~ryanlowe/blog: Two Thousand Six

Two Thousand Six

I've had a bad cold for the past week and though it was pretty nasty it left as quickly as it arrived. Why do I always get sick on vacation? Anyway, I'll be getting back to work very soon.

It's funny how the end of one year (and the start of a new one) gets people reflecting on everything. I suppose its as good a milestone as any. After Christmas, winter seems to be generally a less hectic time that allows for reflection. Less sunlight, more time inside -- it gets the gears turning.

FanConcert isn't making money, so it's gut-check time. I made the end of 2005 my deadline and things didn't work out. Either I figure out a way to get income from it very quickly or it becomes a part-time hobby.

Bottom line is: I need to start drawing a salary from somewhere. For the next month or two I'll still be working on the site but at the same time I'll be actively exploring my options for the future.

If you know of anything opening up and you think I'd be a good fit, let me know at blog@ryanlowe.ca. I love Ottawa but I'm also willing to move. Thanks!

Posted at January 03, 2006 at 12:07 PM EST
Last updated January 03, 2006 at 12:07 PM EST

Comments

How many hits a day does fan concert get?

» Posted by: Van at January 3, 2006 12:36 PM

I just use a regular web counter, at the bottom of every page. The hit statistics are public. The counter report is at:

http://www.sitemeter.com/default.asp?action=stats&site=s14fanconcert

It's hard to gauge hits, since some users hit FanConcert tens or hundreds of times in one visit. The counter also groups by unique user though, and the counter says I now average 14 people per day. That rate is increasing slowly.

» Posted by: Ryan at January 3, 2006 12:56 PM

Well Toronto is a great city (although it doesn't have a canal to skate on, there's Nathan Phillips square with the Old City Hall Clock...) :P

» Posted by: *a* at January 3, 2006 11:10 PM

Not to put you down, but I average around 40 unique visitors a day on my blog, and it sucks. I don't even try to draw people to my site. You probably need more people on your site, which means marketing. You could try posting stuff on related forums to try to generate viewers to your site. Not too many people are going to stumble upon it. Maybe even hand out flyers, or if a local music store has a postings board, see about putting something up there. Really, you need to generate a lot more traffic if you want to make money off fanconcert.

» Posted by: Kibbee at January 5, 2006 01:06 PM

... the goal was always to get lots of visitors but the site also has to be able to handle tht volume and still work well, otherwise people will stop using it.

I think it's too far from that position right now to agressively market the site, that's my main thought. It needs more work. How much more? I'm not sure...

... it's that uncertainty that I'm not liking right now ... but there's not much I can do about it except ride the wave, or get a job. :)

» Posted by: Ryan at January 5, 2006 01:13 PM

Maybe not aggressive marketing, but some more marketing. You should be getting more than 14 people a day. Just having lots of links up there to get your pagerank up a bit can help a lot.

» Posted by: Kibbee at January 5, 2006 01:29 PM