Virb Blog

Virb is simplifying the do-it-yourself website. Whether you're a photographer, a band, a small business, or anything in between, Virb is perfect for building your site — quickly and easily. This is our blog.

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Jun 1 2010

Goodbye Profile, Hello Website

The team and I are extremely excited to (finally) pull back the curtain on our upcoming reboot of Virb. Let me start by saying, this is not an announcement of a redesign or feature upgrade; this is a look at the forthcoming re-envisioning of our website and our business.

Course Correction

Let’s face it. The direction Virb was headed, just wasn’t working for anyone — especially our users. It was time we made an epic course correction, allowing our product to regain pertinence. Virb is not an answer to those seeking a Facebook alternative or a better-looking MySpace.

Our new mission is much more focused: The new Virb is one of the easiest and most affordable ways to build an elegantly simple website. That’s it.

Built with Virb™

Virb has always been praised for its beautiful design, flexible media players and robust customization tools — all the elements a good website needs. It only makes sense that we hand these tools over to you. From bands and portfolios to small businesses and multi-page blogs; we’ve given you exactly what you’ll need to build your site with Virb.

No longer must you rely on that Flickr profile as your professional photography portfolio; or a CSS-hacked MySpace page to masquerade as your band’s website. We wanted a better solution, and we built it.

You’ll have ample storage and can build as many pages, sections or collections as you want. Choose from our ever-growing group of gorgeous Themes or go rogue with your own CSS wizardry. All on your very own domain, free of Virb logos and backed by (mt) Media Temple infrastructure. No hosting provider or on-call nerd required.

The new Virb debuts ~~in July~~ on August 16th. Details here.

A Social Butterfly

Facebook, Twitter and MySpace are awesome tools and we use them every day at Virb. We don’t want to compete with them anymore. The new Virb will come complete with tools allowing you to harness the promotional power of those booming communities, driving traffic back to your site — built with Virb. We’re excited to openly embrace the sites that you love, too.

The Shape of Things to Come

Have an existing account on Virb? Let’s have a look at how all the newness will affect you.

On launch day, every single Virb account will be upgraded to the new platform. All your content and media will transition seamlessly; though existing profile customization(s) will not be appearing in the new Virb. This is a step we had to take to properly reengineer our customization platform. You will, however, have access to your old CSS & HTML, in all its geek glory, if you desire to roll it into your new website.

All existing accounts can try out Virb an entire month for FREE. During this time, you can give things a proper tire kicking. C’mon over, set up a website. See how you like it — for 30 days, on the house.

When the free month comes to an end (and you’ve discovered you cannot live without your new site), you’ll receive an exclusive introductory rate of $5/month, guaranteed for 12-months!

There are no contracts, and billing is on a month-to-month basis. Come and go as you please. Turn off your site, then fire it back up when the time is right.

We also understand the new Virb won’t be for everyone; though we think you should check it out before making that decision. To ease any pain we may cause, we’ve created a backup tool. You’ll have the ability to export everything you’ve ever uploaded to Virb — and transport it to other blogging services via a friendly RSS format.

Your Future Is Whatever You Make It…

If you are reading this, there’s a very good chance that, once upon a time, you signed up for Virb. You have been an important part of this community, and we wanted to give you the courtesy of knowing first. Big changes can be hard and we do not take them lightly.

The new Virb is already in beta, *gasp* and will launch in July. Until that time, I give you my personal guarantee that we won’t waste your time with blurred out screenshots or obscure Tweets. Our company’s primary focus is to get Virb’s new tools into your hands ASAP. We’re pushing full force, and we’ll keep you in the loop. A no-bullshit policy.

So, if you’ve been looking for a place to park your portfolio, your band, your creative devil, your website: Virb is on the way. More details very soon!

Websites and bunnies,
Brad (& Simmy & Stephen & Dave & Rubin & Josh)

P.S. I am personally available via Twitter to address any questions you may have.

Remember: As long as you hit that wire with the connecting hook at precisely 88mph the instant the lightning strikes the tower… everything will be fine.

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