Google+ and BAlvarius

I monitor visitor statistics on the blogs and websites associated with the Painted Pony Resort in an effort to understand what attracts people's attention resulting in a click to visit one of the sites.  I use a number of tools including StatCounter and those provided by Google to compare keywords, images, and subject matter to gauge performance.  It is pleasing when something created performs well and highlights efforts to promote the resort and area in an effort to encourage visitation.  I'm a firm believer that everyone should have the opportunity to make enough money to buy food for dinner and work to spread the business around when visitors are in residence at the estate.  This effort works particularly well when the estate hosts a wedding (there have been 8 so far with another one scheduled next month), since generally the immediate family stays on the estate while other wedding guests utilize local lodging sites in the twin cities of Portal and Rodeo.

Google's foray into social media several years ago with it's product Google+ at first seemed like just another attempt to compete with Facebook, but Google did a couple of things in launching this product.  They tied all the blogs they host to Google+ as well as images.  This immediately created another way for individuals producing content to get their material viewed by a larger audience.  This blog and the Sky Gypsies both now direct their feed to Google+ and the page's performance has done quite well, recently surpassing its' 1,000,000 viewer.  While the images produced and curated on Panoramio have done quite well (with about 1.37 million views), the rate of the Google+ performance is much better and better than both blogs themselves.  Based on this evidence it would seem Google got it right.  The obvious conclusion is that if a business provides online tools, users will make use of those tools and site visitation will follow.  To view BAlvarius' Google+ page follow the link.

Google + page for BAlvarius reached 1,000,000 views

Making an Impact

The recent loss, and recovery, of several computers reinforced the idea of the utility of the internet and computers in general.  Without internet access it was difficult to maintain real time contact with the owner, especially when 80 guests were expected for a wedding and he was traveling.  It was impossible to order computer parts needed to repair the broken computers and impossible to upload any information about the Painted Pony Resort or the area.  Fortunately the problems were resolved, one by one, and the ability to communicate with the rest of the planet re-established.  As a measure of the utility of the ability to communicate (and have an impact on the rest of the world) from the heart of the San Simon Valley, tallies of  some of the materials created and published from a trailer were collected.  To date, there were a total of 1,942,520 views of the material produced by a guy in a trailer sitting in the desert, demonstrating that even in an isolated place like the bubble it is possible to create and distribute material that interests other people.  While in the grand scheme of things 2 million views may not be much, in the final analysis, the most important measure is the effect on local business.  That is do other businesses see a tangible result as a result of these efforts?  Six weddings at the Painted Pony Resort (with more scheduled) is consistent with the notion that by providing interesting information about the area does bring in more business.  Who would have thought the San Simon valley could be a wedding destination?

The ability of an individual to create and then reach out and present the material to others on the planet is unique and only possible with a computer and internet access and as a result I believe the internet is most democratizing tool invented by our species.  Everyone has a voice in the marketplace of ideas and everyone has a chance to be heard and make a difference.

Data:

Google Earth photographs - 1,260,214 views.

 
Blogs:
 Blogging from the Boot Heel - 68,990 views

 The Sky Gypsies - 50,302 views

Website:
 The Painted Pony Resort - 72,778 views

Flickr photographs - not available

Hiking maps - 256,038 views

YouTube videos - 125,750 views

Photobucket - 108448 views