Web Hits/Advertising

I'm involved in a fledgling web thing. The ultimate goal is to learn more about online writing and establish a bit of notoriety in the hope that it might help me land a job in a few years. If the company survives, that's just a bonus.

I know nothing about web advertising. Can anyone provide some insight here?

The site is now up to about 400 unique hits daily. That's all that I know. I'm not sure what that means or what needs to happen before I can comfortably assume that the site is a success and that the company is going to continue paying my contract.

Are web hits the only important numbers? I kind of focus on quality and content and don't worry so much about the hits, assuming that they'll naturally follow. The founders are a little concerned about hits, fanantical you might say. But I keep reminding myself that anyone could post boob shots and get hits. This is about a professional enterprise.

What say you, my good fellows and lasses?

 

In other words, 400 people each day are visiting the site.

A lot of times, a place may say, "We get 12 million hits per month," but for all you know, those could be coming from the same five people/search engine bots.

 

unique users, total page views and average time spent per user all are important things. Time spent is an indication of how engaged your reades are. In trying to build an audience, try to swap links with other similar sites. Might seem like working with the enemy but think about how you use the web. I bounce from link to link and often come across new sites that way. But I agree about content: I might find you one day, but if you don't have anything compelling the next day, I won't come back.

 

Hits are junk. If, say, you have 10 pictures on one of your pages, you get 11 hits: one for the page and one for each photo.

Unique visitors and stickiness are where it's at.

 

Interesting. I gather that this is a hot market right now with all of the movement of advertising to the web.

Of course, there are all sorts of other issues today. But those each deserve their own threads.

A show of hands for sports departments that are shifting to online? I know almost everyone here is going in that direction. There are podcasts, web video reports, video highlights and teams that each have their own little page. Of course, some are better than others.

Since we're on this subject, I'll also ask if we're now at a time when a reporter's talent will be judged as much by what he does on the paper's web site as by what he does with his written words. I'm sure I'm not the only person a little uncomfortable competing with people who have podcasts and video reports on games and voice-overs on video highlights, etc. I am confident in my writing. When it comes to the new-fangled ways of the world, though, not so much.