Hello: This is Joe Winter, the guy with the music and entertainment web site, getting back to you on your readership request from a bit back, after we talked and you I believe viewed my press release. I did in many cases do the Halloween and band preview. I wrestled with how to best honor that request, since I am a very good writer, but on the techno end of things, not nearly as so much so. Thus what follows is my secondary press release on hits, which I hope can frame the subject and its raw numbers, as well as a second copy of my main press release. If this does not suffice, I can get some assistance from my technology helper to get you the report you said you might like to see originally. Sorry about the jumping through hoops and time lag and my long written spiel, with the holidays around. Joe.
Hello from Joe Winter, the music and entertainment blogger. This press release might answer the questions you wanted addressed on readership. I sent below, again, my main press release, as well.
I am on Google Analytics, but it seems to miss most of my hits and gives widely conflicting numbers, and even crazily high upward spikes, in what they do register. There do seem to be numbers of hits in the hundreds. One blogger I know said it best: If I get 75 “likes” how is it that I can only be getting seven “hits.” People in the computer industry have heard many such complaints. (More on that later in the email, so please read it through). Thus, anecdotal info takes on a greater value.
All my hits spike upward on days I post new editorial content, so to give advertisers the best bang for their buck, I try to post that in addition when I run a significant ad.. Not to just be an apologist, but I get up to 50 emailed comments about my web site a day, and people say they view the site, love it and will visit again. That 50-reader number doesn’t even include people who read and don’t comment.
Examples of all this:
— There are at least five times where I made light of something like a typo on a marquee sign, just to make the place sound interesting, even its by a non-advertiser, and it has existed for a couple of weeks already. But the day after my post it is miraculously fixed by the venue. So I know someone is paying attention.
— At a long-time stand-by tavern, the bartender gave me wrong information about the start time of a band, saying it was a few hours earlier, ouch, and scores of people showed up wondering why the music had not started until a bit later. The only way they could have gotten that information was via my web site.
— Most Hudson people are commuters and do surfing from work, which I am told will not always register as hits, (see more on that below), and Google made a reference saying less than one in 200 of my hits come from desktop computers, which is what you would have at work. There is simply no way the number could be that low, so it lends credence to the idea that very many readers from their work are being blocked.
— Some of my regular email commentators from Minnesota don’t even have their city of origin pop up anywhere in my Google chart, so you know they have been missed.
— Whenever I post a story, there are dozens of readers who immediately view my site, meaning they must have tagged it. However, after those first few minutes kick in, Google at times may not register anything at all, which again seems suspect. And, when the day is done, the amount of hits tallied may actually drop significantly, which also makes you wonder about their accuracy.
The vast majority of people in Hudson work in the Twin Cities and surf from there, and Google views them as spam, and doesn’t list them as legit hits, even though these people are still reading things such as my site. Sometimes, too, I’ve been told, companies have a “firewall” in their computer system to block these as being recorded as hits.
Advertisers say I do something with my format that no one else does, and they read it for pleasure, not just business, and some have even run special promos based on my site, which attracts music fans from all over into classic rock, southern rock, country and hip-hop. Again, where are they as far as hits?
I know this all is a bit nebulous, but I hope it helps frame things.
Also, Google does have value in showing the cities where the greatest percentage of readers come. Hudson leads, then the Minneapolis-St. Paul area (to see where to go when they come here), and cities in western Wisconsin. I also have many readers from Chicago, who are looking for a guide on what to do when they come for a weekend. I’ve been told by other bloggers that any site related to the St. Croix River Valley will get such traffic, simply for the tourism reason.
A lot of commentators say they’ll bookmark my site, and Google says my average reader stays on for a longer time than usual, on average up to four-plus minutes so you know they are reading the ads, not like a newspaper where an ad might be buried way in the back. I have over a dozen local clients who are regular advertisers, and they have said they feel the ads on my site bring in more business. I’m sure they would give a recommendation and I have testimonials. Thanks, Joe Winter
Hello: This is Joe Winter, a longtime music, nightlife and entertainment blogger who has a well-read web site on these types of activities locally. I had a conversation with one of your associates awhile back, right before we talked. I believe we could do some beneficial work together, as being very festive is in both are stocks in trade. I’ve run the site for five years, and one thing I do is promote events and companies that relate to entertainment and also music, and do new business “advertorials” when places have fairly recently opened, or have a change in design or focus, and I think both of our ventures reach the same demographic of clients.
I get 50 e-mails a day in which people rave about the site’s content, which is a combination of editorial content and event ads. It even got a mention on Yahoo! News. My clients include River Falls Chamber of Commerce and their annual bluegrass festival, Bacon Bash, area wineries, Hudson Booster Days, Hudson Hot Air Affair, Demon Rum, Hudson Scuba, Pedro de Este, Pudge’s Bar, Venture Fireworks, Roberts Good Neighbor Days and some of their venues, St. Croix County Fair, an all-summer series of articles on jazz at a local club, a season long Packer and Viking football promo for a pub, on a regular basis numerous area nightclubs … OK you get the picture.
You may want to check it out, HudsonWiNightlife.com. (Don’t let the name throw you, as I have readers and advertisers from all over the Twin Cities two-state area). Google says the highest number of hits come not only from the St. Croix Valley, but also from Minneapolis, and even Chicago, as having read my blog and viewing it as a primer for where to go when they get here, many of them say they will come this way to have some fun. To that end, I have a weekly Picks of the Week department that’s like a community calendar for recommended events. On this, I give more than just the dates and times of an event, such as a band playing, I also run a few paragraphs of info to flesh it out. I should note that I don’t publish this just for my own enjoyment; there is a nominal $10 fee for Picks of the Week ads (they are negotiable as far as price, even at that low cost).
There also is an option, as I said, of a full-length article, run on my home page, that can promote a relatively new business, or changes in club design or focus, and say why people should patronize it. I charge a bit more for this, but at $35 for a medium-length piece that as a rate is always is negotiable to boot, it is still a real deal compared to, say, taking out an ad in the local newspaper, where your ad might get buried in the back anyway and not even get noticed. By contrast, Google tells me that the average reader stays on my site and reads for about four minutes, which other bloggers note is unheard of in the industry, and means they would read every word of an advertorial such as yours.
The web site is an extension of a column I wrote for years for the Hudson Star-Observer, until I got downsized after 16 years. So many people asked me when I was going to resurrect it that I decided to do just that. People tell me they enjoy a web site that can be witty and promote a subject such as nightlife at the same time. The word of mouth has spread widely – just like the business cards I hand out when doing things like reviewing bands.
There are a whole variety of clubs I work with, some frequently, and some only when they have special events, and either is OK. Please let me know if we could do business. I’m sure some of the club owners would give a recommendation, if needed, as some of them simply swear by my blog and the results it gets for them.
Thanks
Joe Winter
wntrrptr1961@gmail.com