A new site is coming and it’s a whole revamp of DIYBride. I’ll be moving toward a community-based model that’s lead with a monthly magazine-type format and a smaller blog. This has been in the works for over 2.5 YEARS now and wasn’t to be released until later this year. Instead of trying to fix ongoing problems with the old site I made the executive decision to start the transition now. The time + technology seem to be aligning so the process will begin this weekend.

Here’s what’s coming up:

Magazine format – A collection of projects and articles centered around a central theme. The Vignette series I began last month is part of that and was to serve as the beta.

DIY Blog – will still be active but will take on a different role.

Community – Social Network for better connectivity and sharing within the DIY community.

Better navigation and overall structure to the content on the site. After 7 years, there’s a lot to wade through with bunches of obsolete things that can be culled.

Shop – I’ll be bringing on specialty vendors to sell their one-of-kind supplies and wares.

Online Classroom – I’ll be teaching online classes and will be bringing in experts to host classes and workshops as well. Crafting, wedding, and business topics will be offered. Free and fee-based courses are in the works. I’m so freaking excited about this I can’t stand it!

Galleries for showing off killer projects and weddings.

Downloads section will remain.

And some other goodies to be announces later.

This is the vision I’ve had of DIY Bride for many, many years now. My first real business plan for DIY in 2006 had many of the above elements but, for reasons too numerous to list, didn’t manifest until now. It’s exciting to see some of it finally coming to life and in ways that are much better than I had originally envisioned.

Thanks for your continued support!

I am working on a very special project for engaged military couples. I am seeking partners, sponsors, and business participants in all areas of the wedding industry. Sorry to be so cryptic but I want to keep the big surprise for the couples. If you’d like to learn more, please pop me an email at info {at} diybride [dot] com or use le contact form.

• The team at Envelopments, who happen to be some of the nicest people on the planet, launched their own blog.
• My friends Saundra Hadley and Jennifer Jasiczek have teamed up to bring Saun’s {Get Real} Sales Training Workshop to the fine citizens of Texas.
• Eventology, The Science of Running a Successful Wedding Business,  has a few open slots remaining for this year’s event. Register now!
• Preston Bailey and Marcy Blum, undoubtedly the best-known and most-respected talents in the industry, are opening their doors for a mentoring weekend next month.
• The Wedding Report, an industry statistics and market research center, reports the average cost of a wedding decreased last year to $19,581 from $21,814 in 2008.

Q: What program(s) do you use to track your site traffic?

A: I use a variety of programs because I think it’s unwise to rely on any one source for statistical information. I firmly believe that server stats are the most accurate; afterall, they collect 1st hand data directly from my website in real time. 3rd party providers don’t have direct access to that info and rely on data gleamed from other sources and their own nifty algorithms/voodoo. Every software package flaws and strengths. Some collect data that the others don’t. Some have nifty gadgets and others have pretty interfaces.

There are often HUGE discrepancies in the numbers reported from one source to another. Last month two of the sources had a difference of 17,000+ unique visitors, for example, and that happens fairly often among the sources I use. So I like to have a means to double-check and compare inconsistencies.

[edited to add: Here are some sources that I have used/continue to use as part of my stats analysis.]

• AW Stats and Webalizer are my primary sources because they use data directly from my server.
• Google Analytics, to some extent (though not lately because I always forget the code when I update blog themes and I really, really hate their TOS), as my primary 3rd party source
• CyStats plugin on WP
• Mint plugin on WP
• Quantcast as my other 3rd party source

Q: How long do you think you’ll do DIY Bride?

A. For the foreseeable future. I have big plans for expansion and growth of the DIY Bride brand.

Q: Is DIY Bride really trademarked?

A. Yep, it’s a fully registered trademark. You can do a search at the US Patent and Trademark Office to see for yourself if you’re so inclined.

