The dots show cities where visits
came from in May.
came from in May.
Over the years, many people have asked where BikePortland.org readers come from, so I thought it would be interesting to delve into the visitor stats and find out more.
In May, BikePortland.org had a record number of visits — just over of 162,000 (according to Google Analytics). Of those visits:
- At least 26 countries (besides the U.S.) logged 100 or more visits.
- The countries with the most visits were: Canada (3,097) and the U.K. (1,925)
- 91.5% of visits came from the United States
- Within the U.S., 56% of visits (over 92,000) came from Oregon
- The top three states after Oregon were: California (11,526), Washington (11,045), and New York (3,080)
- There were at least 60 visits from all 50 states, and 46 states logged 100 or more visits.
- In Oregon, visits were logged from 112 different cities
- Portland was the obvious winner with 73,424 visits and the next three were: Beaverton (9,971), Eugene (1,271), and Keizer (1,249)
Are you surprised at how many people from outside of Portland are tuning in? Or are these numbers about what you expected? I would love to know what some regular readers think.
It will be interesting to see how/if these numbers change in the future.
(If you are interested in more, my Sitemeter stats are public.)
Thanks for reading.
BikePortland has served this community with independent community journalism since 2005. We rely on subscriptions from readers like you to survive. Your financial support is vital in keeping this valuable resource alive and well.
Please subscribe today to strengthen and expand our work.
Well, you can count me in the hits from Maui… I came in from the Napili and Kapalua resort areas, just to check on things back home…
Rubberside Down!
K\’Tesh
Not surprised at all, Jonathan. You\’ve got a world class product here, so why shouldn\’t you have a world class readership?
I\’ve been somewhat surprised (but shouldn\’t be) at the out-of-towners/out-of-staters willingness to comment specifically on certain issues as though they understand the realities of riding in Portland. They can\’t – having ridden elsewhere in the US, I can say without doubt that this place is different for riding in important ways.
On the other hand, the comparison and awareness of how thing are elsewhere should really help us Portlanders understand what it is we\’ve got and where it is we want to go.
For all bikeportland has to offer – and it has something to offer for virtually everyone on the planet – its most valuable attribute is making locals aware of the issues that really matter for making this a better place to ride and getting people involved in their community. Bikeportland is what journalism should be.
That is totally fing rad. Way to go Jonathan!
I know I\’m addicted to bikeportland.org- I dunno how anyone couldn\’t be!
I thought that the readership was pretty widespread, but I had no idea it was that much, and worldwide!
That makes my heart go pitter-patter.
This is the hub for US bike culture.
Jonathan:
The far-reaching readership is the result of the high quality of your site, and perhaps the lack of local services elsewhere. This is an opportunity to get some satellite bike blogs going, or at least to connect to existing ones.
You should offer this site as a template to committed bloggers in other cities who want to provide the same service, and then network them all together. So bikeportland.org and bikeseattle.org and bikemilwaukee.org and biketulsa.org could all provide local news and services, while leveraging their collective resources for more national issues. Sort of a bikecities.org network. And, much like the netroots, the political activism of the readers of each of these sites could be galvanized for some truly powerful change in how our elected leaders answer to us as riders.
I\’m dreaming big, but that\’s what Obamamania does to me!!!
Although they can be fun, don\’t put too much stock in these statistics. You cannot tell truly where a reader is when they hit your site.
All you can actually see is where their Internet connection is routed through.
For example, I do most of my BikePortland reading on my iPhone. I have TMobile and my iPhone browsing will look as though I am in various places. Right now it is showing I am in Springfield, Missouri. Other times I have seen it report Minneapolis, Minnesota. I am sure TMobile has various outlets to the net.
Often, I will read BikePortland through Google Mobile. I don\’t know where it will show me as being from then.
If I hit you from my office it will show Salt Lake City, where my company pipe is routed to the net. My home internet provider shows up as Chicago. My wife\’s company routes their traffic through Seattle.
On top of that – some times I read via Google Reader. I bet Google Reader or other RSS aggregators don\’t report accurate geo locations either.
So I have never hit Bike Portland from Portland, if you are to believe the statistics… Yet I am on bus 20 sitting on west Burnside and 18th as I type this…
I knew this was a popular site but I do have to say that all this surprised me. I had no idea of how many different areas log on to this site. That\’s awesome!
I am a regular reader from Massachusetts. I really enjoy the diversity on your site and really think you have a great product here. I wish where I live embraced the way of the bike as much as Portland does. Keep up the great work.
