This & That, Part 9... plus, Newsletter News!

Making It Easier to Work with All About Jazz

Every so often, we like to circle the wagons at All About Jazz and take a closer look at what could work better. The difference these days is that the circle has gotten much larger.

We've recently launched a new shopping cart and integrated payment system, completely rebuilt our Rates & Options page, and rewritten the descriptions for nearly every promotional service we offer. We've also been updating individual information pages with clearer language and new graphics, while introducing Record Label Spotlight, a more focused way for labels to promote their artists and releases across AAJ.

That review has extended beyond the things you see on the website. We've been going through the automated messages we send when someone joins AAJ, creates or updates a musician page, submits an event or news announcement, purchases a service, supports our fund drive, or interacts with the platform in other ways. Some of those messages were more than five years old—a pretty good indication of just how large that circle has become.

There's more to review, but the goal throughout is simple: make AAJ and JNY easier to understand, easier to use and, when you're purchasing a service, easier to work with from start to finish.

Follow Your Favorite AAJ Writers

Did you know you can follow your favorite writers on All About Jazz?

When you follow a writer, you'll receive a notification whenever a new article is published. You can also follow our radio and podcast hosts to keep up with their latest programs.

It's a simple way to stay connected with the people whose work you enjoy most.

We're putting more emphasis on this feature, so look for FOLLOW links at the bottom of our articles. Find a writer you enjoy? Give them a follow!

About Those Ads...

Every once in a while, someone asks why an ad appearing on All About Jazz has absolutely nothing to do with jazz. The simple answer is that we don't choose those ads. :-)

Google's advertising network fills much of our available ad space automatically. We do block categories we consider inappropriate, including political, religious, gambling and tobacco advertising.

Would we prefer fewer of those less-than-wonderful ads? Absolutely. But advertising helps pay the bills, and greater financial support from readers and the jazz industry would allow us to depend on it less.

Newsletters News!

Tuesday marked the launch of our new Radio & Podcast Shows newsletter—giving us three weekly newsletters. It will arrive every Tuesday, joining All About Jazz on Thursdays and Jazz Near You on Fridays. We hope you received it and enjoyed the new format. Early feedback has been enthusiastic, and we've already welcomed two new shows to the network: Jazz on the Beach with Adam Sieff and Cosmic Jazz with Neil MacRae. Both are terrific additions, so be sure to give them a listen when they debut on the website.

Depending on your device or email service, you may have noticed a few formatting quirks in the new Radio & Podcast Shows newsletter. We're aware of them and working to get everything looking just right. Each show should appear as pictured here.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, we've completed another major project: Newsletter v2, an overhaul of the technology that delivers the Thursday All About Jazz newsletter.

We'd like to thank everyone who helped us get this project across the finish line. It was a couple of years in the making and presented more than its share of challenges, but we've finally arrived at a solution that should serve us for years to come.

The new system gives us greater control over how this newsletter is delivered, including the ability to regulate the sending rate to improve delivery reliability (I'm talking to you, Todd). We can also track opens and clicks. In essence, we've built our own version of Mailchimp Lite.

It may not sound like headline news, but this was an essential piece of infrastructure for AAJ's continued growth. And after everything it took to get here, we're dancing a jig knowing it's finally done, done.

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Posted to Publisher's Desk IN THE All About Jazz GROUP
Read more posts by Michael Ricci