Cooling Post shatters 1,000,000 landmark

With the number of recorded visits up by 33%, the Cooling Post continued its progress in 2020, blasting past the 1 million landmark for the first time.

In total, the world’s top refrigeration and air conditioning news and information website recorded 1,312,615 visits in 2020, a marked increase on the 2019 total of 986,675. 

According to Google Analytics, the number of users (visitors) to the Cooling Post was also up in 2020 by a staggering 42% to 950,403. Meanwhile, the number of page views approached 2 million. 

While the website welcomed an increasing number of visitors from all countries of the world, India saw the largest increase. Despite this, London remained at the top of the list of cities with the most Cooling Post readers.

Although admitting to being pleased with the progress of the website, Cooling Post editor Neil Everitt wonders what the figures might have been without the worldwide coronavirus: “The Covid-19 virus has had a devastating effect on so many companies, but it’s widely assumed that online businesses may have seen the biggest gains. I’m not convinced that is the case with the Cooling Post. 

“It’s easy to forget that the Cooling Post relies on the strength of its news stories for its increasing visitor numbers,” Everitt said. “I think many company and product development plans were put on hold last year during the various lockdowns, hence a paucity of real solid news stories. Combined with that, it’s not possible to calculate how many readers we lost to redundancy, being laid off or furloughed during this period.

“While the beginning of the year was particularly strong, visitor numbers began to fall in March, coinciding with the onset of the coronavirus in many countries of the world. In fact, the figures for May, June, July and August were all down on the corresponding months in 2019.”

The figures recovered significantly in September and October as the crisis temporarily eased. This was thanks in part to a number of major news stories. “One news story in particular attracted over 75,000 readers, with one particular day in September seeing upwards of 500 visitors on the website at any one time. This was sustained for a number of hours, peaking at over 4,000 visits per hour and leading to a record-breaking 24-hour total of 37,000 visits.”

“If I’m right, and 2020 had been a “normal” year, it’s anyone’s guess what the figures might have been,” he added. 

2021

So what of the prospects for 2021?

“Let’s not forget that business disruptions have had a major impact on people’s finances, health and wellbeing. Business aside, people have lost loved ones, been denied life-improving and life-saving operations and have been plunged into financial hardship and deprivation. Website figures pale into insignificance by comparison,” said Everitt.

“Like everyone, I’m hoping that we can get rid of this dreadful virus and get back to some sort of normal as soon as possible. Hopefully this will ensure that 2021 is a major improvement on 2020.

“Finally, I’d like to thank our advertisers for their continued support in these difficult times, our contacts for supplying us with reliable and revealing information, and our readers who find their way to our website and take the time to read this stuff.”