Although SSD launched in 2008, it wasn’t until the Spring of ’09 that we transitioned from hobby blog to a commercial website. Until yesterday, we featured the same WordPress theme slightly adapted from 2008. Personally, I’ve always liked the simple look of the site.
But yesterday, two different things happened, realizing site upgrades I’ve wanted for quite some time. First, we added a pop-up so readers can sign up for the new Soldier Systems Digest, the weekly email newsletter that folks have been asking for. Second, we updated the theme ever-so-slightly. This was done to keep it compatible with WordPress updates and to accommodate our newest feature.
Along with the theme update we instituted an improvement to SSD that has been a long time coming; a dedicated sales section. I’ve always looked at the site as an electronic newspaper. We publish multiple articles seven days a week and you’ll notice the newspaper mindset in the layout. One of the things I remember from my childhood was the sales inserts from various businesses that came with the paper. They were a part of the overall paper, but had their own place.
Now, up at the top of our site, you’ll notice a button that says “sales.” Push it and you’ll go to a section of SSD dedicated solely to sales announcements. This is a big win for everyone. First off, all sales will be in one place on the web. We expect this to become the hub for tactical sales thanks to SSD’s amazing reach so you’ll be able to find the most up-to-date sales information, Internet-wide. Second, our great audience means that companies will want to announce their deals on our feature site. Third, it moves the sales announcements, which can be quite heavy during holidays, out of the news feed and into their own dedicated space. Finally, I will no longer receive emails on Thanksgiving Day asking me to post someone’s Black Friday Sale announcement.
However, this new dedicated section means that we will no longer host sales for free for non-advertisers, as in the past. Now, it will cost them a small fee per post. Advertisers will receive discount codes which offer the service for free.
A company wishing to announce their sale will click on the “advertise” tab at the top of the site and be guided to an interface which allows them to create their own announcement. A member of the SSD staff will review the sale announcement for fidelity, clarity and applicability and then approve it for publication, a process that will take minutes. Obviously, we feel the need to maintain a “man-in-the-loop” for this process. If for some reason, the announcement is unsuitable, SSD will immediately refund the money.
I’d like to personally thank the marketing team at Beyond Clothing (past and present) for helping me out with this upgrade.
We look forward to the implementation of this exciting new section of Soldier Systems Daily and can’t wait to make it the Internet hub for the best deals on tactical gear.
