Last Updated on 09/07/2015 by Chris Gampat
Hey folks,
We’ve been working on a large number of changes here on the site to give you a better place to view content, but also just an overall better Phoblographer. Some of these changes have been in the works for over a year; and as we get closer to turning six years old at the end of December, we’re moving into a new stage of the site.
Our Content
First off is the big one: when we first started the site, it was all about doing reviews in a way that photographers actually use the equipment. I didn’t and still don’t believe that photographers sit there all day every day in a lab pouring over analytical data, numbers, and charts. Instead, photographers are way too busy trying to create better images and the people that are viewing those images aren’t going to sit there and pixel peep.
Reviews are still going to be a backbone for the site, but they’re going to be published at different times. Reviews have typically been published at the 12AM and 6AM EST time frame to accommodate to the world’s different time zones and the areas where the site is most popular: the US, London, Japan, India, Greece and Brazil. These time slots are now going to be reserved for artist interviews (what we call Photo Culture here on the site) musings, essays, the ISO 400 podcast and tutorials. With that said, the site is moving into a stronger direction of embracing the art world a lot more. We’re still going to have our tech roots, but we want to showcase the work of amazing photographers and even Editors and curators.
Reviews will instead be published throughout the day along with news and other cool stuff that we find. The result is the fact that we won’t feel as rushed to get them done and a slight tweak to our reviewing process.
It’s my vow that we’re going to be a completely different site than what everyone else offers and that the Phoblographer will always be unique.
This change starts later this week.
Design
The site is getting a bit of a facelift, not a huge one, but it’s going to change. Desktop users will see and experience the least of it, but mobile users are going to get something different. In fact, 75% of the site’s traffic comes from mobile and part of this could be because we were so oriented to it to begin with because we’re such a new site in the grand scheme of things. Be on the lookout for this when it hits later this year.
Advertising
The Phoblographer is also evolving a bit more in the way that we’re going to gain income. Sure, there are a couple of banner ads on the site; but the site is going to start doing something else.
Please bear with us to the end on this one as I explain.
The Phoblographer is going to start doing more sponsored posts. But they’re not going to be the types that you’d find on other sites. Instead, we’re working directly with the manufacturers to find a way to create content that you’ll actually care about. One example that we’ve been doing is the Fujifilm Xpert Advice series which you folks seem to love, and another is a recent post that we did with PhotoKeeper–and these posts will continue to be specifically marked as sponsored by someone. In fact, our idea with PhotoKeeper got lots of back and forth conversations going with the founder and you guys.
I don’t want you folks to feel like you’re being advertised to, or else I wouldn’t blame you for being angry at us. Instead, we’re fine tuning the content and working hard to make sure that they’re not putting a giant ad in your face. The result is something that you’ll actually want to read and care about reading. The posts will be educational while also fulfilling.
It’s exciting, and I promise you you’ll like it. Look out for more of these in the future.
Lastly I want to thank you all for being a reader and sticking with us this far into the game. We’re constantly working behind the scenes to make sure that we’re creating the best content we can, but we do so with a smaller team that we pay better than the majority of other photography-centric sites do; hence why we’re a smaller team.
Thanks again, and enjoy the future of the Phoblographer.
Sincerely,
Chris Gampat
Editor in Chief, Founder