HalfEagle.com’s Blog

In January, I asked the folks who visit HalfEagle to fill out a short survey. I even offered a $25 coupon for TrailStop.com to a random survey filler-outer. I’d like to share some of the insights from that survey as well as the winner of the coupon!

For each question on the survey, I’ll share the most important insights I gleaned from the results.

My biggest insight from the first question on the survey was simply, over half of the folks who visit HalfEagle are parents of Scouts who volunteer their time as a leader with a Scouting unit. Good to know if I’m thinking about adding a new “Council Event Centennial Planning” topic.

This was rather surprising to me. If you anxiously read the BSA Annual Report each year like I do, you already know that there are almost twice as many Cub Scouts as Boy Scouts. I guess I failed to notice there are more Boy Scout adult leaders than Cub Scout adult leaders, but this gap is still surprising. I think this probably reflects that more of the blogs on HalfEagle are focused on Boy Scouts than Cub Scouts, and this is probably because of my bias as a Scoutmaster toward reading those blogs. I’ll try to add some more quality Cub Scouting and Venturing blogs. If you know of one, recommend it in the comments here.

This was a really cool thing to discover. With over half of our readers being members of the OA, almost half having gone through Woodbadge Training, and over 1/3 are Eagle Scouts, HalfEagle’s audience (you!) are some of the most accomplished Scouters out there! This just begs for some way to tap into the knowledge and experience of our community to help folks who are just starting out.

I’ve been itching to make HalfEagle just a lil’ bit wider. I was thinking one extra column of content would really help us all discover valuable new Scouting content. However, after asking you for your advice, it sounds like the status quo is favored. Since there was interest in a fluid layout though, that fluid layout may add a third column for folks with large windows open. I’ll definitely keep this in mind when I make changes to the layout.

This was the most “controversial” question of them all. By controversial, I mean that most of the responses were comments about the feature and most of the comments were negative. Your overall opinion of the feature could be summed up as “Yeah, that’s neat, but how does rating posts help me?” So, I’m probably going to remove this feature and replace it with something else. I want some way to know which posts are the “great” posts, but this wasn’t the best way to go about that.

Yay! Thank you all so much for being a fan of HalfEagle on Facebook! For 14% of you, here’s a link so you can become a fan today. Incidentally, I probably check the Facebook “version” of HalfEagle more than I check the “real” version, so I highly recommend it.

This mostly jives with my own personal opinion about the different content. The bloggers featured on HalfEagle do a phenomenal job and they’re the entire reason why the site exists in the first place. So, it’s no shock that everyone agreed the blog posts were the best content on the site.

There were a couple surprises here for me. First, that Flickr images was the least awesome content. I would put that as the second best thing! Clearly, the least awesome content shouldn’t be taking up a primo spot at the top of the page.

The second thing that surprised me was that new Scouting Resources was almost as awesome as the blog posts. If you look at where they are on the page, they don’t exactly have a prime position on the page. So, just the fact that they were rated so highly speaks volumes to how hungry we are for new skits, songs, and program ideas.

The relative ranking here will definitely influence the next version of the site design.

I want to repeat the disclaimer from the survey itself: these ideas were just some random things I came up with off the top of my head. I don’t even know if they are all possible, I just wanted to know what I should spend my time working on.

That said, I will not worry about adding a Girl Scout section to HalfEagle. I definitely need to figure out three features though: a way to announce Scouting-related contests, a way to save favorite posts, and a way to separate content focused on specific program areas. If you other ideas for features on the site, please comment below!

Oh, and the winner of the $25 TrailStop.com coupon is… ::drum roll::

Kipp W. from Tennessee! If this is you, make sure you check the email address you used when you took the survey. Congratulations!

I’d also like to add a big thank you to everyone who took the time to fill out the survey. HalfEagle cannot continue to be a success without the support and input of it’s loyal readers. Thank you.

I’d like to get an idea of where HalfEagle’s audience would like to see the site go!

Please take a few moments to fill out this survey and, if you’d like, register to win a $25 coupon for TrailStop.com.

