If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mouse-trap, than his neighbor, though he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
One million page views, that is. At about 15:15 UTC yesterday, I reached a total of one million hits since I started the blog just over 27 months ago. This is significant not only because 1,000,000 is one of those nice, satisfying round numbers and the gateway to a higher order of magnitude, but also because it’s the number I arbitrarily set in my own mind (about two years ago when I hit the 10,000 mark) to consider this blog a success. In many ways, it’s been successful for a long time, at least since reporters started calling me for prostitution facts rather than some prohibitionist; but one can’t really consider one’s work a success until one is satisfied with it oneself, and meeting a long-term goal is an important part of that (for me, anyway).
It’s funny how one’s perceptions of what constitutes “good” change over the development of a project like this. For the first four months, I was rather excited if I got 100 hits a day; now that’s a typical hour. In November of 2010 I experienced my first surge in traffic, more than tripling my number of visitors from the previous month for a total of 7893 hits; on this past September 26th I did nearly that many (7801) in one day when someone on Reddit posted a link to one of my columns with the statement “Today I learned Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of prostitutes.” Incidentally, that boosted the St. Nick column from a relatively minor one to the 5th most popular of all time, a testimony to the power of Reddit that I find very humbling considering that this was only one of dozens of topics on a single section of that site; my best day ever was only a tiny fraction of its traffic.
My next goal is, as you might expect, 10 million total hits, which I’ll reach in four to six years if my future rate of growth is similar to my past rate. Of course, there is no real way to predict blog growth; my daily rate was virtually stagnant all last year, only to surge several times since the beginning of this one. There’s really no way to know which events (such as an anonymous Redditor posting a link or a popular journalist sending a “tweet”) will result in momentary surges, nor what fraction of any given surge will become regular readers; if there were I’m sure the SEO spammers would be all over it like white on rice.
Even if there were such a magic blog traffic formula, I’d have no more use for it than I had for my friends’ well-meaning suggestions on how I could trick Google into finding my writings more effectively by giving them ugly, cumbersome titles or spending more time tagging the posts than writing them. I’d rather expend my effort on creating interesting, informative posts which appeal to my own sense of aesthetics, and then trust Emerson’s mouse-trap effect to create a beaten path to my blog, written each day from a house which is indeed located out in the woods.
Whoo-hoo! Congratulations.
Speaking as a regular reader, it’s impossible for me to say what I like best about this blog: your no-waffling acceptance of the male gender, your well-conceived philosophy, your articulate expression of that philosophy, or your “Where did she find that?” illustrations.
You may appreciate the placeholder illustration I used from my first posting of the column until I had the screencap to put in its place.
Finally a picture I can ID. That’s from the movie “One Million B.C.,” starring Raquel Welch.
And even back then they had designer clothing!
Congratulations, Maggie. I discovered your blog after reading a comment you posted on the Agitator over a year ago. I am a libertarian leaning former independent escort and reading your blog has helped me feel less alone in the world. Thank you for your dedication to the cause of educating the public about sex work. I often recommend your blog to people who are misinformed about who we are and to anyone interested in reading damn good writing. Your success is well-deserved.
Thank you, Brooke, both for the kind words and the recommendations! 🙂
Congratulations! Yours is a much needed voice in the media howl.
Congratulations, Maggie. Wonderful, magical, and absolutely deserved! I’m a fan. And by the wa, Saint Nicholas is the patron of Amsterdam, and the Old Church (1307), dedicated to Saint Nick, is and has always been the heart of the blossoming Amsterdam Red Light District! The women work at 100 yards distance.
Congrats. May it be an interesting vault to 10 million.
Congrats, Maggie! You’ve certainly helped me make sense of some of the things rattling inside my head that I could barely form into coherent thoughts. Let’s see, getting you to 10 million….Oh! Live-blogging debate with Nicholas Kristof!
I want to sell popcorn for that one! I’ll even cut a deal with somebody who can make it on top of the stove.
Something tells me that we wouldn’t get through even half a bag. KO, first round!
You’re probably right. We need to sell popcorn before the battle begins.
Congrats!!! I am putting your site on my Hunger Strike Blog and asking people to visit. You are proof that no matter what the issue, if you take the time to actually look into it, most likely you will find it’s worth investigating and doing something about!!!
Not much to add to previous comments (or my earlier praises), except that if anyone deserves the benefit of an internet version of Emerson’s effect, it is you! Keep doing what you are doing and you will reach 10M in no time!
Congratulations, Maggie!
Once I stumbled upon your ‘Numerology’ post I went back and and re-read all your old entries, and have been a daily reader ever since. The thoughtful and often eloquent analysis of sex work and related topics (e.g., ‘The Proper Study’) on your blog have actually inspired me to do some work* in this field over the next two or so years, and to volunteer for a local outreach program.
*Research, not actual sex work… because I would starve.
And here I was thinking you were referring to this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/piedmont_fossil/133228455/
Congratulations on the million hits, hopefully you’ll get to ten million sooner than you expect.
I found your site when you were guest blogging at The Agitator. I much prefer your site, even though I have no interest in promoting the rights of sex workers (or any other subgroup of the citizenry), because you provide a wide variety of interesting essays and because most of your commenters are worth reading.
Hooray! Congratulations, Maggie. 🙂
Congratulations! A fine blog with a voice of reason such as yours deserves that traffic and much more. I’ll keep linking to it on every opportunity.
Congratulations. You’re a great old-school blogger, keeping it about the issues, and producing solid content every day, instead of trying every marketing trick that comes along. Keep getting the word out. Keep up the good work.
Congratulations! As long as your quality of writing stays at the level we’ve seen so far (and I don’t see why it wouldn’t), I don’t doubt that you’ll be seeing ten million before the Rio Olympics.
Thank you maggie for all you do.
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