7 things you didn’t know about Deep Brazil

1 – TodayDB has almost 9 thousand pageviews a month – 48% from the US, 16% from Brazil, 6% from Great Britain, followed by Canada, France and Australia. I had visitors from 165 countries and territories. This movement has been growing at least 40% per month since the beginning of the year (thanks, folks!).  In consequence, DB is improving its position in the internet ranking. Alexa, one of the main trackers of website popularity, ranked DB in 2.6 million in early January, meaning there where 2.6 million websites more popular in the world. Now it is ranked 1.5 million.

2 – I began DB for a few reasons (beginning with the less obvious):

• to procrastinate. DB was born out of the blue in November 2010, when I was participating on Nanowrimo, the National Novel Writing Month. I decided to give fiction a chance and self imposed the challenge of writing a book in 30 days. The first chapter pleased me. The second was mediocre. The third was so, so lame that I slipped into blogging mode to escape. In a couple of hours, DB was born.
• to be my own boss for a change (right now I am working for 5 Brazilian magazines, one pro blog, the United Nations and the WWF, not to mention my husband and my 4 year-old – too many bosses for just one poor red haired girl)
• to play with design (having a blast), photos, sales and marketing (not so fun)
• to rediscover my home country
• to present Brazil in a different light from the conventional mix sex-samba–caipirinha-Carnival (and did I mention sex?)
• to improve my written English (had some progress, but the road ahead is long and winding)

3 – This is not my first blogging endeavor – but it is my first solo effort . At this point, I have only had the help of a few friends and readers who kindly offered  texts of great quality (thanks Sylvia, Elô, Beto, Jim, Thaddeus). No designer, no photographer, no consultant worked with me so far. The day I begin to make some money I will consider redesigning the logo, for instance, and hiring writers. Anyway, I blogged for several months in 2009 for an environmental blog put together by Brazilian top model Giselle Bündchen. Later, in September 2009, I began to write  De lá prá cá, a blog inside Página 22, a really cool in-depth Brazilian website on sustainability. I still publish there, every Tuesday.

4 – DB is all about trial and error. You have to make lots of mistakes early in the process for it to succeed, right? The three or four among you (hey, Ray, Jim, Elô) that follow me since the beginning saw some bizarre things happen here. In a crazy week in March, last year, I tried at least 20 color combinations within 20 hours. I settled for the present maroon and orange mix – warm, stimulating, but also easy on the eye and, more important, not obvious. No green and yellow, no tropical vibe. My husband and some friends still complain that a Brazilian project has absolutely to use those colors. I disagree. Isn’t it “way beyond Carnival”? What’s your feeling about that?

5 – I have been putting some effort in the promotion of DB – a project I believe will grow a lot in the next few months. When I think a post is particularly cool, I tell people through DB Facebook‘s page and Twitter. I may also send emails to other blogs and websites. The result: a few big websites, such as Problogger, Ezra Klein (Washington Post), Brazzil and Gringoes republished DB stuff or wrote about this project. Obrigada, rapazes! Ezra Klein was particularly important in convincing me that, maybe, this might be a promising project. Only 10 days after my opening post, he published a link to my first article about the national cuisine: 10 unforgettable Brazilian dishes. I had over 1 thousand visitors in one day and almost had a heat attack. I thought it was a good omen.

6 – I learned several things about Brazil and myself since I launched Deep Brazil.

• I discovered, to my amazement, that I am a geek. Brazilians are not so ready to label people’s tribes or styles as the Americans are, so I never really paid attention to my affiliations. But now it hit me. Ora vejam! I am having the time of my life learning CSS code  (the backbone of a WordPress blog). Sometimes my husband Lenny enters our office and sees me geeking up the machine and makes a face like: “where did I find this nerd?” Well, I am proud, and I am loud.
  
• It is tough to honor the rich cultural/environmental/human Brazilian diversity. As I recently discussed with a reader who complained (with reason) that the South is under represented on Deep Brazil: I feel that it is simply tougher to obtain information about certain parts of the country. But I am making an effort to reduce this problem and increase topic variety and geographic variety. Suggestions of topics and tips on sources are highly appreciated.
• What works on a newspaper or magazine may be unsuitable for the web. You can’t open a picture wide – some readers have small screens. You can’t use any font or color – they can mutate in weird ways depending on your readers screen and browser.
• It is not that easy to make money with the internet – no matter how many web gurus say the contrary. I am trying to find a way of converting DB into a professional endeavor. I love this project and hope to dedicate a growing number of hours (at least two or three per day, at this point), but I can go so far without some financial backing. Once again, your input and ideas are welcome.

7 – A few comments for those among you that are bloggers or intend to enter this consuming and delicious hobby/career/madness: I tried several options and read most of the how-to books and websites around there. I settled (so far) for WordPress and a miraculous free theme called Atahualpa. It is perfect for somebody willing to learn and customize the feel and the look of his/her blog. I couldn’t be more enthusiastic. If you need some basic help in exploring these tools, don’t be shy and contact me.