303Magazine.com traffic: cause for laptop dancin
Allow us to keystroke our collective ego for a moment.
Two years ago, this blog was a virtual ghost town. Sure, there were a couple of entries, but readership was almost non-existent. I began posting, mostly about music, in January 2010, and promoting those blogs to growing Facebook and Twitter fan-bases. A few other 303 staffers joined me. Beauty Editor Katelyn Simkins authored a makeup blog called Makeup Breakdown. Venus Starshine spotlighted Denver’s drag queen shindigs. Rachel Salter’s Fashion Fridays has been here since day one. Our page views began to gradually climb. Six months later, I was named Blog Editor. Nearly a year after I entered the digital picture, Caramel’s Roman Ivanov gave this place a facelift, integrating the blog into our 303 Magazine home page—and Facebook into the blog itself. People liked the new site design. It was sleek and functional. Our blogger staff doubled in the ensuing months. Print Editor-in-Chief Laura Standley kicked off a fitness and weight loss blog called Flip the Switch (she also helped establish blog plugs in the print magazine). Entries were finally being published five to six days a week. Readership continued to increase. Thousands were now perusing our musings on a daily basis. 303 Fiction Editor Aubrey Bropst finally stepped up to the plate with her yoga blog Downward Dog Style. It quickly became one of the most popular, traffic-wise. We also began hawking tickets to our biggest events—Breakers pool parties, The Hair Show—via our sturdier new web platform.
What happened next wouldn’t have been possible without a rock solid foundation. When we announced earlier this month we’d be hosting the grand opening of H&M’s first Colorado location, site visitation exploded. The guest list filled up in fifteen minutes. The wait list got so long it had to eventually be shut down. 303Magazine.com got almost a million total hits in one week (three and a half million in the last month). We averaged nearly 4,000 unique sessions per day. Our current server could barely handle the numbers. Guests didn’t just add their name to the list and log off either. They browsed through six or seven different pages first. Current online advertisers got their message in front of a lot of eyeballs. In the past four months, site membership has tripled. More people are subscribing to our newsletter too. The time has come to pat ourselves on the back.
Jump on the banner wagon. Facebook posts, event sponsorship and guest list management are a few of the numerous additional options. Savvy advertisers are doing it. 303 is offering first-time online ad rates until December 1. For further information, info@dev-303magazine.pantheonsite.io
George Peele enjoys strapping on height enhancers and aurally ambushing strangers. He is Music Features Editor for 303’s print edition. Keep your eyes peeled for December interviews with dance music twosome Manufactured Superstars and Times Square NYE guru Dante Dunlap. Follow Peele on Twitter @Orangepeelmoses. Avatar image courtesy Jonathan Shoup.