The best wee politics site in Scotland?
We’ve been in a bit of a stat-wading frame of mind generally today, readers, so we hope you’ll forgive us for one last toot on the trumpet after a fortnight that’s seen every readership record on the site trashed in spectacular style.
It’s not even our fault – an alert reader on Twitter pointed out our soaring rating on global web traffic tracker Alexa.com over the course of the last few months (since we became wingsoverscotland.com), so we couldn’t resist a bit of a nosy poke around for the rankings of other Scottish politics sites and, well, these were the findings.
RANKINGS AMONG ALL UK WEBSITES
Wings Over Scotland: 11,417
Newsnet Scotland: 11,582
National Collective: 35,265
Yes Scotland: 37,118
Better Together: 39,461
Bella Caledonia: 41,959
Business For Scotland: 63,047
BBC Scotlandshire: 96,769
(Every other site we tried had insufficient UK data, including ThinkScotland and the Reid Foundation, with LabourHame bottom of the global heap by a long way.)
All sorts of disclaimers apply – Alexa tracking isn’t flawless, and Newsnet Scotland is still ranked significantly higher globally than us, but lower in the UK because for some reason (possibly to do with webhosting) a chunk of its traffic registers in Norway.
But every other site’s ranking is basically flat, except for Wings Over Scotland and Business For Scotland, both on sharp upward trends. So we’re permitting ourselves a small glow anyway. No more of this stuff for the rest of the month at least, we promise.
Incidentally, every time I wonder why the Scottish Government doesn’t purchase Grangemouth…
Well done Rev, you deserve it.
Kudos, Rev.
Will you be able to attract advertising revenue now Stu ?
Well deserved.
Pity they don’t separate (:))Scotland to see where you rank?
and am I correct in saying the Alexa stats show no women? Confused!
Oh and what about Scotsman and Herald?
After reading the previous article, don’t ya just want to shout GIRFUY.
How’s Labour for Indy doing?
Happy to take the blame for ‘forcing’ you to accept the fact you are the ‘best wee politics site in Scotland……..without a doubt…in my opinion..:)
“The best wee politics site in Scotland?” Without a doubt. Warmest congratulations Stu, thoroughly deserved.
Congratulations Stu on this sites growing numbers.
I have one wee “concern” about the numbers listed which is that the site with the BIGGEST set of numbers is a SPOOF news site, many congratulations to them for achieving such eye watering numbers. What does that say about the ability of the unionist side of the debate to get their message across?
“the site with the BIGGEST set of numbers is a SPOOF news site”
The figures are rankings, not traffic. It’s like being No.40 in the charts instead of No.1.
Excellent, onwards and upwards!
I cant for the life of me remember how it came about that I “discovered” Wings but I am so glad that I did. As for the rest of the stats I am surprised that Bella and NC attract so much traffic, I have on occasion taken a wee keek at them and left unimpressed. I found them to be a bit well, boring to be honest. Anyway I have a life and find that just keeping up with Rev. Stu on a good day can be more than enough. Thanks again Stuart keep it up and my hand is in my pocket ready for the next time that you pass around the virtual collection plate regardless of the cause.
Thought the keywords were funny Must say I haven’t noticed Fidel Castro mentioned often
wingsoverscotland.com
Rank:400,582
Keywords: scotland, scotland, john macintyre obe, fidel castro, Scottish
The smarter of the well-kent MSM faces will be reading the runes, digging-out their dusty copies of the I-Ching, and getting more pished than usual, well into the wee hours, wrestling with demons etc etc.
Ye’s know who ye are.
And so do we.
Good luck!
Rev-
Before you stop ‘stat-wading’ – is there any WordPress graphic which shows the number of comments per post since WoS started?
(I’m sure we can all imagine roughly what it’d look like, but would be nice to see it anyway.)
Well done.
Expect more sneering from Labour and its supporters, means you’re doing something right.
The best site by far, frequent turnover of articles making sense of it all and the smartest, funniest commenters too. Well done Rev you are doing a really important job, a big contribution to the outcome all of us here want.
Well deserved, fantastic!
Thepnr;
Labour for Indy, its Global ranking is 11,350,434
The number is too high to show its UK ranking.
The Scotsman is 14223
The figures are rankings, not traffic. It’s like being No.40 in the charts instead of No.1.
Oops my mistake.
As usual, if someone is going to grab to WRONG end of the stick you can guarantee it will be ME!
Glasgow Herald is 1077.
PRJ, I dont think its fair to compare the Scotsman, or BBC Scotlandshire for that matter, to serious political comment. Dont get me wrong both are excellent satire sites but there is a big difference between satire and real news + comment.
Not surprising a while ago brandwatch concluded 72% of folks commenting on the debate online support independence:
link to yesscotland.net
I read this articand last night and went to bed somewhat depressed. Then I awoke this morning to this….
