NEW WEBSITE NOW LIVE...World History TimeMap - including Blog on World History topics, and a whole new range of animated, interactive maps!
Webmaster Blog
New website Up and Running!!
New website progress
Dynamic History Map Samples released- 12/05/2009
A slow but steady march forward and Twitter - 28/04/2009
Investment - 12/03/2009
Updating Browser Differences - 25/02/2009
Replacing the Amazon Advert - 31/01/2009
Changing the url of the site -14/12/08
Adding Cool Iris to the site -05/12/08
The Story so Far -04/12/08
TimeMaps Webmaster Blog? -03/12/2008
Recent Updates
05/05/2010 - New website up and running. Go to the NEW World History TimeMap to take a look!23/02/2009 - New dates (500 BC - AD 200) have been added to Iran
21/1/2009 - Additional Maps being added: Mesopotamia 500 BC, 200 BC, AD 1, AD 200, AD 500
5/1/2009 - Additional Maps added: Syria 500 BC, AD 1, AD 200 and AD 500
22/12/2008 - Additional Maps added: Anatolia 200 BC, AD 1, AD 200 and AD 500
14/12/2008 - Url changes. Additional Maps added: 500 BC - Judah, Iran, Mesopotamia
06/12/2008 - 500 BC Maps - Nubia and Syria and Canaan. Cool Iris added
Further dates (1500 BC and 1000 BC) have been added to the Nubia maps and we have added Syria and Canaan maps at 2500 BC, 1500 BC and 1000 BC. RSS feed added to the site along with Cool Iris, which is a photo slide show program which now runs from our homepage, check it out by pressing on the PicLens button [here] and also we have made this blog available on RSS. The Cool Iris program is discussed below see [here]
04/12/2008 - Ancient Israel Maps Updated
03/12/2008 - Start of Webmaster Blog
TimeMaps Webmaster is using this blog to track progress, provide information on updates and put a timeframe on new information due to be put up.
02/12/2008 - Iran Maps added
Maps of Iran from 2500 BC - 1000 BC have been added to the Middle East Timeline.
18/11/2008 - Template alterations made to the site.
We noticed a problem with the way search engine spiders saw our site and so altered the layour of the pages so we could be evaluated more accurately.
The TimeMaps Webmaster Blog
New Website Up and Running!!!
It is finally up... Hurrah!So after months and months of teething errors (many of which are still there unfortunately), re-jigs, confusions, problems and the rest, the new TimeMap of World History was made live!
We are really pleased with what we have so far and know that is growing into a great and completely FREE resource. The way we have designed it has given us a massive amount of extra work to do but we hope it shows our ambitions.
So take a look - its fantastic! And also, don't forget, we are still marching forward with our core business of making history software for schools and have 3 new titles, plus junior versions due out for imminent release.
New Website Very Near to Completion
We have been working very hard on many fronts in the office at the moment. Not only are we churning out new titles in our Dynamic History Map Series but we have got a brand new website on its way and so there has been a never ending stream of work to do on its design and framework. The new site will be ready to start populating in September and will combine maps of each and every civilization ever and a timeline, so you can watch places change as history progresses, put historical chapters in context, delve into new and strange cultures, I could go and on here. In general we believe it will be a fantastic (and free!) resource for finding out about history in a fun and engaging way. Oh and by the way, it looks great!Dynamic History Map Samples released
In the meanwhile of getting our new website set up we have been working on a series called Dynamic History Maps. These maps show historical eras visually while allowing information embedded in the maps to be brought up to put it in context. They have been designed to be placed on Virtual Learning Environments, can be used in lessons or for individuas to use as study guides. A few samples have been placed around the Atlas and we will monitor how people take to them -hopefully well! They can be found around the Roman Empire, so go take a look!A slow but steady march forwards and Twitter
While the slow procedure of setting up the new website comes about TimeMaps has been involved in the production of its new Dynamic History Modules. Using new spangly internet tools such as Twitter -search for TimeMaps- we have been in contact with a number of history teachers, in both the UK and America, to cast a critical eye over our newest range of products. The feedback has been immense and we now feel like our new products are going to be really excellent products. They are due for release within the next couple of weeks so check back soon for more news. Twitter is turning out to be a really useful tool for both making contacts and letting peple know what we're doing. I personally can't help but thinking its a fad and will die out soon enough but while its here its useful and I hope to be proved wrong.Investment
We have just received word that, after a long drawn out process, the Atlas is to receive investment and become a brand new website with a Content Mangement System, better functions, and much better navigation system - the things that it has critically required for so long. Rather than working on adding content to the pages recently, we have been working towards setting up a new company to drive this project forward, with Jonny Britton, son of Peter, facilitating the process and will manage the new company to focus purely on the website. This shift in strategy will free up resources to concentrate on product development of the next version of the Interactive Map of World History, while the website also gains a significant upgrade and effort in terms of time and energy. We are very pleased to see Jonny progress into a management position as he has worked with TimeMaps for long periods and is well trained in internet marketing and search engine optimisation. In order to make our atlas work we are working at completing the content for the remainding periods of history as a priority.Updating Browser Differences
Its a perilous habit of mine to use Firefox whenever I access the internet. Having looked at the site through Internet Explorer for the first time in a few weeks I discovered that all of the adverts were in the wrong place for some bizzare reason. Am sure this wasn't like this a few weeks ago when I last checked however the problem should have been fixed now, through a laborious coding process. The adverts have been up for a few weeks now and have been steadily making us around 30cents per thousand page impressions from the start - slightly above the net average. So now we are faced with the opportunity to discover whether the placement of an advert effects the amount of income it can make for a site. According to the Google Webmaster Blog -which shows hot spots for adverts- the placement of the advert when in the un-intentional position was more likely to produce results, so this should be an interesting experiment, and hopefully placing the ad in the correct spot won't make us loose much income.Replacing the Amazon Adverts
