It's Official!

[BryanEx]

With over 525 individual maple related web sites listed www.Sugarbush.Info (http://www.sugarbush.info) is officially set up and online as my gift to the maple industry.

http://www.stonebriarfarm.com/imagehosting/happyface.jpg


Largest number of links so far came from Quebec (107), Vermont (69), and New York (46).

Disappointing results from Illinois (1), Indiana & Minnesota (4), Michigan (6), Ohio & Connecticut (7) - mostly because their associations do not promote member web sites and I haven't been able to find very many on Google.

Speaking of Google, Sugarbush.Info has had over 400 visits from Google, Yahoo, & MSN combined in December alone. Anyone with a link to Sugarbush.Info posted on their web site should see a big bounce up in page rankings in the near future.

I found 24 different producer associations online, 30 equipment or supply manufacturers, and 29 dealers... many of which I never knew about.

Hopefully maple producers and customers alike will find the site useful and we'll all see a little more business in the coming years because of it. I'll get an email off to all of the producer associations in the next week or so to help spread the word and hopefully round up additional producer web sites.

[steve J]

This is great thanksfor all your hard work on this

[Sugarmaker]

Bryan,
Thank you very much for taking the time to set this up!
Regards,
Chris

[Bucket Head]

Yes, thank you for your time and effort on this project!!

Steve

[maple connection]

Thanks for all your time and effort. Thats a awesome resource.

[gmcooper]

Thanks for all the hard work and dedication. I'm sure you're going to get lots more responses coming up as word gets out. Thanks!

[BryanEx]

Thanks very much everyone! Email responses to my adding links have also been 100% positive in nature. There's still much I want to do with the site yet but for right now I'm pretty tired of staring at a computer screen trying to write up yet another description. 8-O

I'll still be adding links each day - just at a slower rate with more effort into optimizing it for Google searches. I'm pleased with how it's turned out so far so I'm really glad to hear you like it as well. More to come over the winter guaranteed...

- Bryan

[nas]

Looks Great!!!
Thanks for all the work.

Nick

[red maples]

Awesome Bryan. Thanks for the hard work My hit counter has jumped!!!! I am going to do a little work on my site this week. I will add in a link for sugarbush.info on my links page. We are all in this together!!!! If I don't have it hopefully they can get it from someone else!!!

Here is another one www.heritagefarmpancakehouse.com They turned added on a pancake house to their sugarhouse..cool place we go there every year when we go to the lakes. If I think of anymore I'll let you know.

[ToadHill]

Great site & thanks for all the work.

Hear is another link:

http://www.burchbottle.com/

I've never used them, but they make syrup bottles.

[ToadHill]

How about a category for other types of supplies and materials we use, but aren't unique to the maple industry, e.g. Grainger, McMaster-Carr, etc.?

[BryanEx]

I will add in a link for sugarbush.info on my links page. We are all in this together!!!! If I don't have it hopefully they can get it from someone else!!!.
The link on your web site won't send visitors away, what it will do is attract Google "spiders" to your site big time. If Sugarbush.Info links to you and you link back, and we're all interconnected with related topic web sites - the search engines just love that and take it very serious when they spit out listing from a search (that's exactly why sugarbush ski resort is listed so many times on Google). If you have a links page on your site that is perfect but all that is needed is a discrete link at the bottom of a Contact Us or About Us page for it to work. You can check out an example of what I've done on my own site at the bottom of my contact page;
http://www.stonebriarfarm.com/contactus.html


Here is another one www.heritagefarmpancakehouse.com They turned added on a pancake house to their sugarhouse. If I think of anymore I'll let you know.
I had looked at that one but didn't add it in because they did not say anywhere on the web site that they made their own syrup. Not knowing the business and based on the Internet I thought it was only a restaurant.


Great site & thanks for all the work.
Hear is another link:
http://www.burchbottle.com/
Great! I was hoping for more packaging and label links. It's added in - thanks!


How about a category for other types of supplies and materials we use, but aren't unique to the maple industry, e.g. Grainger, McMaster-Carr, etc.?
I've been undecided on that since I started this thing. I know both, and a couple of other companies, have been referenced repeatedly here on Maple Trader but then again, so has Rubbermaid. Perhaps the way to go is to add them into Equipment & Supplies and if we end up with more than just a couple listings I can add a Hardware category or something like that. It's the same problem I'm having with a series of links for timber frame builders that do sugar shacks. Always appreciate the feed back and ideas...

