I don’t write in this journal too often because I’m writing a lot of stuff for TechWhirl or I want to share frustrations on this blog, which isn’t normally a good idea. The year is coming to a close and it has been a doozy of a year.
We finally got our hands around search engine optimization and our business model is finally coming together. We’re looking at about 35% growth for the year after having started 25% down for the year in Q1 thanks to more site structure changes. The changes worked very well with us averaging 2X increase in visitors for the second half the year. We anticipate a fantastic Q1 and Q2 for 2014. Whew!
Our business model and even our business development have also evolved in 2013. We’re now providing more agency like services as well as content marketing opportunities for interested companies. The content marketing options are good, but also a dicey editorial challenge. So far, the companies we’ve allowed to participate have understood that we’re not going to recommend them, only make our audience aware of them.
In regards to business development, this is still a work in progress but I am getting better at it. We’re now smarter in pricing, as well as, how we package the content. I spent more time trying to figure out pricing than anything else. It’s a royal pain the ass, but we’re finally getting to a point where we know what the market likes and can handle. It also helps that we’re really the only large player operating in this space. And by large, I mean a rounding error for site analytics for much larger industries. :)
We’re also getting smarter at planning. Our planning process for 2014 is far different than in years before. We’re looking to plan 50% of our time and 50% of our money since things tend to take twice as long and cost twice as much. This approach should help us be more directive in our actions and ensure we really accomplish the priority projects, while hopefully keeping us from getting too distracted.
I look forward to what 2014 has to offer and the changes that will occur.
