Check out our new habitat

Hopefully you’re enjoying our brand new layout. Isn’t it pretty? I’d like to give a huge thanks for David Leggett for his help on this. Without it, I would not have gotten the site to where it is now. I’d also like to thank James Costa for his CSS help.

So why the new layout? Well, outside of it just being time for a renovation, we set out this redesign with a few goals in mind. Here is what we hoped to accomplish as we tackled this project:

• Easy and clear way to subscribe: It became clear early on that the reptile world is not used to blogs as a form of communication. Sure, we’re used to forums, basic chat rooms, and instant messages. One thing that we hope to do with this redesign is to increase continual readership of Gecko Time. An easy way to do this is to enter your email in the subscription box and we’ll send you a short update when we have awesome articles for you to read.
• Get new readers deeper into the blog: We have lots of great posts hidden behind our front page. To show off these posts we’ve created two areas on the site. First, we will feature two great articles at the top of our index page. Next, we will show three articles we’d love for you to get your hands on at the end of each post. We hope that if you pop in for a post you’ll stick around and read some of our other material.
• Show off our awesome sponsors: Wait . . .  what? Yeah, we have sponsorship opportunities available. The gecko community is tight knit and readily shows support. Now, with a new design that focuses more on our sponsors, it’s a great time to consider grabbing a banner spot and advertising your 2010 offspring.

We hope you love it

Leave us a comment and let us know what you think! We love to hear from our readers. Thanks for being a part of the Gecko Time community!

Would you like to be published online?

Gecko Time is looking for articles about any aspect of the gecko hobby. Since March of 2009, we have been publishing articles 1-2 times a week which are being read by gecko enthusiasts around the world. We have more than 40 ideas for articles on our to-do list and are always interested in people who would like to write them or who have other ideas for articles. Several of our more recently published articles are the result of requests from readers for articles about specific topics. There are many ways to participate in publishing on Gecko Time, from writing your own article to sending us a suggestion.

How to Write Your Own Article

Think of a gecko related topic you are interested in or curious about. We have found that the most readable articles contain an introduction followed by a “list” of several sub-topics with a few paragraphs of information. You can see an example of the format in this article and also in many others that have already been published. Make a list of what information you want your article to contain. Treat each item on the list as a paragraph title and write a few paragraphs to explain or describe it. Our articles are usually 500-1000 words though slightly longer articles are often acceptable.

Writing about One of Our Topics

Gecko Time can send you a list of topic ideas. We have plenty. Some examples of our “hot topic” ideas include: Finding a Vet for your Gecko, How to Take a Vacation, World of Web Footed Geckos, Safe Plants for Gecko Enclosures. Once you have chosen a topic that interests you, follow the instructions above in the section “How to Write Your Own Article”

Sharing your Ideas

We are always interested in learning which topics people are interested in reading about. Your idea could be for a specific article or for a general category. For example, someone recently suggested that Gecko Time should publish personal accounts of experiences with geckos, an idea which had not occurred to us. We are also interested in receiving your suggestions about others in the herp community who you think could write an interesting article. All you have to do is submit their name and contact information and we will get in touch with them.

Submitting Information

There are two buttons at the top of our website labeled “suggest a topic” and “write for us”. Click on the appropriate button, type your idea or article into screen which will appear and we will receive your submission. Alternatively, you may email articles and ideas directly to aliza@geckotime.com.

What Happens Next

When we receive an article, we will edit it lightly to make sure that the grammar is correct and that there is no awkward wording. We will send you a copy of the edited article on your request. We will also email those who submit articles requesting a short bio and some pictures to accompany the article. If you have no pictures to send, we will provide them. If you submit an idea, we will contact you when we have come up with an article and let you know the publication date in advance.

We’d love to hear from you

We hope the information above has helped to spark some interesting ideas. Now that you know how to go about it, we hope to hear from you soon.

What are our summer plans?

Gecko Time is sticking it out with you this summer and will continue to bring you fresh, quality content about the reptiles we all love, GECKOS! I (Matthew Kammerer), the owner and creator of this website, will be taking off to start a summer job this Monday! I will be traveling across the US working as a counselor for a mission oriented camp. I am very excited to take this opportunity to serve God and youth this summer.

That leaves Gecko Time all by itself though, right? No way! Aliza Arzt(pronounced Uh-lee-za ), our resident editor, is taking the hat of commander in chief while I am away! She can be reached at any time through email: aliza@geckotime.com. While I am away this summer, photo contests will be put on hold. Don’t worry, they will return in August!

Our growth so far

I have been very pleased with the growth of Gecko Time so far! We are still a young face on the internet, only being around for just over 3 months. We have seen our twitter followers grow to over 1,500 and our RSS subscribers range from 35-40 depending on the day! We also see an average of 120-180 visitors a day. Thanks so much for the support!

On the same note, I would like to thank our newest sponsor: Ohio Geckos. Also, our veteran sponsors, for making this possible: PacHerp, Pro Geckos, and CSM Gecko! We are proud to have such awesome breeders sponsor us. They are all truly class act reptile keepers.

So keep an eye out

Our new posts will continue to go up each Monday morning and we look forward to your comments throughout the week. Be sure to subscribe to our RSS feed to the right side of the page to keep up to date easily! Have a great summer!

Heather will receive a roach colony from BuyDubia.com. Thank you very much to Buy Dubia for sponsoring the April photo contest!

Gecko Time Updates

Gecko Time has been around for a little over a month and so far the response has been amazing! We’ve seen over 5,000 unique visitors in the last 30 days. That is awesome, thank you!

Interview with Ron Tremper was a hit!

Most recently there has been a lot of buzz about our interview with Ron Tremper. He has even shared a debut photo of the new Blue Leopard Gecko Project. If you have not yet read it be sure to check it out.

Design Tweaks

We’ve also done some minor design tweaks. You may have noticed our freshly polished subscriptions features in the sidebar. Speaking of which, be sure to subscribe to our site via RSS or Email!

Advertising Now Available

Finally, we have added advertising to Gecko Time. We hope to hire a site manager for the summer and these funds will help pay this person. Be sure to check out the new Advertise on Gecko Time page for details.

Be sure to check back on Monday for a great guest post from Cody at Pro Geckos!

The purpose of Gecko Time is to become a leading source of gecko information. We hope to bring our viewers amazing breeder interviews, species spotlights, and more. Our goal is to bring rich, interesting content to gecko lovers.

When will we update?

We hope to post once per week, every Monday morning. No longer will those Monday mornings be a drag, you can look forward to great, fresh content related to the animals you love.

As Gecko Time grows we may increase the number of posts per week. Also, if you are interested, we will be taking guest posts on any topic relating to geckos that you’d like to write about. If you would love to write for us, but have no idea what to write on, drop us an email!

Get notified of updates!

You can subscribe to our updates through RSS or get an email every time we post updates.

Be sure to check back frequently for contests, interviews, and fresh new content. Leave us a comment with what you think of the site so far and what you’d like to see us cover in the future!