People like me and those on our staff write about Pittsburgh sports ... for love of profession and all that, but also for pay. I mean, that's why it's a profession.
People in the blogging community and social media mainstays, on the other hand, mostly do this just for the passion.
We've been blessed to have great relationships with many, many such dedicated writers and tweeters. From all over the globe, actually. Just recently, we made hookups, for example, with Twitter fan clubs in France committed to the Steelers and Pirates. (There's got to be a hockey one there, too, right?) They tend to be small-ish groups, but then, that's the nature of blogging and social media.
So we met the other night trying to figure out a way to maybe work together, come up with something mutually beneficial. And we wound up with the following: Let's split 50/50 the sale of all new annual subscriptions to this site!
It'll work like this:
• If you've got a blog or forums with some significant background and credibility, email me directly at DK@DKPittsburghSports.com. Doesn't matter which of the three teams, or even if it's more than one. Mostly just looking for a track record. Like the longstanding Steeler Nation forums, for instance. They'll be part of this, and we're thrilled to have them.
• It doesn't need to have a web page. It's 2019, and some followings happen with a single social media account. Similarly, if you've got one of those with a significant background and credibility, email me directly at DK@DKPittsburghSports.com. We're equally thrilled on this front to already have the brilliant Evil Mike Tomlin Twitter account and our great friend Blitzburgh.
• If you become part of this, we'll provide you with special trackable URLs to sell the new subs at $19.99 to your followers, and you do with those URLs as you will. It's your account, obviously, and your audience. When the month is done, you get $10 for every sub that's sold through your URL. Theoretically, that's a nice check at the end of each month for very little work.
Any questions?
Again, email me. Or ask in comments below. Ask anything at all.
Beyond the business stuff up there, we've also been involved in all kinds of sharing of some of our content/material with blogs, notably the multimedia. We can talk about that with you, too.
THE NEWEST TOON
Jim Barger, our new managing editor, gets the Rob Ullman treatment, being introduced right here:
ROB ULLMAN / DKPSFROM THE MANAGING EDITOR
Football is back. Not games or even preseason games or even steamy days in Latrobe, but the beginning of OTAs on Tuesday is a sure sign that the march to the 2019 season has begun. And our football staff will be on the scene to give readers a glimpse inside the Steelers. Every step in the competitions for starting jobs and every relevant quote from the players and coaches.
The planning and execution of our coverage stems from a group of journalists whose experience and insight regarding the Steelers is unmatched by any media outlet in this region. We start with a simple question -- what do readers want to know? -- and then fan out to get those answers. We hope we can exceed your expectations. -- Barger
FROM THE DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
We're always looking to grow our base of business partners, and there currently are several very good opportunities available to take advantage of our unprecedented reach. Our 2019 media kit has all the info you’d want. Email me directly at Dali@DKPittsburghSports.com to set up a meeting. -- Dali Kovacevic
LIFETIMES LEFT: 63
We've sold 37 Lifetime Lunatic subscriptions, so 63 remain toward our new cap of 100, combined with the original 500. There's no plan to sell more in the foreseeable future. It costs $299. If you'd like one, buy it here. If you're an existing subscriber and want to go Lifetime, do the same thing, then email us at Help@DKPittsburghSports.com to let us know. We'll refund the remainder of your existing account. -- DK
VETERANS COUNT TOPS 100
Our new Veterans Challenge, inspired by Josh DeNinno at Moon Golf Club, puts forth a goal of connecting 1,000 military vets with free annual subscriptions in 2019. We’ve sold 113. Josh has pledged to buy 10 a month himself. Here’s where to contribute. (In the past week, we had 31 military requests, all filled.) If you have any questions, email us at Help@DKPittsburghSports.com. -- DK
WE'RE LISTENING
• I visited our developers at Build In Motion yesterday in Aspinwall, mostly to talk about logins and a couple Android issues. Regarding the logins: We'll soon be adding Face ID and Touch ID for Apple users. Regarding Android: It remains the very heavy mess it's been from the day we launched apps. So many different devices, systems, and so many updates that render the previous fixes moot. It's extraordinarily frustrating. And expensive. We'll keep trying. But the Android system is just so convoluted that making promises about anything just comes back to bite. -- DK
• If you're curious, the Face ID and Touch ID will work the same way on your Apple devices that, say, PNC Bank's excellent app does. For security reasons, you have to log in to PNC literally every time you use it. That's standard procedure. But when you use the Face ID or Touch ID, you're instantly all the way logged in. It's awesome. -- DK
• We've also formed a plan to address the disappearing-keyboard issue that's affecting a few users -- on Android, of course -- but that'll take a good bit longer. It's not simple. -- DK
• If you ever lose your login or password info and don't know how to reset it yourself, please reach out for a hand, OK? Email us: Help@DKPittsburghSports.com
BACK TO BUSINESS
• New subscribers for 2019 are at 409. You can now track this figure daily at the bottom of the desktop and tablet versions of the site.
• Our daily active app users, averaged out over the past week, are at 12,328, broken down as 9,761 on Apple, 2,567 on Android. That total's minus-329 from the previous week. This figure will always fluctuate with the seasons and the news, so the goal is a steady, gradual increase, initially to 15,000, a number we've never achieved.
• Our daily page views, averaged out over the past month, are at 70,526. The goal with this figure is also about a steady, gradual increase, first to 100,000, a number we've achieved only during the two Stanley Cup runs.
• Our most-hit article of the past week -- exempting live files -- was Dale Lolley's analysis of a report out of New York that Le'Veon Bell wasn't wanted by the Jets' new coach at 7,741. The Pirates accounted for 47.3 percent of our page views, the Steelers 37.4 percent, the Penguins 19.8 percent.
• We're at 31,984 (+135) followers on Twitter, we're at 31,766 (+88) page likes on Facebook, we're at 10,773 (+53) followers on Instagram. These figures are just for our official company account on each platform, not for us as individuals.
• Join our group of business partners! This is our updated 2019 media kit with all our essential data. If you're interested, contact my wife directly at Dali@DKPittsburghSports.com
• Get our free newsletter with a simple signup! We send out a new one Monday-Friday at 7 a.m.
• We make mistakes. If you see one, email Typos@DKPittsburghSports.com
• Anything you need, including lost/forgotten passwords, email us: Help@DKPittsburghSports.com