It's really interesting working on a site like FS because you never really know who your readers are. If you just looked at our comments you might guess that we only have a couple hundred readers a day. If you check our analytics however, you will find that there are about 60,000 unique visitors to FS every month. So that got me wondering... Are these the same 60,000 people or are they totally new each month? Well, only YOU can help answer this question. How often do you visit Fstoppers?
I'm subscribed via Google Reader (RSS), I'm not sure how that shows up via analytics but I'm guessing others enjoy your site in the same way I do in which my response to your poll would be - as often as you guys post. :)
I usually visit once a month. I find that everytime I visit FS, I spend hours of watching the videos here lol. I get superpumped,my brain oozes with ideas. It's like a shot of artificial adrenaline.
More than 5 times a day...!!
I am subscripted to the feed, so every time I check google reader, I see messages. And I read them, too!
The whole RSS thing is interesting to me because I don't think our analytics could track that.
Want to know something funny? I didn't even know what that RSS button did until a few weeks ago. That just goes to show you how crazy it is I am even able to keep this site going. Luckily Pat and I have had a great group of people helping us all along the way.
I visit, every time you have new post, so almost every day.
I voted once a day but the truth is that Im subscribed via Google Reader. Its a shame to lose the design of this an every site but is a great tool too.
You guys are probably more like 100-120k unique a month. What stats are you guys going off
I have fstoppers in my RSS feed. If there are updates that interest me, I'll click on over to the site. Fstoppers is one of my favorite photography sites and I eagerly await seeing that there are new posts. So the more you post, the more I visit.
@Jake: as you may have guessed I am not great at all of this but if I log into our google analytics and look from October 1 - Oct 31 we had 62,548 unique visitors and 310k page-views
As the others have said, I also use the RSS feed. I log on every time I see a new post. Sometimes that means twice a day, sometimes you (and therefore I) skip a day.
Your Google Analytics should be able to tell you the number of uniques. I expect most people are like me and watch regularly but only very rarely post (in fact, I'll bet the huge majority never post).
Hi, Yea I also use Google Reader, that tells me that there are 3,549 subscribers in Google Reader but there will be more who subscribe to the RSS feed through other readers. I strongly recommend that you publish your RSS feed through FeedBurner as that will track the number of readers and all sorts of other analytics also it integrates with Google Analytics.
Have a look at http://feedburner.google.com/ and http://analytics.blogspot.com/2009/11/integration-with-feedburner.html
Hope that helps - Really enjoy the site :)
@Burt, the whole goal Lee and I had was to unite photographers in a more personal way (videos primarily) and most of our readers don't participate....shame shame :) Our vimeo, google, and wordpress stats are all over the place...and I'm taking a crash course on feedburner now. Glad to know you guys are using the RSS...I still don't know how to use that hah
Yeah, I use the RSS feed, when you follow so many sites it's imposible to check everyone for updates, so I just check my google reader and if there is a new post I see it.
Also I just had a look and it doesn't look like you have any analytics installed on the fstoppersforum.com site - you might be interested in that as well.
Another google rss reader here, so I visit basically every post also.
Another Google Reader RSS follower here. Answering the survey is tough. I check my Google Reader stream almost every day, generally several times. I come over to the fstoppers site... almost never. Except when something like this survey doesn't come through on the RSS.
I also use Google Reader, with Feedly as a frontend.
To be honest: I visit the site whenever the RSS shows an interesting link. I have it set up on my personalized google homepage.
RSS feed for me! I try to visit the forums a few times a week but I'm kinda bad about keeping up with them.
RSS
yep, i have your RSS feed in my outlook/mac mail inbox, so every time you post i come through to your site to watch the video! i have a static IP address so i only ever count as 1 person of your 60,000 but i spread the word about FS i think its amazing site! nice work guys
Whenever something pops up in the RSS feed, I check out the site.
I was referred to this site by nikonrumors.com
have been hooked since then
I photograph sports and assist in about 6-12 weddings a year. Medical sales is my income. My site is www.metroplexsportspics.com I don't remember how I came across this site but it is now part of my morning ritual along with www.sportsshooter.com Great site and I love to view all of that day's photography work for ideas and inspiration. I am addicted!
Congrats on all the traffic, my site is about 6 months old and I am up to 35k a month.
I'm kind of an addict here. :D Sometimes I watch the same new videos 2 times so I don't miss anything. It's pretty interesting stuff :D Voted 2-5
I only check my feed daily and If there is a new post on fstoppers I check the video, some time the embedded video is not well displayed on the feed so I must visit the blog.
Yep I notice posts via RSS, but when something sounds interesting I click through :-) That happens 9 times out of 10 :-)
I check it at least once a day. On days when my I have my photography students, it can be seen multiple times if there is content that I want my students to see.
You should have had another option..."I read every update via an RSS feed reader." I don't necessarily visit every day, but I do see every single update you make via Google Reader, and click to check out the posts that interest me.
Same as many above -- I monitor/read fstoppers via Google Reader, and visit the actual site when there's something that piques my interest (usually about once or twice a week).
I look at your site at least once a day. Great Stuff!! Keeping coming!!!
- I'm subscribed to your RSS feeds, via GreatNews.
I also subscribe via Google Reader and I generally check out most of the updates. I also come back and watch certain videos multiple times. I clicked about once a day in the poll but it's probably ranges from like 4 to 12 times a week.
I subscribe using Google Reader RSS Feed. Thanks for the great content!
Like others here, I watch your site via Google Reader. I usually am able to watch the videos through that, but occasionally I go directly to the site to see if there are multiple videos posted. Excellent work guys!
I typically give it a look towards the end of my work day, when my productivity has hit an all time low. Then check out the videos (YouTube) that my network security won't allow me to watch at work. I don't remember how I stumbled upon it, but it is the most informative I have found. Keep it up, and smart people, keep posting videos.
Being a Mac owner, I use Mail as my RSS reader. Every time you post something new, I check it. And since you post videos almost every time (and Mail doesn't show Vimeo and YouTube videos), I click on the link to see the whole post on Firefox. So I'm part of your stats even if I use a RSS reader.
Great site! RSS for me too.
Google reader guys...google reader.
love this site! keep it up guys.
Great website. I usually visit this place at least three times a day. Once on the desktop. Twice on the iPhone. Maybe even more if there's a video that I like on here.
RSS
Then usually watch a few videos over lunchtime - week days.
I used to come way more often but I find the video's are not as good as before so I only come once a week now. The start was terrific and has fizzled considerably. I hope it will return to the glory days. Although I understand that there is only so much content out there.