The hairy part was that the new site now resides on a new server. The specs of the server are pretty hilarious in terms of overkill with loadbalancing and insane amounts of ram and 64-bit processors, etc. The server is now in the same rack as the database servers. That will help as they have a 1GB direct connection to one another. The speed of the site is much improved. I still have to work on the weight of the HTML, but for now, it cruises along.
The trouble with rolling out a new design is always a bit sketchy. However, when the site is staying on the same server, you can roll out in phases and manage the bugs as you go. When moving from a new server, you almost have to do an all or nothing type of switch. I made the change in the DNS admin to flick the switch. That first hour was a bit hectic, but a lot less issues than I had thought.
We've finally caught up on all of the fixes and are rolling out new features at a rate of one per day. The cumulative effect of the new features will be huge. Like a lot of people, we developer, roll out, bug fix, fine tune the interface, and revise. Then start again. Seems to work well for us.
We are focusing on providing sellers with tools to increase their sales. There is a decent amount of competition in our area now and customer acquisition is getting harder. Therefore, we are focusing on increasing revenues by increasing the revenues of our sellers. We can do this using the same techniques we use to promote our own site. It really helps those sellers who do not have the time or expertise in marketing on their own.
A new design for the PayLoadz Store will be rolled out. The Ad Syndication System is going to be upgraded in the next few days along with a ton of behind the scenes improvements.
Thank you all for the support you have shown us over the years, it is appreciated.
Shannon
