Passes & Canyons Blog

Periodically I have the pleasure of thanking you, the visitors to this blog and website, for your interest. This is one of those times.

Now, traffic can be good or bad. When you’re out on the road, heavy traffic sucks. When you’re running a website, however, more traffic is a good thing.

It’s Sept. 1 and that means the monthly web traffic numbers for August are in, and they are spectacular. I’ve been running this website for 5 years now and the biggest months of the year have always been either June or July. In June this year there were an all-time record number of unique visitors–the metric I follow–coming to the site: 13,966. Then July went on to surpass June, upping the record to 14,756.

I figured that was it, that would be the maximum for the year and the record until next year. I was so wrong.

As August progressed I watched an amazing thing unfold. August numbers were exceeding July. That has never happened before. And now the month has ended, and yes indeed, August 2011 now holds the record for the most unique visitors ever: 14,860. What’s more, August surely would have been the first month ever to exceed 15,000 except that there was one day when, as near as I can figure, my web host had issues and the site was apparently offline for half a day or more. All I know for sure is that the numbers that week went like this: 658, 495, 623, 146, 546, 428, 484. So, 146? What?

I look at these numbers and I think about all the people who have contacted me with questions and looking for suggestions as they plan their trips to Colorado, and I have to smile. Some time ago a friend remarked to me that he really didn’t understand why my website wasn’t successful, because it was a good site. Not successful? I think there are more than a few people out there who would dispute that characterization.

And it’s you who have made it the success that I personally consider it to be. It’s frustrating because I still have a lot more information I want to add to the site and I scarcely have time to do that. But I’ll keep plugging away at it bit by bit, working to make the site even better. And thank you for making it all worthwhile.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Illinois guv vetoes motorcycle red light bill, requests changes

Biker Quote for Today

Carpe the living shit out of the diem.

It took an extra year but I’m pleased to announce that this website just set an all-time record for visitor traffic. In June 2011 there were, according to Stat Counter, the tracking software I use, 13,966 unique visitors to the site. That surpasses the previous record, set in June 2009, or 13,302.

So why do I say it took an extra year? If you’re a regular reader you may recall a couple posts I did a little over a year ago about the site getting hacked. That happened right during the period when traffic generally ramps up for the summer and for the first time since the site has existed the traffic numbers were down year over year for three months.

Before that, every May had been higher than the previous May; every June had been higher than the previous June. Et cetera. But last year, April, May, and June were down from the previous year, although they were still substantially higher than in those months two years earlier. It took until July for the effects of the hack to pass and July numbers were finally higher than the previous July.

Now, for the first time in two years, we’ve set a new record. Of course I’m pleased. I love it that this site I’ve built has proven so valuable to so many people. I frequently get emails from visitors seeking additional information and I’m always happy to provide what I can. Occasionally I meet someone who has been on the site. That’s a real thrill.

So welcome, and welcome back again and again. You’re the key in all this. If nobody was visiting the site there would be no purpose for operating it. Thank you!

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
On the motorcycle scene with Diva Amy

Biker Quote for Today

Flags and handlebars should never touch the ground.

Please excuse the self-indulgence but I’m really pleased and want to share this. Cue the fireworks.

I just want to announce that this month, March 2008, is the first time in its history that this Passes and Canyons, Motorcycle Touring in Colorado website has exceeded 3,000 unique visitors in the space of one month.

Now, that’s not a big deal for a lot of sites. Heck, if Google got only 3,000 visitors in one second they’d probably be checking their systems to see what was wrong. But I’m not Google. I put this site up about two and one-half years ago and I’ve been pleased to watch its growth. Traffic generally trends upward from January through July and then trends downward from August through December. Then the cycle starts all over again.

What that means is that this is only the beginning. Although it has already — thanks to you, by the way — set a new record this month, the trend suggests it will continue to set a new record each month for the next three or four months.

The bottom line here is very simple: I’ve put an enormous amount of work into this site and it just makes me feel good to see that that effort is appreciated. Thanks to all of you for making this possible.

Biker Quote for Today

Motorcyclist are all bound together by a brotherhood tie through their love of the sport, and what difference does it make what make of machine he rides as long as he belongs to the clan. – Walter Davidson 1920