Pushing thru the market square
So many mothers sighing
News had just come over,
We had five years left to cry in
— David Bowie
Between traveling the last 4 weeks and AT&T being the worst home internet service ever (and thankfully now kicked to the curb in favor of semi-local Grande Communications), posts lately have been sporadic. I also missed my anniversary post (5 years and counting).
I went back and looked at old site stats but I don’t think they are all that meaningful since around 18 months ago I switched to Google Analytics from the raw stats tracker my host provided. The difference between the two leads me to believe the host stats application is far more optimistic and doesn’t remove robots (automated index scripts like those search engines use) and other noise traffic very well. So I can only compare to last year with like over like numbers.
Some August Traffic Numbers (% number is year over year growth)
7,751 Vistors (+34.15%)
3,554 Unique Vistors (+31.87%)
Not bad. Some of this growth seems tied to the housing marketing come back from the depths.
Pageviews 19,047 (-42.27%)
Average Time on Site down 6.34%
Pageviews are down due to changes in how the site is structured. More articles on the landing page equal less clicking through the archives. The lesson here is if you want to game pageviews (say for advertising reasons), put fewer articles on the landing page and have more intra-site linking. Average time is down only slightly compared to page views (again more articles per page).
OS Breakdown
- Windows: 50.12%
- Mac: 45.01%
- iOS (iPhone, iPod + iPad): 4.11%
- Linux: 0.34%
- Android: 0.23%
Nothing surprising here, except that Android is perhaps so low given the overall market gains. Site readership skews to home browsers, which have a higher mac penetration, and design minded sites always have a higher mac / windows ratio than market average.
Geo-location
- Texas: 68.5%
- California: 8.25%
- All others below 2.5%
- North Dakota is the lowest at 1 visitor last month
I know some readers would prefer that I block all Californians from visiting the site to discourage them from relocating here. Doesn’t look like we have to worry about a deluge from North Dakota (most of the midwest was very small numbers).
While the year over year growth looks ok I feel the site and the readership levels in general is rather stagnate. I know I’ve made that comment in the past. The remedy is still the same: regular, original content.
I’d love a sister site dedicated to mid-century architecture that’s interesting, although perhaps not modern. To the point of almost thinking of doing it myself. There’s so little old housing stock in Austin that it’s fascinating looking at what’s out there.
Thanks for your blog, through your site we found our new house! We relocated to Austin, but don’t worry we’re not from Cali.
Congrats on 5 years! This is a valuable site and I appreciate the time and effort you put into it.
Congratulations on 5 years! Thanks for all the work you do in maintaing the site so well. I’m a regular-in-spurts reader and I found you through a link on the Marye Co. website (which is broken by the way: two dots between “modernaustin” and “com”).
Hey Ben – congrats on the 5 years. You know me, I LOVE your site and visit ALL the time hoping for new cool houses – LOVE it!
Rob
Congratulations on five years, Ben! Before your site, there was no cohesive voice for our mid-century community. Your diligent research and discerning eye have shown many people the beauty of Austin’s previously overlooked architectural gems. While some may lament the increased prices these homes now often command, in reality you have played a part in saving these properties from becoming developer teardowns.
Many thanks for your dedication.
Congrats and thanks! I know I come here to bitch quite often, but you know I love the site! You’ve done a great job! Here’s to another five years! And BTW, I’ve changed my tune on Californians since the housing market has (somewhat) levelled out here (it was really just a knee-jerk to the escalating housing prices in ATX, and the CA folks were an easy target)…now I say, let ’em in…in droves, only the “cool” ones though, you know, the Dwell readers, the Arcade Fire listeners, etc., hahaha! Austin can always use a lil’ LA DNA shot in the arm, and the CA/LA folks are getting some mighty cool things going here for sure. Viva La Mod!!!
Indeed! Congratulations Ben – “Modern Austin” has been immensely helpful for me and has become my “center” for gathering information as I plot my way through our Stenger restoration near Zilker. Seeing other examples as they emerge in the marketplace is always meaningful and your site has helped shape my understanding of “what was” and might yet again “be” – thank you