Every so often I sit down and go through the analytics for this website. The most recent review was Top 10 Posts for 1st Half 2020. At that time, as usual, the post Six Meter Dipole ranked at the top, as it has every year since 2014. I also noted that given the interest in six meter antennas, I had published a post titled Six Meter Antennas — I’ve Tried a Few which came in tenth after only one month on the site.
For this review, I’ve elected to focus just on the month of December 2020. This is due to the exceptional amount of traffic for the Capture the MAGIC of Six Meter — eBook. I felt this free eBook would gain some traffic but didn’t realize the flood of traffic that would result from a mention on Southgate Amateur Radio News.
eBook Traffic Patterns
I originally published the book on August 12, 2020, right after my six meter presentation for the ARRL Learning Network. I happened to look at the website four months later, December 12, and noticed that there had been 500 downloads. See my tweet nearby announcing this milestone. That’s when things really took off.
On December 14, Southgate Amateur Radio News picked it up and promoted it. There were 1,000 website pageviews that day compared to a normal day’s 80 to 100. By December 21, the number of eBook downloads exceeded 2,000. By December 30, the total came to 3,000!
Website Traffic
Below is the graph of traffic sources for the month of December. Early in the month you can get an idea of a normal bit of traffic. Most of it comes from organic search, typically looking for a six meter dipole. Then in mid-month, the explosion of traffic with a big part of it coming from referral — chiefly from the Southgate article. The rest of the month looks somewhat similar.
In the next graph below, you can see the overall traffic for the month along with the top 5 pages. The eBook is far and away the top ranking page with roughly same number of pageviews in one month as the six meter dipole post garnered in the first six months of the year. Looks like I have a new winner on the website, at least for now.
Top Posts for December
The Six Meter eBook came in far and away as the top page. This was followed by the Guide to 6 Meter DXing. This is actually the same content as the book but formatted as a webpage. It also has a large number of links to further content. This is called a pillar page and is meant to attract traffic by providing a ton of information.
The home page ranks next followed by my earlier post Six Meter Antennas I’ve Tried a Few. Then in number five comes that perennial favorite Six Meter Dipole.
What’s Next?
The big event for January will be the ARRL VHF Contest. I’m planning on roving again. So that might be an interesting topic.
I also have a six meter article appearing in the February issue of CQ Magazine in the slot as VHF Column Guest Editor. Perhaps that will garner more attention on six meters and encourage hams to get on the air — plus generate some traffic to the eBook for more information.
In March I’ll be giving a VHF Contesting presentation for the QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo. I’ll be completing my presentation video and slides by the end of January. I’m hopeful I can provide another eBook or at least a pillar page on the website for further information to all those interested. Hopefully that can be in place by March.
If you’ve downloaded the Six Meter eBook. Please take some time to read it and get on the air. I’ll be looking for you certainly during contests but particularly when sporadic-E opens up. Good luck.
