Quick, Robin, to the pot cave!

Yesterday was our best day this month with 40,733 unique visits and 211,366 page views.
The top story was Sue Morse's: "Two men broke into mini golf course to smoke pot in cave." Andrew got this posted on Fark with the headline "Quick, Robin, to the pot cave." The result? Nearly 10,000 page views.

Gina's online-only "Bachelor' proposes to Lorenzo Lamas' daughter" scored 5,378 page views.

Karen's stories on the search for the missing lobsterman were three of our top 10 headlines and combined drew more than 5,000 page views.

Laura Dolce's story on the tragic death of a Kennebunk teen also continues to be of great interest to our readers.

The Marshwood, York and Sanborn photo galleries are continuing to get strong traffic. Get ready this weekend for Portsmouth, Traip, Winnacunnet and Wells!

Top stories
1. Article: Police: Two men broke into mini golf course to smoke pot in cave 9,717
2. Article: Entertain London 'Bachelor' proposes to Lorenzo Lamas'daughter 5,378
3. Article: Search for lobsterman ends, 2 saved 3,274
4. Article: High school senior dies; school offers counseling 2,979
5. Article: Life Close encounters of the second kind in Stratham 1,777
6. Article: Woman guilty of DWI on way to bible study 1,599
7. Article: Resident keels over in pain, rushed to hospital from City Councilmeeting 1,306
8. Article: Search for lobsterman to continue 1,098
9. Article: Search for lobsterman ends; two in crew rescued 1,011
10. Article: Search for lobsterman ends, 2 in crew saved 842

Top galleries
1. Flash Gallery: Marshwood Junior Prom 2008 20,668
2. Flash Gallery: York High Prom 2008 11,942
3. Flash Gallery: Sanborn Junior Prom 2008 4,124
4. Flash Gallery: Photos of the Week May 5-11 3,961
5. Flash Gallery: Exeter vs. BG Boys Lacrosse 1,612
6. Flash Gallery: NH family vaca to Jamestown, VA 607
7. Flash Gallery: Miss N.H. Contestants 358
8. Flash Gallery: Prom Prep: Dancing 348
9. Flash Gallery: Celeb Watch 28 326% 10. Article: Photo Zoom: Search for lobsterman ends, 2 saved 313

Proms drive page views

Huge day for page views yesterday with 265,928, driven largely by the prom photo galleries from Marshwood (66,631) and York (34,734). Photos of the week also did more than 8,000 page views and the Sanborn Junior Prom scored 5,700 page views. EQ, be sure to tease to this gallery out of Friday's Rock and I'm sure you'll get even more traffic.

Jenn Hogg also posted photos from a family trip to Jamestown, Va. and these have garnered nearly 1,000 page views. Thanks for sharing, Jenn!

Uniques were also strong (28,065), unfortunately for two very sad stories, the Kittery lobsterman lost at sea and a Kennebunk High School senior who died over the weekend. The ejection of an American Idol stage dad also garnered more than 2,000 page views. Two surprisingly strong performers were a business story about a Portsmouth salon that scored 1,600 page views and a press release about a donation to Cross Roads House that got nearly 1,000 views.


Top stories
1. Article: Local lobsterman missing; two rescued 5,245
2. Article: High school senior dies; school offers counseling 2,244
3. Article: Entertain David Archuleta's 'stage dad' booted from 'AmericanIdol' 2,244
4. Article: Portsmouth police log 2,152
5. Article: One person dead in N.H. after car lands in water 1,963
6. Article: Business Former Boston hairdresser loves her adopted city 1,599
7. Article: $100K gift to Cross Roads 932
8. Article: Two people pulled from water off Isles of Shoals 920
9. Article: Teen fined for stealing beer keg from market 845
10. Article: Fifteen charged in underage parties at two public housingresidences 774
Top Photo Galleries
1. Flash Gallery: Marshwood Junior Prom 2008 66,531 2. Flash Gallery: York High Prom 2008 34,734
3. Flash Gallery: Photos of the Week May 5-11 8,384
4. Flash Gallery: Sanborn Junior Prom 2008 5,712
5. Flash Gallery: Prom Prep: Dancing 967
6. Flash Gallery: NH family vaca to Jamestown, VA 715
7. Flash Gallery: John Paul Jones Tea 554
8. Flash Gallery: Exeter Girls Senior Day 473
9. Flash Gallery: Celeb Watch 28 413
10. Flash Gallery: Prom fashion shoot 409

Prom photo galleries drive page views

Sunday May 11 was slow for uniques (16,032), but big for page views (170,988) thanks to photo galleries of the York and Marshwood proms taken by Scott and Rich. These two galleries alone accounted for more than 94,000 page views and appear on track to do the same thing again today.

