DevHub – An innovative way to build a website

New Updates

Free Cloud Access Offered By Amazon Web Services

Amazon.com had indicated they will be offering a free usage tier for its Amazon Web Services. With this announcement, Amazon takes a giant step from establishing themselves as a retailer-only, to a retailer also doing business as a technology company. Effective November 1, all new AWS users wil.... More »

General Category Blocking Tested by AdSense

Good news for Google AdSense users: Google has announced via their AdSense blog that they are currently testing an expanded version of category blocking, known as general category blocking. Google explained further by indicating that general category blocking allows users to block even more cat.... More »

Don’t Forget About Web Site Copy

Web site developers and designers put a lot of time and effort into the appearance of their websites, and with good reason. A well-designed web site attracts users. It's like the beautiful cover of a book; sometimes that's enough to get it picked up. Unfortunately, unless the first page grabs the .... More »

Huge Implications for Clickthroughs with New Google Feature

Reports indicate that Google is testing a feature in its search results pages that allows users to see full-page previews of sites before clicking through to get to them. The test involves highlighting certain sections of a web page in orange and expanding the text to provide a snippet of infor.... More »

Starbucks' New Portal Caters to Mobile Users

Starbucks takes "listening to the customer" to a whole new level with the design of its soon-to-be released Web landing portal. Starbucks Digital Network will be optimized with mobile devices in mind primarily, rather than traditional web browsers. The majority of connections to Starbucks' free.... More »

In 2009 DevHub was released and was a startup for users to build their own blogs and websites. Pretty straight forward right? It came with a focus on monetization through some syndication deals.

The big news now with DevHub is that it is featuring a gaming mechanic which will help new users turn their boring blog templates into a fully fledged website.

DevHub will walk you through each step in creating your website and reward you when you are completing actions with points that you will then be able to use on your pretty new website. These points can also be used to further improve your website.

When you first sign up you’re asked to choose from four tracks: blog, ‘Web Hub’ which is a portal for your social media, a small business site, and a product promotion. After choosing a track, the site will show a wizard pointing out its main features. Finally, once you’re in the builder, you’ll be prompted to complete tasks like adding a profile photo, connecting your Facebook account and blogging something.

Completing these actions allows you to accrue virtual points, which can in turn be used to further improve your site. Additional features are available for purchase in the DevHub marketplace, which include new templates, the ability to embed widgets, and a link roll.

DevHubs goal is to get people to fill everything out and build a full-fledged website, and this provides a way to handhold them through the process. If you don’t want to earn the points well of course you’ll be able to purchase the improvements and that means spending some cold hard cash.

All in all, this is a pretty creative and fun way for people to use DevHub and keep using them. Not bad for a small company!