What a month! After a quiet June, we had a packed July at UTBA. Over the course of the month, we posted 17 reviews, 3 interviews, and 2 giveaways (one of which you can still enter). Plus, there was lots more going on with the site, as explained in the announcements. Overall, it was a good month for UTBA because we broke records in almost every site statistic that we record.

Announcements

  • The biggest change in July was the new web site format. Please tell us what you think and let us know if you find any glitches.
  • As part of the web site change, we’re collecting bios and photos of our reviewers. We hope that including more information about our reviewers will help readers see where this broad base of opinions comes from. Please have patience as we collect information from our writers, some of whom have moved on to other projects.
  • A more subtle change to UTBA is that people who contribute material to the site now have better defined roles. Currently, we have three groups. They are (in ascending order of prestige) guest blogger, UTBA reviewer, and UTBA staff. UTBA staff members are people who review plays and perform other duties for the site. UTBA reviewers are people who have written a minimum of six reviews and are consistent reviewers with few (if any) long breaks in their reviewing. Finally, guest bloggers are people who have not met the requirements to become UTBA reviewers—but many are on their way to becoming UTBA reviewers (you could too!).
  • Another feature with the new site look is the sidebar (on review pages) which displays links to non-UTBA reviews. We don’t think that our reviews are the last word on a production, and we encourage you to seek out other opinions and to voice your own. Right now those links are coming from the Salt Lake Tribune, City Weekly, and Backstage Utah.
  • We are still continuing our Rewards program. Linked to your Facebook account, the Rewards program is run by PunchTab. By visiting the web site, you earn 100 points. Commenting on a review earns another 100. Earn enough points, and PunchTab will give you gift cards to amazon.com, Target, and Groupon.
  • We’ve partnered with Hale Centre Theatre in West Valley to give away two free tickets to their production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. You can enter multiple times into the drawing by liking our and the Hale’s facebook page, commenting on the post that explains the contest, and by spreading the word through Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites. (more giveaways to come!)
  • Have a show coming up? You can drum up publicity for free by putting your show on the calendar, requesting a reviewer, using the #UTBA hashtag in tweets, and by posting on our Facebook wall. We also have options for people who wish to advertise on the web site.
  • We’re always looking for new guest bloggers, especially in Weber, Davis, Iron, and Washington counties. Please look at the requirements for reviewers and apply either on that page or by sending an email to dave (at) utahtheatrebloggers (dot) com.

Visitors

  • 3,824 unique visitors (60.3% increase)
  • 6,188 visits (86.2% increase)
    • Visitors were from 49 states, 64 foreign countries, and the District of Colombia.
    • 3,628 (58.6%) visits were from people in Utah.
      • 1,163 from Salt Lake City (48.2% of Utah visits)
      • 560 from Provo (15.4%)
      • 281 from Midvale (7.7%)
      • 238 from Cedar City (6.6%)
      • 212 from Orem (5.8%)
    • Texas, California, Colorado, and New York combined to represent 17.0% of visits.
  • 22,381 pageviews (93.8% increase) (it’s more than double our pageviews for July 2010)
  • 3.62 pages per visit (4.1% increase)
  • Average visit length is 2 minutes, 22 seconds (59.2% increase)
  • 54.0% of visitors were new visitors to UTBA
  • 19.8% of visitors have visited UTBA more than 50 times since the site started.

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