you think?
Hey Ryan – If a WordPress-based redesign makes your life easier, do it. But please don’t lose the forum. I’ve visited every week or so since 2005, and may completely lose site (!) of myself if there’s no reliable place to go for the Elfman skinny.
I’ve gone through 2 website redesigns in the six years I’ve been at my company. The first time they didn’t migrate any content, so we lost all Google gravity–and it took a couple of years to get back on the first page of results. The second time was done much more smartly, and by simplifying the main page, getting more user-desired content to the front, moving tertiary pages towards the top, and optimizing content for spiders, we’ve already seen a notable increase in visitors and visit duration (people staying on the site longer).
I’m sure you know all about search engine optimization, so I apologize if anything I say is pedantic.
The best way to get your Google ranking up is to have other sites link to yours whenever they talk about Danny Elfman. This requires varied, regular content, preferably on your main page. Headlines should always include the word Elfman, which should also be in the first paragraph of your post.
I handle social media for my company, and always tell people there’s no gurantee Facebook and Twitter will be around forever (and what about YouTube, Meetup, Foursquare, Gowalla, Tumblr, Google +, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, Flickr, Pinterest). And the way the two behemoths engage their vastly different user bases doesn’t necessarily facilitate the most solid community (Facebook users can “like” you but block you from their wall, so they never see your updates; For your Twitter, one post a week might get lost in the hundreds they read in a day). What all social media is good for, however, is to drive traffic to your site.
I would hate to lose our one trustworthy Elfman hub, and you’ve worked so hard and so well for so long to keep it alive. I know nothing about the technical side of things, but if you need some help with content development/execution–it’s high time I start giving back to something that’s given me so much.
But also, content doesn’t have to be a heavy burden (and shouldn’t even be lengthy these days given internet user’s incredibly short attnetion spans.) Even with the occasional meaty article, audio or video clip, or announcement, just train your Google Alerts for “Danny Elfman” and excerpt anything of ineterest that comes up. For example, I recevied some news items this week about the Ireland concert, and a quick post could have been.
Batman And Begorrah: Dublin Film Fest Features Musical Tribute to Elfman
Tickets are now on sale for Ireland’s RTÉ Concert Orchestra tribute concert to Danny Elfman, part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival [LINK] Entertainment.ie [LINK] says:
“Featuring some of his most well-known music from the movies, the orchestra, conducted by David Brophy and accompanied by New Dublin Voices, will perform extracts from Beetlejuice, Sleepy Hollow, Batman, Alice in Wonderland, Mars Attacks as well as music from those who influenced Elfman including Bernard Herrmann, Philip Glass and Erich Wolfgang Korngold.”
Shame the theme to GOOD WILL HUNTING with it’s Irish penny whistle solo [LINK] didn’t make the cut.
Or something like that.
Hope this helps and let me know if you need anything!
Shannon (aka @sajrocks on Twitter)
Hey Ryan,
I’m sorry to be so late to chime in…
I think the main event on this site is the forum, and I’d be excited if that can continue in some form. I think the WordPress idea is a good one…
Maybe the Elfman forum can become its own entity somewhere, and many of the MFADP feature articles that have amassed over the years can be archived either here or at Cinemusic.net?
In any case, thanks for the effort over the years… this site has been a huge part of my online life, but I understand that as we all get older, buy homes, possibly lease our fourth VW in a row, have children, etc., finding time to obsess over this subject like we used to has gotten harder and harder.
A wordpress site sounds like a good idea as long as the forums remain open. But in the meantime, consider the following:
– Set-up a Facebook fan page
– Get a Twitter account just for the site.
– Launch a YouTube channel
– Open a Tumblr blog
– Email all the members and keep them updated on the site’s progress.Right, I forgot about that. I still have my Spider-Man 2 videos up and I’m still waiting for the day they will ask me to take them down. Only got one mail saying that “one of your videos may contain some clips copyrighted to Columbia Pictures”. One? More like ten !
Facebook is essential. Tumblr, since it’s a blog, could help with your mini-reviews. And, YouTube rarely deletes videos these days. They just put an ad on it and make money from it. But if your video is entirely original and popular, they’re pay YOU to place advertisement. Consider that.
Facebook is essential for what ? To spread the community ? I really fear it will attract people who just know Elfman from the Batman or the Simpsons theme, with silly questions and topics, and will make us go away for good…
Gotta echo what everyone else is saying.
I’ve been with your site since the beginning in the mid 90’s, Ryan, but there’s a time and place for everything.
Making it a blog-type site while — and this is crucial – retaining the messageboard, would be a-ok with me.
Be sure to store all your material on your harddrive or something, though. You never know when it’s going to get useful. Keep is as your own personal museum (if you have the room).
Social interaction has become more important than exhaustive database information these days.
This is all very encouraging. I am certainly down with the idea of contributors – that’s something I’d hoped to have happen years ago! Of course if anyone is interested, and it sounds like some are. I’ll be taking you up on that!
I think once you get a look at what I’ve done with the site in WordPress you’re going to be excited. I’ll also consider my options for the forum. I’d like the system to run a bit faster, but there is a wealth of material here I’d hate to lose (I’m kind of locked into this one format due to the database size and structure.)
Ryan
I would too. I definitely appreciate this site. It’s great to have all the Elfman news in one place.
Not to rush you or anything, but what would be the approximate timeframe for this new, leaner site and board, Ryan?
Hi Thor — I’m a bit loaded up right now. I’m working on a site for Stuart Thomas (who works with JNH), possibly a redux for Nathan (AN ACT OF VALOR) Furst, plus big changes for Creature Features (Taylor White of Percepto). Not to mention I am also moving into my first house at the end of May!
Elfman is always a priority for me, so I will sneak in as much work once these three projects are cleared off my plate. There’s also the relaunch of Cinemusic, which is 95% ready… I just need to write new reviews!
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