Maybe you are new to Kemme Fitness, or maybe you are a junkie/core follower (pun intended). In either case, I would love to hear your thoughts on what I should do with this website.
I am doing some reflection, perhaps it is the 3 year itch. I think it is important for us to use the Kemme Fitness concept of sharing back and forth with each other. This is one of those times where I am hoping you will share your thoughts with me.
First, let me explain what is all on this website in case you are new, or haven’t explored it very well. FREE RESOURCES: -400+ exercises with video link demonstrations -200+ complete Functional Fitness workouts to choose from either at home or at the gym -5 unique twelve week programs to download -ebook Functional Fitness Defined -free Kemme Fitness User Guide -ebook The Low Cost Gym -just shy of 600 total posts, including the workouts and also tips, thoughts, advice, and recommendations on Functional Fitness -links to various Functional Fitness resources FEE BASED RESOURCES: -K-Fit app for the Blackberry Secondly, I will explain why I’m contemplating the future of this site. Running a blog with new material every day or two is a great deal of work. Just look at your favorite barefoot running and Functional Fitness blogs from 2 or 3 years ago and I bet many are gone already. It simply takes a lot of time to research, develop, and share new and relevant material at a steady pace. None of this site has generated income for my family, but hasn’t really costs anything either so my family tolerates my “hobby.” We get the excitement of sharing and helping others and also for the possibility of something taking off. The app is still a possibility when it comes out on Android and ios, but I’m not holding my breath that I can quit my day job. Up until this point, I’ve had two goals with Kemme Fitness. The main goal has been to share/help others and to learn. The secondary goal has been to grow the number of followers of the blog. The thought behind that was that as the popularity of Kemme Fitness grew, the more likely some sort of opportunity would arise. However, I have been at a plateau for most of 2013 and can’t seem to break the 5000-6000 hits a month mark. I couldn’t stomach the idea of removing the site from the internet for a couple reasons. One reason is that I invested too much time to let it dissappear. Also, I personally hope (and believe) there is value here people could use and I love sharing with others. So Kemme Fitness would stay online in some shape or another for sure. An option could be to turn the home page into a static page instead of a blog. I could have the blog as a separate page. In that case, I can reduce the amount of posts dramatically and save time. I could always continue to add new workouts and put up the posts if I had something I really wanted to say. The problem with stopping the blog is I can pretty much count on the traffic to the site dropping off. I believe folks come here over and over for the consistently new material. It would be sort of “giving up” in ways to end the blog. Another negative consequence is the K-Fit app has a streaming update of posts, which would make no sense if I hardly ever added new content. I feel Kemme Fitness is incredibly resource/content rich already. My concern is I am not sure if I can keep the pace up. Maybe if I saw a rise in popularity, that would inspire me more, but as it stands, I’m feeling a little burned out to be honest. Thoughts? Seriously, I could use some thoughts on this. This is becoming more and more of a struggle for me and I need some help.
Pete this is a fantastic resource and I’d hate to see it go. I’m relatively new to the site so I’m not really reliant on regular blog posts yet. I’m still wandering through the site like a kid in a candy store, checking out new programs and playing with movements I’ve never tried before and I’m loving it. I’m certainly waiting for the Android app so I can buy that.
I don’t know what to suggest for the future but I am going to think about it and see if I can come up with anything helpful.
I for one appreciate what you’re doing here and know its a tough gig sometimes. I’m going to go and post a link to your site on my Facebook page for starters. Maybe a few people will discover the treasures therein for themselves.
Craig, I am really glad for your support and it is great to see you enjoying the site. I apprecaite you taking time to help me out. I am thinking the idea of creating a static home page with a blog page on the menu will allow me to keep the entire site, and even add to the blog here and there without having the pressure of posting every 1 to 3 days.
I know new posts are a great way to grow the site, but I just don’t see the reward for the work/sacrifice of family time anymore – stupid plateaus!
I agree. I think a static homepage with a blog page on the menu would be fine. It frees you from the burden of feeling like you have to come up with something clever to say every few days but leaves the resources in place for the benefit of all.
