When the first Sarasota CLUCK blog posting went up on June 11 2009, it was assumed it would simply be vehicle for advocacy of passage of a local City of Sarasota backyard chicken ordinance. Then, nearly a year and half later, on December 18th 2010, the blog recorded its 5,000th pageview (averaging 9 pageviews a day) and the ordinance was passed just a few months later on February 7th, 2011. Now, exactly fifty-one weeks after hitting 5,000, CLUCK has recorded its 40,000th pageview, an average of nearly 100 (97.49) pageviews a day, which is a ten-fold increase. That means the vast majority of pageviews have occurred after passage of the ordinance. This posting is a summary of some of the dimensions of this success.
The most viewed post, (out of 187 posts) with over 1,800 pageviews is Sarasota CLUCK's Top 25 Funky Chicken Facts. Posted in mid-January, this posting (now with 30 funky facts) lists interesting, and sometimes nearly unbelievable, information about chickens and includes links to sources, a feature virtually all other chicken fact sites lack.
The second most popular, with nearly 1,400 pageviews is an annotated version of the City Ordinance. This document includes both the official language of the ordinance, and an accessible interpretation of what each section means and the intent behind it.
The third most popular, with about 1,200 pageviews is a discussion of treadle feeders, which are feeders that chickens activate to access food by standing on treadle.
Other noteworthy posts include the Are You Ready for Backyard Chickens Quiz, which has over 550 pageviews and the reprint of the Backyard Poultry magazine article based on the Sarasota experience, which has been averaging six views per day and is expected to become one of the more popular posts.
No doubt about it -- December 2011 has been a big month for local CLUCK: hitting 40,000 pageviews, an article published in Backyard Poultry Magazine and the first meeting of Manatee CLUCK.
And clearly the blog has evolved from just a one-time, campaign-driven, local-focus resource to a site accessed all over the country and planet (over 2,000 pageviews from United Kingdom and Russia combined).
But one goal remains unmet, and that is relaxing restrictions on backyard chickens in unincorporated Sarasota County. That is a big target for the coming year. If you are interested in changing the county rules, please write to us at SarasotaCLUCK@ gmail.com or join the Facebook Group.
No doubt about it -- December 2011 has been a big month for local CLUCK: hitting 40,000 pageviews, an article published in Backyard Poultry Magazine and the first meeting of Manatee CLUCK.
And clearly the blog has evolved from just a one-time, campaign-driven, local-focus resource to a site accessed all over the country and planet (over 2,000 pageviews from United Kingdom and Russia combined).
But one goal remains unmet, and that is relaxing restrictions on backyard chickens in unincorporated Sarasota County. That is a big target for the coming year. If you are interested in changing the county rules, please write to us at SarasotaCLUCK@ gmail.com or join the Facebook Group.
