On my Knysna websites, there have been a whopping 473 045 words posted the past 2 and a half years. Although difficult times desperately need sponsorship, i’m glad to say that every single advert posted so far was done so for free – the goal has been to help those in Knysna who are making Knysna a better, stronger town.

With so much on the go, money regularly drying up and this mostly a 1-man show, the challenge in 2013 was deciding what to give focus to and what to let go. I opted to push political and social issues in Knysna as no one else is filling that role online. The downside is that these are labour intensive and can never get the easy readership that, for example, photos and jokes can… and one serious article could be the length of a dozen light-hearted ones. The downside, consequently, is that stats, overall, suffered, but the upside was radically increasing readership on topics that matter most.

Furthermore, i wanted to translate words into actions so started the volunteer association, Love Knysna Projects. This also took time away from blogging but was well worth it! We accomplished a lot and gave so many kids smiles.

I tried, and succeeded, in compensating for less ‘happy’, website blogging with many more Facebook posts. The other goal was to gain more non-white subscribers so as to better represent all of Knysna. That has been remarkable successful as views have increased there to approximately 40 000 per month and new subscribers have being more evenly spread across cultures.

Here’s a summary of what was popular on my websites:

Knysna Keep
“Tik” remained the most searched for topic on Knysna Keep, surprisingly beating the Kianu Satu beaching at Buffalo Bay which came in second. Knysna Tourism, the Knysna Municipality and the ISDF tender topics obviously in the top mix.

Most popular people were me as “Wicked Mike”, “Shaun van Eck”, “Kay Sexwale”, “Lauren Waring”, “Greg Vogt”, “Michelle Wasserman”, and “Baden Hall”.

It may have been posted late in the year but it’s possible that ‘Dear Helen Zille, My Disappointment’ may become the most popular blog by year end.

Love Knysna!
“Knysna” was obviously the popular search term but, more specifically, “things to do in Knysna” (and variants) came a close second. There was also interest in our suburbs with Knysna Central and Rheenendal being favoured most.”Pezula” was in the mix too. Searchers also enjoyed the “Knysna Loerie Bird”, “Knysna History”, the “Kiani Satu” and various jokes. Supporting others is important so seeing many visitors clicking through to other local businesses was a pleasure. The luckiest were Judah Square, TripAdvisor, Featherbed, Rouviere’s Coffee, Noetzie, Red Barn, Brenton Blue and Ceramics & Mosaics.

Knysna Crime Watch
The most popular search terms involved Bernice Hodgson and James Warwick which were represented by ‘KnysnaRent.com’s Bonny & Clyde’ an ‘The Vampires of Knysna’. This deserves a part 3 which i will try provide in January 2014.

Rosemary Theron’s murder, allegedly by her daughter, Phoenix Theron, and her daughter’s boyfriend, Kyle Maspero came in second. Out of respect to the families, and as there was more emotion and accusations than facts, i never went into detail on this story but i will as more evidence comes to light.

Other popular blogs were ‘Surprise Robbery at Knysna Traffic’, ‘9-Year Old Girl Murdered in Knysna’, ‘Knysna Traffic Cops’, ‘Green Mamba Speed Cameras’, ‘Violence at Knysna High School’, ‘Crime Stats in Knysna’ and Adrian Wilson Forbes who was surprisingly acquitted of all sex charges.

Polls expressed disappointment with efforts to combat crime in Knysna and clearly showed that the public are scared of the police who are suppose to protect them. Overwhelmingly, 98% of 382 voters said that marijuana should be legalised.

Love Knysna Projects
So much accomplished here from the census of Judah Square to many kids’ trips across Knysna. Will explain all this in detail in a separate blog. Volunteers make this happen! Consider becoming one and not only help others but yourself as you experience Knysna with us:)

Knysna Website Design
That Sweetpacks blog from 2012 is finally cooling down but gained another 133 000 views this year, bringing the total, until now, to 178 000 – crazy, hey (but a lot of people around the world were helped). Several thousand people found a Google Maps plugin fix handy too.

There was no gain this year. I lost customers and gained others.

Knysna Schools
Participating schools remain a challenge. There’s worryingly a lot of apathy, laziness and false promises amongst educators.

This is more a directory website than a blog site but popular news included the ‘Alleged Sexual Assault by a Primary School Teacher in Knysna’ and the press release, ‘Western Cape Matric Pass Rates Up!’. My favourite news was that Kudzai Sibanda, a pupil from Concordia High coming second in a provincial speech contest. He went on to 2nd place in the national finals.

The pages for Oakhill School and Percy Mdala remained the most visited directory listings.

Judah Square
This is not my website as it was a present to the Rasta community of Knysna but since i made it, compiled the info (with help from Sista Kerri), did the copywriting, update it and have worked a lot with the kids there, i can’t help but feel like it’s my baby too:) There’s more that i, and Brother Maxi (the community leader), want to achieve with it so he’ll be meeting me soon to achieve such. It’s up to a thousand page views per month with many of those visiting the tour page which satisfies the goal of aiding community fundraising.

I can’t plan 2014 fully as there’s exhaustion and always financial restraints but i’ve proved to myself where there’s a will there’s a way. I certainly want to increase the projects on the ground so blogging likely to suffer from that but if there’s people alongside me then the blogging will have achieved one of it’s primary goals which is to work together towards making Knysna stronger.

Please keep sharing posts and inviting friends and family to be subscribers. And not only join the Love Knysna Facebook but subscribe to the monthly newsletter.

I’m looking forward to the holidays’ so that i can catch up on all the work i’m behind but i’m hoping you have stacks of fun and rest so that i see you back here in 2014.

Thank you for your support in 2013!!!