Tag: Development

Figures

We live or die, sadly, by the visitor statistics. We hit a peak in early May, and then fall off a cliff. I have been saying (bravely), that all will be well, and that the corner will be turned on the second Monday in July.

Here we are two days later, and lo and behold, the 30 day running total of Page Views did indeed turn on Monday and improve again on Tuesday. I am not sure how pleasing it is that the figures are so predictable, but in cycle terms, they are.

More pleasing is that we are still doing much better than last year. On the second Monday of July 2015, the page views over the previous 30 days stood at 137471. This year, that figure was 201576. This represents about a 45% increase over the year.

Search Boxes

We use the Google search for several reasons – we will go into why this is at another time, but a difficulty arose a couple of days ago.

A user rang to ask why there was no search facility. I said, as I would, to look at the search box at the top of each page. He replied that I could see none. I was puzzled. We explored it, and I concluded that the ad-blocker he was using was the cause of his problem.
I have made further enquiries, and it is clear that this is not a universal problem. Others using various schemes still see the search box.

My conclusions are two. First, I have no intention of changing the arrangement. We have settled on the Google search box for very good reason, and I have no better resource available. It works (almost – but that is another story), is timely and effective.

Second, we do of course depend on advertising. The resource takes many hour to maintain, and has taken many many thousands of hours to create. It is made available to all for free. There is no subscription or conditionality. On the other hand, I see no reason to assist those who set out to tie their, or my, hands before they seek out content out.

So, if you do not see a search box, turn off the AB.