Web Traffic Summary, July 2009
by John R. Sedivy
I’m really late in posting this, but I thought I would do so for completeness. Better late than never!
I believe there are likely individuals out there who derive value from seeing the traffic stats of a blog in it’s first year. Besides, as we go beyond our first year with this blog, or even create new blogs, it will be interesting to refer back to this later to see what may be expected in terms of traffic.
All in all there is not much to discuss for the month of July. Overall traffic has dropped significantly when compared to previous months – especially June 2009. My best guess is that this could be due to a reduced amount of activity on the Web during the Summer months. I guess we shall see when I have the August and September numbers. Given that this is the first year of this blog, and my first blog, I have no historical precedent to base this assessment on.
Web Traffic Analysis
Let’s start out by reviewing our daily web traffic and overall summary of activity. Figure 1 provides a visual depiction of web traffic as measured in terms of page views.
Figure 1. July 2009 Daily Web Traffic
As may be seen in Figure 1 our highest traffic day occurred on July 16, 2009 which corresponded to a total of 609 page views. The articles posted on this date were How To Make Chocolate Cake Frosting and The Accidental Billionaires Book Review.
Our lowest traffic day was July 12, 2009 with 23 page views. The article posted on this date was Increased Intelligence And Sleepwalking.
Now let’s check out some detailed numbers for the month of July as shown in Figure 2 below:
Figure 2. July 2009 Web Traffic Summary
Key metrics for Figure 2 are the average traffic per day which was 165 page views. The highest web traffic day of 609 page views on July 16, 2009, and the lowest web traffic day of 23 page views on July 12, 2009. Total page views for the month of July were 5,107.
Figure 3 provides the traffic summary by week; areas of interest for the month of July are 2009-28 through 2009-32.
Figure 3. July 2009 Weekly Web Traffic
Traffic during this period may be broken down as follows:
1. Week 28 (7/1 – 7/5): 771 page views
2. Week 29 (7/6 – 7/12): 2,055 page views
3. Week 30 (7/13 – 7/19): 795 page views
4. Week 31 (7/20 – 7/26): 967 page views
5. Week 32 (7/27 – 7/31): 519 page views
The highest traffic week occurred during Week 29 with 2,055 page views and the lowest during Week 32 with 519 page views.
Figure 4 provides a monthly view of web traffic for July 2009.
Figure 4. July 2009 Monthly Web Traffic
Here are the values to date for 2009:
1. January 2009 (2009-01): 19,070 page views
2. February 2009 (2009-02): 29,357 page views
3. March 2009 (2009-03): 12,589 page views
4. April 2009 (2009-04): 2,343 page views
5. May 2009 (2009-05): 13,198 page views
6. June 2009 (2009-06): 45,407 page views
7. July 2009 (2009-07): 5,107 page views
Overall July was our second lowest month of 2009, and second lowest month since inception. Since we didn’t change much in terms of format or content, my assumption is that the low traffic for this month was a result of reduced usage of the Internet during the Summer months. I guess only time will tell.
-John R. Sedivy of Cape Cod Branding
More Businesses Changed By The New Economy
by John R. Sedivy
Yesterday in my article How Has The Economy Changed You? I had discussed how Hewlett-Packard (HP) was concerned with the overall change in printing habits and how this was effecting their bottom line. As I suspected, HP is not the only one with such concerns.
This morning in the Times it was reported that the home improvement companies such as Home Depot and Lowes have experienced a change in their overall customer behavior as well. During the old economy sales were driven by major projects, for example a renovated kitchen or bathroom, which are bigger ticket items. With the new economy business has changed, customers are transitioning from larger, more costly projects, to small projects that are either driven by necessity, or provide perceived value at lower cost. Read D.I.Y. Chains Adjust To Smaller Projects for the full story.
Why is this happening? Here are my thoughts:
1. High unemployment and slow business
2. Fear
3. Mistrust
4. Shift in perceived value
First, there is likely a common cause between HP’s woes and that of Home Depot and Lowes. In HP’s situation high unemployment and cost cutting are reducing sales in printer ink. High unemployment and slow business for the self-employed undoubtedly have a negative impact on home improvement sales. But I think there is more here which I will explain in greater detail.
