As some of you know, the end of last July Elsmar lost a lot of Google "organic" search traffic. I called it the "Elsmar Crash". Obviously Elsmar depends upon traffic from Google's "organic" search results especially for "Log Tail" search queries.
Panda and Penguin...
For 2 weeks I had to do a lot of "soul searching" with respect to what to do. Traffic has picked up but it has not regained it's 2011 traffic levels. We're essentially back to 2009-2010 traffic. Not a problem. The bottom line is I wanted to see what was going to happen. Google's Panda and Penguin updates literally destroyed many web sites. Luckily Elsmar appears to be recovering decently from the 2 "Crash" weeks. Even with the traffic drop we are still doing well as a niche discussion forum. December is always slow but so far entering the second week of January things are looking up.
The 2 week "crash" was a financial freakout on my part because it was *so* significant that in October I even ceased invoicing the advertisers (whose income is important to supplement AdSense income) but I have kept the ads online (free advertising) for now. To me it's a moral issue. I have never solicited any advertisers. All advertisers contacted me. Thing is I know at the time each signed up they had "traffic" expectations. I have an unusual approach to advertising. I am trying to figure out how to approach this aspect right now. But, the bottom line is I have monthly fixed expenses that I can not reduce. And, of course, my time. If all advertisers cancel it will cost me some $$. But for now it appears I can at least come out even with regard to fixed expenses on Google's AdSense alone.
I seriously thought about taking Elsmar offline and ending the hassle. My plan was to offer it to one of several people here if they wanted it, which I doubt they would have. I mentioned this to one advertiser who said his company would take it all off my hands and keep it going "in the same spirit" as it is now. That was a few months back, but I'm sure they would still want it. I really don't want to sell Elsmar.
Anyway - I have been monitoring things and I don't see my taking Elsmar offline as an issue at this point. I foresee at least another 6 months. Probably 12. Maybe longer. It's hard to say because Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ have siphoned a lot of people's time. This is sort of an old "Hang Out" and obviously doesn't have the clout it did in the pre-Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ days.
I guess the bottom line is I will be keeping Elsmar online for the foreseeable future.
As some of you may or may not know - The Dec 2011 migration to a new server caused a lot of problems. Long story. Bottom line is I had to "fire" my server admin. I could go into all the gory details, but that would be too much to type. I am getting ready to contract with Progent to migrate to a new server. This is not going to happen for a couple of weeks. It should be "transparent" and go smoother than the DEC 2011 migration. The reason for the migration is the old server admins have the current server really screwed up. The only way to do this "The Right Way" is to start with a "clean" server and only copy over necessary files leaving behind all the "stuff" the old server admin left there. There is too much guessing at what they put on. That is, rather than trying to "clean up" the current server it makes more sense to essentially start from scratch. All told it will probably cost more but it eliminates the risk that something will be missed.
Anyway - That's the scoop right now. Just a "Heads Up"...
Shameless Plug: Not many people "Donate". If you like Elsmar and you have not done so, you can help financially (Progent isn't cheap).
Question(s) and/or comments welcome.
Panda and Penguin...
For 2 weeks I had to do a lot of "soul searching" with respect to what to do. Traffic has picked up but it has not regained it's 2011 traffic levels. We're essentially back to 2009-2010 traffic. Not a problem. The bottom line is I wanted to see what was going to happen. Google's Panda and Penguin updates literally destroyed many web sites. Luckily Elsmar appears to be recovering decently from the 2 "Crash" weeks. Even with the traffic drop we are still doing well as a niche discussion forum. December is always slow but so far entering the second week of January things are looking up.
The 2 week "crash" was a financial freakout on my part because it was *so* significant that in October I even ceased invoicing the advertisers (whose income is important to supplement AdSense income) but I have kept the ads online (free advertising) for now. To me it's a moral issue. I have never solicited any advertisers. All advertisers contacted me. Thing is I know at the time each signed up they had "traffic" expectations. I have an unusual approach to advertising. I am trying to figure out how to approach this aspect right now. But, the bottom line is I have monthly fixed expenses that I can not reduce. And, of course, my time. If all advertisers cancel it will cost me some $$. But for now it appears I can at least come out even with regard to fixed expenses on Google's AdSense alone.
I seriously thought about taking Elsmar offline and ending the hassle. My plan was to offer it to one of several people here if they wanted it, which I doubt they would have. I mentioned this to one advertiser who said his company would take it all off my hands and keep it going "in the same spirit" as it is now. That was a few months back, but I'm sure they would still want it. I really don't want to sell Elsmar.
Anyway - I have been monitoring things and I don't see my taking Elsmar offline as an issue at this point. I foresee at least another 6 months. Probably 12. Maybe longer. It's hard to say because Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ have siphoned a lot of people's time. This is sort of an old "Hang Out" and obviously doesn't have the clout it did in the pre-Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ days.
I guess the bottom line is I will be keeping Elsmar online for the foreseeable future.
As some of you may or may not know - The Dec 2011 migration to a new server caused a lot of problems. Long story. Bottom line is I had to "fire" my server admin. I could go into all the gory details, but that would be too much to type. I am getting ready to contract with Progent to migrate to a new server. This is not going to happen for a couple of weeks. It should be "transparent" and go smoother than the DEC 2011 migration. The reason for the migration is the old server admins have the current server really screwed up. The only way to do this "The Right Way" is to start with a "clean" server and only copy over necessary files leaving behind all the "stuff" the old server admin left there. There is too much guessing at what they put on. That is, rather than trying to "clean up" the current server it makes more sense to essentially start from scratch. All told it will probably cost more but it eliminates the risk that something will be missed.
Anyway - That's the scoop right now. Just a "Heads Up"...
Shameless Plug: Not many people "Donate". If you like Elsmar and you have not done so, you can help financially (Progent isn't cheap).
Question(s) and/or comments welcome.