Here’s a shocking development: Snowmobilers who hang out on a snowmobile-dominated website like to read about new snowmobiles. We’ll pause here for a couple seconds to let the gravity of that statement sink in:
(pause)
(pause)
That stunning news is the highlight of our own lookback on 2012 through the eyes of the snowgoer.com page views. According to stats available to our website administrators, more than 30,000 pages on snowgoer.com were viewed at least once during the calendar year, and more than 2,100 pages on the site were viewed by 100 or more people.
Our active Trash Talkers and Oval & Enduro message boards certainly attracted a lot of viewers and participants during the calendar year, and our Images/Snowmobile-Pictures page is immensely popular. But in terms of actual stories, below are the 10 Most Viewed Stories for 2012, in countdown fashion. It’s worth noting that stories that were loaded onto the site last winter and spring have had more time on the website to accumulate page views than stories posted in the late fall, so the results are a bit skewed toward the beginning of the year. But the results are what they are, so let’s count ’em down:
10. Snocross Axed From Winter X Games – Actually posted at the end of 2011, the story about the hosting ESPN crew’s decision to remove snocross from its X Games lexicon attracted a lot of attention. More notably, ESPN officials reversed ground in the middle of 2012, and Snocross and Speed & Style will be back at the Aspen event this coming January.
9. A Look Back At The Arctic Cat El Tigre – The Timeline department in Snow Goer magazine featuring snowmobiles from the sport’s glorious past has a very healthy following, and it does on our website as well. The main El Tigre post got a boost late in the year when we featured an advertisement for the model as a part of our Vintage Snowmobile Ad Tuesday. That post linked to the original El Tigre story.
8. 2013 Yamaha Snowmobiles Feature Return Of SRX – The famous SRX moniker is back. Yeah, it’s a youth snowmobile built by Arctic Cat using a Yamaha engine. But that’s only one reason why readers turned to this story to learn about Yamaha’s complete 2013 lineup, which included better handling FX Nytro models, two new 2-up machines and other updates that are now hitting the snow as production models.
7. Tow-Testing Chevrolet’s New 6-Speed Silverado – Snowmobilers need trucks to haul their sleds wherever the snow has fallen, but most automotive magazines don’t review trucks by pulling trailers. So our occasional TowGoer department fills the gap. It’s also worth noting that this story brought in a lot of attention from people who stumbled upon snowgoer.com as a part of a Google search – apparently a lot of people are searching for truck reviews that include towing.
6. How To Set Up Your Snowmobile’s Suspension For Sharper Handling, Better Ride – One of the cool things about snowmobiles is that their suspensions are all highly adjustable, allowing the rider to dial-in their ride to their liking. But it can be an intimidating process for many riders. This story cuts through the clutter and offers real-world tips.
5. 2013 Snowmobile Sneak Peek Tour Hits The Road Soon – Each spring, the snowmobile manufacturers show off their new models for the following winter at traveling road shows that criss-cross the country. Knowing when those tours are in your neck of the woods is key.
4. Why Two-Stroke Direct Injection Is A Big Deal – This is a story that ran in Snow Goer magazine awhile back, but it continues to attract attention, both from snowmobilers and non-snowmobilers. Non-snowmobilers, you ask? Yes, this story ended up getting linked to message boards and forums on a number of websites in other enthusiast markets, and those people came to our site by the thousands to read about technology we all now take for granted.
3. 2013 Polaris Snowmobiles Debut, Including New 600 Indy – You’ll notice a common theme in the Top 3: Snowmobilers seeking information on the new snowmobiles. Polaris and Yamaha trickled out information earlier in the winter last January and February on select models (in this case, the Pro-RMK and the FX Nytro XTX 1.75), which may have watered down their primary wrap-up story results on our website. But our overview of the Polaris lineup locked in at No. 3.
2. 2013 Ski-Doos Have New Chassis Platform, Edgey Suspensions – Ski-Doo introduced the REV-XS platform, the REV-XM platform and the tMotion rear suspension (among other new features) last spring, and grabbed position No. 2.
1. 2013 Arctic Cat Snowmobiles Unveiled – Arctic Cat fans unite! You Won! The most viewed story on snowgoer.com was all about the 2013 Arctic Cat lineup. After making a big move with completely new chassis platforms in 2012, one might have thought the 2013 Cat lineup wouldn’t draw as much attention. Well, that “one” would be wrong. Nobody is as brand loyal as Cat riders, and when their brand speaks, these enthusiasts listen.
