The first two months are the worst two months.
Business people everywhere will attest to January and February being graveyards for anything they're trying to sell, and we certainly haven't been an exception. Our very first February, way back in 2015, our total revenue intake was $5,612, if you can believe that. For the entire month. With no other method of making money. And the first two months of every year since then also have been, without fail, the bottom points.
Maybe it's everyone's finances being drained from Christmas. Maybe it's a conservative feel to the start of a new year. I'm not sure. But I do know that we stopped fighting it a long time ago, and we won't fight it this year, either.
We've got two initiatives between now and the beginning of Major League Baseball, and neither costs anyone a penny:
1. Free app downloads
Our app's always been free, of course. The difference with the completely new Apple and Android apps we launched in August is that they also offer a fair amount of free content and could reasonably be used by someone who isn't a subscriber. Our new Live Wire news feeds are free. Our videos and podcasts are free. Once they're done, our live boxscores, statistical packages and schedules will be free, as well.
Here's the spectacular new commercial we'll use to promote it, designed by Thad Christian of Mount Washington-based Phenomenon Post:
Nice, huh?
Now, obviously, it's a way better experience if you're subscribed, not least of which is being able to comment. And we hope newcomers using our free elements will eventually join. But this way, we feel, they get a chance to poke around a little, see what we've got, before committing.
2. Free podcasts/videos
Fresh off an unprecedented week for our podcasts -- 70,261 downloads, or 15% more than ever! -- we're feeling as high as ever about this fairly new venture. We'll promote it hard to the outside in hopes, as with the app, that it'll bring more outside eyeballs and eardrums our way to eventually join.
Along the way, you'll also see video integrated with one more podcast and with Morning Java. That'll have to wait until the pandemic settles some, so we can make better use of our new studio.
Free doesn't bring money, but it does bring attention, and that's vital toward ensuring we sustain a cycle of new subscribers.
WEEKLY APP TIP
Sharing ways to make your app experience even better:
• Hey, alerts are active on all devices!
As many of you noted earlier this week, Android alerts are all the way functional now, as are a bunch of others that hadn't yet been done. I'm even getting alerts on my laptop on Google Chrome. On top of that, we're now seeing alerts for comments, meaning the ones where you ask to be notified if someone replies to your comment on a given thread.
I don't know if these are all perfect yet, but please let us know -- VIA EMAIL -- if they are. And I put that in all caps so that I can ask you to email your device and operating system. Otherwise, the feedback doesn't help at all. The email, as ever: Help@DKPittsburghSports.com
Also, be sure to turn on your alerts/notifications for news and new content. They won't just show up out of nowhere. You've got to choose to have them on. Go to your profile (your avatar in the top left corner of the home page), thumb down to Preferences, then Notifications and choose Select. Pick the material you want. Boom.
Our previous two app tips:
• This is a catch-all, but I find it's of value: When something goes really wrong, whatever that might be, just close the thing out. All the way out. Meaning, don't just minimize the app, but completely shut it down. Force-close it. Here's how to do so on an iPhone or iPad, and here's how to do it on Android. Then, reopen the app, and it's all like new.
• On the blue horizontal bar that stretches across the middle of the home page, choose TODAY to find a daily rundown of all our events and all team events for the day, as well as my daily What's Brewing feature and our staff locator map. On that same blue bar, find the day's videos and podcasts.
ULLMAN'S BACK!
Sunday will mark the return of a staple of DK Pittsburgh Sports, the weekly Cartoon Canon by staff artist Rob Ullman!
If you've been around here for a while, you know how strongly I've always felt about Rob's work and, on top of that, Rob's profession. We've loved having him do these weekly historical retrospectives, just as we've loved having him do the caricatures of our staff you can find all over the site and social media, just as we've loved having his positive presence all these years. He'd been busy with other projects for a few months, but he and I spoke shortly before Christmas and came to the conclusion it was time for him to return home.
It won't quite be a Miracle ...
ROB ULLMAN / DKPS
Mark Johnson, eventually a member of the Penguins, celebrates his goal in the 1980 Miracle on Ice in Lake Placid, N.Y.
... but it's still really cool.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our page views for the past week were 371,449. Our two most-read original pieces, both way atop the list, were my Grind from the Steelers' loss in Cleveland at 8,156, as well as Dale Lolley's 10 Thoughts from there at 7,716. Broken down by team, the Steelers brought 32.1% of our traffic, the Penguins 12.9% and the Pirates 6.3%.
• Repeating from above, our podcast downloads for the past week were a record 70,261, including a single-day record Monday of 14,947.
• We're at 39,015 (+1) followers on Twitter, we're at 37,025 (+11) followers on Facebook, we're at 14,698 (-88) followers on Instagram. These figures are just for our official company account on each platform, not for us as individuals.
• We make mistakes. If you see one, email: Typos@DKPittsburghSports.com
• Anything you need, including lost/forgotten passwords, email: Help@DKPittsburghSports.com