Most of us have heard about the rise in data centre construction here in Australia and around the world. The need for compute power is making data processing the main focus of big tech, construction companies, federal and state governments and feeding into local areas. This article from The Conversation states “To meet demand from artificial intelligence companies, some of the world’s largest data centres are planned for the outskirts of major Australian cities. Dozens more are planned“.
The Hemp Building Directory is a social enterprise and one of our primary goals is to champion hemp as a tool in managing carbon footprints and to sequester carbon. So we’ve put in a lot of work behind the scenes and migrated the website from a slow, offshore, ethically questionable data centre to Serversaurus.
Serversaurus has been providing 100% Australian web hosting since 2005, is B Corp Certified, offsets its operations power with Greenfleet, and practices 1% for the Planet by donating 1% of its revenue to environmental causes. Good for People, Planet and Productivity.
This helps us to further practice what we preach. And it has the added benefit for our users that it is super fast! During the migration phase we also optimised all images and processes which saves space and power.
We upgraded to a Pro WordPress theme which allowed for better navigation and general User Experience (UX) for visitors to the website using desktop or mobile. This has huge benefits to our contributing members. A faster, easier to navigate site means visitors will stay longer and gain further exposure to the benefits of building with hemp.
So this will compound consistent year on year growth. Data shows our Suppliers Directory alone has drawn over 11,000 impressions and nearly 500 clicks straight from Google search in the past year, sending that traffic directly to the businesses building this industry.
Year on year, month by month the Hemp Building Directory is coming up in more searches and seeing more and more visitors. In the past 12 months alone, active users on the site grew from 9,315 to 16,216 — a 74% increase year on year. Total engagement events (the clicks, scrolls, and page views that show real people actually using the site) climbed from 69,243 to 103,250, up 49%. The tireless work we do is making a difference.
What’s especially telling is where that growth is coming from. Australian visitors grew a healthy 20% over the same period, solid, steady local growth. Total growth outpaced that at 74% which shows visitors from the rest of the world are arriving faster than ever and demonstrating a global trend in hemp building.
Hemp building is quite literally becoming a global conversation, and HBD is increasingly the place people land when they go looking for it. And with this new system upgrade, Search and AI Engines will discover more content and feed that to people not just in Australia and around the world…so more people will choose to build with hemp.
Key Facts – bucking the data centre trend with benefits for people, pant and productivity
- 74% growth in active users year on year (9,315 → 16,216)
- 49% growth in total site engagement events (69,243 → 103,250)
- Australian traffic grew 20% along with international traffic showing a global trend
- The Suppliers Directory page alone generated 11,166 impressions and 488 clicks from Google search in the past 12 months
- Site migrated to Serversaurus — 100% Australian, B Corp Certified, carbon-offset, 1% for the Planet hosting
- All site images optimised during migration, reducing server load and power consumption
- Upgraded to a Pro WordPress theme for improved navigation and user experience across desktop and mobile
Disclaimer
HBD do not warrant the quality or experience of anyone listed on this directory.
We have relied on the information provided by the business and its representatives.
This site is not intended to provide and does not constitute building advice, or other professional advice.
