Part of my job at Woodworking Network is to increase online traffic.
That I arrived during the run-up to last week's International Woodworking Fair in Atlanta was fortuitous in that regard. With more than 950 exhibitors (and guessing an average 10 products per booth) meant I would have the prospect of gathering and reporting on roughly 10,000 items at the show. And that's not counting the seminar program, professional woodworking trade groups and educators and the social front with evenings of receptions and dinners for the wood industry.
As I traipsed around the Georgia World Congress Center, I occasionally met my industry media peers. But rarely in large numbers. Just a handful of us report full time purely about the professional side of the woodworking industry. (There are many fine publications and e-zines for the hobbyist and part-time professional - but that's not my beat.)
For woodworkingnetwork.com, IWF 2010 was a watershed, in terms of our pre-show and post-show coverage. Each bit of news, photo, video, and article relating to IWF is saved in a data base, from which the hundreds of online links at our website deliver content when you click. To make it more convenient, we tagged items about IWF so they will show up in separate microchannel.
While you can read freely (and anonymously), our server does count a click each time it is called upon to deliver a story or photo. We can clock the traffic to that channel, and to the items within it: articles, press releases, videos, features, news, blogs.
What we learned is during IWF 2010 is that you are very interested in reading about new technology, new processes enhancing wood performance, and about woodworking firms using new technology. For this editor, your interest has helped me determine what kinds of stories to focus on in future issues. And the notes and press kits collected at IWF will be put to good use in developing those stories. In fact, they already have been, since we have loaded them up to our searchable website.
Since April 1 through today, these hundreds of IWF related items at the Woodworking Network microsite have generated tens of thousands of views by you. (New Product news -in a dedicated section of our site - is also very popular search destination.)
Altogether, then IWF 2010 has been a rich vein of valuable information. And we appreciate the opportunity to share that with you.
Have something to say? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.