Site Update: August 2010

It has been quite a while since we had a site update and there have been lots of changes so I thought it would be a good idea to fill you all in on the latest happenings in the Listverse world. A lot happens behind the scenes that hopefully you, our readers, don’t realize but benefit from. So read on and get up to date!

Traditionally on my birthday (August 31) I write an extra vanity list about myself. Previously I have done a list of my favorite books, films, and lists. This year I want you to tell me what to write my list on. I will take all suggestions and pick my favorite (it is my birthday after all!)

After three years of running we finally decided to start managing our own ad campaigns (well, at least some of them). We are now able to serve adverts based on geolocation and a variety of other variables. This will help us to provide adverts that are more intuitive and of interest to our readers. An extra benefit to doing this is that some ad serving should be faster and less clunky.

We are considering offering a special premium type of user account at Listverse. For a small monthly fee (most likely 5 – 10 dollars) premium users would have access to three extra lists each week – lists written by both me and paid premium content writers of my choice. In addition, these users would see no adverts on the site. Non premium users would continue to get their usual seven free lists per week – so this would mean an addition of content for some and no change for others. It would be entirely optional. I am very interested in hearing what you all think about this option and whether you would become a premium user.

You may have noticed that we are running a survey on the site. This is entirely for demographic information as advertisers often like to know more about the audience of a site. We could use cookies to track you all and gather the information that way (as many sites do) but I hate that idea and am sure you all do too. The best solution is to let you disclose what you want to us. The information is completely private – we don’t even get to see your IP address – just your answers. The survey request will only appear once per person so if you ignore it, you won’t see it again. And thanks to all those who have participated so far.

We now have a facebook fanpage! Previously our only presence on facebook was through my personal facebook account. If you haven’t already liked the fanpage, do so now. You can also find us on Twitter and on youtube.

Our site redesign is almost complete! Zack and Alex have been working extremely hard to bring us a stunning new site which brings us up to date with some of the latest trends on the Internet (specifically, social networking). The new design is very different from what we have now but care has been taken to ensure that it is an easy transition. It has a whole new color scheme as well as a few new features. We are sure you will love it.

Our publisher has expressed an interest in doing a third book of lists – the subject of which I can’t disclose at present but it is one that I think you will all love given the popularity of lists in the category. That would give us a trilogy of Listverse books which is very exciting. Our publisher is also running a special offer for listverse readers right now – you can read about that next:

The Ultimate book of Bizarre Lists is now complete and ready to go to the printers. At this stage it is looking like it will be larger than the ultimate book of top 10 lists (our first book) which is over 700 pages! In preparation for the launch of the new book, our publisher is doing a special offer. If you review the first book (and promise to review the second one when it comes out), they will send a free copy of both books to you when the bizarre book launches in November. There are ten sets of books to give away so the first ten reviewers will win the prize. Once your review is complete, send me an email and tell me what name you wrote the review under and your name and address for delivery of the books. Here are the pertinent links:

The Ultimate Book of Top 10 Lists
The Ultimate Book of Bizarre Lists

You can also purchase the first book or pre-order the second if you don’t want to write a review.