How do I attract more visitors to my cache?

[+thatbrowncat]

I have hidden 4 geocaches.(My newest one today) I've tried to make them appealing and check on them periodically. I am in a rural area, but there are lots of rural caches in this part of the state. I have few finds since I hid the oldest ones from August.

 

Some of the caches around here, unfortunately, are forgotten, neglected caches and I fear that has turned people off to my area. There are a few geocachers that do maintain their caches, but I'm trying to increase traffic and give people a reason to stop off here.

 

Do you have any suggestions? Will they eventually come... especially if I hide a few more that will make it worth the trip?

 

Tips appreciated.

[+L0ne.R]

I have hidden 4 geocaches.(My newest one today) I've tried to make them appealing and check on them periodically. I am in a rural area, but there are lots of rural caches in this part of the state. I have few finds since I hid the oldest ones from August.

 

Some of the caches around here, unfortunately, are forgotten, neglected caches and I fear that has turned people off to my area. There are a few geocachers that do maintain their caches, but I'm trying to increase traffic and give people a reason to stop off here.

 

Do you have any suggestions? Will they eventually come... especially if I hide a few more that will make it worth the trip?

 

Tips appreciated.

 

I've been to towns where the majority of caches were a mess, and yes it did put me off visiting again.

You might try posting Needs Maintenance logs where needed, then watch those caches for a month and post Needs Archive logs if there's no response from the cache owner(s). A town with quality caches is attractive. I've often planned 2nd and 3rd trips to areas that have a quality cache hider(s).

[+captnemo]

I have hidden 4 geocaches.(My newest one today) I've tried to make them appealing and check on them periodically. I am in a rural area, but there are lots of rural caches in this part of the state. I have few finds since I hid the oldest ones from August.

 

Some of the caches around here, unfortunately, are forgotten, neglected caches and I fear that has turned people off to my area. There are a few geocachers that do maintain their caches, but I'm trying to increase traffic and give people a reason to stop off here.

 

Do you have any suggestions? Will they eventually come... especially if I hide a few more that will make it worth the trip?

 

Tips appreciated.

 

I've been to towns where the majority of caches were a mess, and yes it did put me off visiting again.

You might try posting Needs Maintenance logs where needed, then watch those caches for a month and post Needs Archive logs if there's no response from the cache owner(s). A town with quality caches is attractive. I've often planned 2nd and 3rd trips to areas that have a quality cache hider(s).

I agree with Lone.R Use the NM and NA where needed to clean up the area but don't become cache police.

 

I checked out your caches and they look like ones I would look for if I was local or passing through. Be sure and continue the close maintenance of the one cache that went missing.

[+dprovan]

My first suggestion is not to worry about specific caches. Appreciate the visits you get, and make sure people that do visit are pleased. That's really what being a CO is all about, not about volume.

 

It looks and sounds like your volume is mainly caused by your location: not a lot of COs and not a lot of seekers. Planting more caches can help that as long as you don't compromise quality, and if the quality of other COs' caches is a problem, improving that quality caches through NMs and NAs, as others have suggestion, is also a good idea.

 

But you might also want to work on community building. In addition to appropriate NMs and NAs, just talk to the other cachers to show them you stand for well maintained caches. Hold events so the geocachers in the area can meet each other to encourage a more active geocaching neighborhood.

 

If I were in your shoes, I'd be more interested is encouraging more caches by others that I can find and less interested in how many people visited my caches, but the important observation is that community building works on both problems at the same time.

[+K13]

How many active geocachers are local to your area? If the number is small (I count about 10 in my local area), it may be a while before there is interest from those farther away. When caches are out in the hinterlands, it usually takes several unfound caches to bring non-locals to your cache.

 

Keep placing the quality caches and finders will come.

[+Zepp914]

Other ways to increase traffic to your caches:

 

1. Place TBs you find in your caches

2. Put a bunch of caches close together. High numbers cachers travel to places with high yields.

3. Place caches Just Off Exits (JOE) of major highways.

[+dprovan]

Other ways to increase traffic to your caches:

 

1. Place TBs you find in your caches

2. Put a bunch of caches close together. High numbers cachers travel to places with high yields.

3. Place caches Just Off Exits (JOE) of major highways.

I doubt this was your intention, but I can imagine someone posting this list as a sarcastic comment on the state of geocaching. I don't mean to belittle the suggestions, since I agree these are valid ideas for increasing traffic that can all be done well. But #1 seems like as a cheap trick, and many people see #2 and #3 being the harbingers of junk caches. So if you're going to follow this advice, strive to do it in a way that proves those people wrong.

[+ecanderson]

Being quite a distance from any major population center, there won't be a lot of 'local' cachers to visit your area, so you'll either have to provide caches that are 'on the way to somewhere' or caches with such appeal as to cause cachers to make your area an actual 'destination'. The latter will require not only some creativity on your part, but also some time as word gets out that there's something there worth the extra miles for the visit.

[+Zepp914]

Other ways to increase traffic to your caches:

 

1. Place TBs you find in your caches

2. Put a bunch of caches close together. High numbers cachers travel to places with high yields.

3. Place caches Just Off Exits (JOE) of major highways.

I doubt this was your intention, but I can imagine someone posting this list as a sarcastic comment on the state of geocaching. I don't mean to belittle the suggestions, since I agree these are valid ideas for increasing traffic that can all be done well. But #1 seems like as a cheap trick, and many people see #2 and #3 being the harbingers of junk caches. So if you're going to follow this advice, strive to do it in a way that proves those people wrong.

 

I wasn't being sarcastic, I was being realistic. I agree with everything you said, but the game is the game. I am usually someone who prefers going for a regular sized cache that requires a hike, but I am very guilty of grabbing a #3 when passing through with my family. If the hiders goal is to get as many finds as possible, there is nothing stopping him or her from putting out a quality JOE cache. In fact, one of the best letterboxes hybrids (GC39DDR) I have done was at a rest stop in North Carolina.

 

As for #2, I believe the area with the most favorite points consists of thousands of film canisters in a desert every 10th mile for hundreds of miles. That isn't how I like to cache, but I realize I am probably in the minority.

Edited November 6, 2015 by Zepp914

[+geodarts]

Hide caches you want to find and the number of finders will take care of themselves.

 

Apart from caches I do as part of a hike, bike, or kayak, I rarely stop for a traditional unless there is something about the location that makes it interesting to visit - history, a photo op, or something unusual. The title or a nicely written description may get my interest. I am more likely to notice a letterbox or Wherigo. For other people, it might be a matter of numbers. So figuring who are you trying to attract may be a good place to start.

 

One of my old (archived) caches had the highest number of finders for any traditional in the state because it was placed near a major tourist attraction - and was designed to give people a nice place to take a break from the area where there was a lot of hustle. But the caches I have placed that I like the best may only be found once a year, if that.

Edited November 6, 2015 by geodarts