Planning & Building Details
To stake a larger claim in the true crime space I assisted with the creation/launch of Investigation Discovery’s CrimeFeed site, and hired a team of writers and contributed articles myself while serving as its project manager and managing editor. Later I oversaw its successful platform migration (WordPress to AEM) which included a new UX and new design. CrimeFeed offered an additional ad revenue stream as well as an outlet to support non-programming network initiatives such as podcasts and partnerships.
Destination America’s tentpole event centered upon the home in St. Louis in which the actual exorcism that inspired the classic film The Exorcist took place. I scoped out and project managed the building of its companion website which featured live video feeds from 5 different cameras within the home which users could toggle between in search of paranormal activity. A dedicated comment board and a dynamic Twitter feed added additional elements of interactivity for our fans. During the TV event I was charged with selecting and posting the best Tweets live on air as they poured in.
CrimeFEED
Seeking to expand beyond its programming and looking to capture a larger share of the True Crime audience, I helped launched Crimefeed and served as its Managing Editor while overseeing site enhancements and a platform migration (from WordPress to Adobe Experience Manager). Not only did Crimefeed allow us to cover current events, resurface archived content, draw fans in from our social platforms, provide an additional revenue stream, and promote network priorities, it also provided the flexibility to house additional content types such as contests and giveaways, online forms, partnership hubs and more.
This was a very large undertaking, and as the Lead Producer it required the coordination of various internal (including Marketing and On-Air) and external parties. The vendor we chose (Sudden Industries) proposed making the centerpiece of the site a collection of CD jewel cases, which upon clicking would reveal the honoree bands’ liner notes as an interactive (Flash) experience. The complex site was built in record time and was a huge success.
Brought in to transform Blender Magazine’s website (and digital workflow), I created a plan to completely overhaul the Blender.com website to make it more dynamic and more user-friendly while pushing to the fore the latest published content being created by our print and digital teams.
Biography Black History Site
Biography’s Black History minisite was already up and running by the time I arrived at BIO but it was not as intuitive nor user-friendly as it could have been. After evaluating site inventory and content performance I had the content/subnavigation restructured while increasing the volume of content (primarily through new photo galleries) which led to record site Visits, Page Views and Video Views.
Fuse Videogame Site
As a youth-oriented network I felt that we had to have some sort of presence in the videogame space, so I began a videogame blog on the fuse.tv site (and played a lot of games). It evolved into a more robust offering thanks to a partnership with videogame rental company GameFly. Eventually top videogame publishers sought to align their brands with Fuse through on-air and online sponsorships.