R.S.
My friends from Italy are always checking the site to see what is going on here, they love the local builders and industry.
Great job Jonathan!
Ciao
Paolo
wow, I knew this site was good, but I would never have thought that just 56% of visits would come from Oregon! I hope I will always be able to read this site every single day (like I do now). Jonathan, thank-you for creating my favorite local website!
I\’m from Toronto and read this blog. Cycling advocacy faces many of the same issues, attitudes and human social falacies worldwide. Why would I not want to keep tabs on a city which is making some good changes for cycling? It also shows me how much more that I have to push my own city.
I\’m a regular bikeportland visitor who cycle-commutes daily in Atlanta. Twice named by Bicycling Mag the worst U.S. city to cycle in.
I love browsing your site & dreaming of what is possible…You Portlanders \’got it going on!
Where\’s Vancouver on this list? I would have guessed our proximity to Washington would have put them in an easy 2nd place, but this makes me wonder if the type of people that choose to move across the Columbia really are that different from the rest of us.
I love the blog, but I hope those CA, WA and NY readers aren\’t moving here.
I just checked how Google Mobile reports. It passes through your network IP. So right now my hits are coming from Springfield, Missouri but I am sitting in Russell Street bar-b-q in Portland, at MLK and Russel street.
Mmm, brisket…
I will be reading from Sacramento, CA starting in the Fall. I am counting on you, Jonathan, to keep me updated on my home city while we are down there attending school.
I\’m a fairly regular reader from Albuquerque…I grew up in Portland (until I was 22) and this site is a great way to keep in touch with the cycling community up there and see what\’s going on.
Only problem is it tends to make me miss home even more…the climate here is (arguably) better for riding but the crappy drivers and lack of infrastructure make things challenging sometimes.
Its interesting none of the other immediate suburbs of Portland (i.e. Tigard, Clackamas, etc.) ranked in the top three with Beaverton.
Is it just that Beaverton is more populous (?) or are their more internet users (?) or cyclists in Beaverton?
\”I love the blog, but I hope those CA, WA and NY readers aren\’t moving here.\”
Well, what about a DE (Delaware, not Germany) reader?
I visit to read about what the US\’s most bike friendly city is doing so I can forward it to my law makers and ask them why they\’re not doing it.
Reading from Tokyo!
It\’s not surprising. The info here can be used in others parts of the country. A good example to follow or to get started.
Thanks!
Keep up the great work Jonathan!
Maybe with such widespread readership, you are ready to add some out of town contributors? I can see it now….
BikeBayArea.org
BikeNYC.org
BikeSeattle.org
BikeDC.org
BikePhilly.org
paradise….
BTW-
I use every chance I have to support you, using your links and clicking through your ads… peeps gotta eat!
This site adds so much to biking in Portland. I don\’t think I would have ever known what kind of a movement we have going here and would have assumed that every city had bikes funneling into downtown every day. Jonathan, I am amazed at the number, the quality, and the diversity of the articles that are written every day. I am also impressed with the quality of the comments and read almost every one. I am an addict. When I click on links of readers in Denver, Missouri, Hawaii and across the Country I always wish you could franchise this site to cover the local scene of those cities too. BikePortland gets us connected and involved and keeps us informed. It really is great.
So it is with some regret I will miss the Naked BikePortland Social Hour next Saturday, 6/14. Group hug!
Yeah, what Coaster said. When I check into other cities, those are the addresses I try.
http://www.bikedenver.org/
I like to wander away from my backyard when I can. So you were definitely getting hits from me in the Himalayas, SE asia, the middle east, Europe and Amsterdam in the last couple of years. Theres nothing like Portland bike culture in the world (at least that I\’ve ever found) even in Amsterdam. Its rad to see the statistics (though a bit questionable). You\’ve got an incredible world class product, no doubt. Keep riding that momentum Jonathan. Your connecting the bike movement.
Hello from Cambridge, UK. For what it\’s worth, this is the first site I read in the morning, and I find it inspirational. So much so, I admit I\’ve checked out nearby unis to see if you have jobs going.
I noticed there is not a dot for B,ham AL.My family & I are moving to PDX in 4 years , I check this site at least three times a day for updates.Your site is my daily look into our future home.Keep up the great work.Congrat\’s to Lincoln High on their Lacrosse State Championship.
