Pennaquod update

26 September 2014 By ian

I thought that seeing as I published this week’s Friday picture on Thursday I would take this opportunity to give an update about Pennaquod.

In case you missed it, Pennaquod uses Google to search only pen/pencil/paper/ink related websites that have opted in. It excludes blogs or sites that are primarily about selling. (It does include blogs that are run by commercial enterprises as long as the blog itself has a broader remit.)

I set it up because I was tired of wading through swathes of Amazon and eBay links to get to information I actually wanted. As such, it has fulfilled its purpose because it’s a tool I use myself all the time. I thought it could be useful to others, though, and so I launched it publicly back in August. As such it is a community resource and so I intend to be open about how it is doing.

When Pennaquod launched it searched, I think, 24 sites. It now searches 64 and the list of sites is itself a useful resource.

The traffic is modest, averaging around 40 visits a day. I would imagine (but have no way of checking) that almost all of those visits lead to a visit to one or more of the sites included in the search. I tend to get a handful of visits a day to here from Pennaquod.

If Pennaquod’s primary purpose had been to generate revenue or increase traffic then it would still have had a long way to go. However, as a tool to help people find information, it works.

What next for Pennaquod?

Google was the best solution I could find that I was able to set up without too much trouble but it isn’t ideal. The search results return adverts (from Google), the way they are presented can be a little flaky and it doesn’t play with Blogger sites very well. (Ironic, since Google owns Blogger.) I have an alternative solution that I think will be much better but it could be a while until I have the time to set it up.

If you have a website that meets the criteria and it isn’t already included then please let me know. Please continue to promote it too: the more people that know and use Pennaquod, the better it is for all of us who have sites included.

In the meantime, please use the tool. It really is very useful.