It only took us two and a half years, but we finally have a new website! There wasn't really anything wrong with our old one. We host through Buzzsprout, and just used the site they provided, because it was easy and required almost no upkeep. However, as we continue to grow, we are needing access to features that our old site just didn't provide.
I went through a ton of different website host and builders. Wordpress, Squarespace, Wix, etc. All the big ones. In my research, I discovered one important thing. I SUCK at website design. Like, bad. I have this great vision for what I wanted in my head, but I could never turn that vision into a reality. I love all the freedom and uniqueness that something like Wordpress provides, but after a few days of messing with it, I realized I was way in over my head. I'd love to learn how to design a great website from scratch, but right now, I just don't have the time.
After a ton more research, I ultimately landed on using Podpage. Now, I don't want this post to seem like an advertisement for Podpage, because it isn't. (Though all of the links here are affiliate links :wink: ) Really, Podpage just has everything we need right now. It has our episodes, a blog, a newsletter, and the ability to create costume pages, like our 'characters' page. It even auto updates, which is a huge time saver! Whenever we upload a new episode to Buzzsprout, Podpage notices it, and updates our website right away. I mentioned earlier that my time is pretty limited these days, so this feature is a huge sell for me. The only negative thing about Podpage is the templates. Don;t get me wrong, they are pretty awesome, but there aren't that many. One of the major things we wanted in a website was to be unique. We wanted our website to stand out from all the others. I think right now, its unique enough, but as Podpage grows in popularity, I think we will start seeing a lot of similar looking websites. Luckily, I have a plan for the future which makes that not really a problem.
The official Knights of Degradation website is really a three phase project. We eventually want it to be a huge hub for not only our show, but for the huge world we are building in it. Here is a simple overview for what we have planned.
Get a new website with more features that allow us to better communicate with our audience. This includes a blog and newsletter. Podpage even has a 'voice message' feature that allows our listeners to leave us audio messages that we could eventually play on our show. This phase also includes the introduction of channel memberships, which can be read about HERE.
We have had a lot of people request merch for the show. This is something we are really excited about doing, however, we want to do it right. We are taking our time in figuring out the best way to incorporate merchandise. Just slapping our logo on a ton of print on demand items doesn't seem right. Just like with everything else, we want to do it in our own unique way. Just slapping our logo on a top of print on demand items doesn't seem right.
We are also working on creating a detailed map of the world. At the time of writing this, we have only now just let Odlot, so I don't think we have created a big enough world for this to be something worth doing yet. My hope is that we do a ton of exploring this year and really create a detailed and exciting world. Once we have done that, we will create an amazing map.
Phase Three of our website will by far be the most exciting, but its also going to take the longest. By this point, I will have either mastered website design, or the show is making enough to hire someone to do it for us. It'll be 100% unique and have all the lore and history of our world. We eventually want the world of Knights of Degradation to be so big, that it takes an entire website to contain everything it has to offer. Of course, the world will always be growing, so once this phase starts, it'll hopefully never end!
I know this post probably just seems like a really long winded way of saying "Hey, check out our new website!" but it's really just another step on the incredible journey that we are on, both in and out of game. We are extremely proud of the work we have done thus far, and are excited for what's next.
