2019 Letter to our My Mountain Town Community
21 Jan 2019 19:13 #1
by MyMountainTown
2019 Letter to our My Mountain Town Community was created by MyMountainTown
To Our Fantastic My Mountain Town Members & Guests!
It’s been another year since we’ve written, and we first wish you all a wonderful new year filled with joy, peace, love, and prosperity! Let's catch you up on some of the exciting things that have been happening with My Mountain Town and our goals for 2019!
Membership Growth:
MyMountainTown.com came into existence on July 12, 2013, and it's been a steady increase in our membership and social media following/reach since. In 2014, we gained 334 new members on the website; in 2015, 522 members; in 2016, 693 members; in 2017, 771 members, and last year 1,211 new members. Most excitingly, we broke a new record for unique website visitors in 2018, surpassing 119,000!
On Facebook, we’ve gained over 1,700 Fans this past year to reach 8,270 Likes, and even more Followers. Because it's our mission to share useful, quality information that you want most, our Engagement and Reach is over 70,000 people/month (thank you for Sharing our posts)! We've also received 15 more reviews, all of them 5 stars, to keep our 4.9 out of 5.0 average. Our deepest gratitude to those who've left us the kind words and suggestions for improvement!
As members, please know that you are more than welcome to post to our Facebook page anytime or tag us in a Tweet or Instagram post, and let everyone know about road conditions, fires you see, pets you’ve lost or found, pictures of our awesome wildlife, sunsets, things you have to sell, questions you wish to pose to your neighbors, etc. We love chatting with everyone who leaves comments and are so appreciative of the first-hand info you offer because you are our best resource!
MMT Stats as of the end of 2018:
Mountain Secrets Blog :
In 2017 we began our Mountain Secrets Blog, a separate page with articles by only a select few authors who wrote about our communities that we serve. In addition to Trang Janick of Keller Williams who has continued her business spotlight videos, we added two new authors: Kayla Maathuis with RE/MAX Alliance and The MAD Hippies Life. Kayla, like Trang, creates video highlights of area businesses and places of interest to visit, and The MAD Hippies are avid hikers who love to share their experiences hiking and camping in the wilderness. Thanks to their efforts, we've learned more about brand new businesses, established favorites, nonprofits, and places to get outside! The MAD Hippies are preparing the hike the entire Colorado Trail later this summer so we are looking forward to learning with them as they prepare and then enjoying their adventures as they share their journey!
Investment in My Mountain Town:
Last year saw the departure of our long-time web developer, Complete Creative Services, as Eric headed off to help lead a new start-up company, FitDel. We wouldn't have the awesome site we have today without his creativity, knowledge, and hard work. We will miss him greatly and wish him all the best success in his new endeavors!
After several months of searching, we were happily introduced to Jeff Milton of Marketing Progress and thrilled to discover that he not only has the experience, integrity, and high work standards upon which we insist, but he's a pleasure to work with as well. He's got some creative new ideas to freshen up our site, and we are looking forward to getting some of those implemented as the year goes on. If you have any suggestions for website improvements, please send them our way anytime - we're all ears!
Last year we engaged a local company to build a Mobile App for us with a twofold purpose: to instantly share emergency information via push notifications for those who prefer that method of communication, and to provide an easier way for you to report lost pets and emergencies you saw (accidents, fires, etc) to us. Unfortunately, it never quite lived up to our expectations on the functionality and we had growing concerns about your data privacy (specifically because the app required a Facebook or Twitter login in order to report emergencies and we all now know just how lousy Facebook has been at protecting its users data).
After months of testing, we made the tough decision to discontinue the app development. We may someday try it again, but for now we will continue to alert you to those situations which affect you directly through our posts here on the Forums, your email subscriptions to the Forum posts, and our social media accounts. We were sad to say good bye, and appreciate all the hard work the developers put into it, but know it was the right call to make. If you created a shortcut on your mobile device for the app, you can go ahead and delete those.
Giving back:
This year was our 8th year doing the Pick 5 Contest and MMT Fantasy Football Leagues, and we not only had a blast competing with several of our members (9 contestants in the Pick 5, 20 in our 2 Fantasy Football Leagues!), but we doled out over $500 in prizes to the winners - a win-win and our way of saying thanks to you for being members.
This past year, we sponsored a number of nonprofit organizations to help support our community, including:
We are also incredibly grateful to our local businesses and nonprofits who choose us for their advertising needs because we couldn't do what we do without their support. Please patronize our advertisers, and all local shops, as often as you can and let them know that you saw them here on MMT so they know it's worthwhile to continue investing their time and hard-earned $ with us! You'll see their ads rotating on the sides of our pages (no Google Ads, auto-playing videos, or annoying pop-up ads here, just local businesses only!), or their upgraded Profile Pages in our Business & Nonprofit Directory displaying more information than just their name and phone number that the basic free listing provides.
