2009
TUK Gets A New Look!
Posted by Stanley Tang in Daily RamblingWelcome to The University Kid – Version 2.0!
I’ve made a complete revamp from complete scratch to give it a much cleaner look. Some of the things I kept are the logo and the orange color to keep it’s brand. For those of you asking, the theme I’m using here is a heavily-customized version of DarkZen, which you can download for free at DailyBlogTips.
Please do take some time to check the new theme out and let me know what you think. I’m still making small tweaks here and would appreciate your feedbacks (good and bad – preferably the latter so I can actually make changes 
) The theme has been tested on Firefox, Safari, Chrome, IE8 and IE7. If you’re using IE6 (which it looks totally screwed up on)… well go get Firefox!
Here are just a few highlights:
New Theme With A Cleaner Look
We gotta admit, the old theme was getting… well very old and the site desperately needed a new cleaner look with a modern feel to it. I’m currently thinking about whether or not to give it a more of a “magazine” look by having a landing style front page (just like ProBlogger, JohnChow). Let me know what’s your view on that.
Easier To Subscribe
I’ve pimped up the subscription box to give it a better user-interface. One of the ways to boost the number of RSS subscribers is simply to make it easier for people to subscribe! I got rid of the email optin box for the RSS feed and a newsletter will replace that instead (see below). I’ve added an extra option for people to subscribe via Twitter as it’s getting more and more popular.
TUK Newsletter & Exclusive Ebook!
And finally… it’s been coming – the launch of The University Kid Newsletter! This is where you’ll get exclusive TUK content not available on this blog such as interviews, how-to guides, tips & tricks, cutting edge techniques and more! I’ll also be sending out weekly blog post updates, promotions and product recommendations that will help you make money online
Plus…
As an incentive, I’ll be throwing in a free digital copy to my #1 best selling print book eMillions: Behind-The-Scenes Stories of 14 Successful Internet Millionaires – yes the exact same book which hit #1 on Amazon in FOUR different categories last year. In this whopping 260-page book, you get to listen to the world’s most successful internet marketers revealing their rags-to-riches journeys to becoming internet millionaires – straight from the horse’s mouth!
I’m talking about stories like:
- How a college filmmaker from Florida turned an “experiment” into a $248 million blockbuster through the power of viral marketing (guess which movie was that?)
- How a former U.S. Army Officer turned a one-man operation into a multi-million dollar international corporation with customers in every Internet-connected country on the planet
- How a 17 year-old kid with $70 in hand built a $3 million Internet company from the ground up teaching people how to play piano by ear
Plus interviews from people like Jeremy “Shoemoney” Schoemaker, Mark Joyner, Michel Fortin, Yanik Silver, Joel Christopher etc. You might recognize few of these names
Anyways, enough about the product. The bottom line is you’re getting this all for FREE. I’ve never done this before… that’s because I truly wanted to overdeliver and do more than what’s expected. The key to becoming successful is to provide VALUE.
UPDATE: I messed up the autoresponder big time. I forgot to remove the split-testing code so you were directed to the eMillions squeeze page instead of the download link. Thanks for everybody who emailed me letting me know the problem. It’s been fixed now 
Stats Updates
Also, I just wanna update you on the blog itself. It’s been just been a little over a month since the purchase of this blog. So what are the stats like after the takeover? So far so good:
- Revenue - $463. Mostly coming from direct advertising and affiliate sales. That’s 15% already returned on my $3,000 investment. Not bad for one month
- Subscribers - 1,290 subscribers. That’s 90 new RSS subscribers (I know it’s not a lot but not a bad start). Like I said, I’ll be launching a TUK newsletter shortly by giving away free digital version to my #1 best-selling book eMillions.
- Twitter - 9,350 followers. This is something new I’ve added to TUK. No dout social media is getting big and that’s going to be something that I’ll be focusing on a lot in the coming years
- Traffic – 11,400 unique visitors and just *slightly* over 100,000 pageviews… all in 40 days! Considering I haven’t done any major promotions, contests, campaigns etc that’s a pretty decent start.
Looking For Advertisers
I’m opening up to direct ads once again for the blog. My main focus over the past month has been on delivering value as opposed to making money. If anybody is interested in advertising on this blog, contact me here. The rates are still the same – $30 per month for 125*125 and $60 per month for 468*60. I’ve raised the price for sponsored reviews and paid plugs significantly because I wanted to decrease the number of those kind of posts and provide more content posts with great value.
Let me know what you think of the new design. I’m still testing out the design and making changes along the way. If you spot any errors or want to suggest ideas, please let me know.
No bais but I think the person who customized the theme did a brilliant job 
P.S. I’m still taking questions for the Q&A so if you’ve got any please fire them away. I will be answering them next week.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
The new theme is a lot cleaner indeed
i like the colour combination.
Im thinking in changing my blog theme for the 100th time :p
Hugo Santos´s last blog post..Free €20 for live forex trading
I like the look a lot! Nice and clean, with the ever-important subscribe links prominently displayed.
Where did you get the cartoon logo from? I’ve seen many websites with a similar style logo (not the logo itself, just the cartoon look) and can’t seem to find any place on the web that does it. Maybe I’m just looking in the wrong places.
