Comments on: Strib’s Vita.MN – Twin Cities New Entertainment Guide

By: TaulPaul

TaulPaul — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 16:19:58 +0000

Just a side note. Can we all just get past the header photos or illustrations used of the downtown mpls skyline?

By: Garrick Van Buren

Garrick Van Buren — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 16:14:07 +0000

Derrick, thanks for the background on ‘sotanlife.

My speculation was around vita.mn.

By: TaulPaul

TaulPaul — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 15:52:14 +0000

See Garrick, someone thinks I’m sharp. If only just one. I’ll have to look again at SL, since it was only a baby when I looked last.

By: Derrick Shields

Derrick Shields — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 15:47:08 +0000

Garrick: Yes and No. It’s partially Ad-Supported, and partially supported by the Featured Establishment Listings and the interactive video commercials that are on the site.

RSS and iCal are definitely in the works, and personally I doubt that implementing RSS would affect the click-thru rate, given that most people who use these features are also probably sharp-enough to glaze over ads anyway.

When I joined the team at SotanLIFE, I was wearing a variety of hats from web designer to web developer to search engine marketer. I was given a product that (I feel) was about 25% complete: there was almost no interactivity at all. (Only last week I added a feedback section for registered users to leave feedback on venues.)

Currently in the works are everything we discussed: Not only RSS and iCal/yCal Integration, but simple features that SHOULD have been implemented at launch such as commenting, customizable profiles, etc.

On top of all that, I need to redesign the entire UI to take better advantage of screen real estate, and bring the content front and center.

So, I promise that all these things are coming, and I appreciate the feedback — both positive and negative — from everyone.

By: TaulPaul

TaulPaul — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 15:38:56 +0000

Yeah, I forgot that advertising comes before ease of use. I just signed up, and it seems to have potential. Interesting tags thus far:

Chill Downtown Eco-friendly Martinis Brunch

I could do this all day.

It’s like magnetic crack poetry.

By: Garrick Van Buren

Garrick Van Buren — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 15:26:17 +0000

TaulPaul,

I’m guessing it’s because the site is ad-supported and these days ads are sold and measured on pageviews and clickthrough.

iCal and RSS live outside of those models.

By: TaulPaul

TaulPaul — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 15:21:05 +0000

What’s with the hold-up on the iCal and RSS features?

By: Derrick Shields

Derrick Shields — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 15:14:03 +0000

Thanks for your kind words, Darrel. We’ve considered variations of the name to make it more identifiable at first glance, but once people get it, they get it. What did Google mean to you when you first heard that term?

And yes, we are the midst of doing some revisions to the logo, although I was mostly joking about the reflection part!

By: Darrel

Darrel — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 14:50:25 +0000

sotanLife looks nice!

If you do make a new logo, consider an apostrophe:

‘sotanLife

I was stuck sitting there going “so tan life? Tans? In MN? Huh?” before I finally got it. ;0)

By: Derrick Shields

Derrick Shields — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 06:30:31 +0000

Mark: Are you serious? Why do you want them to stop? We were just getting ready to unroll a logo with reflection on sotanlife.com, since all the “cool kids” are doing it…

Garrick: Thanks for all your input/advice/feedback on SotanLIFE the other night at MinneDemo. The various things that we talked about are definitely in the works to provide a better user-experience for all visitors of the site. Of course, it’s no FeedSeeder by any means But you have to start somewhere, right? Thanks again for your input!