The State of the Ball

[Horton]

The future of BallOfSpray is bright. Part 1

In October Waterskimag.com site had 32,200 unique visitors and 141,347 page views
In the same month BallOfSpray.com site had 4,411 unique visitors and 140,421 page views.

Ok WaterSkiMag beats BallOfSpray on unique visitors but my visitors are loyal. WaterSkiMag.com is easy to find and has been around for years. BallOfSpray, as it exists, has only been around since Dec 2008 and Google has not ranked the site correctly yet. In short this data shows that BallOfSpray is in the same league as sites run by people who do it for a living.

Note to advertisers. If you are looking for tournament skiers BallOfSpray delivers about the same exposure as WaterSkiMag.com for a lot less money. The average visit to BallOfSpray lasts 5:39 minutes and includes 5.85 pages (October 2009). These visitors are not just passing by. They are skiers. 

[Horton]

The future of BallOfSpray is bright. Part 2

There are a number of ideas that I have had for BallOfSpray or other web sites for a long time. Some of all these are under development in my mind or on the dev site.

BallOfSpray Local
B.O.S.L. would be a blog space that is available for local clubs or ski sites. If you are a club organizer you sign up and then you run the blog here inside BallOfSpray. It could be your tournament announcements and running orders or just the local ski news of the day. You would control it.
 
BallOfSpray Personal
B.O.S.P. is like BallOfSprayLocal but it is for individuals who want to blog about their skiing life. As long as the content is somewhat skiing or skier oriented and not inappropriate, it is to you. I posted about my weekend last week as a sample of BOSP.
 
BallOfSpray Professional
BOSpro is the idea that I think has the most value but might be the hardest to get started.  Simply put BOSpro is like LinkedIn.com but just for skiers. It would allow for professional networking among skiers.
Need a job in Aerospace? I happen to know at least 3 skiers who work on military aerospace projects. Need some drilling pipe for the oil field, call SkiDawg Ward. Need a construction contractor in Arkansas? Call Greeny. Think of it as professional directory of skiers.

PLEASE keep it on topic and let me know what you think.

[Horton]

I am not going to rank or review ski schools but you could if you had a BallOfSprayPersonal blog that you devoted to it. See where I am going?

[h2odawg79]

I 2nd Brents suggestion.

I felt the same way and started a thread called "RECOMMENDED SKI SCHOOLS, -or Not"... on 15 off because there was No way to quickly find school info w/o searching tons of misc. threads scattered here and there all over the site and people kept posting the same ski school search questions over and over on all different posts. Not to mention, some of the info that was written was not always written to specifically help someone looking for a ski school.

The "-or Not" part was not simply to Bad mouth any ski schools or instructors as much as it was a way to help hold schools and instructors accountable for their practices and to help fellow skiers spend their hard earned $$$ confidently. Just as writing Kudo's will help to lend a level of confidence to one's decision, so does knowing that the instructor is no fun to work with, impatient or lacking good people skills, unorganized or not willing to meet you right where you are in your skiing, etc... A great skier doesn't necessarily make for even a good instructor.

Great new idea's Horton, keep up the good work!    

[Horton]

OK nothing will happen this week or maybe until Jan. but I have an idea that may give you what you want . . . as long as Brent is in charge of it.

[Horton]

The future of BallOfSpray is bright. Part 3

One of the things I have struggled with in the past is getting articles and stories from the readers /members of BallOfSpray. On the other hand there is an inner circle of forum members that help in one way or another.  

I am considering created a membership group call BallOfSpray Contributor. Contributors will be anyone who writes/contributes to the web site (not just the forum) or in some way makes the web site better without making my life harder.

The added benefit to being a contributor will be significant savings on ski gear.  I am thinking a contributor could have one ski per year and a substantial discount. Same goes for gloves, ropes and such.  

Like everything in this thread so far, these are still just ideas.  

[Horton]

The future of BallOfSpray is bright. Part 4

I have beat on my hosting provider and we are now on a better server. The site was a little slow at times. That should be solved.  