Is there a forum anywhere, where people who are accessing your site and using the information can talk and share about their experiences etc? Maybe adding a social element to it will draw some people in (just thinking out loud).
That is a great idea. WordPress.com does not support forums. After reading your comment, I did some research and maybe a wiki is possible. Thoughts?
Pete, Let me ask you something…answer honestly… on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being “no way!” And 10 being “totally!” How willing are you to give up writing this whole Lemme Fitness Blog thing?
I could give up adding content at an 8 out of frustration. Give up the whole sight? I can’t imagine a situation where I would remove the whole site. I feel there is just too much resources here to disappear (lot of hard work by a lot of people). So getting rid of the site would be a 1 at this time. Of course if some totally rich entreprenuer type wanted to pay me hundreds of thousands of dollars for the content here, then…well, I’m not an idiot! I’d sell. ha ha
Thanks for the workouts and other resources! Three years is long time in the blogosphere so you should definitely give yourself a pat on the back. I’m fine with static homepage with occasional blog updates.
I think one should not make new blog posts just to keep the site active/get more visits/praise/etc. Maybe you could incorporate your own workout/strength/fitness goals into the blog? Force yourself to try something new, experiment with new (homemade) equipment etc.
Be more selfish, think about what makes you tick. Why do you work out regularly? What do you want to achieve? After that, think how this site/blog could help/motivate you to get there? Share some helpful research/experience/insight on your OWN fitness journey.
I appreciate the support and thoughts. I think it does make sense to not post for post’s sake and to make sure I have something to share. I have through the years shared some of my journey, but you are right – there is room for more. Thanks
Man, first I’d like to see that guy finish the Android app. Lazy bastage… 🙂
Plateaus are hard. I’m at one right now too, on fitness and on coding. On the fitness side I challenged myself by signing up for a hard ass obstacle race. On the coding side, I’m going to pick an arbitrary date to have an arbitrary milestone met. It’s hard with family and real life job commitments. I’m trying to do something to kick myself in the teeth.
I want you to continue for selfish reasons, because I enjoy reading the posts, even if I don’t do most of them. You created a monster by letting your followers/disciples/lemmings be creative – I more often do my own thing or get creative with something else.
One thing I was going to email collaborate with you on was a training program to prepare for the Spartan Beast I signed up for in December. I have a buddy doing it that hasn’t ever done a long obstacle race before – he’s a runner at heart. Something along the lines of a cross between K-Fit and a 12 week 1/2 marathon training program. Sound interesting?
So, maybe you should do something to push yourself further. Like do a crazy obstacle race and design a training program for it. Or turn your YouTube experience into recording one of your 12 week programs into exercise videos, a la Tony Horton or something. You could have your own infomercial on basic cable TV!
Whatcha think?
I love how you think big Shane! You always inspire me and Kemme Fitness would not be where it is without you buddy. I did change the site now, so not sure of the app has to have a different link for the scrolling updates (now on blog page instead of home page). Sorry about that, but I am totally excited about freeing up my time to try new adventures. Perhaps one of your ideas??
The scrolling updates were taking out of this version of the app because of some space/timing considerations. I’m going to re-evaluate them for the Android version, so it’s nothing to worry about now.
I will email you my thoughts on a obstacle race prep workout schedule.
Hey Pete: Sorry I have been out of touch for a while. Kudos on the changes. I hope they make it easier to manage the site.
One comment: For some reason, the font on the new site is really small. It may just be my computer. As we all get older, this will be more of a problem 🙂
One suggestion: If you really want to increase web traffic, invest a little and hire the girl in the pistol squat video to re-do all of your videos. I can pretty much guarantee success. Not that you don’t do a fantastic job in the current videos. I’m just saying.
I for one will continue to direct friends to your site whenever possible.
Aaron
Don’t stare too long!!
This is a excellent site…
Regarding the social part, try and see http://www.discourse.org/
Maybe it can help.