Photo-illustration — DALI KOVACEVIC
BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC
A weekly look at what’s new, what’s coming on our site …
• A strong few days for the site were capped in the biggest way possible, with a record day for our site in visitors (28,363), single post (20,774) and, best of all, 87 new subscriptions that represented our single-day high point for 2015.
So, wow. Thanks.
The post was the latest Friday Insider, headlined by items on Troy Polamalu and Simon Despres, and the non-subscriber response to it was slightly above-average on Twitter, but it went completely wild on Facebook and well above the norm on Reddit, of all places. That brought in a bunch of new eyeballs and, undoubtedly as a result, new signups.
For those who don’t know, we use a metered paywall, meaning the first couple views are free. I insisted on this at the launch because I never wanted to shut out potential new readers arriving on social media and, even though this paywall is by far the most expensive and most complicated to maintain, I’ve been absolutely thrilled with the result. This day now stands as Exhibit A.
Anyway, to all our many newcomers, welcome! Now go get the free app!
• We’ll also welcome our very first outside writer to the site in just a couple of weeks: I’m beyond proud to announce that John Perrotto, longtime dean of the local baseball writing scene, will contribute one piece each day on the final days of the Pirates’ spring training from Bradenton. His first will come the day after I spend another full week down there, and I’m confident it will provide our readers with a strong running start toward opening day in Cincinnati.
My goal for this site when hiring any outside writer is to give you a real pro. There are far cheaper ways to go about it, but that wouldn’t be right. We couldn’t start better than with Perrotto on the Pirates, and I can’t wait to see what he’s got for us.
• Our migration to a new server, a process that can take a week or more, was finally complete Friday with the closing of our previous account. This is a good thing. We’ve had zero crashes on the new server, which is built to handle about 100 times our highest realistic level of traffic, so we’re not exactly expecting any, either.
Deepest appreciation to Jordan Saunders, our new site whiz, for pulling this off. I’ll have more on this talented young South Side man in the weeks ahead, as he’s a big part of what we’re doing, and he, too, is starting a business of his own.
• We’re selling baseball gift subscriptions aimed at offering Pirates fans a full year of coverage from spring training onward. A custom baseball-style card will be sent to all gift recipients, and we’ll be sure, as with all subscribers, that they get all the help they need using the site and the app.
Click the big box below for all gift subscription options:
• Yes, to answer the most common question coming this way, a subscription can be upgraded. Email [email protected] with your info, and we’ll take care of it.
• The app count: 4,262 active downloads from Apple for iPhone/iPad platforms, 1,783 from Google for Android platforms. And when I say active, I mean the net sum of apps actually on someone’s phone. If someone deletes our app, it’s a minus.
• As of this writing at 11 p.m. Friday, we’re at 8,587 subscriptions. We’re 7 1/2 months old, and our stated goal for the first full year was 10,000.
• If you can’t figure something out related to our site or app, please check our Support and App Support pages. About 99 percent of the questions we get can be answered right there. But if your issue isn’t there, email [email protected]
• Thank you, yet again, for reading and for your support.
March 7, 2015
Saturday site stuff: Best. Day. Ever.
by Dejan Kovacevic • Site stuff • Saturday site stuff
Photo-illustration — DALI KOVACEVIC
BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC
A weekly look at what’s new, what’s coming on our site …
• A strong few days for the site were capped in the biggest way possible, with a record day for our site in visitors (28,363), single post (20,774) and, best of all, 87 new subscriptions that represented our single-day high point for 2015.
So, wow. Thanks.
The post was the latest Friday Insider, headlined by items on Troy Polamalu and Simon Despres, and the non-subscriber response to it was slightly above-average on Twitter, but it went completely wild on Facebook and well above the norm on Reddit, of all places. That brought in a bunch of new eyeballs and, undoubtedly as a result, new signups.
For those who don’t know, we use a metered paywall, meaning the first couple views are free. I insisted on this at the launch because I never wanted to shut out potential new readers arriving on social media and, even though this paywall is by far the most expensive and most complicated to maintain, I’ve been absolutely thrilled with the result. This day now stands as Exhibit A.
Anyway, to all our many newcomers, welcome! Now go get the free app!
• We’ll also welcome our very first outside writer to the site in just a couple of weeks: I’m beyond proud to announce that John Perrotto, longtime dean of the local baseball writing scene, will contribute one piece each day on the final days of the Pirates’ spring training from Bradenton. His first will come the day after I spend another full week down there, and I’m confident it will provide our readers with a strong running start toward opening day in Cincinnati.
My goal for this site when hiring any outside writer is to give you a real pro. There are far cheaper ways to go about it, but that wouldn’t be right. We couldn’t start better than with Perrotto on the Pirates, and I can’t wait to see what he’s got for us.
• Our migration to a new server, a process that can take a week or more, was finally complete Friday with the closing of our previous account. This is a good thing. We’ve had zero crashes on the new server, which is built to handle about 100 times our highest realistic level of traffic, so we’re not exactly expecting any, either.
Deepest appreciation to Jordan Saunders, our new site whiz, for pulling this off. I’ll have more on this talented young South Side man in the weeks ahead, as he’s a big part of what we’re doing, and he, too, is starting a business of his own.
• We’re selling baseball gift subscriptions aimed at offering Pirates fans a full year of coverage from spring training onward. A custom baseball-style card will be sent to all gift recipients, and we’ll be sure, as with all subscribers, that they get all the help they need using the site and the app.
Click the big box below for all gift subscription options:
• Yes, to answer the most common question coming this way, a subscription can be upgraded. Email [email protected] with your info, and we’ll take care of it.
• The app count: 4,262 active downloads from Apple for iPhone/iPad platforms, 1,783 from Google for Android platforms. And when I say active, I mean the net sum of apps actually on someone’s phone. If someone deletes our app, it’s a minus.
• As of this writing at 11 p.m. Friday, we’re at 8,587 subscriptions. We’re 7 1/2 months old, and our stated goal for the first full year was 10,000.
• If you can’t figure something out related to our site or app, please check our Support and App Support pages. About 99 percent of the questions we get can be answered right there. But if your issue isn’t there, email [email protected]
• Thank you, yet again, for reading and for your support.