Reviving aesopian.com

[Aesopian]

Figured you F12ers would be happy to hear that I've finally started adding new BJJ content to my site that's not about what pajamas you wear. I'm taking questions and answering them, kinda like an advice column. Here are the two I've answered so far:

The two biggest mistakes

How to keep your grappling club from turning into a crapplefest

Let me know what you think of this format, and feel free to ask your own questions.

 

[Aesopian]

And before you ask, the answer to "Rickson vs Bruce Lee" is unanswerable because a quantum singularity would implode the universe if it ever were to happen.

 

[Ice 9 Cobra]

The crapplefest article is perfect for people starting University clubs too.

 

[Aesopian]

Yes, university clubs suffer from the same problems, which are made even worse by how whenever someone is starting to get the hang of it, they graduate, transfer away or get too busy with college classes, so you're always losing your members. This is what makes opening a school in a college town probably one of the worst ideas. College kids may be super eager to do BJJ, but they're also the most broke and least able to train regularly.

 

[Balto]

Yes, university clubs suffer from the same problems, which are made even worse by how whenever someone is starting to get the hang of it, they graduate, transfer away or get too busy with college classes, so you're always losing your members. This is what makes opening a school in a college town probably one of the worst ideas. College kids may be super eager to do BJJ, but they're also the most broke and least able to train regularly.

This is so true. People always get mad when I say it though.

The truth is that a lot of towns don't have BJJ because the people that populate that town would generally make terrible BJJ students for one reason or another.

 

[MaileJiuJitsu]

Yes, university clubs suffer from the same problems, which are made even worse by how whenever someone is starting to get the hang of it, they graduate, transfer away or get too busy with college classes, so you're always losing your members. This is what makes opening a school in a college town probably one of the worst ideas. College kids may be super eager to do BJJ, but they're also the most broke and least able to train regularly.

Lol. This is so true. You need the family with a disposable income and like 5 kids that need an extracuricular activity.

 

[georgwilhelm**]

Will you do another gi survey (I do realize that you are talking about your not gi related site here).

 

[Aesopian]

I'm not currently working on another gi survey, and honestly, the results of the last one showed me how little variance there is in the gi market, making me less interested in running it again. A more useful survey would be about gi companies and distributors' customer service. Ease of purchase, speed of shipping, how they handle returns, etc. makes a bigger difference than which of 10 Pakistani or Chinese factories made the gi.

 

[goatfury]

Sweet. I just posted a link to the "two biggest mistakes" article on my gym's Facebook page.

 

[100%Jiu-Jitsu]

I'm thrilled to hear that you are going to start updating your site again. I already sent you a question. (Actually, I was already bothering you with questions before you were soliciting them; now that you're in the business of providing answers, the experience should be more satisfying)

 

[deadlizard]

what happened to the red belt documentary?

 

[Aesopian]

what happened to the red belt documentary?

I gave them $99 and they sent me an autographed photo of Kyra Gracie. That's all I really know but they are probably still filming and editing.

Here's the latest Q&A, this time about the basics and that berimboloing white belt:

http://www.aesopian.com/2226/the-basics-are-dead-long-live-the-basics/

 

[Steelviper]

what happened to the red belt documentary?

http://www.dstryrsg.com/2012/12/dstryrsg-and-bjj-hacks-exclusive-bjj_17.html

They appear to update this the most often:
https://www.facebook.com/BJJHacks

 

[judogido]

Not to be too critical, but do you think a different theme would be called for?

I love clean themes, don't get me wrong - but seems a bit "skeletal" and spartan.

Not that I can comment, really - I've needed to update my drupal sites for ages but just don't have the time or energy...

 

[Aesopian]

Have you ever consider that I am skeletal and spartan?

 

[Aesopian]

Seriously though I'm looking for a better theme already. I've got some changes I want to make to the siet.

 

[ichimonji]

Have you ever consider that I am skeletal and spartan?

I have appreciated your site for a long time and have often used to to improve my own game.

I am glad you are back at it again.

Thank You.

 

[Porter]

I have appreciated your site for a long time and have often used to to improve my own game.

I am glad you are back at it again.

Thank You.

Me too

 

[judogido]

Seriously though I'm looking for a better theme already. I've got some changes I want to make to the siet.

My views:

1. Content is king. Without quality content no-one will bother visiting your site.
2. Design helps people focus on your content. Design should incorporate useability.

I am a BIG fan of simple webpage designs. The easiest text to read is DARK text on a LIGHT background. So IMHO your articles should be dark-on-light - with everything else being de-emphasised so people focus on your content.

I would also give VERY serious consideration to a responsive layout since there is a very large increase in the amount of traffic/views from mobile devices and tablets.

If you use Firefox, get the (free) Web Developer toolbar add-on, which lets you view a site in various responsive layouts.

The rest is a personal preference. But again, nothing beats keeping it simple so people do not get distracted from the main article.

aesopian.com has always been a quality site. All you have to achieve is to get a design to do justice to the content and make sure the design helps the readers benefit from the visit.