[ToadHill]

If you do a category for timberframers that build sugarhouses please include www.BlueLineBarn.com. They are the ones that just built my new sugarhouse frame and they are great.

Also, I've seen several mentions on here for Joe from Atlantic. I believe it was for RO membranes and maybe UV lights. Don't know the exact name of the company or web address.

Thanks again.

[BryanEx]

You da man ToadHill. I completely forgot about Atlantic RO. I've added them in and already received a very nice email from Joe Pasulka. I've also had a couple of people exchange links with Sugarbush Info so that's great too. Look out Google... here we come. :)

Still undecided on a category for timber frame construction ( may be too specialized for the directory) but will save your link until I can make up my mind on that one.

[mapleman3]

Spectacular!

[SV Sugarer]

Thanks for your hard work Bryan. I've added your site to my links page.

[BryanEx]

Thanks for your hard work Bryan. I've added your site to my links page.

Thanks very much SV Sugarer. I've added your site to the Featured Links so that your listing will always be listed first in your category. Much appreiated.

- Bryan

[jcb]

Looks great thanks for all your work

I saw a link for events and thought maybe a link for seminars where you can learn how to make syrup or fine tune the skills you have. Like the maple conferences with speakers on tubing and r/o's and thing like that.

Educational link?

[BryanEx]

600 maple links ! ( but I'm scraping the bottom of the sap bucket now). :)



I saw a link for events and thought maybe a link for seminars where you can learn how to make syrup or fine tune the skills you have. Like the maple conferences with speakers on tubing and r/o's and thing like that.

Great suggestion jcb and I'd love to have those kinds of resources listed. The difficulty is that seminars are typically posted on a web page - not a web site and only for a certain period of time. They are usually a page within someone else's web site like the sponsor or host organization (Your State Producer Association for example). The difficulty is that because it's just a web page it can be changed, outdated, or simply deleted at any point making the link in the directory obsolete or inaccurate with no way of me knowing. One of the things the programming for Sugarbush.Info does behind the scenes is to check each and every link listed every month to ensure it's still online but that is based on domain names.

That being said, I'd be happy to list seminars or conferences that are annual events and have been promoted on the same web page over time. When this year's event is over is it updated for next years? Unfortunately I have yet to find something like that online. Seminars or conferences are easiest promoted through the State Producers as they can easily add a link and then just delete it after the event has occurred.

[BryanEx]

"Sugarbush information" is now listed on Google.ca page 2 and Google.com page 3 and climbing. Make sure your maple web site is listed on www.Sugarbush.Info and include a link back to Sugarbush.Info for maximum results in your listing.

[Joni]

thank-you for including us
every bit of help is appreciated
Wayne and I started out in 2000 with a woodfired 2 x 6
now have a 3 x 10 oil fired much nicer
we have a fully stocked showroom with everything
from evaporators, used buckets, tubing,
and a basement full of MAINE cruchon jugs

[BryanEx]

My pleasure Joni! Given you don't have your link in your profile or signature line here on Maple Trader I must have found you through another source online. What is your web site btw?

I am also really pleased to announce the University of Maine maple extension has just added a link to sugarbush.info to their own web site which really helps with credibility online (still waiting to hear from several other universities I've written to last weekend). I expect to surpass 700+ different maple links by Sunday. :)

[Sugarmaker]

Bryan,
Many thanks from the Casbohm Family. Your review of our web site and suggestions has allowed us to make some positive changes and re freshened it too. We look forward to new folks finding us though Sugarbush info.
Thanks for your dedicated effort in the support of maple folks like us!
Regards,
Chris Casbohm

[Clan Delaney]

I am already seeing redirected traffic to my site from Sugarbush.info. Interestingly, most of that traffic isn't coming from the MA section of the site. That's because I added that reciprocal link to my own site and got the featured status. I'm only barely running a money making concern from my site. If you are, I would highly recommend doing the reciprocal link with Sugarbush.info. It's free and will definitely get you extra exposure.

[BryanEx]

Bryan,
Many thanks from the Casbohm Family. Your review of our web site and suggestions has allowed us to make some positive changes and re freshened it too. We look forward to new folks finding us though Sugarbush info.
Thanks for your dedicated effort in the support of maple folks like us!
Regards,
Chris Casbohm
My pleasure Chris and thanks so much for the kind words and support. I will also say I think what Adam did by using Google street view images on your directions page is brilliant! If anyone else would like tune-up suggestions on their web site the discussion thread can be found HERE (http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?p=127172#post127172). Just post your link and I'll take a look.


