As ChannelE2E nears its first-year anniversary since launch, plenty of folks want to know which headlines typically attract the most readers. With that thought in mind, here are the 10 stories, blogs and research links that generated the most page views and visits during the first half of 2016.
10. Top 100 Vertical Market MSPs (June): The section is only two weeks old, and it already ranks among our most visited areas on the site. MSPs -- and the vendors who serve them -- want to know exactly how to pursue vertical markets. Our list and associated research provides some key answers.
9. Kaseya Buys Vorex (February): As we said before... RMM meets PSA... yet again.
8. Dell Sells Services Business, Are Quest, SonicWall Next? (March): Readers were curious about Dell's decision to sell its IT services business. And this story had staying power because we planted the seeds that Quest and SonicWall also were for sale. Indeed, those have since been sold off as well.
7. Top 50 Cloud Monitoring and Management Tools (January): As customers move workloads to Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform, channel partners are seeking ways to manage those workloads. This has been a consistently popular read since we launched the page in early 2016.
6. Inside BlackBerry's Channel Strategy (June): Wait... what? BlackBerry? We were shocked to see so many readers flock to our exclusive coverage about BlackBerry's emerging channel partner strategy -- which is led by multiple Cisco veterans. But then again, today's BlackBerry is a bit like Apple in the 1990s -- desperate for a rebound, and still backed by a core group of fanatical users. And when Senior VP Alex Thurber shared his views with us, readers came running to the website.
5. 10 Managed Services Provider Predictions for 2016 (November 2015): Call it an "oldie but a goodie." We published this blog when ChannelE2E was only two months old. But readers keep checking it out to see what we predicted... and whether those predictions are now coming true.
4. Potential Buyers for Avaya (May): We're surprised to see so many readers tracking Avaya's potential sale. The company's future -- and its partner program -- hang in the balance.
3. ChannelE2E Webcasts (January): We launched the page -- predictably -- when we launched our Webcast business in Q1 2016. Readers now flock to the page daily to see when our next webcast is set to air. In response, After Nines Inc. CEO Amy Katz (aka my business partner) has doubled our planned webcast schedule for the second half of 2016...
2. Intel Layoffs (April): The latest blow to the PC industry and one of its creators. Intel put the best spin possible on the situation, stating that the company was pushing hard into cloud and IoT opportunities. But the layoff news attracted worldwide readership.
1. Cloud Market Share (February): Is Amazon Web Services really dominating the cloud market, or are rivals like Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform coming on strong? Yes, this is our best-read blog for the first half of 2016.
Overall, readers consumed 5,500 different pieces of ChannelE2E content in the first half of 2016 -- a massive number for an IT media website that's less than one year old. Thanks for your role in our growing community of readers, and for continuing the journey with us in the second half of 2016... an beyond.
