IT Cert Strategy (itcertstrategy.com), previously the old Bit Expanse (bitexpanse.com) project (now sold to a web services company), was a fun project to present IT and cybersecurity certification guides, tips, and job advice I learned in the last 2 decades.
Before this project was a branded workforce development website, it was basically just a catalog of my experiences and a call to action for those interested in security to move forward. There was and still is a huge cybersecurity workforce deficit. This project, IT Cert Strategy, is now part of Davis Tech Media.
Was IT Cert Strategy Successful?
If you’re anything like me, you’re probably wondering if this project was successful. Besides learning some great stuff, this project was a sleeper hit.
At its core, IT Cert Strategy was rebranded in mid-2017 with additional content. It was geared towards helping people interested in either IT or security to study for their next certification.
But that’s not all.
It also helps up and coming pros land their next job as well. It started with the old Bit Expanse content and went on from there.
This project was a TON of work but it was rewarding. What surprised me was how successful it was. It got up to 500 page views a month in less than 2 years. And that’s without any keyword research whatsoever. That’s pretty amazing for organic SEO.
I also received a handful of partnership requests, collaboration requests, and general business inquiries.
If this Project Was Successful, Why Merge it?
I wanted to reduce the number of websites I actively manage to make room for other projects. Besides, it got to the point where I was spending way too much time wondering if my next article or ultimate guide should go on IT Cert Strategy or Best of Roy (now Davis Tech Media).
Now I don’t have to spend another second worrying about where I should place similarly themed content.
So What About the Old Bit Expanse Website?
In the early stages of this project (mid-2016), it was called Bit Expanse. I still like that name, but it didn’t convey the security topic it was meant to. Besides, a good security person will have basic IT skills anyway, so it made sense to do a rebrand to include IT.
Not to mention, over half of my posts were quotes from successful security pros. If I was truly interested in helping up and coming IT and security pros, I would need to include more helpful content for people who haven’t been in the game long enough to connect the dots.
So the general security articles and quotes were transferred to Davis Tech Media and the remaining website was rebranded to IT Cert Strategy around May of 2016. Tens of thousands of additional words were added over the next 3 years after that.
What About the Old Domains?
- itcertstrategy.com now redirects to davistechmedia.com/it-cert-strategy.
- Bitexpanse.com is now a premium web agency initiative that’s not accepting new clients at this time of writing.
What I Learned With This Project
- Making my websites more useful.
- Positioning and branding.
- Better article writing (it’s not enough to just write facts).
- Writing better About pages.
- Affiliate marketing, but good content first.
- Divi Theme (migrated to Divi – also used builder and custom styling).
- Thrive Themes (previously used Pressive – not sold anymore).
- X Theme (migrated from Renew stack).
- WordPress custom functions.
So What Now?
I merged this content with my main site, Best of Roy so I don’t have to manage a separate website. I created a special landing page to help commemorate this great project.
You can get to this special landing page by going to bestofroy.com/it-cert-strategy.
