Since the Space Wolves Blog was beautifully bodged together on Blogspot back in 2009, it's grown into a massive website with pages all over place.
It's quite different from how it started out with a structure of tactics articles intended to provide the ultimate resource for Space Wolves players.
Since then, much of the content has grown out of date and needs to be updated. Just take a look at this Grey Hunter Tactics page written in 2010. It still ranks at the top of Google and is one of the most popular pages on the website. But its in desperate need of an update.
Meanwhile, many articles (while interesting) never get read. People can't find them through search engines or the navigation. Or maybe people aren't looking for that kind of information in the first place?
Basically, there's just way too much stuff!
So here's what we're going to do...
1 - Move to WordPress
Blogspot has been an awesome platform, but there's only so much you can do with it.
There's also a lot of technical stuff that can't be done. But I won't bore you with the details.
WordPress on the other hand, allows us to create a REAL website, which can be structured as a resource website with added blog functionality.
I've registered www.space-wolves-grey.com, and with the help of some web developers from the Space Wolves Facebook page, I'll begin working on the new website shortly.
However, we won't cull loads of content and redirect the old site to the new site until after the new Space Wolves release.
I'd be a complete moron to rush a site migration and risk blowing the site up at such a crucial time.
2- Structuring a Resource of Information
A new website design will allow us to make essential information more easily available. This will also be mobile friendly, as so many people now view the website on mobile or tablet devices. Yes, the mobile version of this blogspot site is god awful, but it's "mobile friendly" by Google's standards.
The updated site structure will focus on a group of 'core' articles including:
Tactics (for all units)
Army Lists (covering all army themes)
Hobby (essential guides)
All of which will be accessible from the site wide navigation in the header.
This new navigation will have drop down links to all of the essential articles for each section.
This should make all the important stuff much easier to find instead of trawling through the current Label system.
Google Analytics gives us some very good insights into what people want most of the Space Wolves Blog, which are tactics, army lists and hobby support.
Obviously, Battle reports, Wolf & Sister and other sections will still have their place in the navigation.
3 - Looking Professional
The look and style of the blog has been about as consistent as Games Workshop's art department. It's all over the place!
For a time the blog was styled around Nacho Fernandez's artwork, then it was styled around cropped sections from the Njal Stormcaller wallpaper. And right now it's styled very differently. Yeah, it's not consistent at all. Which means it doesn't look very professional.
I feel that a consistent look and feel will help the website to have a greater sense of authority for new visitors who don't yet know how much information resides within it.
The blog posts aren't much better either, due to articles featuring images from Games Workshop art and photos of different people's miniatures. Just look at the most popular posts on the sidebar and you'll see exactly what I mean.
For the general design, I want to bring back Nacho's "1980s Saturday morning kids action cartoon" artwork.
It may not be in-keeping with any of Games Workshop's artwork. But it's clean, it's fresh, colourful and evocative. Most importantly, people seem to love it too.
Photos of Miniatures
However, we need photos of stunning miniatures to illustrate the 'core' articles as well. The issue with this is that I'm not the kind of player who has 1 of every unit. I tend to make a single, very well researched army list that I'm happy with and then I'll tweak it with minor unit additions over time. I only ever build and paint what I know I'm going to play games with.
Mark Denson on the other hand, has EVERYTHING! And it's all beautifully painted.
I caught up with Mark over the weekend, as we were both attending the 3rd Greetings From The Warp tournament in Northampton. Mark's an awesome guy with a real talent for airbrushing and washes. He also fronts a rock/meta band.
I was so impressed by his miniatures (and his huge collection) that I asked if I could photograph his army and use them to illustrate each of the 'core' tactics and army lists articles.
Thankfully, he doesn't live too far from me, so I'm really looking forward to meeting up with him, having a few beers, playing some games, talking about the hobby and taking some shots of his spectacular army.
4 - Less Updates, More Resources
If you're a follower of the Space Wolves Facebook Group, then you'll know that I post something awesome on there every single day.
It's a much more efficient place for instant 'check this out' posts.
I can also reach more people in this way than having to write and publish and substantial blog post each time something new comes out.
So for daily stuff, be sure to follow the Facebook page. For awesome resources of tactics, armylists, hobby guides and battle reports - that's what the website will be about!
Once all of the new rules (and possibly an updated Codex) drop, I will also be updating The Space Wolves Players Handbook. This will be made available at half the usual price for people who purchased the first edition.
Thank You For Your Support
The feedback I receive from you guys greatly helps to shape the Space Wolves Blog and what it offers to the community.
It's clear that people need (and really want) a resource to help them play the game well and build a strong list for the army that they feel most passionate about.
And you guys are the best fans that anyone could ever ask for - Fierce, loyal, courageous and generally very hairy!
Thank you for sticking with me through all my ups and downs.
I'm really looking forward to building you the best resource that I can for our army.
- Adam Smith