Thanks!

I really enjoyed reading Dan’s Out with 2009, In with 2010… blog entry over at Scouting News. It was so cool to see that HalfEagle was his #1 referrer in 2009. It’s exactly the kind of thing I was hoping HalfEagle would accomplish, sending lots of folks to check out the best Scouting blogs on the internet.

Since it was also very interesting to see the random stats he included, I thought I’d put together a similar post for HalfEagle.

How do you get to HalfEagle?

HalfEagle 2009 Traffic Sources

Over half the visitors to the site are either typing in the domain name or have the site bookmarked. This is great because it means there are a lot of people who are regularly checking the site for new posts.

The other half of visitors are split pretty evenly between referring sites and search engines.

Top Referring Sites

1. BoyScoutTrail.com – Scouting resource site
2. Kismif.wordpress.com – Cub Scout blog
3. BoyAndGirlScouts.com – “Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts under one roof… with proper supervision, of course.” (Which I would add to HalfEagle if there was an RSS feed of just the Boy Scout posts.)
4. BuffaloEagle.wordpress.com – Troop 483 blog
5. TheScoutmasterMinute.net – Scoutmaster Jerry’s blog. (Oh look, he recently interviewed me!)

Top Search Engine Keywords

I’ve filtered out all the variations of “half eagle,” “halfeagle.com,” etc. and just included non-brand searches. Also, some similar keyword phrases I’ve filtered out and only included the most popular variation.

1. alvin townley eagle scout
2. scouting blogs
3. scout deaths at philmont
4. “eagle factory” boy scout
5. boy scout blogs
6. free camp kitchen plans “patrol boxes”
7. bechtel family scouting center
8. embroidered centennial ring emblem
9. subaru forester pinewood derby commercial
10. boy scout centennial uniform guide

Who visits HalfEagle?

HalfEagle 2009 U.S. Visitors Map (Darker means more visitors)

Scouters, duh. But let’s see what Google Analytics has to say about the visitors to the site.

Top States

1. California
2. Minnesota
3. Utah
4. Florida (Yay, I’m not the person who visits the site the most!)
5. Texas

Browser Statistics

HalfEagle 2009 Browser Stats

I’m happy to see that over half of the folks who visit this site are using a browser other than Internet Explorer.

For the 44% of folks using IE, if you aren’t in a corporate/school environment and have a choice of browser, I highly encourage you to check out Firefox.

Connection Speeds

HalfEagle 2009 Connection Speeds

I’m pleasantly surprised to see that over 2/3 of HalfEagle’s visitors are on a FAST internet connection. I haven’t checked connection speed stats in a long time, so maybe this is common now.

If I ever have an idea for a feature that takes a lot of bandwidth, at least now I know it’s a possibility for the majority of visitors.

Visitor Loyalty

This is my favorite graph of all. Basically it shows that HalfEagle has a dedicated core of visitors that check out the site at least once a week. And we have some folks who check it almost every day! This chart shows just how great the Scouting blogs and podcasts are that HalfEagle includes.

HalfEagle 2009 Visitor Loyalty

What was the most popular stuff on HalfEagle?

I saved this bit for the end. Most sites on the internet have a separate URL for each bit of content, but not HalfEagle. HalfEagle is mostly just a single home page with the most recent posts from the best Scouting blogs on the internet. So how do we track the popularity of any particular item? Well, way back in January HalfEagle started tracking all outbound links so I could measure the most popular content here.

After nearly a year of tracking (and with over 28,000 clicks!), I am happy to share some of the results.

I find it fascinating that what gets clicked on Twitter is dramatically different than what gets clicked on the site itself.

2010: What’s in store?

HalfEagle has really reached a point of stability right now that I’m pretty happy with. If I had to describe how the site, the code and I are getting along, I’d say we’re at the “norming” stage of development.

That said, I don’t think HalfEagle is “done” by any definition of the word. I see a lot of opportunity with the site to make it more social by expanding on the existing Twitter integration for post rating. That hasn’t really caught on yet, probably because it was broken for so long. 2010 will see a new focus on getting folks to try that out.

