Since re-launching the site for all of 36 hours, I’ve had quite a few questions come in and there’s been plenty of chatter out there. A big thanks to everyone for the warm welcome on the return and the interest in participating in one way or another.
To answer a few questions:
- Will you be doing reviews? Yes of course. I love spicy foods – always have. Only now, the reviews will link to the manufacturer and a retailer (if the manufacturer doesn’t sell it directly). Retailers that want products reviewed can be included with links to special deals and/or anything they want to include. Review info is here.
- So what’s with the new site? Well, it’s new. In re-launching the site, I wanted to bring the HSB back to what it was at it’s core – a site dedicated to the products, those that love the products and the manufacturers that make them.
- Will you be doing video reviews? Nope. I don’t like them personally (it’s not the reviews, I hardly ever watch videos on my computer – keep in mind I run an office and a video blaring during the middle of the day isn’t a great thing). Plus there are other sites that excel at those and have for a very long time. Not that we won’t feature them – I just don’t want to be on camera like that.
- So why now? Well, I’ve been thinking about this and pondering ideas for a long time – and life finally opened up a time slot for me to sit down and make it happen. While the HSB was on hiatus, I was planning a wedding, then I was dismantling/unplanning a wedding/life, riding a Harley, dating (after 8 years of not doing that – that’s a blog in itself!), finally getting my hot wife to go out with me, planning and getting married, selling a house, starting another business, helping raise a newborn (my nephew) and going through minor health crises with family. Whew – that’s a lot. So in short, the pieces that needed to come together finally did and I took advantage.
- What’s with the other blogs/feeds? The idea is to provide any user with a central source for all things spicy. I think I said in an interview a while back that I don’t think there needs to be one blog/site for everything – there are too many opinions and social media options other there for that now. And there’s a ton of noise. My idea is to bring everything out there together in a curated format – so that the user can find all of the various opinions and chose from the options for themselves. And to also aggregate multiple reviews of products together so users can read everyone’s thoughts about them. We’ll be sticking to products, events, recipes and news as closely as possible. Curated spicy foods content – that’s what this site will be about moving forward.
- What else is coming out? There’s quite a few things that have not launched yet – so you’ll just have to check back.
- Will you be going to any of the shows? Too soon to really tell – Houston of course, Zest Fest maybe (since it’s drivable). Fiery Foods will depend on timing with work. We live very close to the Houston show if anyone needs a place to crash on – first come first serve.
Thank you to everyone that’s reached out in the downtime and reached out since the re-launch. And the biggest thanks goes to Lauren (my hot wife), for not only putting up with me staring at the computer these last few weeks while I was getting everything behind the scenes together, but for also being my biggest cheerleader and fan – and for trying every spicy thing I hand her, even though she can’t handle it. I couldn’t and wouldn’t be doing this without her.
