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2013 - That was the year, that was

or

"Time to call it a day?"

 
 

The fireworks have now burned-out, 2014 is well and truly here but has my little corner of cyber-space run its course too? As the dawn breaks on this new year we tend to look back at the year past and forward to our hopes for the next one. Will it be better, bigger, quieter, more rewarding ...? Should we even bother any more ...? so yes, it's a time of Pontification and soul-searching for me too as I start 2014 with new hope, a new job and possibly a little less time than in recent years past.

As is often the case in a new year I'm sitting here at my PC spending my first free day of 2014 looking back at the previous year and regretting not getting as many updates, reviews and features as I would have liked online and, the prospect of 2014 being even more time-constrained and challenging. So should I really bother?

It was in 2009 when I launched Whisky Emporium in its current format and during that year I had a total of 54,868 unique visitors (actual visitors, not page clicks which were around double that number). As the new format was launched in late 2009 and the site had sat relatively dormant until then, it wasn't a surprise that 2010 saw a 70% increase in visitors from the previous year. Then 2011 saw a further year on year 39% increase, 2012 a 32% year on year increase and last year (2013) a 37% increase which saw a total of just under 234,000 unique visitors and almost half a million page clicks (489,623 to be exact). This means that up to the end of 2013 I have a total of 799,199 visitors and 1,572,658 page clicks on the site since its inception in 2004, with only around 110,000 of those visitors being from the early years of 2004-2009. So, I have a continued steady year on year growth of 32-39% which I'm delighted with, especially as I just don't seem to have the time I need for this any more.

Also, if I look at the specifics of the visits over the last year I see a definite shift of emphasis; 2012 saw a massive shift towards many of my German-language pages & articles, an area which I just haven't been able to update as much as I'd have wished in 2013, so it's no surprise to see none of those pages featuring in my most-visited pages of 2013. In the early days of 2009-2011 I was getting a high percentage of search criteria hits thanks to the flag graphics I was using to distinguish between the two different languages, but this has now settled down and thankfully my reported search criteria is much more meaningful for the website, most of the time.

So, I finally consider Whisky Emporium to be a more mature website and the number of visitors coming to even some of the older Dram-atics pages and site features like Whisky & Chocolate, Whisky & Food and New to Whisky tell me I have some valuable ongoing content as opposed to just publishing new whisky reviews. In fact from the 12 most visited pages in 2013 six were older Dram-atics articles but, hardly surprising in this crazy day and age, the second most-visited page of the year was my feature on Collecting whisky for possible investment. In fact apart from the annual surge that I always see leading up to Christmas on searches and visits to my Aldi Blackstome whisky page, "whisky collecting" continues to see a massive increase in search hits for me alongside combinations of "(best) whisk(e)y glass(es)".

My conclusions and the way forward are that I'm more than happy with the growth of Whisky Emporium and when I took the domain name Dram-atics for my blog-esque page I made it a future consideration to possibly change the overall website name from Whisky Emporium to Dram-atics, something which I'm leaving on the back-burner, although the domain name will stay for that page. As I mentioned I haven't had the time to offer the German page updates I would have liked in 2013, this has been due to a lack of my time, but mainly due to various health issues with my wife who has been doing the translations for me. I think in all fairness I'll keep this stress away from her and not press for any further updates throughout 2014. I may even abandon the idea of any more German updates and just leave the existing main pages as they are, deleting the option for future Dram-atics. As I mentioned in my feature below I'm planning for up to 400-ish new whisky reviews in 2014 and will certainly keep up with seasonal or ocasionally monthly new Dram-atics articles and, if I can find the time and relevant subjects I'll consider an occasional new feature page but, what you will see from me in 2014 will be a more relevant and focused line of updates which I hope will better meet the needs and wishes of my readers, both new and old.

Slàinte Mhath and a Happy New Year to all.

 

 

 

 

Twixt the years

or

"bottoms up"

As 2013 draws to a close and we eagerly anticipate 2014, it's not only a time of hope that the new year fulfills our wishes, but also one of reflection upon the departing year as we sit in the limbo that is the few days between our Christmas and New Year celebrations.

 

 

 
 

2013 was a strange and often quite difficult year for me; in fact three years ago in January 2011, after a long period of unemployment I was looking forward to the new year as I was offered and accepted a new job. Sadly, for multiple reasons I chose to leave this job in November after almost three years. A situation made more difficult by the fact that I had no offers on the table of a new job and was once again facing a period of unemployment. Crazy some may say, but there was no way I could continue with it.

After a whole two weeks of unemployment and various applications I was offered not one, but two jobs and I chose to accept one which I had previously tried for and really wanted. So, here I am once more looking forward the new year with a new job.

But what about Whisky and my website? Well, once again it's a time to be looking forward, planning for the next 12 months and setting what I hope are achievable and realistic targets. There's a little bit of general tidying up still to be completed, but my main targets should see somewhere between 300-400 new whisky reviews coming online plus seasonal or even monthly Dram-atics features continuing. Basically, after just over four years with my current format I'm happy with the way things are around here and won't be changing too much too soon. Speaking of which; in the next week or so I'll be looking back at the last year with a review of Whisky Emporium's web statistics which may help my decisions on focus for 2014 and beyond.

Meanwhile, I'll take this opportunity to wish you all a happy and healthy New Year; Slàinte Mhath, cheers or as they say where I come from "Bottoms Up".

 

 

 

 

Monat

Kürzlich behandelte Themen (Eine vollständige Liste von allen unter Dram-atics veröffentlichten Artikeln sind in meiner Inhaltsangabe nachzulesen.)  
Mai 2013 Duelling Drams - Man vs Clipper, Limburg Crooks & Nannies  
April 2013 100 points - Perfect Percy, Eggs-otic Isles Egg & Mug, Sixy bunny  
März 2013 International Whisky Day - Raise a Glass & Raise Awareness  
Februar 2013 A Horse, A Bow & a Dear, Karui-WOW-Ahhh  
Januar 2013 Glen-CLASS-augh, Fab Fo(u)rties, Glen-DROOL-nach  
Herbst 2012 The Olympkins, Getting old and Grainy  
Juli 2012 Motor Maniac - Malt Maniac, Nosing den New Make  
Mai-Jun 2012 Limburg - Die Whisky Messe, Dalmore Constellation, Integrität MM 15y Schottland, Blend of Maniacs  
Mar-Apr 2012 Investment grade madness, Glenglassaugh, 5th IWD, 1000th Review, April Fool, Going dotty, age verification
Feb. 2012 It's a rum old do, Growing old gracefully, Four Imperial sisters  
Jan. 2012 Onwards & Upwards, Canadian Whisky Awards  
Dec. 2011 MMA 2011 Winners, HP 70's Orcadians, Debussy plays Pitaud, Class of 64-65, Elementary my dear Sukhinder  
Sept-Nov 2011 Malt Maniacs Awards 2011 - A weekend in the life of a Postmaster General  
June-Aug 2011 Bits Bytes & Drams, Glen Garioch 1994, Angela D'Orazio - Mackmyra, Trinity of Two Earls, Drams at Dawn
May 2011 Don't bug me with ads, A dram fine evening
April 2011 Cry me a River, Golden Oldies, The Shackleton Legacy, Two Weddings and a Whisky
March 2011 Masters of Photography, Memory and the Middle Cut, Sampling again, Dave Stirk 5, Choosing choice Choices
Feb. 2011 Festival time again, Spam Galore!, Drams & Trams

Jan. 2011

Lookback at 2010, New Job? Three Thirties, ToC, Overdosing on sherry casks

 

 

 

 

 

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