TRAFFIC AT LARGE
Our October analytics saw an increase in numbers from September and, much like our blood sugar as we devour leftover Halloween candies, there is nowhere to go but up. The weather has turned cold and professionals, less distracted by the warm weather, are spending more time on their computers. Our page sessions grew by 6.13% and duration by 4.64%. Our bounce rate went down by 4.64% (yes, down, but that’s a good thing so we’ll count it as up). Since last year at this time, however, our total pageviews decreased by 8.71%. New users went down by 7.32%, and our 45,721 page views decreased by 13,648.
SITE EVENTS
Click-throughs (when visitors use links on our site to get to photographers’ sites) in October also increased since September, although they went down by 22.79% since 2018. Specialty searches decreased by 28.46%, and photographer searches went down by 28.09%, compared to last October. Our numbers did, however, increase from September; specialty searches improved by 7.94% and photographer searches by 7.39%.
TRAFFIC LOCATIONS
The leading countries that use Wonderful Machine are the United States, followed by India, and the United Kingdom. The top five cities include New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and London.
BLOG STATS
The top three articles on the client blog celebrate stories of reunion, exploration, and some Florida living. These posts include:
Georgia on my Mind: Dimitri Mais Goes Home to Reconnect with his Father
A New Look for New Belgium: Andrew Maguire Gives Fat Tire Beers an Adventurous Identity
John McDonald Endures Post-Op Pain while Creating Key West Imagery for Atlanta Magazine
Our member blog remains consistent with the popularity of its articles, as we give tips on creating a bio, making a portfolio book, and pricing your next gig. The top three-member blog posts are:
Expert Advice: Writing a Photographer Bio
Expert Advice: Print Portfolio
Pricing & Negotiating: Product Interactive Shots for Beverage Brand
TRAFFIC CHANNELS
We saw some changes in how visitors arrive at Wonderful Machine. Organic searches went up by 4.28%, and direct links increased by 26.89% since 2018. Referrals went down by 12.71%. Social improved a great deal, increasing by 147.95%.
SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS
The Wonderful Machine Facebook page has accumulated 7,038 likes with an average of 1,057 engagements daily; an engagement being any time somebody is interacting with Wonderful Machine content.
In October, our Instagram account grew to 12,814 followers from 12,631 in September. We also added a new feature to our Instagram stories, where you can ask our experts questions. This month, our Executive Producer, Craig Oppenheimer, was asked, “Seems like clients want more ‘libraries’ now with unlimited usage. How do you push back?” Craig answered this question like so:
There’s nothing inherently wrong with the request, but we’ve seen budgets that don’t exactly reflect the value of the deliverables/usage. Given the saturation of photographers, clients will always find someone to give them what they want, so to remain competative, we suggest determining how many images a client is most likely to use, and how they are most likely to use them, and determine your fees based on that information.