The rumors of my death...

May have been true

Not really. LOL

I've just been off doing things my way and relaxing and having fun these many months. Not having to deal with website pressures, who I've ticked off, etc. Basically I could care less about that anyway. Most of my time has been spent playing Neopets and just having a blast!

I was thinking about what I'm going to do with the website and felt some itching to get back into the game. But as I was thinking, a new idea and direction came into my head. While I ponder and pray over it the next couple of days, this is what I believe God has revealed to me:

1) Ditch the BrideFan nick as it's part of what's keeping me from getting the respect and requests fulfilled.
2) Let the BrideFan.com name expire and try and get the remainder of hosting time refunded (still have like 2 yrs on the pre-paid term)
3) Come up with a new domain name and website and start form scratch, although with some of the existing content (CD reviews, articles, etc) moved over.
4) try not to grow to fast and do too much at once. Let things happen naturally and in their own time.
5) Just have fun doing it and not to worry about running like a business. It will happen, just not when I want it to.

And that's it. I'll let everyone know when things are up and running and I'll check in again soon.

Kinda missed this place (and lost my bookmark of where it was LOL). So I'll be around quite a bit again.

Keith

Great to see you again Keith.

This is probably the most important part about what you said concerning your web-site.

BrideFan wrote:

5) Just have fun doing it and not to worry about running like a business. It will happen, just not when I want it to.

It's so good to see you back Keith.

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5) Just have fun doing it and not to worry about running like a business. It will happen, just not when I want it to.

Enjoy of life and all the good music and let God show you what's His meaning with your website.

BrideFan wrote:

2) Let the BrideFan.com name expire and try and get the remainder of hosting time refunded (still have like 2 yrs on the pre-paid term)
3) Come up with a new domain name and website and start form scratch, although with some of the existing content (CD reviews, articles, etc) moved over.

Just put your new domain on the old host and don't worry about hassling for a refund. BTW, ChristianHardMusic.com is taken now.

Good to see that you're not dead!


I hope you've gotten everything straightened out, and I look forward to you returning and talking music with us.

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Just put your new domain on the old host and don't worry about hassling for a refund. BTW, ChristianHardMusic.com is taken now.

I'll have to see if my host can do that, although I don't want the site to go live until 1-1-09 so I'll have to figure out how to 'hide' it while it's being worked on.

Plus I've never done this before so guess I'll have to open a trouble ticket with my hosting comp. and ask a ton a questions.

I already have a name in mind with a domain name - that's not taken

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I hope you've gotten everything straightened out, and I look forward to you returning and talking music with us.

Straighted out? Yeah...the head's mostly clear and thoughts are flowing again.

I really haven't kept up music wise in a long time. GUess I've got some catching up to do over the next few weeks.

Lots of catching up man, it is good to see you active again.

Great to see you again, Bridefan. The best way to run a website is to do it in a way that you can enjoy. My website is hardly at the cutting edge of things, and only gets an update once every month or so (last update was way back in march!!!) but that way I know there's no pressure in keeping things ablaze.

With my website I concentrate on 4 different bands, and only put major news, like new albums etc. That way if I feel like updating things I can, but if I'm busy I can just keep it to new albums reports and that's it.

Also a good thing to do is to keep it as cheap as possible. I update 4 different websites and it costs me nothing, apart from my internet conneciton fee (which would be the same if I had no websites). This means I know in the end I'm not wasting my money if I fail to update it, or decide to call it quits.

But, as you say, the main thing to do is to enjoy it!

Fundy

ps. In your absence I hope you haven't missed

Seventh Avenue's "Terium"
and
Mission of One's "S/T"

And after saying all that it made me go and update my website!

Fundy

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ps. In your absence I hope you haven't missed

Seventh Avenue's "Terium"
and
Mission of One's "S/T"

I've missed out on a lot of new music. I had gotten a couple of review CDs form my reps and just tossed those in the corner without a listen yet (I think the new Saint was in there). I did however manage to buy the Neviah Nevi CD. Not spun it yet, but thought I should support the local band (even though I hadn't talked to DeAngela via Myspace in a long while)

Welcome back. Good to see you here again.

Have you thought about running two sites at once?

First, how about continuing to maintain BrideFan but use it as a tribune site for Bride- including any Bride related reviews, interviews, articles, links, etc.

Second, design a second site which would include reviews, interviews, etc of bands outside of Bride. Instead of making it a magazine style website, turn it into more of a fan webzine (sort of like NoLifeTil metal).

Just a few thoughts...

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BTW, ChristianHardMusic.com is taken now.

AngelicWarlord.com is taken as well!

Dave!!!!!!!

Okay you feel like Norm from Cheers now?

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Have you thought about running two sites at once?

Nope, never thought of that actually.

Quote :

First,
how about continuing to maintain BrideFan but use it as a tribune site
for Bride- including any Bride related reviews, interviews, articles,
links, etc.

That might work...

Quote :

Second, design a second site which would include
reviews, interviews, etc of bands outside of Bride. Instead of making
it a magazine style website, turn it into more of a fan webzine (sort
of like NoLifeTil metal).

I really don't classify my current site as a magazine style. I'm looking to make the new one more Resource style along with CD reviews (old and new), interviews (hopefully I'll be able to get new ones), news (need to find a decent news source other than press releases, newsletters, etc),

One of my main problems has always been lack of contacts in the biz. Since I'm in Oklahoma (no music industry here) and my inability to get to Nashville and GMA.

DRReeves wrote:

Did someone say something about being MIA?

Now that is funny Dave (only because it came from you).

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I really don't classify my current site as a
magazine style. I'm looking to make the new one more Resource style...

That's cool. We need more good Christian music resource sites.

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interviews (hopefully I'll be able to get new ones)

I run the Angelic Warlord site and one of the challenges I face is setting up interviews with artists. The few interviews I have been able to line up simply fell into place- usually initiated by the artist or the artists management or label. I have had very little luck "cold calling" an artist/band and requesting an interview.

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news (need to find a decent news source other than press releases, newsletters, etc),

I get a lot of my news from frequenting the various music related message boards out there (CHM, CMR, etc). Another good source is a bands official website or the blog section of their MySpace page- usually check all that I link to once every 5 or 6 weeks.

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One of my main problems has always been lack of contacts in the biz. Since I'm in Oklahoma (no music industry here) and my inability to get to Nashville and GMA.

I can related to this in that I am from Phoenix- not exactly a major center for the music industry either. Lost track of the number of times I have sent requests to bands, labels, etc requesting promo material for review and have never heard back. One of the things I have learned since launching the site two years ago is that one of the best ways to support an artist is to first buy their CD and then review it.

Best of luck with your new site.

Great to see you around, Keith!