BisManCafe Celebrates 10 Years: Lookback and Reflection

BisManCafe launched a decade ago as BismarckPride.com.
2007 screenshot of the initial test site for what eventually evolved into BisManCafe.com. The site tested under "ThisIsBismarck.com," but changed to BismarckPride.com by launch, which became BisManCafe in 2010.

10 years ago this month, in November 2007, BisManCafe launched under the BismarckPride.com moniker. The site’s original intent and purpose was a hyperlocal blog emphasizing news, information, and pictures.

By 2010, the site had evolved into the region’s leading community hub, adding an interactive social network, free classified listings, a business directory, and member blog posts. The site had also grown to become the region’s most comprehensive historical database, featuring hundreds of articles.

This change in focus also lead to a change in branding, to the more appropriate BisManCafe. The name “cafe” was chosen to symbolize the site’s newly found purpose as a gathering place for the community to “connect, learn, and share.”

10 years is a long time. For comparison sake, when the site launched in 2007… YouTube was barely two years old and Facebook had only been a open to the general public for a year. Oh, and the first iPhone had just been launched. 100% of the site’s traffic came from a desktop or laptop. Today, more than half come from a mobile device.

Thank you to all of the visitors and other supporters throughout the past decade.

Timeline Since 2011

2013

New layout debuts: 2013

2011: Business directory launches.

2012: Improved social networking features debut.

2013: First major redesign since 2010, featuring a responsive layout optimized for mobile. As of December 2016, this still forms the foundation of BisManCafe’s design.

2014: Classifieds section re-launches with numerous enhancements. Improved Image Gallery also debuts, featuring searchable picture archives, category filtering, commenting, and embedded maps. Lastly, a new logo debuts, based on the original.

2015-Present: Ongoing enhancements to all sections, mostly targeted at improving user experiences.