Hey strangers! It’s me Matt Franklin, your friendly eCommerce blogger. If you’ve read this eCommerce and marketing blog in the past, or have seen me on social networking sites you probably know me better as “eCopt”. I’m here posting today to let everyone in on a huge secret and some news that I personally find extremely exciting, and think you will too. First though, I should probably explain a little back story for those of you who are just tuning in, or haven’t visited the blog in a long time. I’ll try to keep it short and sweet!

eCommerce Optimization Then:

So, let’s all take a quick trip back in time… The year is 2006. The month is August. I had just started up eCommerce Optimization, a personal blog where my goals were to express thoughts and opinions about eCommerce and marketing. At that time I didn’t quite know what to expect and didn’t really have high hopes for anything much. I just knew I wanted to speak my mind, let others see my thoughts and share my experiences to help grow the industry. A few months into the project I was surprised to see how well this blog was being received by readers and the industry. During the first few month I met a ton of great people, networked like crazy and continued to grow the site steadily. Needless to say, my expectations were met, and exceeded.

At or around the 6 month mark I decided I would commit to blogging for a year just to see where it might take me and to see what other opportunities might come out of it. Again, my expectations were far exceeded. During the first year and a half the site just kept getting better and my plate was beginning to fill up faster than I had imagined. There were many job offers, gigs, consulting projects, the list went on. I turned down many of these opportunities, including monetizing the blog, to follow through with my blogging commitment, and promise to my readers that they’d never have to worry about ads taking up space on the blog.

All this is good, right? Well, not so much. Let me explain.

eCommerce Optimization In 2008:

Around the 2 year mark I was forced to make a major choice… Either continue blogging for FREE and keep my promise, or go get a job where I could use my experience, help others and earn more income at the same time. After much thought and consideration I made one of the most difficult choices I’ve ever had to make, I stopped blogging. I’m sure a lot of people in my position would have done the same thing, but what made it hard for me was having to abandon something I was so passionate about, that also happened to be coming to fruition. Such is life.

eCommerce Optimization Now:

Now, the blog has been sitting for 2 years and I haven’t put much effort into it at all. I basically kept the content up so people could still use it at their discretion. I tried to sign on as often as possible to keep my eye on things, but wasn’t always able to address issues right away. Then a couple of months ago the blog got hacked (which some of you may know, and I sincerely apologize for). I have finally restored the site, the files and upgraded everything though, obviously.

So, now that you know my back story I can finally get to more of the juicy stuff.

New Beginnings:

Over the past couple of years I’ve had the great pleasure of working with some amazing people in the eCommerce and retail spaces. I’ve had several people offer to buy the blog/domain or run it for me, but in the back of my mind I knew this blog was going to be something I’d always come back to, so I never really entertained any of those offers. A couple of months ago I was contacted by an individual, whose identity will be revealed later, about re-launching eComerce Optimization. I felt very strongly that this person was the right fit for this site, and myself, and eventually decided to try and move forward with a re-launch.

I am extremely excited to be taking on this new venture with my new partner and feel confident that our new business model will be a hit among our readers and the industry. I don’t have all the details right now, but we’ll be posting more about that in the very near future. I think I’ve learned a lot the first time around, and since. And now that I have an opportunity to use what I’ve learned from past blogging I think we’ll be able to come up with a very special place for everything eCommerce.

What Has eCopt Been Doing?

I always get asked what I’ve been up to for the past few years since I stopped blogging. Basically, I got a full time job in Seattle where I live, I started some personal businesses online and I’ve been working on a special project that I can’t really go into at this time (it’s related to eCommerce and it will hopefully be ready sooner than later)! More on that in the coming months.

When Is All This Happening?

Actually, it’s already begun! We’ve started sending out contributor requests, we’ve gotten started on the development of our new theme, we’re making big plans and we’re trying to do it all as quickly as possible. You’ll probably notice some new content being posted soon, and over the next few weeks we’ll be testing new features, theme elements and some secret stuff!

How Can I Be Part Of This?

Well, if you’re reading this post, you already are a part of this! But if you mean you want to help us out, we’d love to hear about any ideas you may have. We’re looking for interns, contributors, moderators, press contacts, etc. Or, if you’d just like to help spread the word, that helps too! Go ahead… Tweet it, post about it, tell your friends, tell your clients, subscribe to our feed. We may even throw in some special goodies for those of you who go above and beyond.

Keep your eye out for more updates on the re-launch of eCommerce Optimization! Thanks again to all our loyal followers, you rock! Drop me a line if you have any specific questions not addressed in the post.