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Original Post: Image Hits & Comments

A few members have mentioned they have seen a major reduction in the hits & comments since we launched the new site. While it has only been 6 days since we launched the new site, and it would be too early to determine any major trends, we wanted to share some data with everyone about this topic.

IMAGE COMMENTS:

So far this year, we average about 391 new images posted each day on ArtWanted.com. On these images, we average about 2,000 comments per day. Some days have more comments, other days have less, but the average for the year is 2,009 comments per day for all images on our site.

So far, in the last 6 days of the new site, we have averaged 1,971 comments per day on the artwork that is uploaded. This number shows that we are less than 2% below the average number of comments we normally get on a daily basis. In March of this year, we only averaged 1,680 comments per day, hundreds fewer than we are getting now with the new site. This 2% difference can also be explained by many other factors such as early website glitches, larger number of images to comment on each day, no additional exposure through the Top Ten reports like before and the fact that the 2nd part of the month always receives fewer comments than the first part of the month.

As we mentioned, it's too early to really determine any major trends based on the new site, but this early data shows very little to no change in the number of comments being posted on ArtWanted.com artwork each day. Some of you may be experiencing lower than normal comments, but other artists are getting higher than normal comments, which all even out to get the average number of comments mentioned above. We will continue to watch these numbers over time, but we are confident that the new site design has not made a drastic change in the way people post comments on our site.

IMAGE HITS:

Image hits are a different story and most of you should see a decline in your individual portfolio hits, compared to the first part of the year. This was expected, so let us explain why...

As you all know, when you look at the large version of an image in your portfolio, you also see two smaller thumbnail images of other random artwork in your portfolio. In our old site, these two 'random images' were being recorded as a 'hit' to your portfolio. So basically every time someone pulled up one of your images, three hits were recorded. One for the large image, and two additional hits for the two smaller images.

As we were working on the new site, we felt that it would be best if we did not record a 'hit' for these two smaller thumbnail images like we were before. While the stats numbers would go down after this change was made, we feel the numbers are more accurate than before. Now we only record a 'hit' if you see the 'large' image in your portfolio, and not the smaller thumbnails. Because of this change in the new site, we expect that most members will see a drop in their portfolio hits, compared to the first part of the year. You are still generally getting the same amount of people looking at your artwork as before, we simply don't count a hit for the thumbnails anymore.

As most of you know, we also removed the 'Top Ten' reports from our new website. Love `em or hate `em, the Top Ten reports did generate a lot of traffic for our members portfolios and also a lot of comments of our members artwork. With the Top Ten area now gone (at least temporarily), all of the exposure, hits and comments this area once generated will no longer be happening, which may reduce the number of hits and comments on many of your portfolios.

One other reason why some members may be seeing fewer hits to their images, is the shift of more images on our site. On our old site, we averaged 391 new images per day. With our new site, we have been averaging 513 new images per day. If most people have the same amount of time to surf ArtWanted.com during the day and they now have over 100 more images per day to look at, they may be more selective at what they look at, which would reduce the hits on many images on our site.

We hope this post explains to everyone why some of you may have seen changes in the number of comments/hits to your portfolios. We will continue to watch these trends over time to make sure our new site design is a positive one. We will also continue to look for more ways to bring exposure and fame to the artists found on our pages. Thanks!