[Gannett Blog traffic rose past 30 days, but ad sales down]
Part of an occasional series about yours truly.
Q. Anonymous@3:50 p.m. asks: Is your traffic down, or are advertisers just paying less for your eyeballs? My $20 is in the mail.
A. It's mostly the advertisers, unfortunately. With less than two weeks before the quarter's end, I've made $3,394 -- only 57% of my goal. Your donations are down 26% from the previous quarter. But ad sales plunged 61% on lower rates -- even as readership jumped.
Traffic is up 17% from last month, Google Analytics said today. The data, shown in graphic, top, for the past 30 days: 35,000 unique visitors; more than 176,000 visits, and nearly 375,000 page views.
Here's the year-to-date trend in page views; arrow points to Jan. 14, when Corporate confirmed first-quarter furloughs. Recurring dips are weekends. Click on image for bigger, more readable view:
I'm trying to earn $6,000 quarterly, mostly through sponsorships of $5 per reader, plus limited ad sales. Please use the "Donate" tool in the green rail, upper right. Or mail cash/checks payable to: Jim Hopkins, 584 Castro St. #823, San Francisco, Calif., 94114-2594.[Image: Google Analytics]
Jim,
ReplyDeleteDo you see any parallel between your financial situation and Gannett's? Is it possible you've just managed this blog so poorly that it can't sustain itself? Maybe you're your blog's Craig Dubow?
Wow ... harsh.
ReplyDeleteJim, I'll cut you a check for $25 Sunday.
ReplyDeleteJim,
ReplyDeleteAre you saving some to pay the taxes on your income? You want to do the right thing. + Someone might alert the IRS.
Anon may be harsh but in reality it isnt a management problem, Jim has a faulty buisness model. One that relys on subscriptions and ad revenue for a product that is homogenous and therfore appeals to a very narrow audience. He also need to figure out how to control the free rider problem.
ReplyDeleteHMMM, sounds like Jim has himself a newspaper.