I am already seeing redirected traffic to my site from Sugarbush.info. Interestingly, most of that traffic isn't coming from the MA section of the site. That's because I added that reciprocal link to my own site and got the featured status.
What you are seeing now is just the start of what's still to come as I continue to hammer away at Google placement. I've attached a partial list of the search terms people used during the month of January that sent them to Sugarbush.Info and you can see it working. They were looking for something, couldn't find the actual web site, found Sugarbush.Info while looking... which in turn sent them on their way to what they were after in the first place. That's exactly what I want to do for everyone. If someone local is looking but not using the right words to find your web site, maybe they will find Sugarbush.Info instead and I can then send them on an express route to yours. Great to hear people are happy with the results only 4 weeks after the official launch and I also expect to break the 700 links mark within the next couple of days - 175 more maple web sites added since January 1.

[Sugarmaker]

Bryan,
When I look on your sight, find Pa and go to where I can see the description and thumbnail to the left, I see the number of clicks listed. Is that the same as folks who have opened our web site? Sorry for such a basic question.

I will let Adam know that you like the improved direction info on our site.
Regards,
Chris

[BryanEx]

...I see the number of clicks listed. Is that the same as folks who have opened our web site?
That's exactly right Chris. Clicks are the number of times visitors to Sugarbush.Info have visited your web site directly from the directory and each visitor is recorded in a log file so if the same person opens your site 5 times it still only counts as 1 "click" in the total.

[BryanEx]

Just a couple of quick updates given Sugarbush.Info has surpassed 700 different web site listings...

I've added an Updates page to list what I've added, changed, or simply messed up on. The link is at the bottom of every page in the footer.

I've added four new categories - North Carolina, Maple Regulations, Organic Certification, and Packaging & Labels. Bottles and labels were previously included in the Manufacturer category but started to get lost in the mix so I've moved them to be listed on their own.

University of Maine has added a link to Sugarbush.Info as a maple resource and I'm expecting both Proctor Research Centre and Cornell will be as well at some point in the near future but still no joy with any of the producer associations.

Sugarbush.Info is now the #1 listing on Google for the phrase "sugarbush information". I'm continuing to work on "sugarbush" and "maple syrup".

18 maple producers, 4 dealers, 3 manufactures, 1 university, (and a couple of chicken web sites :rolleyes: ) now link to our maple directory, that I know about, and it's averaging 50 unique visitors a day and growing.

Google indexed the site over 1700 times during the month of January and have already surpassed 600 times for February which means they are really interested in all the maple producer web sites we have listed.

- Bryan

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Just a bump for those who haven't seen this. I went looking for it and it was a few pages down.

[BryanEx]

Special thanks to Dr. Tim Perkins for adding a link to Sugarbush.Info to the Proctor Maple Research web site and to the Maine University Maple Extension. I am still working on Cornell but currently they have broken links all over the place including their own home page link and keep telling me they will address them ASAP.

After reviewing the stats from the maple season I'm really surprised at the number of schools that accessed the site. Some of this would be maple producers or personal searches but I think most would be for class trips or the like. If you had new business or feed back from Sugarbush.Info please let me know. I personally had three inquiries and two new customers based on Google searches that listed Sugarbush.Info which in turn became sales (make your own syrup). It would be nice to know it made a difference for at least a few folks before I spend the bucks on adding the zip code search function.

- Bryan

[BryanEx]

New categories added for Custom Fabricators and Services. With regards to services, I am really open to other suggestions to help add to the listings (I only have two so far).

- Bryan

[BryanEx]

Well... it took ten months to do it but I have finally passed 800 maple websites on Sugarbush.Info. I was hoping to have 1,000 indexed by the one year mark but there's no way I'll make that but I also don't doubt they are out there... somewhere. Thanks to everyone that has submitted their own web site, given me tips about others, or helped to come up with better descriptions for the listings.

- Bryan

[Josh Nickles]

Thank you Brian. Thanks for all the hard work for the maple world!

[BryanEx]

Thank you Josh... I do appreciate that. It has been interesting to watch my web site stats over the past year and I was surprised to see that for about 10 months a year it was mostly sugar makers looking to source things that visited the site with the other two months being consumers looking for a sugarbush. It's that "need to the maple industry" that I am looking to develop without duplicating the efforts here on Maple Trader. There are still several areas that I feel need addressing but I will wait for the time being until I see what expansion plans are in the works here.