TechRaptor was founded in March of 2013 with the purpose of creating a new site for people to get their technology and gaming news, and thus far we've managed to build an amazing community that shares the same passions that we do. We've been at this for three years now, and we've learned some amazing lessons, met incredible people and developers, and proven to ourselves that we can reach the goals we set for ourselves each year.
My personal goal was to build a site that wouldn't be swayed by personal connections or money, and would have a team of writers that would on what was in front of them - the products and events. With a focus on what matters, we've always felt that we can offer high quality content to our readers with every article posted on the site.
Now the thing to note is that we will, and have, made mistakes - but we'll always own up to and correct them as journalists should do. That's at the very core of our Ethics Policy, and how we feel we should run the site, because no matter what the facts need to be there - especially if we make a mistake. That matters to us a great deal, and always will.
Last Year's Achievements
2015 was a huge year for TechRaptor, not just by the numbers and growth, but also in how we changed our processes and procedures when it comes to creating content for our growing community. We're extremely proud of what we accomplished in 2015, and wanted to review it in full with our readers, as well as share some insight into what helps us grow.
The Numbers Don't Lie
Our numbers for 2015 were really great, and promising for the future of TechRaptor. Between total views for the year, average views per day, time on site, and more, we grew in a number of ways that we hope to grow further in 2016 as we seek to gain a bigger foothold in the gaming and technology industries. Let's break down the numbers in total -
Total Pageviews for 2015 - 3,153,542 (That's 1.7 million more than 2014!)
Best Month: February with 423,852 Pageviews
Average Pageviews Per Day: 8,640
End of 2015 Quantcast Ranking: 30,574 US (Current: 27,000)
End of 2015 Alexa Rankings: 45,597 US / 162,064 Global (Current: 40,000 / 115,000)
A lot of the numbers were bolstered by a really strong Q1/Q2 of 2015, and numbers have dipped in the later months of 2015, although we're posting more articles than before and our search engine rankings are higher than ever. Our team is fantastic though, and we're powering through the small slump to finish some of the initiatives we have planned, so you're going to see some incredible new things from us this year!
Recognition and Opportunity
With this year's growth came some recognition from a few great developers, who came to TechRaptor with early access to preview and review their games. While this happens on a regular basis with all sorts of developers, our staff was incredibly excited for a few that we had the opportunity to have an early look at to stream and review.
Halo 5: Guardians was one of the games that we were able to stream early and often, both parts of the campaign and of multiplayer, as well as getting out a timely review of the game. You can check out a few of the stream VOD here, and the review here.
Rise of the Tomb Raider was another one that we were able to stream early, showing off roughly 2 hours of one of the game's main areas, as well as getting out the review. You can check out the stream VOD here, and the review here.
We also had the privilege of working with developers to review games such as:
Video Game Reviews
- The Witcher 3
- Rock Band 4
- Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson
- Sorcerer King
- Marvel Heroes 2015
- Hand of Fate
- Monster Hunter 4: Ultimate
Tabletop Reviews (Every Tuesday!!)
- Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Wrath of the Righteous Review – Old Dog, New Tricks
- Castle Assault Review – Card Battle Done Right
- Creative Clash Review – Light Satire
- Brew Crafters Review – Full Bodied With Notes of Fun
- Rattle, Battle, Grab the Loot Review – Fun and Happiness
- Sentinel Tactics Review – Super Skirmish
- Dead of Winter Review — Exile Your Friends
- Neuroshima Hex 3.0 Review – Abstract Excellence
- Star Wars: Imperial Assault Review – The Chosen One
- Shadows of Brimstone Review – Cowboys vs Cthulhu!
We published a ton of video game reviews (293 in total) as well as tabletop reviews (62 in total), so you should definitely check them out!
Other Notable Achievements
5,000,000 all-time pageviews - Broke this milestone in January of 2016, a huge achievement for us! Next up, 10 million!
Expansion into new events - We attended our first every E3 last year, and expanded our coverage of events into EGX in London and PAX in both the US and Australia!
Ethics Policy Revamp + Addition of Review Score Guide - We completely re-did our Ethics Policy, both by rewording sections and adding new ones! We also added a guide to how we do review scores! Check out our blog post about the new ethics policy here!
Addition of the "Quick Take" to news pieces - We added our "Quick Take" section to our news, in an effort to further separate opinion from news, while still allowing our authors to chime in a bit! Check out the Quick Take blog post here.
Update of key pages - We've made major updates to our About Us and Write for TechRaptor pages - check them out to find out more about us, or get involved as a staff member!
Redesign - We started this process in 2015, but really got moving for 2016, which you can read about below!
2015 was a big year for TechRaptor - we doubled our views over the previous year, formed countless new professional relationships with developers all over the world, and made lasting changes to the site that are showing a great deal of results.
Looking to the Future
As we look to 2016, we have a full redesign in the works as we return to E3, GenCon, PAX, and more, with so many great things planned for the rest of the year. I cannot wait to share the new site, features, and changes with our readership later this year as we evolve into a whole new form.
On the topic of the new site, here's a quick teaser as to what we have planned, without revealing any major spoilers before we're ready!
Video - We're making a huge effort with TechRaptor 2.0, to bring video onto the site itself, and you can expect to see a whole new look and feel for our videos as we revamp the graphics and intros for all existing videos too!
Mobile - A lot of you read the site on a mobile browser, so we have a lot of effort being dedicated to ensuring that the mobile theme for the site is as smooth and clean as the desktop version!
Community - We have a lot of time and planning dedicated to how we're going to make the community around TechRaptor even more fun and enjoyable to be a part of. Between the site, comments, forums, and yet-to-be-named features, there's a lot of cool things coming for people who want to be a part of this great community!
New Features Galore - We're adding a ton of new things to this new design, but we want them to be a surprise for our unveiling(s), so I'll just leave it at this - we've listened to your feedback and tried to accommodate as many requests as we could!
Honestly, I could gush about what we have planned, but we have a big unveiling coming up so I can't say much yet! This new design is going to make TechRaptor better, faster, and stronger than before, and I cannot wait to share TechRaptor 2.0 with you - you're going to love it!
Now for a bit of sappiness. As the person who created and runs this site, I take a lot of pride and joy in what my team does, and I'm beyond excited to work with them every day as we work to bring as much content to our readers as possible. I see people who work for TechRaptor as part of my family, and I want to help them succeed in any way I can, which makes each success that we have such a big deal. I also want to say that I feel the staff of TechRaptor deserves the majority of the credit for what this site is doing, they put in so much hard work every day, and I couldn't be more proud of everything that's been accomplished.
To those of you that read TechRaptor every day - thank you. Your support, your feedback, and your community is what keeps this site (and its staff) going year after year. We're absolutely blessed to have such an amazing community that's sprouted up around TechRaptor, and we can't wait to keep joining you in it for another year.
Proud of my team, and I love this community,
Rutledge Daugette, Founder of TechRaptor