About once a year, I update this site’s theme. Mostly, it’s to keep things fresh, and to keep my Web skills sharp. The 2022 update is more dramatic than ones from previous years, so I figured I’d offer this post to explain.
This year, I needed to take a step back and do some wholesale restructuring of the site to get ready for the book launch.
Back in 2018, I decided I wanted to expand Christmas Past beyond the podcast, and into a content Website and YouTube channel. I added things to this site like quizzes, infographics, listicles, and several content categories. But I pretty quickly realized that it just wasn’t the direction I wanted to go after all. The audience simply isn’t there for year-round Christmas blog and Youtube content. And all that extra content was diluting the focus on the podcast. So, it was time for a change.
The focus for this updated design is mostly about reflecting the Christmas Past “brand,” and making it easier to find me online. In addition to a new design, I’ve also simplified the structure. I put some work into making it easier to find episodes of the podcast based on their topic.
I’ll continue to update the site with blog posts and news/events info, especially as we get closer to book launch.
What about “The Definitive Directory of Christmas Podcasts”?
In 2019 or 2020, I set out to create a page on my site that catalogued every Christmas podcast out there. But within a year, it fell badly out of date, with all the new Christmas podcasts flooding the market. Unfortunately, I just won’t have time to update it. Plus, it just doesn’t fit in with the content of this updated site.
So, “The Definitive Directory of Christmas Podcasts” is on hiatus for the time being. I may revive it — or something like it — in the future as a separate, standalone site.