Also, I have launched a HalfEagle Facebook fan page that will be yet another way to subscribe to new Scouting blog posts and give the HalfEagle community a place to talk.

What else would you like to see from HalfEagle in 2010?

I noticed a couple interesting conversations in the world of Scouting podcasts that took place this week. First, was this blog post over at Boy Scout Trail:

Yesterday, I was asked by a nice fellow in Irving to let you know about ScoutCast – a series of podcasts for Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, and Commissioners.

Second, was a tweet this morning by Cubmaster Chris:

PTCers: National wants us to promote Cubcast on the PTC website. What do you think?

I’m pretty excited whenever I see BSA National embracing technology, particularly when they are using technology to deliver more information for volunteers. I have to admit though, I’m not really a podcast listener. I can read faster than I can listen, and when I am receiving really useful information I want to take it in as quickly as possible. (Which is why HalfEagle is so text-focused instead of audio-focused.)

Now, the nice fellow in Irving, Texas hasn’t contacted me. :’( But I’m not going to wait for an email from him to add a feature I should have added long ago.

Due in large part to the efforts of PTC Media who already brings together the best volunteer Scouting podcasts into one place, it was a snap for me to add a new podcasting section. You can now listen to the most recent episode from each show straight from the HalfEagle home page. What this section looks like is shown in the box to the right.

Here are the great Scouting podcasts included (in alphabetical order):

• A Cubbing Minute
• An Hour A Week?
• Around The Scouting Campfire
• CommissionerCast
• CubCast
• Leader’s Campfire
• The Scoutmaster Minute
• True stories of Scouts in Action
• Value of Scouting

That little purple icon is the link to subscribe to the podcast directly in iTunes. When you find one you enjoy, you can click that icon to have iTunes deliver new episodes to your computer and iPod automagically.

Of course, you can also click the podcast title (in brown) to go directly to that podcasts page or you can click the podcast site title (in gold) to go to the home page for that particular podcast.

I really hope this feature brings more attention to Scouting podcasts like the rest of HalfEagle does for Scouting blogs.

As always, your thoughts and feedback are appreciated!

P.S. If you’re curious about the semaphore scouts in the section header graphic, they came from the Semaphore Translator available on InterNETional Scouting.

I’ve noticed that there are a lot of Scouters on Twitter. You can already follow @halfeaglebot on Twitter and get updates whenever new posts show up on the HalfEagle home page. But I wanted to do even more.

The first step to that would be to let folks integrate their Twitter account with HalfEagle.com, and that feature is live starting right now. What can you do with this fancy new integration? Well, not much yet. I plan on adding all sorts of social goodness and giving you tools to more easily share the posts you like to your Twitter followers.

New Post Rating Bar

Until then, there is one feature that you can only access if you sign in to HalfEagle using your Twitter account. That feature is post rating!

Once you sign in, you can give posts a rating from 1 to 5 stars. I hope to be able to use everyone’s ratings to recognize the best content that our Scouting bloggers produce. There is already a popular posts page on HalfEagle, and these new ratings will power a new “top rated” page on HalfEagle.

Let me know what you think of this new feature and make sure you rate your favorite posts!

When I first made the sidebar area to promote Mr. Townley’s newest book, I wasn’t sure if I would really like it. In the end though, I was very pleased with how it worked out.

I also said I’d be doing something like it in the future. Well, it’s the future.

I’m happy to introduce a new concept for HalfEagle, Topic Pages. Right now, there are five to test out this new feature:

National Scout Jamboree
Read posts from Scouting blogs about the National Scout Jamboree.

BSA’s 100th Anniversary
Find out how Scouters are preparing for the 100th Anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America in 2010.

Scouting iPhone Apps
Learn how Scouts are taking advantage of technology like the iPhone and read reviews of iPhone Apps used by Scouting leaders.

Centennial Uniform
Get the inside scoop on what Scouters think of the new BSA centennial uniforms!

