The VG Press as it is started November 2, 2008. Since then, we have increased 725% in unique visitors from 476 in November to 3931 for September, and 429% in bandwidth usage from 2.62GB in November to 13.87GB this month, though podcasts play a factor here. This is not a sudden change or anomoly; in fact, it has been quite steady.
While optimizing has played a role in improving performance and handling the increased load, as was the top concern from the start, there is still the issue of growth going forward. Obviously the goal here is not to become a huge massive Internet power or anything silly like that, we would like to build the community. We can do a lot of thing to attract new users here, but it doesn't do much good if we cripple the site in the process.
So what is this all about? Well, I'm looking at trying some simple text ads on the site just to see what the result is. Looking to further in the future, the ideal here would be to get around $20 in ad revenue per month, as that would cover the cost of much better hosting that would essentially eliminate any server concern. If it's insignificant, then they will disappear. If they're obtrusive, they will disappear. If there's any harm to the community in any way, they will disappear. And if in some bizarre happenstance there should actually be profits, it will go back to the community. This is everyone's site, not mine. This is an experiment I think is worth trying, because honestly I have no idea how this will work.
Just a heads up on what you may see something you may see in the near future.
| Month | Unique visitors | Number of visits | Pages | Hits | Bandwidth |
| Jan 2009 | 713 | 3198 | 189399 | 327010 | 3.60 GB |
| Feb 2009 | 1925 | 4728 | 257868 | 470217 | 4.45 GB |
| Mar 2009 | 1556 | 5837 | 304228 | 539653 | 4.63 GB |
| Apr 2009 | 2099 | 6491 | 367720 | 664350 | 5.40 GB |
| May 2009 | 1350 | 8196 | 243476 | 426265 | 8.77 GB |
| Jun 2009 | 1714 | 7964 | 105057 | 252112 | 9.90 GB |
| Jul 2009 | 1671 | 6610 | 88315 | 204346 | 9.16 GB |
| Aug 2009 | 3312 | 9865 | 121933 | 281587 | 11.51 GB |
| Sep 2009 | 3931 | 10383 | 135349 | 317342 | 13.87 GB |
| Oct 2009 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 2009 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dec 2009 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 18271 | 63272 | 1813345 | 3482882 | 71.30 GB |
While optimizing has played a role in improving performance and handling the increased load, as was the top concern from the start, there is still the issue of growth going forward. Obviously the goal here is not to become a huge massive Internet power or anything silly like that, we would like to build the community. We can do a lot of thing to attract new users here, but it doesn't do much good if we cripple the site in the process.
So what is this all about? Well, I'm looking at trying some simple text ads on the site just to see what the result is. Looking to further in the future, the ideal here would be to get around $20 in ad revenue per month, as that would cover the cost of much better hosting that would essentially eliminate any server concern. If it's insignificant, then they will disappear. If they're obtrusive, they will disappear. If there's any harm to the community in any way, they will disappear. And if in some bizarre happenstance there should actually be profits, it will go back to the community. This is everyone's site, not mine. This is an experiment I think is worth trying, because honestly I have no idea how this will work.
Just a heads up on what you may see something you may see in the near future.
Recently Spotted:
*crickets*
Here's your context Steel. We are awesome and we have manass!
So Yoda, if we get our own server, can we has porn?
(pun intended
I think I may know why people go straight to the prses room to download podcasts and what not, and don't join.
"In don't understand, there's a vulva shaped one, an anus one, a mouth one, but then there's one with just a tiny slit in there. What's that one supposed to represent?"
Being American I say make as much money as you can! Ads wont kill anyone. Maybe we can be moneyhated.
How big do we have to be before we can be sent review copies of games? That would be my dream, I would love to do reviews of unreleased games.
And people actually listen to the podcast?!?!?!?!? Scary.