Site News.... As MS would say, "We Rock!"

[Horton]

I did some looking so see where BallOfSpray ranked compared to other water ski web sites and was pleasantly surprised.

Quantcast.com says that 5,800 people come through BallOfSpray every month. (http://www.quantcast.com/ballofspray.com )

For comparison, same reporting tool says that USAWaterSki gets 7,200 viewers per month. (http://www.quantcast.com/usawaterski.org ) and waterskimag.com gets 10,800 (http://www.quantcast.com/waterskimag.com )

Alexa.com puts BallOfSpray a bit further behind USA Water Ski, but roughly in the mix with the water ski manufactures web sites.

I also run Google Analytics. It is a great tool but because I have the site and the forum that are both database driven I am not sure if the numbers are correct (Not sure if it I configured it correctly). Google says that BallOfSpray got just over 6,000 visits this month with only 1600 visitors.

The different reporting tools are inconsistent but I don’t think there is any question that BallOfSpray has become a force to be reckoned with. I believe that of the news, opinion or forum sites, BallOfSpray has the most reach. (Kent’s site has the most posts.). (I do not think the boat owner forums are focused on what we are focused on – yes they are way freak’n bigger then BallOfSpray.)

The success of this site is as much or more yours as mine.  You guys do all the heavy lifting here on the forum. I just set the tone. The take away is that when you post here you are heard. The ski factories hear you, USAWaterSki and INT hear you and the world of competitive waterskiing hears you. (Ok I know that Steve Locke reads Creaky Row Boat but I am going to find a way to get him to read BOS : -)

Thanks for being a part of it.

Horton

[Horton]

Link to Alexa Data http://bit.ly/fqQl

 

[Horton]

I rechecked BallOfSpray's standing in the world according to Alexa. See Link to Alexa Data http://bit.ly/fqQl

So BallOfSpray is ranked 893,273 out of all the sites on the net and CreakyRowBoat is ranked 20,409,257 but when Toby logs off from Moomba, what does he say?  I quote from Twitter "auskier thanks to all who tuned in. Thank horton for the idea. Things cant be more real time than this, & to the guys @@ CRB. Cheers. "  What the heck did Creaky Do? One post on a blog? I just can not beat those guys.  I guess everyone should go visit Creaky so they can be ranked above 20 Millionth. http://creakyrowboat.blogspot.com/2009/03/thanks-twitter.html

Ok jhughes is screaming at his screen..... Alexa is not perfect but it is all I have.

 

[auskier]

haha dont take it personally horton, i was just thanking them for the shoutout and making me laugh!!!

[Horton]

Toby,

I will forgive you when I get a mess of photos or videos from Moomba. (eamil please)

Horton

[Horton]

OK jhughes was right the whole time. Alexa really sucks. They claim we are down 30% over the last 90 days when traffic is up almost 20% in the last month. 48,000 page views in Feb and up every month to 70,000 in May.

Thanks guys.

[tsixam]

Go to bed. Don’t sit up all night. We need you to be awake and alert, to test skis for us!

Tsixam

[Roger]

Google analytics if set up right is pretty accurate. We use their stuff and Yahoo's on our retail sites. I looked at this page's source view and you appear to have the correct script installed. However, Google recommends installing the script between the closing form and closing body tags. You appear to have the script installed in the head section. The original Google directions did have the script in the head section, but they changed this to the closing form/body tags a little over a year ago. Our analytics seemed to get more accurate after making this change (IE: The number of hits and click through rate seem to better match our actual sales).

 

[Horton]

Without really looking..... it is in there twice... or three times..... autmatically by the forum software and once for each banner ad. Errr I think. or maybe that is totally wrong. Can't look have to go to the coal mine.