Changes To Almerimar Life Site

Back in November 2008 Andy one of our regular readers posed the question:

Love the blog, but have you ever thought of adding a Forum?

At the time I explained the reasons why we hadn’t, but that “We will do one one day I am sure, either on our own or in partnership ….”

Well that day has arrived!

Over the last couple of months the site has shifted direction somewhat, partly through design and partly through circumstance:

• The phenomenal growth of Twitter has resulted in a LOT more comment on posts, but not on the actual site!
• The number of emails received each day has significantly increased which is GREAT, but it takes a lot of time to answer them all, especially when we don’t know the answers!
• More and more businesses have asked about promoting their services, offers, promotions etc which again is GREAT, but not only does it take time to load the information, it also distracts from the articles on the blog.
• As we use Twitter, Video and Podcasts more and more the old site design wasn’t really up to the job

Add in the fact that we want to dedicate more time to the site in general and we decided to make a few changes including:

1. The introduction of the Forum in English, Spanish and German. We have done this with the help of several moderators, and with the intention of providing a genuine online community facility. We will add other languages as and when demand determines (so long as we can find reliable moderators).
2. More focus on Twitter, and the ability for readers to post their photos direct to the site
3. The introduction of a Newsletter with a weekly summary email of the last weeks posts just one of the features
4. A dedicated ‘Today In Almerimar’ section to show what is going on in Almerimar at a glance
5. MORE space for local advertising
6. A dedicated Expat News section
7. Aggregation of other news relating to Almerimar and Spain in a dedicated area
8. Dedicated pages for Links and Downloads
9. Introduction of a Facebook Group
10. And much much more!

The main objective of the site remains to make people more aware of what Almerimar has to offer. Blogging our life as Expats Living In Almerimar, Spain is one way of doing that and as anyone that has searched on google.com, google.co.uk or google.es knows we have a reasonable profile across the internet.

The new site has more ways and options to extend this coverage. On very simple way to look at it is that that more the residents, visitors and businesses of Almerimar participate in the Forum, Comments and Twitter, the more visibility the site will get across Google. It really as simple as that ……. a GREAT way to help make people more aware of Almerimar.

Of course the more people that visit the site, the more people will become aware of the opportunities that exist, and the goods and services that they can get in Almerimar.

At the same time we want to make even more people aware of Almerimar. We want to try and get to people that haven’t made their minds up where to retire, where to buy their holiday home, where to take a vacation etc.

Again the new site allows us to target better SEO across Spain and Europe. There will be a greater use of Spanish on the site, services that can be delivered across the internet will be promoted, and the Forum is naturally open to all.

Over time we hope that the site will attract a much wider audience and as a result make more people aware of Almerimar and as a result attract more people to Almerimar.

It will take a while! The Forum in particular will take a year or so to really get established, so whatever you can to to help will be greatly appreciated as ever!!

In the meantime despite all or best efforts I anticipate a few teething issues with the new site so please be patient, bear with us and let us know of any problems, faults, broken links etc that you come across.

Apart from that, thanks for your continued support of the site. Grab a coffee, or glass of wine and have a browse through the new site, I think you will like it!

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