The blog explosion for hot & spicy food has cooled
We were just going down our Blogroll for some of our favorite hot and spicy food site…only to realize that many of them have either morphed into something else or are dormant altogether. Don’t believe us? Consider this:
The Hot Sauce Blog is now a membership-only site that doesn’t carry nearly the volume of posts that it once did.
Flavor and Fire has been down for awhile, awaiting its rebirth in a new format.
FireDawg’s Salsa Blog and Mommy It Burns are deceased…or at least taking a extended Internet nap.
The Nando’s Blog is either membership-only, or also deceased.
Head Winder Licker still posts new stuff, but less frequently than was once the case.
Gotta give credit where it’s due, though. Taste the Fear and Rojo’s Gourmet Blog keep on posting on a pretty regular basis, and they keep the Internet public awash with stuff worth reading about the world of hot sauce and spicy fare.
With our posting having slowed a bit over the past few months, we had to reflect on the sad state of affairs in the blogging world amongst our hot & spicy brethren. Anyone care to comment?
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Commented at December 8, 2008- 4:02 pm
The drop in traffic is big. I try and check all the sights out everyday, looking for news or new markets. My sales are double this year to restaurants and distributors, but my web traffic is off 50%.
Peppers and More is pretty cutting edge but I don’t see much traffic. Hot Sauce blog is hard to navigate and I rarely see more than 1 or 2 people on it at a time. What’s up pepper people? What will spark a new interest?
Blue’s BBQ, Inc.
Commented at December 8, 2008- 8:16 pm
Steve…Thanks for the kind words..
We have also seen a little slow down on our site as well.I think at a time like this we should all stick together and try to help one another out.There are alot of great site out there and plenty of people to view them.Anything Peppers and More can do to help promote anyone site please let us know.We would like to see all the site work together to bring the viewers something new.Any ideas please let us know…
JBJ
Commented at December 9, 2008- 12:34 am
Head Winder Licker.
Commented at December 9, 2008- 11:11 am
“Any ideas please let us know…”
A pepper pie eating compatition! I Like Pie……OH! OH! I know, we can get a monkey and dress him up in knee high fishnet stalkings. Then we’ll strap him with duct tape to the back of an old plane and having him hold a banner with our websites on them. We can fly him around to the various Defcon Wing Eating Competitions for all the world to see!
Commented at December 9, 2008- 11:57 am
I can only speak for myself but right now I’m dedicating my efforts to keep my 8 to 5 real paying job so I haven’t been on much lately. Also, the economy stuff has ruffled my attitude in a bad way and I thought I’d spare everyone on the blogs from my doom & gloom state of mind.
Commented at December 9, 2008- 1:28 pm
Joe & Linda, you guys deserve a ton of credit for doing what you do here on your site as well. Keep up the GREAT work!
If I may, I’d like to mention that you check out http://www.hotsaucedaily.com. Brian is the site owner/admin, and he’s also doing a fine job of keeping the fiery food spirit alive. Hell, he did an article about the miscreants on Taste The Fear, so he can’t be too bad of a guy.
Cheers!
Cap’n
Commented at December 9, 2008- 3:14 pm
Yeah, everyone’s noticed this. Interest is down in hot sauce. I don’t have a reason why; perhaps hot sauce and hot sauce collectables have just peaked. There used to be too many hot sauces to pick through; now there are too many GOOD hot sauces. I feel like I’ve tried every sauce out there; and there’s nothing new to find. The NAGA helped make it through 2008! What’s going to be the “new” in hot sauces next year? Even Blair’s gone the way of using semi-celebrity (some rock band dude) to help sell sauces. The market’s demand for new information on new sauces is out paced by the new supply of all the good sauces these days. No supplier can grow large enough anymore. Dreaming of being a hot sauce maker and making millions is a dead end dream.
And that’s my thoughts.
Commented at December 9, 2008- 3:43 pm
I think it’s a “back to basics” approach that will get things going again. Blair’s reserves were a simple thing, and not costly. The value was in the novelty and rarity of the items. Now they’re a dime a dozen it seems.
I think the key to the blogs is to just keep it up. Provide useful info and a welcoming enviroment for people to visit. Forget flash, glitz, and gimmicks. K-I-S-S. Keep it simple stupid. TTF and The Hot Zone Online do a great job and are my favorite sites to visit, slow or not.
Oh, and Passow,
TMI bro.
Commented at December 9, 2008- 6:45 pm
I can only speak for myself.
It seems that the market is cooling. Has it peaked? I don’t know. Is it because the hot sauce world is going mainstream, maybe.
For me, it’s a case of I’m just so gosh-darned busy, I barely have time to keep up with my other marketing, never mind blog writing.
