Please click HERE to take the WHTID 2016 Reader Survey
Given the new season is only a week away I wanted to reflect on where West Ham Till I Die as a site is going. The West Ham blogosphere is thriving and providing massive challenges to us here at WHTID. I was sad to see Claret & Blues shut down at the end of last season and it was very disappointing to see Ex-Magazine publish its last issue. Over Land & Sea is also no more. However, Blowing Bubbles, Claret & Hugh and KUMB go from strength to strength, and we now have The West Ham Way making a lot of headway too, under the leadership of EX WHU Employee.
Traffic to the site remains strong with visitor numbers up by 9% in the first 7 months of 2016 at 410,000 – that’s 410,000 individuals. However, page views are down 9%. We ever get as many page views as other sites as we carry the whole article on the front page. If I changed to a system where you had to click on the article to read the whole thing I reckon page views would multiply by a factor of 10. If I ever decided to carry advertising, I’d need to do that. Every day I receive emails from betting companies wanting to advertise on the site, or partner in some way. I’m still stubbornly refusing. Perhaps if LBC ever decide not to renew my contract I might them have to change my mind!!!
I’ve restarted the Predictor League so I hope people will take part in that in larger numbers than last season. Remember, there’s a league table for each game as well s the cumulative one for the whole season.
I’m also currently drawing up the columnist lineup from last season. I don’t foresee any major changes, but I am always keen to sign up new talent. I think we’re more than catered for in terms of previewing matches and post match analysis. I’d be keen for someone to write a columns loosely based around the club finances, individual player analysis and also maybe the development of the Olympic Stadium. I’d also be grateful for any constructive feedback on what kinds of columns we are lacking.
We have launched a WHTID Facebook page, which has attracted more than 1000 members so far, and it provides a very different forum to this, where members can contribute their points without having to go through me. The “WHTID Twitter account”https://twitter.com/westhamtill is more or less managed, like the FB page, by Zaman Siddiqui, and has taken on a new lease of life.
I think WHTID should remain a primarily comment based site. Graham Howlett at KUMB and Hugh Southon and Sean Whetstone at Claret & Hugh do a great job providing up to the minute news, and unless I recruit a full time person to take that task on, I can’t see that there’s much point in us competing with them on that front. And seeing as I haven’t got the money to do that, it won’t be happening, unless a rich reader would like to sponsor it!
I hope you will take the WHTID 2016 Reader Survey. There are three sections – questions about WHTID, West Ham United and finally, you. It should take you no longer than ten minutes to complete, assuming you don’t write essays in the comment boxes! There are 30 questions – two more than last year, but around a third of them are different and I think you will enjoy answering some of the new ones! Please do try to answer all the questions and get to the end! If you leave a comment in one of the comment boxes and would like an individual reply, please leave your email address at the end of your comment.
So as West Ham enters a new era, I think it’s very much steady as she goes for this site. But as I say, do email me via the Contact Box or leave a comment if you have any suggestions for new things we should do, new features we might add, or tweaks we can easily make to the site.
Please click HERE to take the WHTID 2016 Reader Survey