For those curious about such things, RoseShow.com was launched on April 18, 2001. That seems like yesterday because I remember so well sending it up and then sharing it with some friends. Since then I have tried to remember to note the anniversary and to report the total number of visitors to the site. This year, the anniversary nearly got away from me with my mother's last illness, but I have gone back and run an analysis in order to report on another year of operation.
Although there are some who think that interest in showing roses is in decline, the number of visitors to RoseShow.com continues to increase. For the first eight years of operation, there were an average of 63,561 unique visitors per year. That went up and down some each year with a general trend line of up. The last year, however, showed a significant increase - up to 95,065 visitors, pushing the total for nine years to 603,555. A lot of these are bots, mistakes and repeat visitors, but still that's a lot of traffic and I'm pretty pleased with it.
The average for the year was 261 visitors per day but that's a little misleading because the number of visitors drops off during the off season when there are no shows. Right now, with rose shows in full bloom, the average is running at about 370 visitors per day. I know it's the go-to place for rose show results and everything about showing roses. That's what I've tried to make it and I think the numbers show it's working. Thanks for coming by.