2008 Miscellaneous Mop-Up
As for big changes in 2009, I don't have too many planned. Not yet anyway.
Expect a few more course design project videos, perhaps no longer opening story links in new windows (only because that seems to be a web standard now) and yes, there might be advertising (contemplating joining an ad network devoted to golf sites).
Unique visitors and page views were up over last year, which is amazing considering the expected traffic drop off after Tiger went on leave. That was compounded by the economic crisis where the markets most tumultuous days definitely impacted visits here (and surely all other non-banking websites).
As always, the strength of this site remains the quality of the comments you all leave. I'm quite lucky to have such a diverse readership and it's always fascinating how many golf industry people are obsessed with comments made. That's a tribute to you all.
Please use this opportunity not to heap glowing praise but to offer any and all constructive criticism you'd like to share to help make this site better. And finally, while there really is no good reason I can think of to share this, maybe someone out there will get a kick out of knowing this about the GeoffShackelford.com readership...
Operating System Preference:
WinXP 66.08%
MacOSX 14.78%
WinVista 6.6% (ouch!)
Unknown 6.38%
Win2000 2.77%
Win2003 1.56%
Win98 0.51%
Linux 0.48%
iPhone 0.35% (it's a start)
WinNT 0.14%
Win9x 0.1%
WinNT4 0.06%
WinMobile0.05%
Win95 0.05%
MacOS 0.01%
WinME 0.01%
Win310.01%
SunOS 0%
PlaystationPortable 0%
NintendoWii 0%
Playstation3 0%
Symbian 0%
NintendoDS 0%
Browser Analysis
IE6 30.36%
IE7 28.23%
Gecko(Firefox) 23.36%
Safari 9.77%
Unknown 6.37%
Opera9 0.44%
IE5 0.3%
Gecko 0.29%
Gecko(Camino) 0.19%
Gecko(NS7) 0.13%
Chrome 0.13%
KHTML 0.1%
Opera8 0.06%
IE 0.06%
Opera7 0.05%
IE4 0.04%
NS 0.04%
Opera6 0.01%
KHTML(Konqueror) 0.01%
Gecko(NS) 0.01%
Gecko(Phoenix) 0.01%
Gecko(Firebird) 0.01%
Gecko(Galeon) 0.01%
Tuesday, December 30, 2008 at 10:48 PM
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Reader Comments (22)
I realise its mainly USA residents using the blog, I'm just interested in the spread of contributors - I enjoy the mix very much. (And because I'm in Oz I often get to post something whist most of you are still asleep. Or miss something interesting because I'm asleep.)
Also, Geoff, it's really no surprise you are contemplating inviting the money changers into the temple, given the impressive daily maintanance (that your loyal costomers expect from you). I have wondered how the opportunity cost has been justified vis a vis returns from other business units to the bottom line of the enterprise in its globality. It appears performing assets may have been adversely impacted by cash flow redirections leveraged towards the loss leader unit.
I must have learnt this crap somewhere.
Now that you are going to get paid for your site, will you now pay for the photos that you steal from us the photographers. You may think that your are hiding under the mask of a blogger but each one of your photos is stolen off another site and put on yours, disregarding copyright laws and payments to companies like Associated Press, Getty Images and Time Life.
Geoff are you and your site so special that just like Richard Nixon you feel above the law? If you are stealing photographs from people like me are you also stealing pieces of others stories? If you are stealing photos off of other sites and putting them on yours without a credit line, how do we know that the stories that you write don't have a line or a quote stolen here or there? One has to wonder.
Geoff, you have told us what you would like to do in '09 and how much your numbers have improved, but will you also pay for all the images that is stolen from us photographers on a daily basis?
Great site. I love it because it doesn't have advertising. But you have to make a living, so I understand that you may need to advertise. Just make sure the ads don't "pop up". I hate pop-up ads, even with pop-up blocker. That said, advertise away. And Happy New Year!
Ads? What Jordan said. No pop-ups and not blinking lights! Otherwise, do what is best for you.
Disallowing the use of thumbnail or downsized copies of your photographs on other sites (with some method of attribution of course) is professional suicide in this medium. Why wouldn't you want your work presented in as many places as possible? It's not as if someone is going to steal it and profit from its use in a low-res calendar or some such.
Subscribe to some blogs dealing with DRM and see how that fight is going for record and movie labels. Consumers are fighting back and increasingly wielding ever bigger fair use clubs.
@Geoff. Another commenter asked about origin of visits. I don't know how you're tracking your traffic but a quick look confirms the method is not Google Analytics. You might want to give that a look. Gives you everything and more at zero cost.
http://www.google.com/analytics/
Great blog. Daily visit for me.
I don't have that information, but I will request it with my host (I've also asked for most emailed posts). It would be interesting to know!
A photographer,
I forgot to mention in my review that I learned in early '08 how photographers are actually more neurotic, sensitive and bizarre than writers! Thanks for the reminder. Jack answered more eloquently and accurately than I ever could.
Ky, Jordan,
Thanks for the kind words. And don't worry, no pop ups.
Jack,
Thanks, I'll check Google analytics out. Appreciate the tip, I had no idea Google was offering that.
Happy New Year,
Geoff
Thanks for another year of a very enjoyable blog.
If I could offer encouragement/suggestions, please continue to keep a focus on keeping the fun in the game. Your focus on more cost effective maintenance practices is appreciated. All efforts you can muster to help increase the pace of play could do more than anything to increase the popularity and fun of golf.
Happy New Year to you.
The Big K
All the best to you in 2009
Peter
Thank you for another very interesting year on the site. Certainly a mixed bag of good and bad news both in golf and world wide events. Think the refocusing on restoring our municipal gems and environmentally responsible golf are noble causes you highlighted that should get a high priority in '09. To all other frequenters of this wonderful site ...All the best in ' 09!
Glad I can always rely on your site for a nice dose of cynicism every now and then. Keep up the good fight.
Your mindset is such a beautiful summary of old media not getting new media. I've never seen Geoff exploiting images in any way for profit. He's always highlighting articles and the work of photographers, and sending us to places to view the images in full. He's shining a light on the work of artists such as yourself. By sending us to pages of sites that pay for your work, he's part of the engine justifying your existence.
Your real issue should be with the sites paying for the photos by not locking them down. Of course, they are not locking them down because they want people like Geoff to link to them and send people to their site with links and hints of pretty little images to see. Pipe down and chill out.
I am with Peter, more original writings from you Geoff. Love the rants and insights. Gives us more to comment on.
Happy New Year,
OB
Thanks and all the best for the new year.
I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more Union Bay info.
So it may be semantics, but you're not going to be "starting" advertising. You've had advertisements for years.
I'm not saying this to be rude, but simply to point out that people haven't rejected your existing advertising, so it's highly unlikely they'll resist a slightly different form of advertising, where by "slightly different" I'm excluding pop-unders and pop-overs.
Have no fear. Best wishes for 2009.
P.S. I echo the sentiment that we hear more of your actual thoughts on architecture and design and less of the "snarky" quick-link stuff aimed at the USGA or whomever else has recently earned your ire. Just a wish, not a demand of course.
the site has become a daily requirement for me. i love the frank exchanges of views among the peanut gallery -- when they involve golf that is.
i like the snark, but i think there could be a touch less of it. i really like the overview of golf coverage from sources i hadn't known about before (like lewine mare and john huggan).
keep on keepin' on and Happy New Year!
Jim
Please upgrade to Firefox, Chrome or, at the very least, IE7. I can't even imagine the number of security holes people using IE6 are exposing themselves to.