Some blog updates are coming! Here’s what’s in store.

I’m really excited the growth this blog has seen in the last several months, and thank you as readers for coming back again and again! The House of Miles staff are really excited, too, and I’m working with them to help come up with some blog updates.

Here’s what you’ll find coming soon!

• A better way of organizing trip reports. Soon, you’ll be able to search for hotels, airlines, and specific queries via a interactive search tool that’s being installed in the trip reports tab. If you’re looking for information on a specific hotel, you’ll be able to search for it without having to run down a long list of properties.
• Easier to read trip reports with pictures, and less page loading time. We found that trip reports and other articles with a lot of full-size pictures are taking awhile to load. In addition, readers get discouraged having to sift through pictures that don’t necessarily interest them. A new gallery feature has been installed where you’ll see a few primary full-size images, but then also an interactive thumbnail gallery where you can scroll through additional pictures that may interest you. With this new feature, you’ll find that blog posts will load faster.
• Optimized ad placements. We’re adjusting the ad placements to make it easier to comment, and also interact with the site.
• A cleaned up side-bar. I’ve removed the left-hand sidebar, since many readers found it distracting. You’ll also see the right-hand sidebar cleaned up with more refined lines, cleaner text and boxed in graphics. Soon, you’ll also notice the Twitter widget change to a custom option that’s more visually stunning.
• An increased focus on branding. Soon, you’ll see colors on the site better agree with the blog’s logo, in addition to the logo being placed in email subscriptions for brand identity. Many of you enjoy the blog, and I want to market the blog with similar colors, etc. to make things easier to read.

If you can think of anything else to help improve your reader experience, drop me a line and I’ll add it into the t0-do list.

A special shout out to all of the House of Miles folks who are helping make this happen, and are really pleased with how well things are going!