Bring it on 2013!!
Here we are in 2013 and not a moment too soon according to that silly Mayan Calendar mash up that had some folks spooked about the "end of days" scenario. I got a hoot out of the local watering hole TRAX's send up of the event with a "End of the World" night out for all the "refugees" that needed to be in the safety of ark before the impending end. However as that deadline came and went, then we faced the "fiscal cliff" melt down that had network talking heads almost spinning while trying to understand the ongoing "spin" that came from both sides of the aisle. Meanwhile, the cliff turned into a bungee jump for the nation as we all got mild whiplash while the Congress kept up its Kabuki style politics for all to witness. Wow, I survived and if you are reading this, so did you dear reader. With all that said and most of it forgotten for now, its time to refresh, re-boot and re-launch COP 24/7 to the extreme in 2013!
COP 24/7 Gets a Face Lift and More
Who knew that this forum would still be throwing down as Arkansas' longest running blog for the LGBTQ community. Yes my pretties its been six years, over 1000 post, some 250,000 words and viola, 34,000 page views. Not in my wildest dreams would I believe that this little experimental forum that I didn't know much about and literally learned on my own would be still kicking with interest not only in the U.S. but with a global reach. If you recall I also posted that COP 24/7 even had a hack attack from somewhere in the Ukraine from nefarious shadow folks whom may have been up to no good. I got an alerts from Facebook among others about some strange activity taking place that was attempting to somehow do some digital dickering around.
As you can see, we've refreshed to our look with a pop of color, re-organized our content layout with more distinct access to our "opt-in e-mail and subscribe" gadgets. After all, our goal for 2013 is to scale up who's following us as well as subscribing to our platform. Also I've added a "language translator" to assist our global visitors with being able to actually translate our content into a version for their respective languages. I felt that this was most important since language can be a barrier for visitors. Also I plan to offer more diverse content of interest to a our global audience. Just so you know and I know that you are dying to know, according to Google Stats here's the top five countries accessing COP 24/7:
1. France
2.Poland
3.United States
4.Malaysia
5.Russia
If that wasn't enough, COP 24/7 also gets top tier placement in Google SEO rankings, is often cross referenced in some search engines including Firefox and is now making headway into the mobile craze with being accessed by Apple I-phones and tablets. On a recent check of the mobile access, COP 24/7 offers visitors an archive view including images then allows the reader to link to the post or the entire web version of the website. Even with all this encouraging activity, I still would like to increase our reach in Arkansas with more "eyeballs" not only reading but contributing to this forum. From its inception I envisioned this as an interactive community of voices that wanted to share their "lived experiences" while communicating on issues or concerns that impact the LGBTQ community and beyond.
Even though that realization has been marginal the offer still stands to this day. In the past we've partnered with the Little Rock Pride Committee, local community based service organizations such as The Living Affected Corporation, promoted the formation of a LGBT Business Alliance and supported area businesses with both our dollars and coverage on this forum. For those who had differences with our viewpoint, I've stood steadfast for critics, haters and all who sling from the sidelines but do it without signing their names to their rhetoric. In my eyes " no guts, no glory" is the approach that I've taken to producing this effort. At times some felt that I was being overly negative or "airing" dirty laundry yet if you only knew that if I published everything that I really knew, there would be plenty of necks and eyes rolling all over the place.
In all of this I've tried to be a positive force for change by asking both me and you to take a long hard look at our ongoing situation and do what we can to rectify it. I've seen so many meetings or attempts to have "community meetings" to highlight issues or concerns that have resulted in more of the same. I've tired of those whining about the lack of activities when they don't participate in whatever is being offered nor do they have any fresh ideas to present.Why have a themed New Years Eve event and those in attendance do nothing more than show up as they have the rest of the year. Is that gay folks don't know how to dress up anymore? Or have they succumb to the follow the heard mentality of complacency and disinterest. What has happened to the spirit of not only attending the party but bringing it alive with fanfare and costuming of your choice. We will cover more about this in a later post.