Future plans:
We plan to continue building our membership and website traffic, provide you the best Community Calendar, most up-to-date emergency information, exclusive webcams, daily mountain weather forecasts, local news, and information that interests you. We're putting together our 2019 Foothills Event Guide like we did last year, and are looking to get a new webcam in here and there. We are here for you and welcome all feedback and questions anytime!
Thank you so very much for your membership and continued support of My Mountain Town! It has brought us joy to keep serving and investing in our community, and to grow to where we are today. We look forward to an exciting year ahead and we hope you will tell everyone you know to come join you at My Mountain Town!
With Gratitude,
The Staff and Volunteers at My Mountain Town
It’s been another year since we’ve written, and we first wish you all a wonderful new year filled with joy, peace, love, and prosperity! Let's catch you up on some of the exciting things that have been happening with My Mountain Town and our goals for 2019!
Membership Growth:
MyMountainTown.com came into existence on July 12, 2013, and it's been a steady increase in our membership and social media following/reach since. In 2014, we gained 334 new members on the website; in 2015, 522 members; in 2016, 693 members; in 2017, 771 members, and last year 1,211 new members. Most excitingly, we broke a new record for unique website visitors in 2018, surpassing 119,000!
On Facebook, we’ve gained over 1,700 Fans this past year to reach 8,270 Likes, and even more Followers. Because it's our mission to share useful, quality information that you want most, our Engagement and Reach is over 70,000 people/month (thank you for Sharing our posts)! We've also received 15 more reviews, all of them 5 stars, to keep our 4.9 out of 5.0 average. Our deepest gratitude to those who've left us the kind words and suggestions for improvement!
As members, please know that you are more than welcome to post to our Facebook page anytime or tag us in a Tweet or Instagram post, and let everyone know about road conditions, fires you see, pets you’ve lost or found, pictures of our awesome wildlife, sunsets, things you have to sell, questions you wish to pose to your neighbors, etc. We love chatting with everyone who leaves comments and are so appreciative of the first-hand info you offer because you are our best resource!
MMT Stats as of the end of 2018:
- Website - 5,561 Members
- Mountain Secrets Blog - 42 new posts collectively receiving 17,393 hits
- Scanner & Emergency Info, Weather Forecasts Forum - 388 Topics Posted
- Business & Nonprofit Directory - 578 Businesses, 99 Nonprofits
- Facebook Page - 8,270 Likes/8,458 Follows
- Twitter - 3,279 Followers
- Instagram - 1,434 Followers
- Over 45 local advertisers last year
Mountain Secrets Blog :
In 2017 we began our Mountain Secrets Blog, a separate page with articles by only a select few authors who wrote about our communities that we serve. In addition to Trang Janick of Keller Williams who has continued her business spotlight videos, we added two new authors: Kayla Maathuis with RE/MAX Alliance and The MAD Hippies Life. Kayla, like Trang, creates video highlights of area businesses and places of interest to visit, and The MAD Hippies are avid hikers who love to share their experiences hiking and camping in the wilderness. Thanks to their efforts, we've learned more about brand new businesses, established favorites, nonprofits, and places to get outside! The MAD Hippies are preparing the hike the entire Colorado Trail later this summer so we are looking forward to learning with them as they prepare and then enjoying their adventures as they share their journey!
Investment in My Mountain Town:
Last year saw the departure of our long-time web developer, Complete Creative Services, as Eric headed off to help lead a new start-up company, FitDel. We wouldn't have the awesome site we have today without his creativity, knowledge, and hard work. We will miss him greatly and wish him all the best success in his new endeavors!
After several months of searching, we were happily introduced to Jeff Milton of Marketing Progress and thrilled to discover that he not only has the experience, integrity, and high work standards upon which we insist, but he's a pleasure to work with as well. He's got some creative new ideas to freshen up our site, and we are looking forward to getting some of those implemented as the year goes on. If you have any suggestions for website improvements, please send them our way anytime - we're all ears!
Last year we engaged a local company to build a Mobile App for us with a twofold purpose: to instantly share emergency information via push notifications for those who prefer that method of communication, and to provide an easier way for you to report lost pets and emergencies you saw (accidents, fires, etc) to us. Unfortunately, it never quite lived up to our expectations on the functionality and we had growing concerns about your data privacy (specifically because the app required a Facebook or Twitter login in order to report emergencies and we all now know just how lousy Facebook has been at protecting its users data).
After months of testing, we made the tough decision to discontinue the app development. We may someday try it again, but for now we will continue to alert you to those situations which affect you directly through our posts here on the Forums, your email subscriptions to the Forum posts, and our social media accounts. We were sad to say good bye, and appreciate all the hard work the developers put into it, but know it was the right call to make. If you created a shortcut on your mobile device for the app, you can go ahead and delete those.
Giving back:
This year was our 8th year doing the Pick 5 Contest and MMT Fantasy Football Leagues, and we not only had a blast competing with several of our members (9 contestants in the Pick 5, 20 in our 2 Fantasy Football Leagues!), but we doled out over $500 in prizes to the winners - a win-win and our way of saying thanks to you for being members.
