Post #100 - BDK Anniversary

Tomorrow will mark an entire year since my first post upon the creation of this blog. This is also my 100th post (including a few news/update posts) which makes it really easy for me to do the math and say I average a post roughly every 3.65 days or so. I'm happy with that. I never really had much intentions for this other than to practice writing in a forum that was comfortable and familiar, and sort of give a little justification and reasoning behind why I love certain records. You see, I have a tendency to lose interest in things. Lack of self discipline along with laziness and a short attention span don't really pave the way for a lasting relationship with writing an online blog. But I didn't think anyone would actually read it either. Sometimes I get to the point where I haven't really heard anything that I found interesting enough to write about, or I'm getting tired of trying to explain the same things in as many different ways as possible. I get frustrated. I get tired. And I'll leave it for a week or so and go onto other things. Then I'll get a little e-mail or Facebook message from someone (sometimes I know them, sometimes I don't), or someone will come up to me at a show and say "hey man, I like your reviews. good stuff."

That's all it takes. My neurons kick into gear and music sounds the way it's supposed to and I can hear the little things I like to hear again. Soon enough there is a few more posts walking out the front door and onto the front page, on their way towards the archive like a cowboy in a sunset.

My point is that it's you guys that decide how much time I put into this, and so far, you've all kept me above water. Good job. In one year I've managed to write pages and pages of reviews, some good, some bad. I interviewed someone I genuinely respect and listen to often. I guest-wrote for another local blog. I had a pretty good year. I did a few things that were out of my comfort zone, and it didn't go so bad.

Now, you might be wondering how much traffic I actually get. According to my counter I have 2645 hits. That counts actual hits to the main page and, I think, people who read it in an RSS feeds (I haven't really gotten the hang of it yet). Now, that's not a whole lot. but what I do know is that it took roughly 8 months to get 1000 hits, which means the next 1645 came in the last four months. That's progress.

The truth is, I have no legitimate way to gauge how many people actually read this. Facebook hits don't get counted, and I know I get some readership there but whenever I see a hit from anywhere overseas I just imagine it's one of those bots that combs through thousands of websites a day searching for e-mails to send spam to. So I need your help.

For this next year, I would like to get a greater understanding of my readership, however little it may be. Is it only drummers who find this interesting? Do you want more interviews or should I stick to albums? Should I pack it up and call it a day?

Any interest at all is motivating to me which will in turn breed content, so without trying to self promote too much, but also not really giving a shit, I have created a Bloody Drum Knuckles Facebook Page for those interested enough to join. This will be used more for having an easy way to interact with everyone, and not so much for sending out mass messages and status updates. I'll probably update it every time there is a new post, or anytime something newsworthy pertaining to the subject matter comes up. I'll try not be too bothersome.

Join up and tell me, what would you like to see over the next year?

Come, sit with me,

let's talk.