Webmaster Report :. April 2004

by Webmaster

Reunion 2004

One of our main focuses of late has been to support the Reunion 2004 project. The Reunion committee provided several suggestions, including a countdown feature and main stories, which we hope have helped get the message out about this seminal NSA event! We trust publish time finds that effort a success!

A year for the new web project!

Can it be a year since we launched the new smokejumpers.com? My how time flies! We thus have a unique opportunity to look back at our achievements so far and to look forward to future progress.

The Store

visit the store

With a full 12 months under our belt, we show well over $22,000 in store sales since the new sites launch date of late last March! Close to a $10,000 increase from the estimated revenue from the previous year. At an average of over $1,800 a month the new store compares quite favorably to the previous year's average of approximately $1,000 a month.

A very promising start indeed! But we're hoping to do even better as more people learn about us and come to trust us as the place to go for Smokejumping goods.

For March this year we did $2,400 in store. This also bodes well for the fire season, as last year we averaged $1,000 in April & May 2003 as we got up to speed. We're bound to be moving up, and we're looking for the smokejumpers.com store to continue to show growth as a major revenue source for the organization.

The Image Gallery

visit the image gallery

While launched in July, the Image Gallery has seen more than 15,000+ visits and has now grown to 7 sections with the addition of the Retirements album. We added this to accommodate Steve Nemore's retirement pictures and hope others will choose to share their events with the smokejumper community. Also look for a Reunion 2004 section soon!

The Forum

visit the forum

The forum has bogged down a bit as of late, but hopefully fire season will see renewed interest. One reason for less usage also may be that several experienced jumpers have spent time answering wannabe questions with great expertise. This type of participation is another great example of what an open forum can contribute to a community.

I suspect that many perspective smokejumpers visiting the site with questions may be getting answers by simply visiting the Smokejumping FAQ section and reading. Starting in December 2003, it has already registered over 2,000 views. Anyone in the smokejumping community who fields such questions, may wish to point their charges to the forums Smokejumping FAQ's section as a fine start at providing answers to those interested in the profession.