More traffic?

[ScottM]

What are your thoughts on the site so far?  Does it need more traffic, more users?  How many people out there are interested in mountain bikepacking?

It's been really cool to see some people come on here, make a few posts and then head off on their first bikepacking trip.  That's success to me.  I've also learned a lot from the more experienced folks here.  Pretty happy about that too.

One thing I like is that the signal to noise ratio here on the forum is high.  Everything seems to be on-topic and interesting.  It doesn't take a lot of effort to drop in and browse the latest goings on.  That's one of the benefits of not having thousands of users.

Any thoughts?  Where else should this site be 'advertised', if anywhere at all, to get some more interested folks?

[chuckc1971]

I love both the trip reports and some of the equipment how-to's. I think people doing more of both of those would be great. Perhaps, some of the more seasoned people could do more extensive equipment reviews ala backpackinglight.com. I know that is a pay site, but it's nice to have a detailed review with commentary afterward: reminds me of a peer-reviewed journal.

Lastly, I've been frequenting a hammock forum and several people post videos both educational and for entertainment. Don't know if that is a possibility for this site, but it's pretty cool.

As to who to advertise to, it does seem many people either accidentally find this site or discover a post on mtbr.com for it. ScottM, I actually found this site after happening on MikeC's thread on the vacation forum about your and his bike trip. I don't know how many pages or individual posts there are, but I would have had trouble finding the place otherwise.

[Chad B]

I am sending out word via my blog and other norms. I also have it in my signature on MTBR.

[Moondoggy]

I bet Dirt Rag would publish a nicely written article or story about bikepacking

[Slowerthensnot]

Scott i really dig what you have going on here!

I've been meaning to get more filmair with wordpress to do a few more gear reviews and setup's and such...  back into a spot were i have some computer time and wifi.

I have yah in my links and as i do reviews and such i'll be throwing more folks this way....

[Rabid Hillbilly]

Update the face book page(people get the impression the sites closed cause the last update is 2011.)

[Rabid Hillbilly]

People who see more recent updates on fbook have a tendency to go to sites more.

[JReeves]

I've only been on here for just over a year, and in that year, it's easy to see the increase in the amount of traffic and posts.  It's great!

I think everything mentioned so far is a great start.  The reviews on backpackinglight are awesome, and as Chuck mentioned, maybe having some good detailed reviews with pictures and comparisons would be beneficial.  This would also help in getting some new traffic from google and other search engines.  I know when I'm looking into new purchases I frequently google "(Insert Product Name) review".  So by having more detailed reviews, perhaps that could bring in some traffic of people that might not be exactly looking for bikepacking information, but could be potential new comers to the sport, as they're searching for related gear. 

Facebook and Twitter both are very useful tools.  And best of all, they're free!  As the manager of a small business, I can tell you that it's worth the few minutes a day to post a little snippet, or quote, or anything really.  Just something to get your business name(or website in this case) into someone's mind for even just a second is worth a lot.  This also give the users on here a way to kind of cross promote.  We can then "mention" you on twitter, and associate hashtags with certain posts, that again will introduce new people to something they might not know about.  For instance i've gained a lot of cycling specific followers on Twitter and Instagram, I can only attribute this to my use of hashtags(#mbr #29er etc...).

I know that Mountain Flyer magazine just recently did a whole issue that was very bikepacking oriented, and even had full page spreads of a few nice rigs.  I have no doubt that bikepacking is going to continue to grow, and I think it's definitely about to become much more "mainstream" than it is now.  It just makes that much sense!!! haha.  With that, you're going to get all the big guns in the industry pushing to get their name in the hat with it.  So, now is as great of time as any to ride that wave.  Bikepacking.net is the original, largest, and best, source for information and conversation of the sport(mtbr's new backpacking forum is growing, but this is still the staple).  It might be worth a phone call, or email to several of the large publications just to gauge their interest in an article, interview, or even just a shout out.  Again, just getting them to hear/read your url, is a huge start that can lead to big things!

With that said, I find it really cool that the forums and bikepacking community as a whole have grown kind of "organically".  There has yet to be the large corporate guys telling you what's cool, and spending a ton of money to develop it.  I know this is yet to come, and good things will come out of it(Salsa Cycles for example), but for now, there's something really rad and pure about guys making their own gear and piecing together bikes to take places and distances that even 10 years ago would have been nearly impossible.  I can say that I'm proud to be part of the community, and I'm always eager to share it with others, which will keep it growing in that organic way.