Spirit of Adventure: Eagle Scouts and the Making of America’s Future
Read reviews of Alvin Townley’s newest book, Spirit of Adventure: Eagle Scouts and the Making of America’s Future.

Trail’s End Popcorn (ADDED)
Get ideas for successful fundraising by reading about other Scout leaders experience with Trail’s End Popcorn.

This is a chance for extra promotion to blog posts about those topics, as well as a place to take an overall look at the discussion Scouting bloggers are having about these topics. The most recent topic pages are promoted directly from the home page of HalfEagle, so writing about these topics is also a chance to get even more attention for your blog.

You’ll see that some topics have way more posts than others. I hope to increase the conversation about particular topics this way. This is somewhat selfish, because I get to pick the topics and there’s some things I want to read more about.

Incidentally, I promised that I would tell Scouting bloggers how to get onto these pages, but I’d first like to test the effectiveness of the current method. If you decide to write a blog post about any of these topics and the post *doesn’t* show up automatically, please let me know. I promise to both tweak the algorithm and just tell you the exact rain dance to perform for that particular topic.

Check out this new feature and let me know what you think!

It’s been quite a couple weeks for HalfEagle. Between Twitter’s DoS attack crippling @halfeaglebot (and parts of the site itself) and the temporary outage of PostRank’s service over the weekend, I’ve really felt like I was running around putting out fires almost constantly.

This afternoon, I got another email confirming my impression that image handling on HalfEagle was pretty lame. When Scouting bloggers include a relevant image in their RSS feed, I was trying to show that image… but randomly all HalfEagle would show was a broken image icon. :’(

But, as all error reports are an opportunity to improve the site, I’m proud to announce some changes!

First, the old popular page (powered by PostRank) is now powered by… HalfEagle! Turns out I can do a half-decent job of algorithmically detecting the most popular posts. Over time I plan to refine how this page works and do an even better job of sharing what HalfEagle’s audience considers most important.

Second, images are now cached using my own custom code, instead of relying on SimplePie’s built-in image caching. Honestly I’m surprised that my code seems to be working better than an RSS parsing library that’s been tested by thousands of users. But, I love the look of this:

The truth is that a cool & relevant image alongside a post increases the likelihood that the reader will click through and read the whole post. You can see this for yourself by visiting the new popular page. Most of the popular posts have good images.

What people don’t want to see is all the little tracking images, “tweet this” images, etc. So I’ve put in place some rules for images:

1. It has to have one dimension that’s at least 50 px and one dimension that’s at least 100 px.
2. That’s it! Go add good relevant images.

Third, I have been tweaking how HalfEagle.com interacts with Twitter. Basically, Twitter’s been hurting and I’ve been trying to get HalfEagle to play as nicely as possible. Because the Twitter API has been up and down, some of my changes are hard to test — I have to be confident Twitter is up before I know if my code is actually failing. For a brief time, @halfeaglebot went crazy and I had to remove those tweets so the folks who follow it didn’t think it was a spam bot. Everything is, as far as I can tell, 100% at this point.

Fourth, I haven’t mentioned in awhile just how amazing the Scouting bloggers are who truly power HalfEagle! This really is a labor of love for me as it gives me a way to enjoy inspirational Scouting writing and to share that writing with a larger audience. Thank you to those who are helping to spread the good word of Scouting online!

I got an email last night from one of the bloggers whose content is included on HalfEagle. It seems there maybe a problem with how HalfEagle checks your site for updated content. The problem? HalfEagle may be accessing your site far more often than necessary.

First, I’m very sorry if this has affected your server. I manage a number of servers and I know how frustrated I get every time I discover some poorly programmed script hammering away at one of my servers.

Also, I fully realize that this is most likely caused by a script which I poorly programmed. That’s an embarrasing thing to admit, but I’m not going to pretend like I’m the greatest programmer in the world. Hopefully, I’ll be good enough to find my mistake and fix it. 

Meanwhile, and this is the “I need your help” part, it will help me considerably if you could check your stats or log files and look for excessive visits from a particular IP address that starts with 72.3. When I say excessive, I mean more than a thousand visits a day. If you are affected, it should stand out.