Fear, actions by some businesses during the down economy, and a shift in perceived value are other causes in my opinion. Let’s address fear first. Even with the down economy, there are many who likely can still easily afford the bigger ticket items, however they choose not to. What if they become unemployed, or business dries up? What if they need their savings for necessities such as food or shelter eventually? Although recent news reports are claiming we are climbing out of the recession, many (especially those with financial means) are likely more cautious now and are likely watching rather than listening. Because of course the news sources were the same who were reporting that the housing market would never fall and that a drop in employment could not happen, and of course the misnomer that paper wealth is real wealth – all of which turned out to be false.
Second, the unscrupulous actions of businesses such as some banks and credit card companies has likely added to the issue. Rather than working with consumers through the down economy, many have taken advantage of the situation. With one hand taking large bailouts from the government and with the other fleecing their customers with extremely high fees at a time when they are least able to pay. This, in my opinion, has caused many too be cautious about pulling out credit cards or taking home equity loans to fund such big ticket projects. For more on how consumers are being fleeced by credit card companies read Fleeced by Dick Morris.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly is the perceived shift in value. I remember last fall I was at the salon and I was surprised to hear that business was booming there. The particular salon I go to is a great place, however I kept seeing news reports that the economy was down, spending was down, and many consumers could not afford luxuries. So how could this be?
Well, it appears that many consumers were accustomed to taking long vacations or purchasing big ticket items – during the old economy this was perceived to be of the most value – a reward for hard work. Now that less money was available for these big ticket items, a trip to the salon – even a fairly expensive one – paled in comparison to the cost of a traveling vacation or new vehicle. Suddenly a higher amount of value has been placed on being pampered, especially during a stressful time.
As with my personal experience with the salon, the same is happening with Home Depot and Lowes. Rather than spend a large chunk of money on kitchen and bathroom renovations, consumers are rationing their money by repairing necessities – such as leaking toilets, damaged faucets – and doing these tasks themselves. Those items that are not necessities, such as painting the house or lawn and yard care provide a greater perceived value at lower cost – this provides the consumer with a sense of accomplishment and reward at a much lower cost.
These are the reasons that I believe are contributing to the change in the DIY market – high unemployment or reduced business, fear, lack of credit or an unwillingness to secure credit, and a perceived shift in value. As with the situation with HP and printer ink, it will be interesting to see if there has been a long term shift in behavior or if the shift is only short term and will correct itself with the economy.
Only time will tell.
-John R. Sedivy of Cape Cod Branding
How Has The New Economy Changed You?
by John R. Sedivy
This past Tuesday The New York Times released an article about how Hewlett-Packard (HP) has been struggling to maintain profits during the recession. It appears that the new economy – that which has been characterized by workforce reduction, decreases in spending, and collapsing businesses – has caused a decrease in the amount of printer ink that the company is selling. Fewer people working = fewer people printing. Also consider that those who are employed are being asked by their employers to limit their printing to cut costs and you can see why HP’s ink sales are slipping. Read H.P. Tries To Keep The Ink Flowing for the full story.
However this is not the main concern of HP at this time. Everyone understands that the economy is cyclical. What goes up must come down, and what is down must go back up. This is a temporary situation. People and businesses will have money to spend – it is only a matter of time. However, what is concerning to the company is that human behavior has changed, and the worry is that the change in behavior will be permanent.
Individuals are now used to printing less, not just in their business but personal lives as well. One example is that the article discusses that more people are spending their time on social media, and social media does not lend itself to printing. But what if people, now that they haven’t printed in awhile, begin to wonder why they had to print documents to begin with? Why not just read the text, or the reports on the screen instead of printing a hard-copy? Even worse – what if they do not even think of printing?
It no longer becomes a matter of cost, but more of habit and comfort. This article made me consider how the new economy has transformed the way I do business. I work more on the Internet. I use social media more. I also print less – the printing behavior was not really a cost saver, it just sort of happened. I have also noticed that many more people are self-employed – mainly due to necessity – a sort of forced entrepreneurship.
When the economy started going south, we also had to consider other areas to branch out. My work evolved from strictly engineering and business consulting to web design and marketing. Amy has branched out from strictly wedding cakes to other options, such as new product lines and markets, and of course works with me on the web design and marketing. Sometimes necessity drives creativity into full gear and as a result changes human behavior – which is generally very difficult to change. The economy has changed the way we do business and nothing will ever be the same again.
How has the new economy changed your business? Your behavior? When the dust settles will you return back to your past life or continue on your present course?
-John R. Sedivy of Cape Cod Branding
