Brief background – I’ve no experience whatsoever neither of building or running websites nor of HTML or CSS coding or any such like.

I just had this vision to launch a local community what’s on website, having run a successful monthly free pick-up what’s on magazine some years ago in Somerset before moving back to Sussex (West Country to South Coast of the UK).

I had been a member of two large forums in the UK for years that used vb and researching others it seemed clear that vb was the best option for me, so on this date last year the site was launched using vb3 and vbAdvanced to create a very simple front page.

Now 95% of the traffic is for the what’s on listings, so the forum side is very small, but what I’ve really noticed has been the massive increase in overall traffic since re-launching the site using vb4.02 on 1st March this year.

I know there are some reasons such as seasonal variations (more outdoor events now Spring is here) and the new eating-out section is bringing a few extra visitors, but these combined I estimate could be responsible for only a maximum of 25% of the increase in traffic I am getting.

Just look at these average daily unique visitor figures for this year so far:

Jan – 188
Feb – 246
Mar – 598
Apr – 961

So, is anyone else experiencing such large increases in visitors?