The first half of ’08 is over, so what the heck, let’s look at how things are going around here. I shifted to Bay Area coverage around this time last year and installed a Google Analytics counter to measure our progress. Here’s what it looked like for the first 30 days I had the counter turned on:
July 15-August 14 2007:
- 3,853 Visitors
- 5,764 Visits
- 9,615 Page views
Here’s what it looked like for the month ended yesterday:
June 1-June 30, 2008
- 6,242 Visitors
- 8,308 Visits
- 14,719 Page views
Those are decent bumps in traffic over 12 months, percentage-wise, and they’re down about a fifth from the peak local hiking season in April. What happens is: the more I post, the more traffic I get. If I write about things lots of local hikers are interested in — like where the spring flowers are blooming or which local parks are on fire — I get more visitors. Also, anything about gear sends a few googlers my way, and they tend to be in a shopping mood, which sends a few paid clicks my way.
My main preoccupation in June was avoiding the necessity of living in my backpacking tent full-time (cue Homer Simpson voice: “Lousy industry in free fall”), so a lot of time that might’ve been spent blogging was devoted to scoping out more promising sources of income. I have a line on something that I can’t really talk about in public just yet, but trust me, if somebody throws me a lifeline from the newspaper titanic, they’ll get full credit here.
I’m torn between sticking with the Bay Area format and widening the scope to perhaps attract more readers. Local gives the blog a tighter focus, but I feel like I’ve got the region pretty well hiked out, and truth be told I’m getting a little weary of seeing the same stuff week in and week out, especially when there’s such great stuff just a few hours away (though the gas costs to get there are turning into a serious buzz-kill).
Any of your thoughts/suggestions/ruminations along these lines are welcome.
Since I don’t live in the Bay Area any more but I really enjoy your blog I would love it if you expanded your coverage
Hello!
While I enjoy the gear posts, my main interest is in technique. I figure that the more technique I need, the more flexible with gear I have be… In fact, the more technique I know, sometimes the less gear I need. Anyway – hope this obtuse comment is useful!
Cheers,
Mungo
Mungo: That’s an excellent distinction … thanks. (Though I scarcely think I could teach you any techniques you don’t already know… but I could be on the lookout for technique posts online).
I agree with the above. Since I have been an avid hiker these past 7 months, I am branching out into other areas…such as my climbing Half Dome soon, and backpacking in the Ansel Adams Wilderness. So any and all useful info I eat up. And for the record, people I hike with always want to know where I hear about these little useful tidbits of info, and I always tell em!
Tom, I run into the same problem…writing a monthly bit around the Tri Valley limits me to such eye popping statements as “sitting beneath the cool shade of (another) coastal live oak whilst the dry grass flutters in the breeze awaiting spontaneous combustion…”
Expand, young feller! Go out and see the world!
Hey, let’s do Kili. That might suck in a reader or two….
I think you have one of the most thorough sites I’ve ever seen for the South Bay/Peninsula/South East Bay area (confusing, but makes sense to me). I’d be ecstatic if you expanded. I think there are great trails in Wildcat (as I’ve said before), Redwood, Joaquin Miller, and obviously Marin is an inexhaustible source of trails and material. At least you won’t have to spend as much as driving to the Sierras!
By all means, expand. I like hiking, backpacking, commentary & images in areas that are within one or two days driving range from the bay area. Not too interested in East Coast, though the right article might tempt me.
Tom, I’d also like to see you expand out in Calif. I plan to do Devil’s Postpile in the Sierras in August so any info on that would be good, though I’ve done some research already.
I’ve just come back from hiking at Great Basin NP in Nevada up Wheeler Peak (13,083), my first 13er. It was very difficult up to the top, but so worth it.