Bulls Website Racks Up Surfers

The Durham Bulls broke a record for paid attendance at their home base in downtown Durham last season; this year they are well on the way to breaking the record for visitors to the Bulls site on the World Wide Web. The new and improved version of the Bulls' website (www.durhambulls.com) launched in late March of 2002, right as their 100th anniversary season began.

From February 6 to December 31, 2001 the Bulls site had 1,962,536 page views, and average of 5,965 per day, and 121,739 unique visitors. This year, from January 1 to May 19, 2002, the site had 1,384,084 page views, an average of 9,957 per day, and 67,495 unique visitors. At this rate, the Bulls are at 70.5% of last years 11-month total for page views and 55.4% of last year's unique visitors total. If the Bulls continue at this pace, they will surpass 2001's page view total in mid-June.

The new site offers easy to navigate ticket information, more up-to-date promotional information and a variety of multi-media features.

"These are things that sound simple, but all teams don't do them," said Bulls Director of Media Operations Aaron Bare. "Our PR department does a great job."

DesignHammer Media Group re-designed the Bulls Website with the help of Bare and other Bulls personnel. Bare provided the information and structure, and DesignHammer provided the art and put the package together.

The site focuses on the ballpark and the atmosphere of family-friendly minor league baseball. The new site provides "really decent, solid ticket info," according to Bare; both individual tickets and mini-plans can be purchased online. The site also offers fun items like a Wool E. Bull screensaver and 100th anniversary Bulls wallpaper for fans to download.