Top 10 stories
1. Article: One person dead in N.H. after car lands in water 1,097
2. Article: Portsmouth police log 850
3. Article: Newmarket mom is the best 760
4. Article: Navy SEAL Nate Hardy's life celebrated 651
5. Article: Police employee charged 623
6. Article: Hampton Beach, prepping for season, hopes for the sun andCanadians 523
7. Article: Opinion Tipping point for Hillary 383
8. Article: South Berwick neighbors concerned about backyard honeybeehive 372
9. Article: Business Upgraded clubhouse in Pease Golf Course's future? 308
10. Article: Life Go & Do: Things to do on Sunday, May 11 181

Top 10 galleries
1. Flash Gallery: Marshwood Junior Prom 2008 63,664
2. Flash Gallery: York High Prom 2008 30,904 3. Flash Gallery: Prom Prep: Dancing 1,321 4. Flash Gallery: Exeter Girls Senior Day 597
5. Flash Gallery: Miss N.H. Contestants 493 6. Flash Gallery: NH family vaca to Jamestown, VA 471
7. Flash Gallery: Prom fashion shoot 321
8. Flash Gallery: Hampton Beach 2008 preseason 304 9. Flash Gallery: Photos of Week April 28-May 4 220
10. Flash Gallery: Seacoast Karaoke Idol 2008 196

Web traffic for Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Tuesday: Great example of breaking and owning a local story and getting it to the web fast. We broke the Dodds arrest and had story and photos online in record time, along with email and text message alerts. Other media outlets could only cite us as the source because we responded quickly and owned it. Well-executed and efficient effort on everyone's part, for the initial response and for following up with local and AP content throughout the day, which ended strong with 29,484 unique visitors and 159,999 page views (you'd think we could get one more view to hit 160,000...!)

Top stories: Dodds stories (several of them) together earned 14,058 views. A business story, "Martha Stewart eyes Seabrook specialty-foods firm" got second stop at 2,753 views. Top photo gallery was "Photos of the Week" by a huge margin, with "Seacoast Karaoke Idol" in second still getting residual traffic from the previous day.

Page views spiked as soon as the the Dodds news broke:



Top stories:

4,090 - Police search for Dodds, wanted on warrant
3,905 - Gary Dodds arrested after search
3,289 - Gary Dodds taken into custody
2,774 - Convicted ex-candidate arrested
2,753 - Business Martha Stewart eyes Seabrook specialty-foods firm
1,576 - Eight charges in alleged rape of disabled woman
1,328 - Man sentenced for dog death tells judge he once robbed eight banks
1,240 - Entertain Portsmouth native on 'Dancing with the Stars'
820 - Portsmouth police log
722 - Entertain Kisses and disses: Your dog attacked my dog
699 - Dad rescues 2 children as car rolls into pond
625 - Photo Zoom: Gary Dodds arrested after search
588 - Susan T. Duffy

Top photo galleries:

3,300 - Flash Gallery: Photos of Week April 28-May 4
986 - Seacoast Karaoke Idol 2008
582 - Kennebunk/port Little League
390 - Friday Sports at Exeter High

Web traffic for Monday, May 5, 2008

Local, local, local...

Top four stories were on local entertainment featuring Seacoast people ("Portsmouth native on 'Dancing with the Stars'" and "Karaoke Idol rocks Seacoast"), and local crime story "Man accused of raping disabled victim") and the ever-popular Portsmouth police log. The "Seacoast Karaoke Idol" also was the second-place photo gallery, with "Photos of the Week" first. The day ended up average, with 24,128 unique visitors and 132,903 page views.