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It was created by the previous owner who hired a designer to create the logo. There are plenty of services out there which design cartoon avatars for your blogs
I like the new look and feel of the blog. Especially because it’s not such a big change that it makes me think I am on the wrong blog. I hate when people make changes so big that it seems like a completely different blog.
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I love the new look, esspecially the subscribing area! Everything looks much easier to use and get around!
Alice´s last blog post..Catalina’s Cherry Cove!
This layout is perfect for the blog, great job on that one!
About the e-book though, I’ve subscribed with email but the wrong link is send to me, if I follow it I end up on the squeezepage of the emillions site.
Some nice stats already too btw. Congratulations
The autoresponder is fixed now. Sorry about the mess up
Pretty good layout as compared to before…by the way, the subscribe box at the top right hand corner is quite similar to Mashable’s so it isn’t original…
That’s where the inspiration came from!
I like this new theme, looks great!
Greatly costumized theme. It looks like its gotta attract more visitors to this blog. Awesome change.
Harish | Blogging Kid´s last blog post..What Did I Learn From My Blogging Experience?
I’m actually not a fan, I liked the way the old one looked… but I would have to agree that it needed a facelift. However, the elements that you kept in this new version just look a bit “odd” in my opinion. Namely, the way the header connects to the sidebar. Have a look, that is my suggestion… thanks for the update!
The Net Fool´s last blog post..Build-A-Blog Workshop Day 12: Customizing Your Blog’s Sidebar
Thanks for the suggestion Jim. I’ll look into that and make changes if necessary
So you only dream of money! Money is the root of all evils!!!
Dream about making this world a better world to live, not a world were kids dream only of making money. Your tagline is so unethical and perverse. I dare you to let this comment live. He he!
You’ve obviously didn’t read the blog post. Stanley clearly said that the logo was kept from the previous design which was created by Jason the previous owner not Stanley.
Leo Kan´s last blog post..Hong Kong Street Walk: Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate
Well this comment did live (just to let you know, I don’t moderate comments). And like I said before, I didn’t come up with the tagline. Nobody is forcing you to read this blog
Me wants that subscribe widget too. lol. And wow, the ebook version of your book. Nice. I wanted to get that but I don’t trust the shipping to this country I’m living at right now. lol. Haha
Fei´s last blog post..What I Didn’t Learn At School But Wish I Had
The new site looks great! Very good work, it needed an update. I wish you much success as you roll out your advertising strategy.
The Almost Millionaire´s last blog post..Tips for starting a business in Michigan
Its wicked cool!
I actually like the old look better, maybe just because I visited it so many times when Jason was around and I just became used to that as TUK, but it is a great new look for a new owner, and a good update after a long time of the same theme.
You might want to outline the subscribe place, or maybe just change the stat buttons, because something around there needs a little change or highlighting, but overall good editing and good theme
The old design is brighter and it really catches my attention but still it looks good anyway. More importantly is the good contents you have in here!
Much cleaner, simpler and very attractive. Congratulations.
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Are you going to be changing the cartoon character to look more like you–is that from the previous owner?
Melody´s last blog post..The Top 5.5 Myths of Online Marketing
I met the previous owner in real life before and the cartoon doesn’t look anything like him either
So probably not. Just there for branding purpose
Hi Stanley,
I like the new design, clean and easy to navigate.
I have hosting now and am in the process of migrating my blog off of Google-blogger, to my own domain.
I will send you the link when it’s up and running for your opinion?
Respectfully,
Nicholas Chase
http://www.twitter.com/nachase
Nicholas Chase´s last blog post..Guy Kawasaki’s New Book – ‘Reality Check’
That’s awesome. Of course, if you need any opinion you can use the Contact Form, where we will always reply to you.
I dig the re-design! Nice and clean, easy to maneuver through the site.
Traffic – 11400 unique visitors … in such a short period, just nothing to say. that’s cool
“Over 100,000 pages … all in 40 days” is an excellent result, which is to imitate …
The new design looks okay but for some reason the “Recent Posts” on the sidebar seems to be out of place. I’m using Firefox so I don’t know if it’s just me or is anyone else having the same problem.
Also, it looks like you made a pretty good investment on this blog especially since you bought it for a lot cheaper than what it should have sold for.
Last Minute Gift Ideas´s last blog post..Sony Webbie MHS-CM1 HD Camcorder: Perfect Gift for Father’s Day
Sorry for the extra comment but your “Recent Comments” is also out of place and it seems as though its going right into the post section… just FYI…
Last Minute Gift Ideas´s last blog post..Sony Webbie MHS-CM1 HD Camcorder: Perfect Gift for Father’s Day
I really like the new look, glad you kept the logo and color scheme though. I always thought the favicon was in need of an overhaul since it doesn’t look much like the logo guy.
Newbie Profits´s last blog post..Quick Google Indexing
The new look it simple and plain, but based on those stats, what you’re doing is obviously working for you
Why are there two email subscription checkboxes?
“Subscribe to comments via email” (above text area)
“Notify me of followup comments via e-mail” (below submit button)
I love the new look, its probably a LOT better than the previous one, You’r doing great stanley, keep it up dude.
Nice I somewhat remember the old TUK and this definitely looks better.