More of a market research than anything else, we have placed adverts on our site to see if the Atlas can actually work as a commercial venture and if so what kind of visitor numbers would we would need to generate to make a living. The adverts have been up for a while now despite the site going through various forms and therefore peaks and troughs in the eyes of the search engines and throughout this we have had adverts up and have been able to gleam some statistics from this. One glaringly obvious fact is that the Amazon advert does not work. Not a single person has clicked on this at any point. It has therefore been replaced by some more Google ads which allow us to monitor how increasing these alters the conversion rate.Changing the site url
We dont claim to the most tech savvy site managers here at TimeMaps but after a bit of reserach we hope the tweaks we have made to our urls will be seen as more relevant in the eyes of the search engines. For anyone who has struggled to use Cool Iris, this problem will be sorted soon but has fallen behind a growing 'things to do' list. More exciting possibilities have popped up on the horizon which I can't wait to speak about but will not until they actually materialise.A further change is imminent to the site that will change the domain name from worldhistory.timemaps.com to world.timemaps.com! Wow, I hear you say. Indeed. We have made the changes in the hope that they are a more sustainable and relevant framework on which to hang our new site (yes, I said new site). In the new year the whole of the website will be completely re-vamped, buffed up, enhanced, have magic dust sprinkled all over it and then unleashed, to provide a better platform for us to provide our information from. In the meanwhile -and these things always take longer than expected- please feel free to give us your ideas, comments, constructive criticsms or anything else you think we might want to hear. Perhaps you can tell us whether our url changes are duff, if you think so! Our contact details are at the bottom of the page.
If I don't manage to get any more blog posts written before hand, we hope you have a great Christmas and remember why this time of year has been so important to the history of mankind!
Adding Cool Iris to the site
One of the people that we work with told us about Cool Iris today which is an add on to Firefox (only Firefox?, I dont know, I always forget to look at IE now, which is a silly mistake as the site looks different in it and is likely most people use it to view our site - I will get round to correcting the issues soon/one day) which allows all the images on your site to be put on an interactive wall. I have not got one myself but I imagine the format is similar to what might be used with the Apple i phone. We really like it. It is futuristic (change?... thats a dirty word around these parts!) and allows a speedy way to view the site and is really very good. It seems to shows a little insight into the way technology is moving and I can imagine it being used well with touch screen technology, such as the i phone or the Microsoft Platform which is on its way.So far we have only added it from the front page but next week -for once I hope to have a weekend- it will be added to each page to show slideshows of the maps associated with specific topics - even for people who have not installed it program.
Alongside this was the feature to add RSS to our site, so if you wish to keep up to date with our progress, go ahead and add us.
The Story So Far
This website is slowly, but surely, making progress. It has languished, pretty much unused (on average about 30 unique visitors a day, looking at about 10 pages - which I might add is not too bad considering we haven't marketed it one drop) for the last couple of years, but we feel we are now making headway again. The focus for our company for the last year has been building a major new school software package. However, we can smell the finishing line approaching - and are confident of having a great product.Having recently given up my corporte lifestyle to get involved with my father's company - believing that there is masses of un-tapped potential to maximise - when I am not programming the software, I am updating the website. My first mission was to make the site noticed by the search engines, improve its navigability and work on the vision of where we want to go with our on-line business. The website is very much an extension of the TimeMaps brand and through it we want to demonstrate our ability to make first class history resources, useful to a global market.
The Atlas of World History is a stand-alone history resource for anyone looking to find out information about civilizations, to get an overview of world history, or to find out the processes involved in the rise and fall of nations. Or at least it will be. But it will also be much much more - some of this we will keep under wraps! The website is also a companion to the Interactive Map of World History (link takes you to the demo), which is a highly rated piece of software for schools. The software is a visual and interactive piece of software that has animations and moving timelines to bring history to life in the classroom. Our forthcoming version is a whole league away from the current one, with many more interactions, presentations, slide shows and animations. We really believe this software will give users a greater understanding of each civilization and its lifespan, while being easy to digest. Our Atlas - this site - will be much more content-focused, providing the in-depth information that comes with building the site on a continuous basis. It will appeal to a wider audience whilst, for teachers and students, providing lesson plans and other teaching materials to support working with the Maps. With this website we aim to create a unique resource on the internet that provides users with an enjoyable experience, an easy way to find historical information and eventually a complete encylopaedia's worth of information on the whole of world history. We understand that this is no small task!
Currently we only have information about the Ancient World in place, and as yet, not even all of our maps for this period are up: Even so, there should be enough information within the timelines to give an overview of most ancient civilizations, but even more important, we hope that the site shows something of what the Atlas will eventually be capable of.
Once the Interactive Map of World History is complete we will focus all our attention on the website. Our first steps are to complete all the maps, fill in the details of the civilization timelines, and write more articles.
A TimeMaps Webmaster Blog?
As it is not possible to add all the content we have immediately, I decided to make a place on the site where we can let people know when information is due to be added. This blog is intended to keep you abreast of what we are working on and what we have added.
Contact Us
As we are in our early days, any thoughts or comments would be greatly appreciated. Also, please let us know if you want regular updates from us by email or newsletter.
contactus@timemaps.com
