Boudreaux’s Comin’ For Ya

Since there’s no blog that holds a candle to FITS, we now find ourselves in the unenviable position of having to compete with the
“mainstream media” in South Carolina … such as they are.

How are we doing?

Well, judging by the latest numbers, not as bad as you might think.

First of all, it goes without saying that each of the mainstream media outlets we chose to include in this “spot” comparison also blasts a print edition to tens of thousands of homes each day … a capability we currently do not have.

So they’ve got that going for them …

Also, who are we kidding – they’re still beating us in web traffic … but the gap, as you’ll see, has closed tremendously.

Last month, according to the website Compete.com, La Socialista (a.k.a. The State Newspaper) had 302,360 unique visitors to its website. The Spartanburg Herald-Journal, which is owned by the New York Times, had 104,428.

Here at FITS, we had 65,417 unique visits last month – along with a record 718,267 hits, according to Wordpress.com.

Courtesy of Compete.com, here’s a look at the numbers (click the image for a larger view) …

And here’s the Wordpress page view stats for FITS …

Not bad, eh?

In fact, as the cartoon version of Sic Willie would say, “Dum Spiro Spero! Dum Spiro Spero!”

While there are obviously dozens of different analytical sites that offer vastly different sets of statistics, we thought it was interesting to note that La Socialista’s monthly growth rate according to the first chart we included was an anemic 0.29% – compared to our robust growth rate of 70.58%.

Perhaps more telling, La Socialista’s annual growth rate – which is a healthy 39.30% – pales in comparison to FITS’ whopping 680.26% growth rate.

What does that mean, exactly? It means that we’re growing our online audience almost twenty times faster than they are.

Are we “there” yet (i.e. where we want to be)?

Of course not.

But consider this: The State and the Herald have been in business for decades. Both papers currently employ an army of reporters, editors and sales personnel – even after recent staff cuts.

Each paper is also backed by one of the nation’s largest newspaper conglomerates.

As for us here at FITS?

We are two employees (one part-time) working out of a glorified “man cave …” and we’ve been around for less than three years.

Again, are we “there” yet?

No … but “Boudreux,” as our founding editor inexplicably refers to this operation, is indeed “comin’ for ya …”

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