Do you use the "Also On Grassroots Motorsports" sidebar?

We've had the new site for a little over 2 months now, so many of you are now likely accustomed to it. I figure now's a good time to ask about how you're using it.

Part of the reason the "Also On..." section exists in the left-hand sidebar is because a large portion of our site traffic is you people visiting our forum. The goal with it was to make some of you aware of what else we do here--especially if you don't enter the site through the front page.

So, since the redesign, do you find yourself reading more online articles or getting more engaged with the rest of the site? Or is it about the same as before? ...

My ADHD pretty much keeps my eyes glued to the forum, but my partner that is sometimes sitting here with me looks and yells, "OH CLICK THAT"! (speaking of the articles on the left bar)

Nope, same as before.

The what?

Yeah, i click things over there from time to time. Usually project car things.

(Just read the Z car update.)

Generally speaking, no.

If you have Google Analytics installed you can check the flow of traffic from the forum into other parts of the site - including in-page analysis of where people are clicking.

I haven't clicked there.

I have. I've been looking at more articles and car reviews due to the sidebar.

I have, but normally browse through the classicmotorsports.net home so that their articles pop up to browse on the side links since i don't subscribe to classic (yet)

I did not know it was there. The paper copy of GRM is where I read articles and what not.

Another +whatever on the articles. I'm not a big fan of reading fixed content at leisure online, so I read the actual magazine when I want to read the magazine. I almost never - really, never - visit the actual site part of GRM. Occasionally I will look up a new car review or something, but that's rare. You could reduce the size of the sidebar in half and still give me all the info I need there.

No.

Yeah I view more news articles there that I might have otherswise missed.

The only thing I use over there with any regularity is the 'Featured Reader's Ride' link.

DaveEstey wrote: Generally speaking, no. If you have Google Analytics installed you can check the flow of traffic from the forum into other parts of the site - including in-page analysis of where people are clicking.

We do have Google Analytics. I wanted anecdotal as well, because numbers don't always point very clearly. There's a lot of noise.

I don't. I check the GRM main page if I feel like looking for new online stories. The sidebar just makes the forum discussion boxes narrower, so it actually annoys me a bit.

That said, I'm used to it and rarely even notice it's there....

I saw the stuff over there, but never looked closely enough to know what it was. Now that I know, I still probably won't look at it.

Not really...

I could be missing stuff because of an inaccurate impression, but it seems like the web tidbits are rarely in much depth, so I tend to just read the mag and not look at the sidebar.

I can't say I've never clicked it; I read a BMW review from there recently.

Of course, I also subscribe to some mishmash of GRM emails and RSS feeds, so it's unusual that I'll notice something on the sidebar I haven't already had pointed out.

In case it's useful, the sidebar, RSS, and emails all tend toward the point at the top of my post: the web bonuses are rarely up my alley, regardless of how I find them.

I do recognize that making the web bonuses all the stuff too crunchy/technical/in-depth for the magazine would be a spectacular way of spending a huge amount of time getting a tiny number of eyeballs...

No

Rarely, but more than never.

Not much at all.

What do you mean? There is no clutter on the left of http://m.grassrootsmotorsports.com

It's one of the reasons I like it. That, and the "Jump To" links at the bottom. And the "Jump To" and "Post Topic" buttons at the top (ducks)

no change for me.

I read the article about the staffer learning to drive a standard, was curious about Tims article about starting the magazine and found out its a podcast. Pod people are scary to me but I am a Luddite.

Woody wrote: The what?

This. I didn't even know it's there. I've hated the left side menu since it appeared years ago, I've learned to tune it out.