What a year it’s been! Well, we’ve been working on mechanical-hub.com for more than a year, but since we launched in September 2012 I can tell you it has been nothing short of a whirlwind of excitement for both John and me. We have met a ton of contractors all over the country and from Canada who have become friends and allies in our quest to bring you “fresh-daily” industry information and thought-provoking insights. All of these relationships, meetings and friendships have been what keeps us both passionate about working harder to keep this website going. John and I hold a lot of gratitude for all of the support you all have lent.
As our one-year anniversary rolled around, we had already been knee-deep in planning and working toward changing how the site looks, feels and functions. If there’s one thing about the trades that remains the same, it’s that everything changes. Our motivation to completely overhaul the site was to meet the needs of our visitors. We’ve analyzed all the traffic patterns, asked questions and listened to the responses of how you use the site, and moved some things around. Not everything original to the site made the final cut, but we have also added some new features we hope you’ll find useful and maybe even entertaining!
We’ll continue to write exclusive feature articles that we hope you find informative and interesting. Those feature articles have remained at the top, front and center. We’re proud of them because they are often what get us in touch with you, the contractor out in the field. As a side note, if you have an installation coming up or currently in progress please let us know! We’d love to talk about writing a piece for The Hub.
One of my favorite features of The Hub has always been the Tool Box and Product Spotlight. As a working plumbing and hydronics contractor I am always looking for new or improved tools and products; you’ll find them here. We seek out new stuff daily and post them as soon as they’re available to hopefully help you stay on top of your game in offering the latest technology, and have the right tools to better perform on the job.
We’re trying new stuff like our “Hub Trending” spot on the right of the page. Newsworthy items from all over the Internet will populate this space. Let us know what you think! Another new feature is our “Hub 5-Spot” where we want to give you quick lists and fast write-ups on various industry-related topics we hope you find interesting and useful. As always, we like to keep it human here and know, too, that you could use a good laugh once in a while so check out our “Mechanical Hub Commandments.” They pretty much speak for themselves.
Lastly, both John and I would like to thank all of our sponsors and advertisers. Without you none of this would be possible. Thank you! As we continue to pioneer new ideas for promoting new technologies and the trades as a whole, it’s our manufacturer and marketing friends who support these efforts and work with us to keep the lights on. It is an honor to be in this industry, to attend events alongside other industry professionals, and to be a main source of trade-related information to so many contractors throughout the world.
We hope every one of you finds the new design, “The Hub 2.0”, easier than ever to use. Our goal is for you to return in search of information that will help you in your everyday business. Thank you all, it’s been a great year and we’re looking forward to many more to come!
Eric Aune, mechanical-hub.com
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