As parents know well, there are a regular series of checkup visits during a child’s early years.
That is no less true with media start-ups. This past week 1812Blockhouse reached the ripe old age of nine months, and so we thought we’d turn the focus inwards to share a bit about where we’ve been and where we’re headed.
During those nine months, we have made a total of 1,295 posts on our main site, not counting those on social media. We’ve covered parades, arts and musical events, community festivals, and much more.
People continue to find us in many different ways. Many do directly at www.1812blockhouse.com, and others through Facebook and search engines. In the last 24 hours, for instance, people have found 1812Blockhouse via Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
You may have noticed that 1812Blockhouse is a somewhat different site than the other independent local online news site, Richland Source, as well as the websites of traditional outlets the Mansfield News Journal, WMFD, and others. Our approach echoes that of a handful of sites which are forging new ground in local media – all in more urban areas – that collect and share links to the great writing from multiple media sources, and combines it with original content — such as our Landmarks of Mansfield and Literary Mansfield series, photo essays, stories about our trips to area attractions, arts events, and more.
It is heartening, therefore, to note that the number of visitors to our site has grown steadily. We often compare our growth to those of other local media, many of which are members of groups such as “LION (Local Independent Online News) Publishers.” We have access to basic data from sources which compile this type of information. In one such collection, which shares detailed statistics from 96 online-only publications nationwide, we are already inching toward the halfway mark in terms of unique monthly visitors. The last 30 days’ traffic, in fact, is actually 300% higher than that in the previous 30 days.
We continue to look for ways to make the site more responsive to our readers’ preferences and more engaging. If you have ideas to share in terms of what you would like to read or see covered, please send us an email at: [email protected]. Please also use the same email address to send us press releases, news items, announcements, photos, etc., and we’ll do our best to get them online.
Thanks for reading 1812Blockhouse, and be sure to check back often as we roll out new features in the coming weeks as we head to our first birthday in September.
