It’s been over a year since we peeked behind the curtain….

But first, please fill out this survey! It’s just 11 questions! And I promise it’s totally anonymous—even I won’t know who the respondents are. The conventional wisdom is that one should dangle a prize as bait, but that’s never motivated me. I only do surveys for sites I like, and I’m hoping that you value Tribeca Citizen enough to donate two minutes.

Please? It really is helpful.

READERSHIP
In September 2012, when the last State of the Site post went up, the email newsletter had 2,100 subscribers; it now has 3,200. And back then, tribecacitizen.com averaged 122,500 monthly pageviews from 21,000 unique visitors—it currently gets 156,000 monthly pageviews from 30,000 unique visitors. I didn’t note social-media stats in late 2012, but Tribeca Citizen currently has 1,656 fans on Facebook, 3,416 followers on Twitter, and 135 followers on Instagram (hey, I’ve just started). Except for a brief, unsatisfying stab at Facebook ads, I’ve never marketed the site, so I have to attribute the growth to word of mouth. Thank you for that!

Reader participation has also grown tremendously, and your tips, comments, questions, and feedback are helpful and rewarding. That said, I’ve decided not to allow comments that are overly negative, without a shred of insight or wit. Voicing a legitimate complaint about an existing business is one thing; spitting on one that has yet to even open is just a drag. I hate dipping into the comments on a website only to see them taken over by trolls. As the moderator, I have no choice to read that viciously bitchy crap, but there’s no reason you should have to.

ADVERTISING & REVENUE
The biggest change in the past year has been the surge in advertiser interest. I’m not sure whether there’s a specific reason or whether this is just part of the site’s natural growth, but I’m trying to give businesses and organizations the chance to reach a valuable audience without overwhelming readers. I’m sure there are times when you’d rather not see a certain ad or email blast, but the site has to be monetized somehow. Tribeca Citizen earns more than it used to, but not yet enough to live on, especially in Tribeca.

I can’t thank enough the companies that have chosen to advertise here. Please factor in their support when you decide where to spend your money locally. And thank you again to readers who mention TC to local businesses. It really does make a difference.

CHANGES TO THE SITE
Too much of my time and technical budget have gone toward trying to secure reliable hosting, as you may have noticed. I’m crossing my fingers that a recent migration—and subsequent fine-tuning—will finally make for a consistently fast-loading site. And that means I’ve been able to make some non-essential changes:

••• Images on the home page and search-results pages are bigger.
••• “Recent Comments” are featured in the middle of the home page—along with the first ten words of each comment. Click the “read more” link at the bottom and you can positively wallow in previous comments.
••• You can now reply to a specific comment.
••• The search field moved to the upper right of each page, where you might expect it. (By the way, the search works pretty well, I’ve found—and if you can’t locate a post, email me and I’ll help.)
••• A bunch of links—About, Advertising, Contact, etc.—are in a handsome new footer at the bottom of the site. A tip of the hat to Well + Good for design inspiration.
••• At the bottom of each post are buttons to make sharing easy via Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and email. If you notice any bugs, please let me know.

And there’s more to come….

Thanks again for reading the site, and for your support. As always, I’m happy to answer questions of any kind. I can be reached at tribecacitizen@gmail.com.

Now will you fill out the survey?

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The 25 most read posts since October 1, 2012

1. The Wailing of 1 World Trade Center
2. Tribeca in the 1980s
3. How Make Fake Restaurants Are on Seamless?
4. Loft Peeping: Four-Level FiDi Funhouse
5. Here Comes the Jenga Building
6. The Voyeur Next Door
7. Share Your Sandy (Headline written before the storm turned out to be horrible)
8. New Kid on the Block: Church Publick
9. Loft Peeping: Bethenny Frankel
10. First Look Inside the New WTC/Brookfield Place Passageway
11. A Scrapbook of Old Tribeca
12. A Long, Deep Look Inside Temple Court
13. Leonardo DiCaprio Said to Have Bought the 250 West Penthouse (He didn’t)
14. New Kid on the Block: Terra
15. Brookfield Place: The Floor Plans
16. Anyone Have Power Yet? (Post-Sandy)
17. Loft Peeping: Michael Stipe & Thomas Dozol
18. New Kid on the Block: Barry’s Bootcamp
19. Sandy’s Aftermath
20. Artist Wins Dismissal in Suit Over Voyeuristic Photos
21. A Sneak Peek Inside Spring Studios
22. First Impressions: Tribeca Canvas
23. Here Comes Fairway Market
24. Loft Peeping: Adam & Rebekah Paltrow Neumann
25. New Kid on the Block: Mulberry & Vine

Update: Comments have been turned off due to spam. To have them turned back on, email tribecacitizen@gmail.com.