The software that makes the forum work will soon have a new version. I hope to do the upgrade and make it so each member has the same login to the forum and the main site. Sign on once and be logged in to both. 

The Fin and Binding Database is still sort of in beta mode. I will be working on it this weekend. Cross your fingers that I do not totally screw it up.

[Horton]

The future of BallOfSpray is bright. Part 5

I am so proud about this next bit that I could just burst.

It looks like the site will reach 1,000,000 (ONE MILLION!) page views by the end of the year. After the re-launch of the site in December last year, we had 35,000 page views in January. In May we were just under 70,000 and in September the site peaked for the year at 153,398.  As of today there have been 935,469 pages views for the year. I would guess that no one but me cares about this kind of thing but now you know.

 

[Boody]

Right on!  This sight has came a long way. I love the twitter section so I can follow "everyone" by just jumping on the webpage.  Plus, the information and people on this forum are second to none.  Best H2Oski info out there!

[waterskigirl]

Hi John! Your stats are really awesome as a small business owner I aspire to such numbers!  I would love to advertise, but I'm thinking that your audience is not quite our market?  But, I really have no data to support that just my gut so , I third the idea ,of a forum for ski schools, because all the advertising in the world is not as good as the real deal, word of mouth, the unbiased review from those who have really been there done that!  Because I do truly believe that in waterski coaching one size does not fit all...I'll keep an eye on your progress, because I'm here often like the others and probally spend my 5.? minutes per visit and in our small market that is BIG! Congrats Robby www.skisunsetranch.com

[Horton]

Robby,

As I write this I am ½ way though editing an announcement about WallOfSpray. WallOfSpray is what I see as BallOfSpray 2.0 and will make it a lot easier for you to promote your school. Take a look at WallOfSpray in a few weeks and then shoot me an email. I am sure that we can do something at or below your budget.

[scoke]

 

"  I would love to advertise, but I'm thinking that your audience is not quite our market?  But, I really have no data to support that just my gut so, www.skisunsetranch.com "

 

Shoot... A place like that is a skiers dream. My girl wants us to go to the vineyard ski lake. It's not a matter of "if", it's more of a matter of "when" and finding the right time!

 

[Horton]

Brent we can do it like the fin and binding data base - once I fix that mess. I am in the swamped with WallOfSpray and the database. . . . let me think about it.

[Horton]

Did I say WallOfSpray? Yea everyone please take a this http://bit.ly/6drkuo

 

[Horton]

BallOfSpray Pro is an idea that I am still thinking about. My thinking is that “we” skiers all have professional lives and professional networks. I happen to know that there are a number of police officers that are BOS regulars. There are also a number Oil/Gas engineers, aerospace guys, at least on automotive engineer, and so on.

I would like to use WallOfSpray for something loosely similar to LinkedIn.com but just for skiers. (LinkedIn is a network website for professional networking.)  The simple way to do this is to create WallOfSpray groups for specific professional groups.  

Why do this? Well if I was going to buy a bunch of cars wholesale I would contact Ham Wallace. If I needed some oil field pipe in North Louisiana I would contact Ward, Physical Therapy or Strength Training  I would contact Jones, anything race car related - DW, composite engineering Remi or Tony and so on.  The police skiers can contact each other and talk about donuts.  

Interested? Log on to WallOfSpray* , fill out your profile and create or join a group. Not sure how to start a group? Just let me know.  (*may not be the same user name and password as this forum. WallOfSpray username and password is the same as the main site log in for fin settings or classifieds.  – if you have a facebook account you can use your facebook log-in)

[skibug]

DONUTS!!!!!  Now that is funny.  I would like to know which of the national brands are the most prefered by the boys in blue??

[Horton]

Well if Smart and Friendly start a Fuzzy Skier group we may find out 

[Dirt]

...Dunkin if you must know.

 

[Horton]

What happened to Protect and Serve