Verona, Wisconsin, a short drive from Madison and the home of Epic, has a lively newspaper. It's called the Verona Press. It turns out that whenever Mr. HIStalk links to an Epic story published by the Verona Press, the interest stresses their web server. Mr. HIStalk informs us about the clout his blog exercises in a recent note (see: News 1/12/11 ):
HIStalk links to Epic-related stories provided so many incoming hits to website of The Verona Press that its top stories of 2010 had to be separated into Epic and non-Epic lists. They nicely mentioned HIStalk specifically. Epic articles outdrew other big news stories about deer season, a sausage factory fire, and bear sightings.
I want to assure you that I am not going to resort to any cheap shots relating to local Wisconsin wildlife or the dietary habits of the locals. However the original Verona Press article does have a few interesting facts that were not included in the HIStalk piece (see: Our site's top stories of 2010 ). I quote from the article below:
Our five most popular stories last year were about the company, and one article alone, about Epic’s plans to build an addition in 2011, generated nearly 2,800 hits, or three times as many as the next most-popular, non-Epic story. Those hits on Epic-related stories are likely spurred by websites devoted to tracking industry-related news, such as HISTalk.com.....[Below are the top five Epic and non-Epic stories accompanied by the number of server hits for each:][Top five] Epic stories 1. Epic plans 139,000-square-foot addition 2,783 2. Epic follows quirky theme with second office campus 1,393 3. Epic holds its biggest UGM yet 1,357 4. Solar panels just the beginning for Epic 1,300 5. Epic studies wind turbines 1,190
Top [Five] non-Epic stories 1. Cozee Inn gets a Klassik makeover 942 2. Craven: 2010 deer season a ‘mixed bag’ 652 3. Wildcat Lanes gets city OK to build ‘outdoor’ smoking room 646 4. Second Season dumps plans before town turns them down 614 5. Bavaria Sausage suffers ‘devastating’ fire damage 608
For me, and I suspect I am not alone here, the non-Epic stories resonate far more than the Epic stores. I have heard enough about their building program. What I really want to know is how many out-of-town visitors to Epic are escorted to the Cozee Inn for a burger and fries instead of having a sprout and endive salad on the Epic campus? I also want to know what kind of bowling-league-wussie would opt to retire to an "outdoor" smoking room to grab a cigarette? I am not even going to touch the item about the fire in the Bavaria Sausage works.
Verona, Wisconsin, a short drive from Madison and the home of Epic, has a lively newspaper. It's called the Verona Press. It turns out that whenever Mr. HIStalk links to an Epic story published by the Verona Press, the interest stresses their web server. Mr. HIStalk informs us about the clout his blog exercises in a recent note (see: News 1/12/11 ):
HIStalk links to Epic-related stories provided so many incoming hits to website of The Verona Press that its top stories of 2010 had to be separated into Epic and non-Epic lists. They nicely mentioned HIStalk specifically. Epic articles outdrew other big news stories about deer season, a sausage factory fire, and bear sightings.I want to assure you that I am not going to resort to any cheap shots relating to local Wisconsin wildlife or the dietary habits of the locals. However the original Verona Press article does have a few interesting facts that were not included in the HIStalk piece (see: Our site's top stories of 2010 ). I quote from the article below:
Our five most popular stories last year were about the company, and one article alone, about Epic’s plans to build an addition in 2011, generated nearly 2,800 hits, or three times as many as the next most-popular, non-Epic story. Those hits on Epic-related stories are likely spurred by websites devoted to tracking industry-related news, such as HISTalk.com.....[Below are the top five Epic and non-Epic stories accompanied by the number of server hits for each:] [Top five] Epic stories1. Epic plans 139,000-square-foot addition 2,783
2. Epic follows quirky theme with second office campus 1,393
3. Epic holds its biggest UGM yet 1,357
4. Solar panels just the beginning for Epic 1,300
5. Epic studies wind turbines 1,190
Top [Five] non-Epic stories
1. Cozee Inn gets a Klassik makeover 942
2. Craven: 2010 deer season a ‘mixed bag’ 652
3. Wildcat Lanes gets city OK to build ‘outdoor’ smoking room 646
4. Second Season dumps plans before town turns them down 614
5. Bavaria Sausage suffers ‘devastating’ fire damage 608
For me, and I suspect I am not alone here, the non-Epic stories resonate far more than the Epic stores. I have heard enough about their building program. What I really want to know is how many out-of-town visitors to Epic are escorted to the Cozee Inn for a burger and fries instead of having a sprout and endive salad on the Epic campus? I also want to know what kind of bowling-league-wussie would opt to retire to an "outdoor" smoking room to grab a cigarette? I am not even going to touch the item about the fire in the Bavaria Sausage works.