I personally don't entertain any more Pride Parade talk since its nothing more than talk. I have proposed numerous pathways to make this a reality but so far I've heard nothing but "crickets." In the meantime, this forum will move ahead seeking to increase our viewership, discovering monetizing streams, pushing the technology envelope and doing what we do best, "taking a licking and keep on ticking." Ladies and Gentlemen and all who haven't decided, COP 24/7 thanks everyone for their support and hope that you will continue to come to our destination for your updates, news, outlooks and opinions. I look forward to serving you to the extreme in 2013! Let's hear from you today!!!
Here we are in 2013 and not a moment too soon according to that silly Mayan Calendar mash up that had some folks spooked about the "end of days" scenario. I got a hoot out of the local watering hole TRAX's send up of the event with a "End of the World" night out for all the "refugees" that needed to be in the safety of ark before the impending end. However as that deadline came and went, then we faced the "fiscal cliff" melt down that had network talking heads almost spinning while trying to understand the ongoing "spin" that came from both sides of the aisle. Meanwhile, the cliff turned into a bungee jump for the nation as we all got mild whiplash while the Congress kept up its Kabuki style politics for all to witness. Wow, I survived and if you are reading this, so did you dear reader. With all that said and most of it forgotten for now, its time to refresh, re-boot and re-launch COP 24/7 to the extreme in 2013!
COP 24/7 Gets a Face Lift and More
As you can see, we've refreshed to our look with a pop of color, re-organized our content layout with more distinct access to our "opt-in e-mail and subscribe" gadgets. After all, our goal for 2013 is to scale up who's following us as well as subscribing to our platform. Also I've added a "language translator" to assist our global visitors with being able to actually translate our content into a version for their respective languages. I felt that this was most important since language can be a barrier for visitors. Also I plan to offer more diverse content of interest to a our global audience. Just so you know and I know that you are dying to know, according to Google Stats here's the top five countries accessing COP 24/7:
1. France
2.Poland
3.United States
4.Malaysia
5.Russia
If that wasn't enough, COP 24/7 also gets top tier placement in Google SEO rankings, is often cross referenced in some search engines including Firefox and is now making headway into the mobile craze with being accessed by Apple I-phones and tablets. On a recent check of the mobile access, COP 24/7 offers visitors an archive view including images then allows the reader to link to the post or the entire web version of the website. Even with all this encouraging activity, I still would like to increase our reach in Arkansas with more "eyeballs" not only reading but contributing to this forum. From its inception I envisioned this as an interactive community of voices that wanted to share their "lived experiences" while communicating on issues or concerns that impact the LGBTQ community and beyond.
Even though that realization has been marginal the offer still stands to this day. In the past we've partnered with the Little Rock Pride Committee, local community based service organizations such as The Living Affected Corporation, promoted the formation of a LGBT Business Alliance and supported area businesses with both our dollars and coverage on this forum. For those who had differences with our viewpoint, I've stood steadfast for critics, haters and all who sling from the sidelines but do it without signing their names to their rhetoric. In my eyes " no guts, no glory" is the approach that I've taken to producing this effort. At times some felt that I was being overly negative or "airing" dirty laundry yet if you only knew that if I published everything that I really knew, there would be plenty of necks and eyes rolling all over the place.
In all of this I've tried to be a positive force for change by asking both me and you to take a long hard look at our ongoing situation and do what we can to rectify it. I've seen so many meetings or attempts to have "community meetings" to highlight issues or concerns that have resulted in more of the same. I've tired of those whining about the lack of activities when they don't participate in whatever is being offered nor do they have any fresh ideas to present.Why have a themed New Years Eve event and those in attendance do nothing more than show up as they have the rest of the year. Is that gay folks don't know how to dress up anymore? Or have they succumb to the follow the heard mentality of complacency and disinterest. What has happened to the spirit of not only attending the party but bringing it alive with fanfare and costuming of your choice. We will cover more about this in a later post.
I personally don't entertain any more Pride Parade talk since its nothing more than talk. I have proposed numerous pathways to make this a reality but so far I've heard nothing but "crickets." In the meantime, this forum will move ahead seeking to increase our viewership, discovering monetizing streams, pushing the technology envelope and doing what we do best, "taking a licking and keep on ticking." Ladies and Gentlemen and all who haven't decided, COP 24/7 thanks everyone for their support and hope that you will continue to come to our destination for your updates, news, outlooks and opinions. I look forward to serving you to the extreme in 2013! Let's hear from you today!!!
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