The State of the Site

I can’t believe it has been over four years since I started Siteline, and I remain delighted by the reception. The audience keeps growing: in 2023, the website had a monthly average of 159,000 page views from 50,000 users, and the email newsletter increased its subscriber base from  4,300 to 6,200. And there are now 11,800 followers on Instagram (up from 8,700).

Thank you for reading! And for the nice comments. And a huge thank you to everyone who advertises. Siteline would not exist without you.

Without further ado, here are the most-read posts published in 2023 (and keep scrolling for answers to common questions about Siteline):
1. Oprah Winfrey’s Creek Construction Makes Downstream Neighbors Nervous
2. A Popular L.A. Deli Is Coming to Santa Barbara

3. A Wave of Change Is Headed for Montecito
4. Ten Major Developments Set to Reshape Santa Barbara
5. The 35 Restaurants Expected to Open in Coming Months (from January)
6. Gala Brings Style and Buzz to Santa Barbara’s Restaurant Scene

7. Is Los Alamos Approaching a Tipping Point?
8. Inside the Floating Home Docked in the Harbor (and more on the listing here)

9. Ty Warner and Four Seasons Appear to Have a Deal
10. Third Window Is Opening in Carpinteria
11. Chick-fil-A Is Closed Until Late July
12. A New Chapter for The Palms Building in Carpinteria

13. The 32 Restaurants Expected to Open in Coming Months (from June)
14. Montecito’s New Shopping Center Is Coming Into Focus
15. Thomas Keller to Run the Coral Casino Restaurant
16. Big Carpinteria Development Lands Its First Retail Tenant

17. Revolver Is Opening a Sister Restaurant in Carpinteria
18. A New Chapter for a Santa Barbara Institution (The Harbor Restaurant and Longboards)

19. The Flagship Restaurant at The Post Will Be…
20. San Roque’s Sunshine Cafe Is Moving to Goleta
21. A Visit to Mollie’s Italian Deli in Carpinteria
22. A Tough Nut to Crack in Goleta
23. Uptown Lounge Appears to Have Closed (it just quietly reopened)
24. A Review of the Inn at Mattei’s Tavern
25. First Impressions of Dang Burger

Judging from the questions I get asked, Siteline remains quite a mystery. In an effort to dispel some of that….

When did you start Siteline? And why?
I have to rewind a bit for this one. I was a magazine editor in New York City, and I loved it. Here’s something I don’t get to brag about very often ever: when I was editor of Budget Travel magazine, which no one in the industry had even heard of, we were nominated with The Economist, GQ, Wired, and National Geographic Adventure in the General Excellence category of the National Magazine Awards. We lost, but that’s not the point.

In 2008, forced to work for someone I did not respect, I quit, and then the economy tanked. Magazines were clearly dying. What to do next? I started a website, Tribeca Citizen, about my neighborhood, and I ran it for 10 years. When my husband and I moved to Santa Barbara, I sold it. I swore I wouldn’t do the same thing here, and at the beginning, Siteline was all about real estate. (We had spent two years looking for a house, so I thought I was an expert.) That lasted about a week, once I realized I didn’t know very much about real estate—I’ve learned a fair amount since—and that writing about it exclusively would be boring. Siteline evolved into what I, as a reader, wanted.

Is this your full-time job?
I don’t spend all day on it, but it’s the only thing I do for money.

Where do you live?
Montecito, in a house most anyone would describe as cute—i.e., a far cry from what probably comes to mind when you hear “Montecito.”

How big is your team?
For better and for worse, Siteline is a one-man band. I create the content, I sell the ads, I do the accounting (except when a spreadsheet is required, at which point my husband is drafted), and so on. In a perfect world, there would be a clear church/state divide between editorial and advertising, but the economics don’t support hiring a dedicated advertising salesperson.

Are you a real estate agent?
Absolutely not.

What do real estate agents think of Siteline?
They’ve almost always been nice to me. Occasionally, an agent complains about something I’ve written or insists I should only write positive things; others tell me to go harder. Many have told me they love it—although I suspect the feeling cools when I cover their listings. Which I totally understand! Their job is to represent the seller; they should have a protective instinct. The thing is, readers adore the honesty, and at the end of the day, when I write about real estate, my goal is to relay what I would want to know if I were considering a property.

How do you find out about so much?
Paying attention is my job. I make a point of looking as I drive or walk around the area, with special focus on businesses where I have reason to think change could be occurring, and I spend a lot of time on Instagram, where news often breaks these days. And people send me information, which makes everything so much easier. (Email [email protected] or text 917-209-6473; anonymity guaranteed.)

How do you decide what to cover?
I think I have a good sense of what’s interesting, along with a limited attention span—if I don’t want to read about something, I assume you won’t either. The compliment I receive most about Siteline is that it’s short. Not every writer’s dream, but I get it.

Do you get stuff for free?
To my husband’s chagrin, I almost never take anything for free. It hurts my pride to do so, because a lot of bloggers are only in it for the freebies. But there are times when it would be rude not to, so I try to get over it—but never in exchange for coverage. I don’t make a lot of money from this; my ethics are all I have. That said, I’m not above asking help for a restaurant reservation.

Do restaurants recognize you?
There are a few places where I’m known, typically because we’re frequent patrons. And sometimes they send out a dish—a good example of when I kind of have to say thanks and accept it. But generally, no.

Why don’t you expand to other areas, like Ojai or the Santa Ynez Valley?
Hyperlocal journalism, the way I do it, is impossible to scale without a loss in quality. Even if I could find people to create the content at an acceptable level, I couldn’t pay them enough to justify the hassle. And why wouldn’t they just go create their own sites?

Can I unsubscribe from the sponsored emails?
No, and if you unsubscribe from a marketing email, you’ll stop receiving the newsletter, too. I understand that email advertising can feel intrusive—that’s why it works—but Siteline’s business model is entirely based on advertising, and a good part of that is email blasts. Unless there’s a rich person who wants to subsidize an ad-free Siteline, with no editorial input, I have to make money somehow to warrant the time and energy I put into it. The emails are always related to a local business, if it’s any consolation.

I’m always grateful that people might want to read what I write, particularly when it’s about me, so thank you for making it this far. Suggestions and questions are genuinely welcome, either as comments on this post (anonymous is fine), by replying to the email newsletter, or via email or text.

Sincerely,

Erik Torkells
917-209-6473
[email protected]

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