I’ll see if I can’t get some good writing done during the coming Christmas holidays!
In the meantime… Sales tell me that even if they’re not writing about hot sauce, they’re still very much eating it!
Commented at December 9, 2008- 6:51 pm
Ditto Tina:
My sales are up and time to review/blog is down.
Bluesbbq
http://www.bluesbbq.net
Commented at December 10, 2008- 1:12 pm
Hi all, i think link swaping would be a great idea to get more web exposure/traffic,i know google is quite big on links, if anybody would like to exchange links i’ll be up for it.
http://www.firefoods.co.uk
Commented at December 10, 2008- 5:37 pm
Hey Woody, I’ll trade links with you for my personal site ( http://www.mulletman.org ). Shoot me an email.
Commented at December 10, 2008- 10:55 pm
I’m in the same boat as Steve and Tina. Add 4 kids into the mix and you have not much time left on your hands.
Commented at December 11, 2008- 11:59 am
Time? What’s that? I just wander aimlessly through the ethereal plane.
I will have to agree with the majority, our sales are way up, but it’s interesting how many sites are very slow now. I think after the holidays are all over, and the New Year’s hangovers have subsided, things will begin to pick up. FFS is in February this year, so I think discussions will become lively soon.
Commented at December 12, 2008- 12:08 am
Hi Joe & Linda,
We have been slammed filling over 100 retail orders a day! Unfortunately this has slowed the blogging down a bit. Fortunately, once the holiday rush is over we will be back to reporting as usual. Keep up the awesome job you guys are doing! I make it a point to check you guys out every night!
Commented at December 12, 2008- 10:50 am
“I think after the holidays are all over, and the New Year’s hangovers have subsided, things will begin to pick up”
New Years hangovers? I don’t limit my hangovers to just one day….
Commented at December 14, 2008- 9:26 am
Joe & Linda: Since you’re mentioning “dormant” links in your blogroll, I tried clicking on Angry Pepper Graphix in your list. Seems the site is gone.
Anyone know where Ryan & Angry Pepper are now?
@Cap’n – thanks for the mention.
Brian
Commented at December 14, 2008- 10:13 am
Yeah, we realized that APG is gone as well. We know that Ryan is still alive & well out in Oregon, but APG kinda faded into oblivion over time. I think we still have an email for him, so you can shoot us a msg thru our contact page if you want it.
Commented at December 14, 2008- 11:24 pm
I’m not sure about traffic on other sites, but HotSauceBlog.com quite frankly sucks nowadays with it’s new site structure. They should have just left well enough alone, but they’ve abandoned their regular site with an easy-to-follow blog and instead went with a “social networking” model that is both unintuitive, hard-to-understand and useless.
Commented at December 15, 2008- 12:07 am
Yeah, we kinda shook our heads in disbelief at the changes in the HSB. It went from being a very inclusive site to a very exclusive one, and seems to be a pale shadow of its former self. We understand some of the reasons why a change was needed, but the new format is almost non-usable to the casual web surfer and difficult at best for those of us who spend any time surfing our fave hot & spicy food sites.
Commented at December 22, 2008- 4:37 pm
Great post, I think I’ll stay clear of this one…. Well almost, Its funny how the Truth has changed his Horns in for Wings (Must be the new site) LOL
I think I just threw up in my Mouth.
Commented at December 22, 2008- 4:38 pm
Merry Christmas
Commented at December 24, 2008- 4:54 pm
“”"Great post, I think I’ll stay clear of this one…. Well almost, Its funny how the Truth has changed his Horns in for Wings (Must be the new site) LOL
I think I just threw up in my Mouth.”"”"
Looking forward to your many insightful posts on your site Laime..Keep up the great work that you have been doing over there.great reading when you need a good laugh..
Stop by peppers and more we got something for you
Commented at December 29, 2008- 7:58 pm
Thats what the site is for a good laugh, most of the time your the main subject.. But you are a Joke so thats why its posted… LOL,
Still waiting on the threat you did a few Months back, oh wait that was a lie also. Go Climb back under your rock and your right on one thing I will see you one day.
And for your site or for your partner’s site (We all know your to slow to create or run your own site), remember you can’t polish a turd no matter how much you try.
Commented at December 29, 2008- 8:00 pm
Also thanks for checking out the site, yours on the other hand I’ve not taking the time, go figure.
Commented at December 30, 2008- 12:10 pm
Lamie…
What is funnier then you taking the time to create a site just for me is your thinning hair line…
As far as meeting you some day!!! Your threats are like your hair… far and few bettween.But hey,, ever in jersey let me know
And your right it does take two people to bring such a great site like ours to our members.