On Monday night we broke the story about Dodds being sought on a warrant, and got it to the web at 10:17 p.m. literally minutes after police arrived at his property.

Top stories:

2,149 - Portsmouth native on 'Dancing with the Stars'
2,033 - Man accused of raping disabled victim may face 44 felony charges
1,637 - Portsmouth police log
1,445 - Karaoke Idol rocks Seacoast
910 - Ciao! New Italian restaurant opens in Rye
677 - Two-time cancer survivor bikes for a cure
525 - Crash kills chauffeur and teen on Maine Turnpike
515 - Police Log
510 - Hundreds remember teacher
445 - Opinion Letters to the Editor

Top photo galleries:

4,424 - Photos of Week April 28-May
2,480 - Seacoast Karaoke Idol 2008
394 - Miss N.H. Contestants
384 - Friday Sports at Exeter High
321 - Prom fashion shoot

Oil and beer

We had a relatively quiet day online Thursday with 25,183 unique visitors and 138,157 page views.
Top stories were Karen's "Oil company won't fill tanks," and Beth's "Man arrested after giving his son beer." Pieces on American Idol, Janet Champlin and a crash on Route 125 all also broke the 1,000 page view barrier.
Top photo gallery were the fighter jets and Celeb Watch 27.

Top stories:
1. Article: Customers complain: oil company won't fill tanks 2,282
2. Article: Man arrested after giving his son beer 1,783 3. Article: Entertain ‘American Idol’ recap: Paula Abdul and the JasonCastro fiasco 1,611
4. Article: Cop with cancer doesn't miss a beat 1,598
5. Article: Three hurt in three-car crash that closes Route 125 1,563
6. Article: Oil company won't honor locked-in prices, customers complain 992
7. Article: Crash kills chauffeur and teen on Maine Turnpike 807
8. Article: Portsmouth police log 741
9. Article: Two killed in crash in Ogunquit 722
10. Article: Fighter jet crisis averted at Pease 660

Top Photo Galleries
1. Flash Gallery: Fighter jets 1,308
2. Flash Gallery: Celeb Watch 27 1,178
3. Flash Gallery: York County Special Olympics 885
4. Flash Gallery: PHS Baseball vs Laconia 5/1/08 750 5. Flash Gallery: Winnacunnet vs. Merrimack Boys 630
6. Flash Gallery: Miss N.H. Contestants 597 7. Flash Gallery: Photos of the Week April 21-27 338
8. Flash Gallery: Prom fashion shoot 255
9. Flash Gallery: British fighter jets over Pease 241
10. Flash Gallery: Japanese students at Shapleigh 181

Idol, local Sox story and Miss New Hampshire

We had a strong finish to the month with 28,256 uniques and 152,613 page views. We beat our monthly goal of 847,000 unique visitors by 3,000 putting us up 28 percent year over year. Congratulations to all who worked so hard to make this happen.
Our top stories yesterday were Gina's piece on American Idol being rigged, Adam's feature on the Rye man who is the voice of the Red Sox and the Route 95 fatal in Ogunquit. Rachel's piece on the stimulous check also did very well.
Top photo galleries were the Miss New Hampshire glamor shots (8,000 page views) and the fighter jets (3,000 page views).

Top stories:
1. Article: Entertain ‘American Idol’ recap: Paula Abdul and the JasonCastro fiasco 3,210
2. Article: Rye man is voice of Red Sox 2,597
3. Article: Man, teen killed in I-95 head-on crash 2,381
4. Article: Police say toes mean another LaBarre victim 1,890
5. Article: Crash kills chauffeur and teen on Maine Turnpike 1,885
6. Article: Opinion My stimulus check 1,667
7. Article: Police: intoxicated man arrested after arriving at trial to fight$72 ticket 1,197
8. Article: Police: Man shows up to court drunk 955
9. Article: Portsmouth police log 861
10. Article: Man, teen killed in Turnpike accident 730

Top Galleries
1. Flash Gallery: Miss N.H. Contestants 8,027
2. Flash Gallery: Fighter jets 3,032
3. Flash Gallery: Japanese students at Shapleigh 964
4. Flash Gallery: Photos of the Week April 21-27 532
5. Flash Gallery: Prom fashion shoot 470