It’s so easy for me to get tunnel vision about my business or the state of the world.
Here in Northeast Ohio the economy is usually the subject of headlines by the Akron Beacon Journal and the Plain Dealer… and it usually isn’t as flattering as I think it should be. Maybe bad news sells more papers. Maybe I’m not a pessimist. But I do know this, if I just read the 2 daily newspapers in the area and didn’t raise my eyes a little bit higher to see more of the world, I’d probably pack it up and close up shop.
That’s one reason why I like ClusterMaps. It helps to remind me that there is a big old world out there. And like anyone who read Thomas Friedman’s book knows, the world is flat. I’ve been tracking visitors to my company website since June 2006 and I always enjoy seeing that people with IP addresses from around the world have found the site. Most pop in for about 2 minutes and then leave, but some stay much longer and visit many pages.
As 2007 is drawing to a close, I’m thinking about the focus for 2008. And trying to keep my eyes from dwelling on the headlines of the local newspapers. Checking out ClusterMaps helps remind me that the net is casting wider than just that area between Cleveland, Akron, Canton & Youngstown called Northeast Ohio.
I like that in first year I’ve measured traffic with it, we got 13,000 visitors. Since June 2007, we’ve had more than twice that in half the time. Is it the blog? Partly. Is the SEO? Partly. Is it just the rising tide raises all boats? Partly. Press releases? Awards? New clients? New Services? Partly, partly, partly, and partly.
Like with all things marketing, there’s not one silver bullet.
What do you do to keep your eyes off the ground and looking at the horizon?
