Readers frequently are kind enough to ask what they can do to help our business through this challenging time in the sports-based industry. and we're grateful for that.
My instinctive answer always is this: Don't help us. Donate to the Pittsburgh Food Bank or patronize other small businesses that are being hit a lot harder than we are.
But this place matters to a lot of people, too, and again, we're grateful. So I thought this week I'd put together a list of four ways readers can help, one I can reference into the future anytime the subject arises ... with the caveat that most of these don't cost a penny:
1. Advertise!
No single act makes a bigger impact here. And we have prominent spots available on our site, on our podcasts and even through our unrivaled-in-the-market social media reach.
We'll partner with businesses of all sizes, as we've shown, and we're proud of treating them all with the same respect. Don't presume yours is too big or too small. My wife Dali works with each account as if it's our only account, as our friends at Point Park University, GetGo Cafe+Market, Mike's Beer Bar, StepOutside.org, Miller Lite, Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, Moon Golf Club, Curtis Pharmacy and Express Employment Professionals can personally attest.
If you're interested in joining our family, email her directly at Dali@DKPittsburghSports.com
2. Support the military!
We're driving toward 1,500 military subscriptions, and we're currently more than two-thirds of the way there at 1,039. These get distributed to our men and women in service worldwide, both active and veterans.
If you'd like to contribute one, that's right here. And if you'd like to contribute more than one, email me directly at DK@DKPittsburghSports.com so I can thank you myself. In the past week alone, we had bulk purchases of 100, 25, 10 and 5.
3. Share!
Here's one that's easy and affordable to everyone: If you like an article, video or podcast, share it. You can do that easily via the buttons found atop every single file -- Facebook, Twitter, email -- with a simple tap or click.
Same applies on social. If you see a post for content that you liked here, give it a share on Facebook or an RT on Twitter. With Facebook, in particular, it makes an enormous difference, way more than you might think.
4. Auto-downloads!
We're taking podcasts pretty seriously now, as you've maybe noticed, and they're doing well so far. But we need way, way more listeners subscribed to receive automatic downloads. This also costs nothing. Just go to your listening platform of choice -- I list our five most popular below -- and subscribe to our channel while choosing to receive auto-downloads in your settings:
• Apple
• Spotify
• Stitcher
• Overcast
Yet again, thank you!
WHAT WILL WE COVER?
That question seems to pop up quite a lot lately, as if maybe we'll shift our priorities during a pandemic and sit at home while the Steelers, Penguins, Pirates and Pitt get going.
And each time, the answer's the same it's been for six years: We'll be wherever our teams are. Every game. Every practice. Every everything. Everywhere.
The whole world's out of sorts, of course, and there might be the occasional event we're prevented from covering, as we've experienced already with the early phases of the Pirates' summer camp at PNC Park and the Penguins' pre-camp sessions in Cranberry. There also might be one team or another, maybe not in Pittsburgh, that says no to traveling writers. We'll see.
But when that happens, you'll know why we can't go. And you can know right now that the plan is iron-clad to go everywhere we're permitted.
Yes, including the Stanley Cup playoffs in Toronto or Edmonton.
Every game. Every practice. Everywhere.
WHERE'S THE APP?
The app's made a lot of progress in the past few days. I'm no longer attaching a date for when it'll be done, but I can definitely say there's been progress. In fact, in addition to all my work at PNC Park this week, I did that much more in the way of hardcore app testing, so I can personally attest to it.
Hoping for the best.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our daily page views, averaged out over the past week, were 46,606, a slight uptick over last week's record low. The general goal with this figure is to average 100,000, but that's obviously not going to be realistic for a while.
• Our most-hit original article of the past week was Dale Lolley's analysis on Matt Canada at 5,824 views, followed closely by Dave Molinari's NHL cap assessment at 5,754. Overall, the Steelers accounted for 76,228 page views, the Pirates 57,527, the Penguins 42,282, and Pitt 9,878.
• Our podcast channel had 31,343 downloads for the past week, up from 27,231 the previous week. There was a bit of an aberration to that increase, so we aren't expecting that next week. But hey, we'll see.
• We're at 36,599 (-27) followers on Twitter, we're at 33,681 (+15) page likes on Facebook, we're at 14,585 (+12) followers on Instagram. These figures are just for our official company account on each platform, not for us as individuals.
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