Normal usage is for the HalfEagle “bot” to swing by and check your feed every 15-45 minutes or so.

If you find anything, please email it to me directly at gregg (at) halfeagle.com.

Thank you.

P.S. Once this is all sorted out, I’ll post back with more information. Unfortunately, I leave for summer camp tomorrow. So if it isn’t fixed before then, I will disable all updates on HalfEagle until I get back and can determine the issue. I hope it doesn’t come to that, but I simply cannot allow this site to cause any undue stress on anyone else’s server.

You probably noticed a change to the home page of HalfEagle. Namely, that block in the right sidebar with a picture of the cover of “Spirit of Adventure” and some links to book reviews by HalfEagle’s Scouting bloggers. A gentleman working with the publisher of the book had contacted myself and a number of prominent Scouting bloggers asking if we’d be willing to receive an advance copy of the book. I accepted and within a week or so, I was digging into a softcover pre-release edition of the book. And let me tell you, it’s a fantastic read. Every chapter is the story of what a different Eagle Scout is doing in his adult life and how that ties back to his experiences in Scouting.

I wanted to help promote this book, not because I got a free copy, but because I sincerely believe this book will have a positive impact. But, although I’m an avid reader, I’m not much of a writer. Writing an eloquent book review that would motivate people to purchase the book is a skill with which I do not have much practice. What I did have though, is a website that reaches hundreds of the most influential and connected Scouters on the Internet. Oh hey, that’s you!

Because many of HalfEagle’s bloggers were already posting reviews, I simply added a “widget” to the sidebar that displayed any post containing the book’s title and the author’s name. Plus, I added a link to Amazon — not to get rich,* but so I could see if people would actually buy a book through HalfEagle.

In the end, I really liked having that feature on HalfEagle and I really liked seeing how the different bloggers covered the same book. I’d like to do more of this in the future and, perhaps, build a new section of the site just to pull together content about different Scouting books and products. You’ll see some new experiments in this direction in the future and I hope you’ll provide your feedback in the comments below.

Scouting bloggers, I’ll let you know how to get your posts included in these features in the future, although it will probably be some kind of keyword based filtering.

*I didn’t get rich. In fact, only four people clicked on the Amazon link and, if they bought a copy, they didn’t buy it from Amazon. Incidentally, even I forgot to buy through HalfEagle when I pre-ordered a handful of copies as gifts. Whoops! lol

Recently, Jerry at The Scoutmaster Minute had to change his domain name. It turned out to be quite difficult to fix the links to his blog on HalfEagle. I had only been storing the Feedburner URLs and not the actual URLs. So I was worried I’d have to go through one-by-one, follow the redirect, replace “.com” with “.net” and copy-and-paste the URL into the database. I was *not* looking forward to that. So instead, I made a new website/service that would at least handle the redirect part of the process. (For those curious, the site can expand short urls and translate any redirected URL.)

While I was at it, I went ahead and fixed all the old redirect URLs and the site resolves those right away now. So starting today on HalfEagle, when you click a URL you don’t have to go through a few different redirects after you leave HalfEagle, you go right to the blog entry. I have a feeling this will also be better for the site owners because quite a few of those feed services employ link-juice eating 302 redirects.

Incidentally, I discovered a bunch of duplicate posts in the database when I was cleaning up all the URLs. So, if you have been tracking the overall post count, that’s why it dropped by about 300 posts. Thankfully, this will keep duplicates from showing up on the HalfEagle home page and on the twitter stream. 

Finally, thanks to PageGlimpse, I also added thumbnail previews to the archive pages. Because it can take a day or so for new thumbnails to show up, I’m not going to enable this for the home page. (But I might do some testing once their turnaround improves!)

Update #1! While looking around, I realized I hadn’t turned on the display of new Scouting resources! HalfEagle has been collecting announcements from InsaneScouter and Boy Scout Trail for some time and I even added the section to the home page, but it was in testing mode and only I could see it. Now it’s visible to everyone and I encourage you to check out the new stuff those two sites post.