Friday, June 29, 2012

Hover Motor Company milestones and shameless panhandling

This week, the Hover Motor Company blog hit a couple of pretty neat milestones. And while I do try and keep this sort of thing to a minimum, sometimes a guy just has to toot his own horn.

I posted the first car story here on August 18, 2010. The weekly car show calendar that went up on Tuesday marks the 400th story here on http://www.hovermotorco.com/. I can hardly believe that I can come up with one 400-word story sometimes, not much less 400 different stories!

And one thing that I’m proud of about all of those stories is that they’re all some kind of “feature.” In other words, there are no one-paragraph blurbs on here, and there are no throw-away type things that just bring the post count up. Also, I actually wrote all of them—no press releases or anything like that. And except for the weekly event calendars, most of these stories are evergreen, meaning they’re still worth looking at weeks, months, and years down the road.

The second milestone is that this week we surpassed 500,000 pageviews. OK, so it’s not Facebook type numbers. But still, to think that people have clicked on things here more than a half-million times is fascinating to me.

So where did all these pageviews come from? As of this writing, they came from 57,975 unique visitors, including you. Think about that for a second. 20,000 more people—different people—have clicked on this website than can fit in Kauffman Stadium for the All-Star Game. I don’t know about you, but I think that is pretty cool.

But it also means that we have some very loyal followers, because even 57,975 people need to be making return visits to come up with 500,000 pageviews. We have lookers from all fifty states, and in fact, all over the world, but the majority of them are understandably from Kansas and Missouri. It’s no wonder that so many people are stopping to say “hi” when we’re out at car shows lately.

Oh, and speaking of those car shows, my family and I have been to a lot of them. I’ve taken pictures and created slideshows for 190 different events. If your car has been in a car show around town, there’s a decent chance that it is in one of my albums. It might be in several.

To the chagrin of my wife, I’ve subjected her and my son to all of these events without ever getting paid. I’ve tried line ads and things like that, and although they do generate a little revenue, I hate the way they look, so I always just take them out. I pay for the domain name, my online photo storage, of course gas to get to all of these things (not that I wouldn’t be going anyway), and I’m on my third nice digital point-and-shoot. Heck, the ad links I have on here so far are just people and places I like.

Is that because I’m not a good capitalist? I come from a line of car dealers, and I have a Master’s Degree in Marketing, so what do you think? I’m always willing to make a buck. I just don’t want to turn off my loyal readers by begging for it on here all the time. Plus, I have a day job, so it’s pretty hard to make cold calls for my blog when I’m in the office.

So I’m going to do this fast, and I definitely won’t make a habit of it. If you want to reach a targeted, Kansas City-based car enthusiast readership, I would be more than happy to sell an “ad” to you and your company. We’ll put your logo right up toward the top of the column on the right where my HMC truck logo is, and link them to your website. That column is always there, so your ad will appear next to every story. These ads will run you $200/year—and that includes Christmas!  First guy gets the top spot, second guy goes under him, and so on.

Finally, if you enjoy reading things here, I will gladly accept Paypal donations. Definitely don’t feel obligated by any means, but if you think whatever you get on here is worth a few bucks to you, the option is there. If you have a Paypal account, you can do it through the button below.


I never have done this blog for the money. And even if this shot in the dark doesn’t generate one dollar, I still appreciate everyone who comes here and reads this blog and looks at the pictures. The fact that so many people are checking this stuff out really, REALLY means the world to me. I appreciate you guys putting up with this kind of rotten, self-serving post, and more importantly, checking back in as often as you do. As long as you keep coming back, I’ll keep doing the best job I can. We're growing every day, so the next half-million clicks is right around the corner.

Thanks, everybody!

Craig Hover

EDIT:  Since I ran this story, I am very proud to announce that Dale Wilch's Man Cave is my first paying sponsor!  I am extremely happy to have them on-board, and I hope you take the time to click on their link and check out all the great car stuff that the Man Cave has for sale!

11 comments:

  1. WTG, I have read all of your stories and have really enjoyed the pictures! I also know that you have made a true investment in your son, because of the "priceless road trips" he was forced to go on!

    ReplyDelete
  2. CONGRATS on your Blog achievments! Even though we complain about going to so many car shows, it's still nice to see you getting some notice for all your hard work. We love you and are very proud of you for this. I guess I better order the next 6 months in a book soon, huh? Love you! Maria and Ethan

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks you all very much! Especially Maria and Ethan. I really appreciate all the support you guys give me!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Congratulations, and here's to the next 4 THOUSAND stories! Cheers , from a repeat, serial viewer.

    ReplyDelete
  5. C,
    We just became acquainted this year and am
    amazed at your talent and efforts.
    How your work FAMILY (1st) , your job, travels
    and well just the whole "ball of wax" that you do.
    This might not be good to post but like I told you
    one time..you're like "Horse Manure", you are
    everywhere !!!!!!!
    Congrats on the accomplishments mentioned, great
    going....
    Thanks Don
    "Basehor Boys"

    ReplyDelete
  6. I really appreciate everyone that keeps coming back to this place. I know john, Don, and even Billy are regulars, and it means a lot to me. Thank you all so much!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Craig,
    I have been following your posts since the beginning and always enjoy your comments, opinions and of course the pictures. It's amazing how you can get all those nice pictures without people getting into the picture. You must use a "people filter".

    It is also nice to get a reminder of car shows, cruises and races for the coming weekend. There are so many car and truck shows in the metro area, it is hard to keep track of them all, but now you do that for me. Thanks for keeping us up-to-date.
    Dave w/ LRT

    ReplyDelete
  8. That's very nice, and I really appreciate it!

    ReplyDelete
  9. like the others, i certainly appreciate your blog - the stories and especially the photos. thanks for keeping us up-to-date! - mike

    ReplyDelete