Hi athletes and Red Sports readers,
Guess what? We passed the 500,000-page view mark today. That means, pages on this web site were accessed a total of half a million times.
Wow.
This site is now receiving an average of 21,000 unique visitors a month. Visitors view an average of 71,000 pages monthly. And the readers don’t just come and go.
Based on a sample size of 500 visitors, these are the statistics:
About 24% hang out for 30s to 5 mins. ("Just the scores, Uncle Les, just the scores.")
About 11% hang out for 5 to 20 mins. ("Hey Uncle Les, you misspelt my name … Uncle Les, can you come down tomorrow? … Uncle Les, how come you never take my picture?")
About 9% hang out for 20 mins to an hour. ("Uncle Les, you took my picture but my picture so ugly. Can you take again? … Uncle Les, how you make money? … Uncle Les, why your pictures so underexposed?" … Uncle Les, which camera should I buy? The 30D or the 450D? My mother said …")
About 3% hang out for more than an hour. (I don’t know what they are doing. Maybe they study using the red glow from the Red Sports front page.)
So because of the high traffic numbers, I was thrown out by my first server landlord based in the US. So I "moved house". Then when I moved into the new place (also another US server – it’s cheaper in the US), the new landlord gave me a bill of USD 1,080 after one month. Yes, that’s US DOLLARS. Why? Because my traffic was too high and burst my quota. I flipped when I saw the bill. Running costs for this site will exceed the $10,000-mark by the end of the year.
So that’s why I have set up RedSports Shop so that you can buy things from Red Sports to help me out. Please have a look.
I am going to try my best to keep this site updated as frequently as it is humanly possible. As of today, there are 422 posts in this web site. All schools and all sports welcome. There are now 19 sports categories on Red Sports. All this is in just under 6 months.
The visitor numbers prove that school sports is special and it’s worth preserving the best moments of our games for Singaporeans to read about. Because at the end of the day, those who troop onto the field of play are our friends and teammates, and they represent our school and our badge. Playing for your school is a duty and a responsibility, it is an honour and a privilege.
So play hard, play fair. School sports rock.
Red Sports. Always Game. ®
Les
editor+photographer
[…] I need your help in participating in a survey. As you know, I’m depending on advertising to help cover costs and make a living. I promised when I started that I would not solicit students, teachers or schools for funding and I […]
[…] I need your help in participating in a survey. As you know, I’m depending on advertising to help cover costs and make a living. I promised when I started that I would not solicit students, teachers or schools for funding and I […]
On this our 42nd National Day may I wish all Redsports readers and visitors a Happy National Day and more good years ahead for all you athletes out there.
Majulah Singapura!
Coach Dick Yip
To further help sustain this site may I propose the following suggestions:-
1. Each school or JC consider donating a $ 100 subsription pa. It is peanuts in a school’s overall budget but what Les and Redsports is doing is actually for the benefit mainly of school sports and school athletes.
2. The four Secondary Zone School Sports Council ( N,S,E,W ) can consider making a goodwill donation as a council.
3. The Singapore Sports Council should grant an annual subsidy as it has the funds for such a noble mission.
4. Many wealthy and rich patrons are funding numerous good causes and projects regularly such as CC sport activities, grassroot activities, etc. to the tune of thousands of dollars. They may not be aware of the existence of Redsports. If any of you readers out there are in contact with such good persons you could tell them about this project.
5. Foundations such as the SHAW Foundation and the LEE Foundation ,just to name two, are generally very supportive of such worthy endeavours. Anyone can assist?
6. Singapore Pools…. another good source of grants.
7. Philantropic clubs…..Rotary Club, Lions Club, Jaycees etc…
Whatever it is or maybe, if we all do our little bit we can help sustain this most worthwhile venture and help Leslie defray his operating costs.
My warmest Congrats to all involved!
Coach Dick Yip
[…] The numbers got so high at one point that I was asked to vacate my first server host and move to another. The new server landlord then gave me a bill for USD 1,080 for a huge traffic spike in May. So after having posted hundred of stories (466 since 1 February 07, a rate of 2-3 stories a day) and thousands of pictures on redsports.sg, it was time to have RedSports Shop to help with the running of this site. […]
[…] « Red Sports hits half a million page views […]