Last month I was shocked when I checked our download stats on Oct. 11 to find that we had 55,160 downloads of our Oct. 2011 issue of Carolina Arts. I don’t know what to say my reaction is this month. So this morning on 11/11/11 – a strange day on the calendar – I checked the stats for the first ten days in Nov. and after I took off my glasses and rubbed my eyes to make sure they were cleared and looked again, the total was 71,752. What the heck!
I knew we had passed last month’s total for the first ten days, but I hadn’t checked in two days and was I very surprised. This total was 3,392 over the total (68,360) for all of October. So, we already have a new all time winner for most downloads and the month is only a third of the way over. But, don’t get overly excited as I’m trying not to. The first ten days of the month is when the bulk of our downloads take place. After that time period the numbers drop off to a trickle. At least that seems to be the pattern.
The roots of this avalanche lie in the activity which took place last month. We received many more request from people who were receiving our link from third parties to be added to our list to make sure they always got notice of new issues. And, many more people involved in visual art organizations expressed a willingness to help us spread the word about the paper by sending our link out on their e-mail list. As one person said – we want as many people as possible to see our coverage in your paper showing that we’re not just a local news story – we’re being seen regionally. I had to say – amen to that.
We don’t have a mailing list of 70,000 people and I doubt we ever will. Our list has grown tenfold since we started this online venture, but without the help of others we’d have never seen the numbers we have today. So we hope those who have been sowing our seed throughout the Carolinas keep doing so and also that others will join them.
The rest of the numbers are: 19,502 “others” or the unknown. This is about the same as last month (19,865), but we all know by now that by the end of the month this number may overtake our total downloads – it always does – except for last month.
Our cult issue, March 2011, has regained its foothold on second place with 5,510 downloads and our May 2011 issue has moved into third with 1,342. Remember there was a time when the May issue had gone AWOL.
The June 2011 issue came in 4th with 735, after holding second place for a few months. Next was January 2011 with 160; July 2011 with 127; and February 2011 with 56 downloads.
Our October 2011 issue which set a record for size (76 pages) and downloads until this month, just had 37 downloads. It’s amazing how “old hat” these issues get as soon as the next issue comes out. It takes a few months to go by before people are interested in looking back.
That was the totals for the top 200 entries on our stats list of 10,001 items. In taking a peek at the next 100, I found our September 2011 issue with 21 downloads. No sign of April 2011 or August 2011. Who wants to revisit August in the Carolinas? Maybe once the cool winds of Winter set in, everyone will be wishing it could be a little more like August. How soon we forget.
If you’re not one of the 70,000+ who have downloaded our November 2011 issue of Carolina Arts – the link is (http://www.carolinaarts.com/1111/1111carolinaarts.pdf). It will take a few minutes to download, but well worth the wait in my opinion and, I hope that of many others. And feel free to join our “resend” club and pass this link around to others.
Two final things. One – these numbers are great but unless our advertisers – those folks who make this paper possible see some kind of reaction on their end – it won’t mean anything. So, it’s important for our readers to let them know you appreciate their support for Carolina Arts. And, two – we could use a few more – well a lot more advertisers. Our rates are pretty cheap to expose yourself to this many viewers. You can find info about advertising at this link (http://www.carolinaarts.com/advertising.html). There are many areas of the Carolinas where we don’t have any advertisers. By being the first – you’ll stand out like a wise man or woman in Congress.
Here’s hoping I’m blown away when I check the stats at the end of the month.