We received a big box of fresh coffee this week all the way from New Zealand, this from a subscriber named Ben who's a Steelers fan.
I can't tell you how happy this made us.
It's not just that the product was absolutely brilliant -- Havana Coffee Works Ltd in Wellington was the roaster -- and it's not just that Ben was thoughtful enough to include an orange-colored bag to pass along to Ramon Foster, the former Vol, and it's not just that Ben educated us on the amazing passion that New Zealanders have for the world-class coffee they cultivate.
It's just that it makes the whole world feel a little smaller. And as someone who's been blessed to see a lot of this planet, I've always been a geek over that.
Which I share for three reasons:
1. To thank Ben, obviously
2. Because this is awesome
3. To push to keep growing
If you know someone who you even think might be interested in DK Pittsburgh Sports, we've now got a way for anyone to try the site for seven days absolutely free. Just tell them to go to our Subscribe page, do the quick sign-up, choose the Monthly option ... and they don't get charged at all until a week later. If they don't feel we're worth it, they can cancel at any point in that time without having paid a penny. If they like what they see, they pay $4.99 a month without doing another thing.
Nothing's ever mattered more toward our growth than word of mouth. And, of course, gift subscriptions, which are always half-price.
We're grateful for everything you do on that front, and we'd love -- if it were practical -- to send you all a big box of Kiwi coffee!
Oh, and an aside to Ben: You and Gareth are both on for a subscriber meetup there. New Zealand is one of the very few places left on my global bucket list, and you might've just moved it to the very top.
MILITARY SUBS SOLD: 46
Inspired by Josh DeNinno, general manager at Moon Golf Club and a passionate supporter of those who serve, we're striving to connect an unprecedented 2,000 military veterans to their favorite teams with free one-year subscriptions in 2021.
So far, we're at 101, including 46 sold this past week.
Thanks to everyone who's been part of that. But we'll need a lot more, obviously. The cost of a single one-year military subscription is always half-off at $20. You can contribute one, or as many as you'd like. And the process couldn't be simpler: Email me directly at DK@DKPittsburghSports.com and let me know how many you'd like, and I, in turn, can thank you personally.
YOUTUBE BOOST
We're at 3,044 subscribers to our suddenly burgeoning YouTube account, and thanks to our subscribers here who pushed us through that milestone after I asked for that in this space last Saturday.
Our business goal for the calendar year is to reach 10,000, as there are some positive rewards for doing that in terms of ways we can reach new people.
And I do mean new people: It's been humbling as heck to see the reactions to the Ramon videos in which commenters are saying stuff like, 'HEY, RAMON, TELL THAT OTHER GUY TO SHUT UP!.'
WEEKLY APP TIPS
Sharing ways to make your app experience even better:
• The page-view and comment counts you can find on all our pages had been lagging by quite a bit, but that was given a big upgrade this past week. They're updated more frequently and as close to current as possible.
(We're kind of proud of this transparency, by the way. Find another site anywhere that's willing to show you its traffic.)
Within that, be sure to check out our TRENDING feature. Anytime you open a commenting window, TRENDING is one of the three options on the blue bar. Tap that, and you'll see a listing of our 10 most active current files and be able to navigate directly to those.
Our previous two tips:
• Go get an avatar! If you've tried before, try again, because we've made some adjustments this past week. Go to your profile by tapping the top left corner of the home page. On the next page, tap the little camera icon near the top. Insert any image that's 300x300 or smaller, tap SAVE, and that's it. This will now show as your image on comments, as well as the top left corner of your home page.
• Our boxscores are now live. Go to our Pirates schedule page -- since they're the only ones playing -- thumb down to today's date, open the box and follow along. You can also access this box through a link on our live file for that game. Oh, and we're now good with league standings and team stats, as well. It's a big addition for us, in that readers have been asking forever for reasons to not leave the app, so here's yet another.
TAKING SOME TIME ...
I'm beat. Not going to lie. And I'm going to take a weeklong break from writing.
So far in 2021, I've written 69 columns -- or one every two days -- in addition to traveling to Philadelphia, Cleveland, Bradenton, Chicago, San Diego and Long Island, all for the singular purpose of writing. I've also gotten way, way behind on a lot of business fronts, and I've got to clear a lot of stuff up. And beyond that, it's just been a tough time in other ways, as well.
I don't know about you, but my life flows a lot better when I get a chance to catch up and even breathe a bit. So I'll do that. I'll keep recording the podcasts because they're so bleeping easy, but otherwise I'll stay mostly in the background until returning to PNC Park next weekend.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our page views for the past week were 494,566, down 9.3% from the previous week. Our most-read original piece was my column from Uniondale, N.Y., on Game 3 of the Stanley Cup playoffs, at 15,986. And my other three columns were 2, 3 and 4 on the list, which shouldn't surprise considering the subject. Broken down by team, articles on the Penguins brought 35.9% of our traffic, the Steelers 13.2%, the Pirates 10.6%.
• Our new subscribers for the past week were at 70, up 22 from the previous week.
• Our new app downloads for the past week were 116 for Apple, up 8 from the previous week, and 34 for Android, up 16 from the previous week.
• Our podcast downloads for the past week were 110,555, up 8% from the previous week.
• We're at 41,125 (+109) followers on Twitter, we're at 37,156 (+7) followers on Facebook, we're at 14,547 (+12) followers on Instagram, and we're at 3,044 (+246) followers on YouTube. 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
• Random geographic fun, to be read in an Alex Trebek voice: This country had 36 unique users of our app in the past week, and I can't wait someday to visit its North Island. (Tough one, I know!)