For those of you who have not yet trademarked your business name, please do so straight away. My lovely friend, Terrica, recently lost her bid for the trademark for the brand name she’s been cultivating for years to someone who unscrupulously applied for the TM a day before she did. Read about it here and then get your butts over to the USPTO. Protect yourselves!

Q. When is your new book coming out? Can I get a review copy?

A. The Crafty Countdown will be released on 13 December. My publishers are providing a limited number of review copies to the media and established bloggers in the wedding and crafts industries. Shoot me an email if you’d like to be included on the list. Please include your name, blog URL or the media outlet you work for if you’re not a blogger.

And my favorite of the week:

Q. Why do you hate vendors so much? (This was in response to the posts about catching scammers.)

A. I don’t. I adore many, many vendors in the wedding industry. I fully support the use of vendors and advocate that my brides use vendors whenever DIY doesn’t make sense for themselves.

What I don’t like is when vendors try to take advantage of me, my site, my readers, or the wedding community. There are a multitude of unethical individuals in our midst and I have zero problem pointing them out and teaching my colleagues how to spot them on their own. The more we talk openly about this stuff, the better our industry will become and the less likely we’ll fall prey to predatory vendors and scammers.

Most common email topics:

• Where can I find xyz? (22% of total emails rec’d)
• Please send me xyz file. (8%)
• Can you help me with xyz project? (8%)
• Will you donate <a product, your book, some projects> to my wedding/blog/event? (5%)

If I devoted 1 minute per non-spam email, that’d be 34 hours spent last month just reading mail. Crazy!

I’m happy to share my experiences with publishing but it’s important to know that there are as many routes to getting published as their are publishers. My path likely won’t be the same as yours; yours will be vastly different than the next person.

In 2005 I was approached by a book packaging company. [Note: Book packagers are companies that develop book ideas and look for writers to execute them. (This is an oversimplified description of what they do; many offer a vast array of services to the publishing industry.)]

The partner who contacted me had recently had a wedding and was familiar with my site from her forays into planning her own weddings. She thought a DIY wedding crafts book was a good idea, liked my site, and wanted to know if I wanted to partner on a book.

After doing some research about the company I said yes.  It took a few months for us to develop a solid book idea and to create a proposal to shop around to publishing houses. We received multiple offers, went with whom we thought would was best and then I wrote a book. (Again, this is an oversimplification of the process. )

2.5 years after I was  first contacted my debut book, The DIY Bride, was released. Even though I had an amazing team working with me to get the deal it was a long, hard process.

Jenny Hart from Sublime Stitching has a fantastic article over a Venus about getting a book deal. She’s 100% spot on and wonderfully articulate so I won’t rehash the normal process to authordom here.

Modern Bride is very dear to me. They were the first US bridal mag to feature some of my projects. MB gave me good exposure with brides and a bit more credibility in the industry. I’m forever indebted to them and am sad to see them go.

In 2002 there were 69 bridal magazines. In 2007 there were 135. It’s an oversaturated market; fallout was expected but not among the well-established titles. Publishers are having a tough time competing for advertising dollars and for content with online media and niche publications.

While blogs are fab, there’s a lot to be said about picking up a beautifully shot and styled print publication.

I wish I had something more eloquent to say here. I don’t. I’ll leave with the hope the new magazines  popping up have an opportunity to grow and thrive.

As a long-time blogger and published author I get a lot of questions about what I do and how I do it. That’s generally not a problem. In fact, I’m rather flattered and genuinely enjoy sharing about my experiences. Unfortunately, as DIY Bride has exploded in the last year or so, I have less and less time to do any one-on-mentoring for anyone not directly involved in the operation of this site. I do have spare time every now and then to post about the business side of DIY Bride and thought it’d be fun to share the craziness that I go through to be a new mom, a wife, an entrepreneur, a blogger, and a writer.

I look forward to exploring  some of the most asked “behind the scenes” questions I get from other bloggers, writers, and entrepreneurs. Your comments and questions are always welcome and I look forward to meeting you.