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News 2019 Metrics for XSimulator

Discussion in 'Forum and Website' started by RaceRay, Jan 14, 2020.

  1. RaceRay

    RaceRay Administrator Staff Member SimAxe Beta Tester

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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, SimAxe, SimforceGT
    Today I want to share a summary of our visitor statistics for the year 2019.

    This is the first year we experienced a decrease in new users and pageviews. The numbers are still very good but in the beginning until mid of 2019, we had a significant drop:

    audience_overview.png

    This might be caused by several reasons:

    - Updates in the Google ranking algorithm that resulted in worse search rankings
    - The update of the forum software that we did in 2019
    - Too many ads on our site as we experimenting all the time what works best
    - Lack of updates for the SimTools software and/or the SimTools plugins
    - A saturation of interest for DIY motion simulator hardware in general.
    Motion simulator technology has grown and is no more a fancy sophisticated trend for the sim racing and flight simulation community. There are also more and more commercial manufacturers for simulators.

    On the other hand, it looks like organic traffic is restoring. The traffic has constantly grown since mid of 2019 which is a good indicator for the current year.

    organic-compared-with-2018.png

    These are many variables but as the general curve still looks very solid and the Y graph shows a growing tendency I think we are still on the right path and there is no need for any big updates to our forum and website.

    This is just a small overview of the XSimulator traffic analytics.
    If you are interested in other numbers or if you have ideas about what we could do to make our site a more attractive place, please let us know.

    I am glad to be part of this community and I am looking forward to seeing new great projects from you guys in 2020:cheers
    • Informative Informative x 6
    • Like Like x 1
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 14, 2020
    RaceRay, Jan 14, 2020
    #1
  2. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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    Interesting @RaceRay...in addition to the points you have raise if I had to take a wild stab at a possible explanation I would suggest running an analysis of the prominence and frequency of posts covering more complex and technical aspects of motion simulation software and rigs, to see if there is a correlation.
    • Like Like x 1
    noorbeast, Jan 14, 2020
    #2
  3. RacingMat

    RacingMat Well-Known Member Gold Contributor

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    I agree with that!
    on PC, the website is really great! drag and drop pictures, many different sort of likes: it's make the forum really cool. :thumbs

    maybe a few more smileys?
    and an addition of a dark theme in the Preferences/Style?
    RacingMat, Jan 15, 2020
    #3
  4. T R Para

    T R Para i make stuff up

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    AC motor, 6DOF
    It would be interesting to see the demographics of the communities age group.
    I think the future of sims is in VR and much less physical simulator rigs which are too expensive/complex to build or buy especially for many of the younger generation.
    T R Para, Jan 15, 2020
    #4
  5. Rifly

    Rifly Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, Arduino
    I'm really curious about possibility of DIY community spike during covid-19, I'm one of them who had time to think about motion during this time.
    Rifly, Mar 22, 2020
    #5
  6. RaceRay

    RaceRay Administrator Staff Member SimAxe Beta Tester

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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, SimAxe, SimforceGT
    It looks like the numbers go up:

    Analytics - Google Chrome 2020-03-23 14.11.33.png

    Our demographics by age:

    Analytics - Google Chrome 2020-03-23 14.13.59.png
    • Like Like x 2
    RaceRay, Mar 23, 2020
    #6
  7. value1

    value1 Nerd SimAxe Beta Tester SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, JRK, Joyrider
    @RaceRay: Do you see increased traffic in these days?
    value1, Mar 28, 2020
    #7
  8. Historiker

    Historiker Dramamine Adict Gold Contributor

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    My Motion Simulator:
    3DOF, DC motor, Arduino, Motion platform, 6DOF
    I have been trying to push those interested in motion toward the website but their main response is that it is too much work and they are going to save up and buy a commercial rig.
    Historiker, Mar 29, 2020
    #8
  9. RaceRay

    RaceRay Administrator Staff Member SimAxe Beta Tester

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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, SimAxe, SimforceGT
    Yes, there is strong growth these days:
    Analytics - Google Chrome 2020-03-29 14.59.31.png

    It started March 20th
    • Like Like x 2
    RaceRay, Mar 29, 2020
    #9