Ron Mertens' blog » ExpressCard

Updating designs…

Ron Mertens — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 10:46:19 +0000

A long time after I updated OLED-info‘s design, I finally did it for my other older blogs – Spintronics, MRAM and ExpressCard. I think they look better

Drupal 5.8

Ron Mertens — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 05:50:24 +0000

So I finally decided to make the move – upgrade all my drupal web sites from 4.7.4 to 5.8. I have 6 of those sites. It took me several days to actually succeeded in upgrading one of them… so many small bugs and stuff to sort out. But it worked in the end.

Anyway I already upgraded u3-info and expresscard-info, and will continue to upgrade the rest.

Finding a graphic designer in eLance

Ron Mertens — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 10:45:30 +0000

I’ve been looking for someone to do some graphic design for me (what with my favorite graphic designer not being available).

I decided to try an on-line site to find it. I chose eLance, and I must say I’m happy with the experience. I had to write a short project description (my project was pretty simple – a graphic design for expresscard-info, just like the oled-info look and feel), and then after a few days I got 12 bids. Choosing the right bid was difficult – but then I got a bid from someone who’s given me a great price and also had the best portfolio of them all. So I chose him, and after one day got my first revision.

It took a few revisions to get it right like I wanted (they give you unlimited revisions in the price, which is another reason that I chose this provider), but after a few days I had my graphic design ready. Paying was a bit of a hassle (I had to wire-transfer the funds to eLance) but it worked.

So now the new look is online. Check it out… and tell me what you think.

All in all? It was a great experience, and a really nice way to do find freelance help. I have more info on the metalgrass blog…

Metalgrass network update

Ron Mertens — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 10:43:47 +0000

I finally finished working on my current 5 sites.

OLED-Info has been updated to a CMS system (drupal). This was a lot of work (mainly to convert the old data), but it’s been worth it. Traffic has gone up, and page views has a doubled. Revenue has also doubled, more or less. I’ve got in touch with several more OLED companies, and should post some new interviews pretty soon.

U3, Spintronics and ExpressCard have been updated. I’ve made a new template (graphic wise). It looks lame, but it is at least consistent with my main sites, so it’s easier to work with. When/If the traffic will grow, I’ll have someone design the sites with good looking graphics.

Results of all this work? October has been the best month ever (both in AdSense revenue, and in total Metalgrass revenue).

So now I have to decide what to do next. More small sites? Or maybe start working on a larger-scoped project? Or invest even more time in OLED-Info? Not easy decisions.

ExpressCard-Info launched!

Ron Mertens — Mon, 22 May 2006 16:49:25 +0000

And here goes another web site: ExpressCard-Info is now officially on-line. It’s another Drupal-powered site. I’ve now got 4 sites on-line. The fifth is on the way, and the plans are then to stop, re-design my existing sites and focus on them, and on the sharewares.