FEATURE ARTICLE

4.9 Million Hits and Counting...

By Aaron Brown

This weekend, this month, and this year have all been record breaking for Illpolo.com. It is estimated that by the time Thursday's quarterfinal games begin, the web site will have reached a milestone of accumulating five million hits. Not only that, but the statistics also include over 250,000 unique visitors over that eight year span.

This past Saturday, site traffic increased by 50% from the previous year, reaching over 15,000 page views and more than 6,000 unique visitors.

Some of those details might only be understood by keen Internet users and web site developers, and I'm no expert myself, but the dramatic growth this season has been amazing to see.

I bring this up for a few reasons. The first is that the site could not have reached this many people or provided the information that keeps people coming back to check it out without the help and assistance of many, many people who have lent a hand by sending game reports, stats, info, and editing help to make the site operate efficiently. Or without you, the reader, coming back to check out illpolo.com on a regular basis.

On Saturday, I had multiple reporters attend games just for the sole purpose of reporting for the web site. In fact, my cousin, Dave Brown, a recent college graduate, watched his first water polo game on Saturday and sent constant text and e-mail reports from one site, even though he had never seen the game played in person before.

Another reason I bring this up is because there is still plenty of water polo coverage remaining, starting this week with the state tournament previews, followed by live coverage and play-by-play for every minute of every game on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. That will be followed by a state tournament and 2010 season wrap-up, All-Illpolo Teams, All-State Teams, and an All-Star Game on June 6.

Illpolo.com is also looking to provide improved coverage during the upcoming summer season, while also revamping the College section to follow Illinois athletes as they continue their playing careers at the next level.

In order to continue to provide this coverage, we are in need of two things:

1) Donations - In order to ensure that the site can continue, please consider making a donation if you have not done so already. Every little bit helps, especially as we try to keep adding more and more features to the site as possible.

2) Advertisers - Advertising is not a necessity, but the site does provide an increasing number of viewers on a yearly basis and could be a good way for club teams, small businesses, or any individual that wants to both promote their cause AND help keep Illpolo.com running for another year. There is space available for such advertising for the rest of the season and into the following year.

The best coverage of 2010 is yet to come. We are gearing up to provide the best live coverage possible this weekend from Stevenson High School. Stay tuned...and feel free to help out if you can!

Help support the site as we try to continue providing the best coverage possible throughout the 2010 season!!!