Rev. Stuart Campbell says:
19 August, 2013 at 12:04 am
“the site with the BIGGEST set of numbers is a SPOOF news site”
The figures are rankings, not traffic. It’s like being No.40 in the charts instead of No.1.
I’m a fool. Well done Stuart!
well. thats me back from my self imposed exile in Devon,
the journey down there was not too bad taking 13 hours with delays on the m5 but overall not too bad, the final leg was down impossibly narrow country lanes and when I saw a sign which said road narrows, well, the screaming was fair putting me off my driving, the wife however just put her fingers in her ears,
but the destination? what can I say,? it was everything one could wish for, out little cottage overlooked the village of Slapton about half a mile from the sea,
beautiful views, and with our very own nightly visit by the first badger I have seen in my life, in short it was idyllic, the couple who owned the property and lived next door were the kindest loveliest people anyone could wish to meet,
On our second night there, the owner (Peter) sat on the patio with us and opened (a not inexpensive) bottle of wine and proceeded to ask me what I thought about “that Alex Salmond” out of the corner of my eye I could see my wife shrink and roll her eyes,
in Pete I saw someone who had done well for himself but his profession (mathematician) left me with a feeling he was not unsympathetic to the socialist in me,
So I took a deep breath and explained the things we are all aware of but is a complete mystery to your average Englishman, the Barnett formula, the McCrone report, the bedroom tax (he nodded approvingly at my ire towards it ) the cost of trident and so on, and after I had finished (even my wife had to acknowledge I had put a strong and lucid case)
Peter expressed surprise and was very supportive of our undeniable case for independence (he had fallen for the msm ‘s use of the phrase separation) he asked me “but what about the social aspects” such as the holiday we were taking in his lovely home, which was my opportunity to point out Scottish desire for self determination does not mean divorce from the rest of the UK, simply a yearning to look to ourselves for the answers and not rely on London’s whims,
after a long and friendly discussion Peter fell silent (in contemplation of what I had told him), then decided to open another bottle of wine,
we were up quite late the next morning
I am very proud to have played a small part in turning this site into a serious political player, more power to you rev
They won’t like the cold stats up em!
Gettin’ out there. Definitely gettin’ out there.
Great stats, but the Rev is doing this deliberatley
@ Rev Stu – Picking up on previous posts regarding WOS visibility at the Rally in Edinburgh next month. I am minded to make up a WOS flag using the 5 x 3 blanks available by various Ebay sellers. As a matter of courtesy to you can I use the WOS logo/banner?
“@ Rev Stu – Picking up on previous posts regarding WOS visibility at the Rally in Edinburgh next month. I am minded to make up a WOS flag using the 5 x 3 blanks available by various Ebay sellers. As a matter of courtesy to you can I use the WOS logo/banner?”
I’ve actually been looking into having a custom one made at that size. They’re not too pricey.
From the rollover text: “Actual newspapers still trounce us out of sight, of course, but their figures are vastly inflated with sport, classifieds, dating and all sorts, making a like-for-like comparison of politics coverage impossible.”
There’s certainly a gap in the market for a dating website exclusively for independence supporters. Grasp that thistle, Stu!
A dating website/ That could lead to WOS weddings provided by the Rev. and might divert him from his mission here.
@ Rev Stu – Agree they are not too pricey and perhaps a bulk buy could reduce the price a pound or two and no postage charges. Bring your own telescopic pole and tiewraps.
I am sure the success of this site is also due to the intelligent and thought-provoking comments made by readers – far and way superior to the others.
Re banner for 21st September could I suggest the addition of a mission statement (honest no play dough required) such as “Scourge of any /all dishonest media” or “Truth,justice and the Scottish way” or simply “Nae lies ya bass”
Just thinking,like!
@Paula
I have let the side down!
Braw just braw. What would we do without this wonderful site. Thank you Stu and all the thoughtful and informative comments that make this a place I must visit or I will surely miss out on the pulse of information that steadily flows from here.
Indeed, onwards and upwards.
A swift wee digest or number-crunch if you will … YES sites …… 297157, NO sites well, all one of them here ….39461.
We outnumber them by 7.5 to 1!!
Fair enough there may well be numerous small whingey blogs that are attended by 6 or 7 people who just need a whinge but even so ……..!!
PS try Effie Deans’blogspot for a laugh … her facebook page is TRAGIC!
Brilliant, its a great site for info.
I love the smell of numbers in the morning ….. it smells like …. victory
Well done Rev Stu, please keep it rolling
Well, I have been looking at length, for some months, at the digital political presence in Scotland, over the last two years, and it is expanding at warp speed.
What is important is that the digital drive that pushed along the “Arab Spring” is now working to the same effect in Scotland. it will have the same effects there, as the politics of the referendum hot up. This really is something new. The “Hootsmon” is bumping along on the bottom in “Zombie” mode, at 20,000 circulation. It seems that the digital media now out gun totally the print media in Scotland, are are mostly radical and informative. This will not go away. Even after a NO vote, it would have a big impact. NO would become “NEXT”