As a native Oregonian, this site is a daily reminder of some of the things I love best about Portland. Your photos are awesome and make me happy when I\’m home sick. Marion\’s column and other such articles have universal appeal outside of Portland. I also think a lot of people are looking to Portland as an example their town can learn from and this site is a font of knowledge. Additionally, several of my New England friends have started reading as well– illustrating the universal appeal of the bike topics discussed here.
JM– any way to add a link to open the figure for a larger view? I want to be able to look at it close up… Do I show up as a dot?
I am the dot in the other Portland (Maine). I enjoy the glimpse at the very different bike culture, and am always on the lookout for ideas we can incorporate here in the east.
A Boise reader formerly from Portland. Over here in wide-stance country, bike riding ranks next to communism and abortion as the nation\’s worst evils. That is, until four-buck gas finally caught the attention of all those minimum-wage workers driving old pickups!
Hello from Lisboa, Portugal! 🙂 I\’m one of your subscribers through Google Reader.
Greetings from Taipei, Taiwan! Luckily I fly home tomorrow 🙂
Hey, I should have done a \”Where does your bike come from\” guest piece while I was here. Next time!
–Bill
Tigard may not show up because the federal government thinks we\’re Portland. Not a separate city at all.
🙂
I read this site first thing every weekday morning; don\’t tell my boss! 🙂 It\’s my coffee break-get settled in at work time. 🙂
Village IDIOT from Tulsa, Oklahoma here. 😛
I\’m not surprised bikeptlnd.org is now in The Grand Grapevine. Portland bike folks are reaching for the stars and this website is an example and a document of that reaching. It feels good to be part of all this. Happy (and safe) riding, everyone. Godspeed, Jonathan.
I know there are a lot of Intel ppl who go to this page, wonder where Hillsboro ranks.
That said, it might show up as Portland anyway?
i\’m responsible for the hit from the west coast of Mexico; I was checking in on the Sam Adams/Safe Clean and Green story when I was in Mazatlan. 🙂
The interesting thing I\’ve found is hearing people talking about bikeportland, some that I didn\’t even know were cyclists. One said he saw my posts on here; even though I leave my last name off he guessed from context. Guess we better be careful what we say on the Internet – you never know who might \’Google\’ you!
this site distracts me from my work everyday. look it\’s already after 10 and all I\’ve done is read bikeportland.org and drink coffee.
I\’m not surprised by the widespread readership. the articles are well written and often motivate intelligent discussion. Unlike other news sources, you\’re part of a community and can easily become a part of the news source.
I feel a little less strange reading another city\’s bike site now.
Albuquerque is getting better all the time, but this site is a daily reminder of how far we have to go.
RE: to Blair. #14
Portland is expected to increase in population by 100,000s of people in the next decade???
I really hope that if so many folks ARE moving here, that they are the ones who read Bikeportland.org!
🙂
Don\’t forget about the \”donate\” button below the adds on the right, y\’all. Especially outside of Portland, it\’s a great way to show that you value the site and want to see it keep getting better.
Speaking of donating, has there been any thought to making some bikeportland t-shirts or something? I wear my ridemonkey shirt sometimes (my other favorite bike site).
Gotta wonder what the real numbers are as my NoScript app in firefox blocks google-analytics.com and sitemeter.com and I have to assume that many others also have tracking scripts blocked.
NoScript blocks all scripts by default and you have to enable scripts on a site by site basis.
I\’m writing in from Chicago. Been active in Chicago Critical Mass and other bike-related things around Chicago for years. Next week I\’m checking out Portland for the first time. Of course I need to know what\’s happening in the bike scene. Looking forward to renting a bike during my stay and enjoying the ride.
I read BikePortland from New Zealand because this country, and my city in particular, is decades behind even the U.S. in tolerating (much less catering to) cyclists and pedestrians. We do have one good transportation planner on the city council, though, and I read this blog to find ideas to share with her that might be applied here.
Anne #45:
Funny you should ask. There\’s a little bike event going on next Saturday night that you might like to join…
I visit from Seattle all the time. And I can only wish and continuosly berate Cascade Bicycle Club for not having a site like this with up to date (to the minute sometimes!), easily referenced material.
I love to send links for our folks back in midwest to check it out. Many great articles that keep them in the loop with all our bike fun.
DONATE early and often!!
Thanks for staying on top of the news and activities, excellent work ,Jon.
Peejay #47 – Might you be referring to WNBR? We have the World Naked Bike Ride in Chicago, too.