This past year, we sponsored a number of nonprofit organizations to help support our community, including:
- Platte Canyon Area Chamber of Commerce
- Conifer Area Chamber of Commerce
- Evergreen Chamber of Commerce
- Leadership Evergreen
- Friends of Staunton State Park
- The Venue Theatre Company
- BOERA
- Evergreen Big Chili Cook Off
- Bootstraps, Inc
- Evergreen Christian Outreach
- Elk Creek Fire Protection District
- Inter-Canyon Fire Protection District
- North Fork Fire Rescue
- Evergreen Fire Rescue
- Platte Canyon Fire Protection District
- Mountain Area Land Trust
- Mount Evans Home Health & Hospice
- Conifer Historical Society & Museum
- Mountain Resource Center
- Jeffco Open Space
- DriveSmart
- Peaceworks, Inc
- Rotary Club of Conifer
- Evergreen Alliance for Sustainability + You
- Alpine Rescue Team
- Fire Adapted Bailey
- StageDoor Theatre
- Conifer Area Council
- Conifer Club
- Conifer Community Church
- IMHS
- EAPL
We are also incredibly grateful to our local businesses and nonprofits who choose us for their advertising needs because we couldn't do what we do without their support. Please patronize our advertisers, and all local shops, as often as you can and let them know that you saw them here on MMT so they know it's worthwhile to continue investing their time and hard-earned $ with us! You'll see their ads rotating on the sides of our pages (no Google Ads, auto-playing videos, or annoying pop-up ads here, just local businesses only!), or their upgraded Profile Pages in our Business & Nonprofit Directory displaying more information than just their name and phone number that the basic free listing provides.
Future plans:
We plan to continue building our membership and website traffic, provide you the best Community Calendar, most up-to-date emergency information, exclusive webcams, daily mountain weather forecasts, local news, and information that interests you. We're putting together our 2019 Foothills Event Guide like we did last year, and are looking to get a new webcam in here and there. We are here for you and welcome all feedback and questions anytime!
Thank you so very much for your membership and continued support of My Mountain Town! It has brought us joy to keep serving and investing in our community, and to grow to where we are today. We look forward to an exciting year ahead and we hope you will tell everyone you know to come join you at My Mountain Town!
With Gratitude,
The Staff and Volunteers at My Mountain Town
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11 Dec 2019 08:03 #4
by homeagain
Replied by homeagain on topic 2019 Letter to our My Mountain Town Community
I remember the VERY beginning of this endeavor...and as the cig commercial commented
(a LONG time ago)...''You've come a long way baby""......it is now almost the end of 2019
and the membership is just two or three shy of 9,000!!!! It has been a wonderful gift to STILL
stay connected to the mountain,even tho I am on the western slope.
(a LONG time ago)...''You've come a long way baby""......it is now almost the end of 2019
and the membership is just two or three shy of 9,000!!!! It has been a wonderful gift to STILL
stay connected to the mountain,even tho I am on the western slope. Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
13 Dec 2019 06:56 #5
by homeagain
Just passed 9,000....way to go MMT:
Replied by homeagain on topic 2019 Letter to our My Mountain Town Community
homeagain wrote: I remember the VERY beginning of this endeavor...and as the cig commercial commented
(a LONG time ago)...''You've come a long way baby""......it is now almost the end of 2019
and the membership is just two or three shy of 9,000!!!! It has been a wonderful gift to STILL
Just passed 9,000....way to go MMT:
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
13 Dec 2019 09:14 #6
by ScienceChic
"Now, more than ever, the illusions of division threaten our very existence. We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another as if we were one single tribe.” -King T'Challa, Black Panther
The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it. ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. ~Winston Churchill
Replied by ScienceChic on topic 2019 Letter to our My Mountain Town Community
Thank you homeagain, we're happy that people find value in the site, and the information provided, and keep joining. One clarification on that number though: the software pulls the number from the entire membership database and there isn't a way (that we know of) for us to set criteria for who it considers a member for the display at the bottom of the forums; i.e., it's including a multitude of spammers and would-be hackers who've been caught and banned who aren't really members. Our real membership number is over 6,500 (yes, we've had that many spammers/hackers join and try to take over the site). When we approach and hit 10,000, we'll definitely celebrate!
We are almost at 10,000 Likes on our Facebook Page (9,853 as of this posting), and over 10,000 Followers so that's pretty cool! It would be awesome to get to 10K by Christmas, but we'll get there when we get there (likely January sometime).
We are almost at 10,000 Likes on our Facebook Page (9,853 as of this posting), and over 10,000 Followers so that's pretty cool! It would be awesome to get to 10K by Christmas, but we'll get there when we get there (likely January sometime).
"Now, more than ever, the illusions of division threaten our very existence. We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another as if we were one single tribe.” -King T'Challa, Black Panther
The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it. ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. ~Winston Churchill
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
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