This was an exciting year for PereiraCityGuide.com – and this is where we are going to pick apart our analytics and learn from it! We will show you the ups and downs plus a fun content analysis to see what our readers are really looking for.

Pereira Year End Review 2018

It takes a certain type of person to get excited about spreadsheets and numbers. Our editor isn’t the most mathematical math whiz ever to have walked the planet – but she always gets a little excited about learning what her readership wants. And this is how she is going to drive future content plus continue to serve the needs of her many project participants.

IMHO – In My Humble Opinion – A Little Note From Our Editor

Dear Readers,

This thing has grown like crazy. WOW! I feel that PereiraCityGuide.com has done quite well. Some of the people I have written about, have seen massive increases in their audiences, gained local fame overnight OR they even realized that they needed to make a few changes to improve their business, and later reached a bigger audience.

The bad news is, that some businesses waited so late to finally do a content marketing approach, that their business failed in spite of the effort. This can and will happen. From what I have seen, the most successful content marketing campaigns were often for new businesses who had recently opened, or old businesses who had done a complete renovation and/or branding re-design.

In any case, I have never seen a story I published flop completely. Even if the initial publishing was a bit rocky, the trend I see is that over time they can and will reach their expected audience. A driving factor of this is the monthly re-circulation of content, updates to previous articles (bear with me on this, I know I have a few that need updating), and an overall effort to provide the best information available about Pereira and the Coffee Axis.

This next year is going to be exciting for Pereira and this website. Starting in January I am going to expand outward to include more information about the Coffee Axis – including Manizales, for my readers. I already have several restaurants lined up for content promotion. And, I am even going to declare an Offbeat Destination 2018 which is currently in the works.

Finally, I want to say a huge thanks to all my new and returning readers. Your input has made a world of difference, and continues to drive my writing. You have all my gratitude.

Ok, that’s my minute on my glorified soapbox – let’s see what the numbers say…

Erin Donaldson | Editor – Admin

Analytics Analysis and Data Collection Regurgitation Sequence

Our best months for viewership were May and July of 2017. From our early beginnings in July/August 2016, when we started tracking numbers via Google Analytics – to the end of December 2017, we have had more than 33,000 page views.

All of our information is cross-referenced with Google Analytics for accuracy. Google analysis shows each person that visited the website, while Jetpack shows views almost in real time. In the below picture, actual individual visits are 16,000 while page views are 39,000. What does this mean? I have a dedicated audience that comes back to my site at least twice, probably even on a regular weekly or monthly basis.

The two best months were May and July of 2017. The low points on both charts are months where I only published once or twice, and/or my daily promo wasn’t as strong. In 2018, I hope to publish a bit more now as my demand is increasing and more participants are coming my way. If December is any prediction of the future, I think it’s going to be a much busier year for content as my audience continues to mature and grow and as more and more small business owners discover my potential to advertise and promote their business to an audience whose origin is US/Canada/UK, Europe and even some parts of Asia.

The next picture is very interesting to us. Our number one audience is in Colombia and then the US. I guarantee you that at least 50%+ of that audience are expats and maybe the other 50% are English speaking Colombians. Which is very cool. The US is next with almost a whole third of my audience.

Then the UK, Canada and next – Indonesia and Germany. How did Indonesia get interested in my site? I don’t know but it might be interesting to research the culture to see how they relate to Colombia. The only thing I know about Indonesia right now – is that they also have a large coffee industry. Coincidence?

 

If you have any questions about these metrics or even advice that you perceive – based on my numbers then feel free to email me and we can start the discussion on how to improve those metrics. Contact me at pereiracityguide@gmail.com

Content Analysis and Super Complex Statistical Review

Now for the fun part. To start drawing conclusions about my audience based on the most popular content. Last year I was unable to really do  this because I simply didn’t have much to show or even analyze. This year things became much more interesting.

First thing we discovered. My readers are obsessed with sex. Good, bad or indifferent – apparently this topic draws a lot of flies. No, I lie – my readers aren’t obsessed with sex, but a lot of people still consider Colombia to be a sex tourism destination and my article has been hovering on Google Top 10 pretty much since it published. Read about sex here>>

We also see a LOT of interest in Pereira as a place to live. While many of the articles on this list deal with tourism, at least half relate to the cost of rent, reality of life abroad, properties for sale, where to go eat and drink coffee, and even horses! Last year our Hotel/Hostel guide received 291 views…we hope to at least double that viewership this year with a monthly content promo that will be consistent and focus on peak day exposure each month. Take a look at what Google has to say…(below)

Take a look at the bounce rate on the “Expat Info Archives”, it’s very interesting. Only 30% – we are going to see a big wave of residence and retiree applications in the next year. Oh, and my readership likes to drink in unique bars too! They want to know where to live AND where to go party on the weekend.

Our Top 5 Most Popular Articles in 2017

Now we are going to really take a look at the articles which our viewers loved but which were also published – in 2017.

Expat Category

In this section we talk about everything related to life, in Pereira. Topics range from editorial opinions like the one below – to the cost of rent, how to build a home etc.

The Reality of Life Abroad in Colombia | Editorial Opinion

Tourism Category

Horse lovers are everywhere, and they are looking for vacations which include their favorite four legged animals. This is no joke. We think someone who could mount a “Colombian” dude ranch where guests learn how to ride nice Paso Finos, drink coffee and kick their heels up at “La Raspa” on a Saturday night – would do amazing. No joke.

The Paso Fino Colombiano and Horse Culture in Pereira

Food Category

Here is the most popular restaurant article published in 2017. Restaurante Latino became a Coffee Axis sensation over the last year and a half, following another story in Colombia Reports by our editor. Since then, they have been featured in publications like El Diario, La Semana etc.. and on tv shows like “Entre Mujeres” on Telecafe regional channels, and national level restaurant spotlight features. We’re not taking credit for anything here – only showing you how powerful our content marketing has proven to be – for the right people and places.

Restaurante Latino | Where Typical Colombian Food Comes to Life!

Additional Articles

Supporting local art and artists, is part of our mission statement. One of the most shared articles on the site by others, is this one. Where we take a look at a small cross section of artists here in Pereira. This is by no means a complete list – there are many artists we were unable to connect with – who we think should be here, but haven’t had time to finish the write-up OR the ability to make that connection. In 2018, it would be nice to revisit this topic with a different layout maybe.

Local Art and Artists of Pereira

Supporting local dance, this article is a special mention with almost 150 views since being published a little over a month ago. We feel like over time it is going to get a lot of attention as a standard topic of interest here in Pereira. The local dance scene isn’t terribly impressive by first world standards. Most of the dance floors are way to small for any real artistic expression to take place. It would be very interesting to chat with local clubs and dance schools – to try to create a stronger dance culture. Something that we feel would also drive their business quite a lot as well.

Things to Do | Dance in Pereira

Extra Special Mention

December 25th and January 1st we published some very important articles.  A lot of time and effort went into bringing you this information and the performance was exactly what I expected. Let’s take a quick look…

Hotel Guide 2018

Here is a look at the reach we had with this article on Facebook.

Hostel Guide 2018

This one has less overall views on Facebook – BUT – has had just as many views on the website as the other…both stories have been hitting top 5 on most popular stories each day.

Conclusion

We have given our best attempt to show you the proof, the evidence and some of the small success stories we had during our Pereira Year End Review 2017. There are many conclusions from the information above which our readers can draw on. And, we hope you do. Please feel free to mention any observations you may have, in the comments below. If you are a local business looking for a new approach to content marketing, feel free to contact us to learn how you can participate in our project via WhatsApp +57 312 794 8245 or email pereiracityguide@gmail.com.