Oakland Local is now 4 months
old, going into its 5th month, and the routine of getting up and doing
daily updates every morning is starting to feel, uh, normal. In the
past month, we've focused on posting more local blog posts and what we
call simple stories, and our traffic is growing as a result.
According
to Google Analytics, in the past 30 days, OL has had 36,974 visits, and
63,770 page views, with more than 50% of the visitors returning--about
25,000 uniques. Our traffic comes through search engine referral,
through Facebook and Twitter, and via direct traffic to OL (ie typing the URL in.)
.
We have 2,310 Facebook fans, many of whom are very active on the page, and an engaged community on Twitter as well.
Next steps: We are slowly--way too slowly--making the move to take advertising and sponsorships. With a small team, clearing the time to make this happen is hard, but its the next item on my plate.
We are also refreshing and tweaking the site, adding small new features and changes based on user input. And we are adding writers and stepping up training for community and non-profit partners so they can tell their stories.
It's really hard work, which is why being obsessed is great. But it's also service work, because we exist to reflect and help focus a series of overlapping concerns and communities, a new way of combining civic engagement and news.
Being a perfectionist, I look at the site and see how much more we need to learn and do. But being a pragmatist, I know that having the traction we do after 4 months is both a huge testimony to the team--and just great! (Big grin).
According
to Google Analytics, in the past 30 days, OL has had 36,974 visits, and
63,770 page views, with more than 50% of the visitors returning--about
25,000 uniques. Our traffic comes through search engine referral,
through Facebook and Twitter, and via direct traffic to OL (ie typing the URL in.).
We have 2,310 Facebook fans, many of whom are very active on the page, and an engaged community on Twitter as well.
Next steps: We are slowly--way too slowly--making the move to take advertising and sponsorships. With a small team, clearing the time to make this happen is hard, but its the next item on my plate.
We are also refreshing and tweaking the site, adding small new features and changes based on user input. And we are adding writers and stepping up training for community and non-profit partners so they can tell their stories.
It's really hard work, which is why being obsessed is great. But it's also service work, because we exist to reflect and help focus a series of overlapping concerns and communities, a new way of combining civic engagement and news.
Being a perfectionist, I look at the site and see how much more we need to learn and do. But being a pragmatist, I know that having the traction we do after 4 months is both a huge testimony to the team--and just great! (Big grin).
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