Since the humble beginnings of Gravel Grinder News in 2008, the amount of growth in gravel grinding: both in terms of events and participation, has been on a very steep upward curve. That also applies to the viewership of this site. In looking back on the statistics available for this site, the curve has been getting steeper with every month that passes.
The Gravel Grinder News site was started to be a place to gather the few events and their links to their respective information pages in one place. Since 2008, The Calendar went from a handful of events, to now where The Calendar reflects upwards of 100 individual events and there are new submissions for events coming in weekly. It has become clear that the needs of the gravel grinding community are not being sufficiently met by this format which was never intended to handle the volume of traffic and event submissions that it receives today.
In light of this, efforts have been initiated to upgrade the site, change the calendar to make it easier to use, and easier to see the types of events on it. There will be separate groupings by region, and events will have indications as to what type of race/ride the event is. It is hoped that by doing this, readers will be better able to discern where they want to go ride.
Gravel Grinder Gear, the designation given to reviews and equipment news, will have it's content featured for easier access. This will also be true for The Daily Grind, which will have its content focused on event announcements, press releases, and the like.
Advertisers have been asking to become a part of Gravel Grinder News, and unfortunately, the site, such as it is, was never intended to host ads. While not everyone likes to see advertisements on sites, in the case of GGN, it helps to "keep the lights on" and with future partners we hope to have on board, it will help defray the costs of upgrading the site to something you- the reader- hopefully will find more useful. The goal is to make this facet of GGN a "win-win" for everyone involved.
Timing: Look for the site change sometime this year. Right now, there is no definite date for the changes to be implemented, but rest assured that when the time draws near, and there is a definitive date, it will be announced well in advance.
If you have any questions, concerns, suggestions, or comments, please leave them in the comments section for this post. I will read and consider each carefully.
Thank you for your passion, your creativity, and for using this site as those things relate to the gravel grinding community. It is very much appreciated by me, and I know others who feel the same.
Ride On!
Guitar Ted
1 comment:
Thanks Mark, much appreciated your time and effort that we cyclists benifit from.
Post a Comment