Erik’s Blog: Board Shorts and Business Suits

I made a quick switch today to the my blogs layout. For those who have visited some of the sites within my new blog network you may have noticed that the layout to all of these blogs is essentially the exact same. The only differences are the color schemes and a few of the ads to optimize for particular content. Aside from that they are the same. This has allowed me to spend more time on content development and promotion rather than worrying about all bells and whistles of the design. I am also using this method so that when people visit one of the blogs in the network they will know it’s a quality blog and know the publishers.

As for why I am switching from my previous rounded corners layout to this blog network layout?, the sweet video idea. I have been searching around Google Video, YouTube, and Myspace video recently for good world cup highlights and always noticed the embed video option. Wanting to put a video into my blog just cause you can I never could find the right time. Then an idea crept across the cobwebs of my brain and I decided that I would feature a new video every few days on my blog. Kind of a treat for those of you who visit often.

From there it just made sense to switch to the new blog layout. I like the advertisement placement that seems to be becoming standard on blog networks and also the square that is used for ads on my other blogs, will now be used for the featured video. You should be able to click on the play button and the video will just play. Don’t worry it isn’t advertisement, just a flick I thought you might enjoy. I’ll give a little blurb about it at the bottom and then let you decide if you want to play it. Since you have to click to play it the video shouldn’t interfere with load time and it has to be faster than the JavaScript rounded corners I was using.

Well there you have it. I am still working out all the kinks but I like the new look and I really think you will all enjoy the videos I select. This first one is the online Nike commercial featuring Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho Gaucho. Hey does some fancy dribbling skills at first and then appears to boot the ball off the cross bar of the goal several times returning it to his bottom each time. I have read several articles that claim this ad is bogus but it’s still a sweet commercial to get you psyched for the World Cup!

Go USA!!!