Nomadic Matt Turns One Year Old
By NomadicMatt | Published: March 26, 2009Today is my birthday. One of them at least. I like to think my blog has two birthdays. The first birthday is the day I posted my first blog post. The second is the day I got rid of my crappy blogger page, the bad html and moved into wordpress. Today is birthday number one. One year ago, I posted my first blog post. (Though I have since deleted it because it was sort of useless- the first blog post to appear is on how to buy an around the world ticket)
I started my blog as a way to talk about travel, promote me, and maybe make some money. I had dreams of becoming the Bill Bryson of the internet. I haven’t. But I have accomplished a lot of other stuff. Blogging has been a lot more work than I thought it would be. I devote countless hours to this website. Lately, my online business has sidetracked me from being a good blogger but this anniversary has reminded me of my roots and I plan to be a better blogger.
I used to spend all my free time on this website. Now I only spend about 75% of my free time on this website. Despite the time commitment, it has been a wonderful year and I am forever glad I started this website. I have gotten to know (sometimes personally) so many great people, been involved in a lot of great opportunities, got to know many of the travel companies I used, and gotten some great travel freebies.
Since I started this blog one year ago:
- I now get an average of 2,500 visitors per day.
- I get over 200,000 page views a month.
- I have 751 RSS subscribers as of today.
- I have 924 Twitter friends.
- I have been featured in the Baltimore Sun.
- I’ve meet about 15 different travel bloggers in person. I even stayed in the home of one!
- Most importantly, I’ve made a lot of good friends- even if our connection is mostly virtual. They are always there to help me when I need it and are very supportive. Thanks and I owe you all!
It has been a great year and I can’t wait to see what this upcoming year has in store. I can’t even imagine how many more people I will meet or how my blog will grow. It’s hit a plateau right now but I am going to take it to the next level this year. I’m not sure how yet but I will. I titled my first post “A Brave New World” and I can say it really has been.
Happy Birthday to me!
Way to go Matt, congrats…
R(etc… )
Matt,
Great job for only one year. I know you have worked hard at the craft.
2,500 hits a day?!? I won’t embarrass myself and tell you how FEW I get.
I guess that’s why my name is “Wannabe” Travelwriter!
(How about a piece of cake?)
Congratulations and Happy Birthday!!!!!
I think we started blogging for some of the same reasons. I was going to be the next John(Jane) Chow!!!
Keep up the awesome work you do here!!!!
Happy Birthday Matt!! It’s a great website – I would not have thought it was so young. Which means it was just a baby when I first saw it/you – and even then it looked mature. Good Work!!
congrats on the one year!!
I totally agree with Gillian, I would not have imagined that this site is so young. Only one year old? That’s truly amazing. You have done a fantastic job and once again congratulations.
Bravo, matt!! congrats, and happiest birthday wishes! shall we profile your site on ours??
Congrats! You’ve done great with your blog! Those stats def. put mine to shame haha
Happy Birthday fellow Nomad! May you have even more success in your sophomore blogging year!
Congrats! Your blog is awesome!
Congratulations. They are some impressive stats for just one year.
Great stuff, Matt. My cut, based on your coerced WordPress conversion, is 10%. Cash or PayPal is fine.
Many Happy Returns Matt.
Keep on Blogging !
Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes.?I’m glad to know I’m not the only who likes my website. Jessie, feel free to profile my site on ur site!!
Happy blogging birthday!
Yours was one of the first travel blogs I discovered when I started planning my trip, and it’s consistently been one of the best – well written, often funny, and regularly really helpful – it’s certainly really helped me with my planning.
You were also one of the first people to comment on my blog, and I really think the travel blogging community would feel much less like a community without your great example.
Keep up the good work!
Hi Matt! Sorry for the absence! It has been hard to get some free time…
)
Happy blogging birthday!! Interesting that idea of getting rid of a Blogger page…
Now, «The Masterpiece» waits you and your comments at Blogtrotter. You shouldn’t miss it, believe me…
).
Enjoy and have a great weekend!
Congratulations, Matt! It looks like it’s been a great first year for you. Here’s to many more!
I moved from Blogger, too, and happy I did so.
Matt, what? It’s only 1 year? It feels like you are around forever! Congrats, kudos and all the best for many more years to come!
Congratulations! You’ve accomplished a lot with this blog over a year.
Happy birthday Matt’s blog !! And congratulations to you Matt.
May this blog lives many more years to come.
congrats! keep on trucking
Happy Birthday indeed Matt!
Happy Birthday, Nomadic Matt! You were one of the first travel bloggers to find my little Parisian Spring and I’m so glad we’ve stayed in touch ever since. Looking forward to reading the next year’s worth of posts.
happy belated bday. i just started blogging, granted not on my bday, but since then i’ve already made 2 expat friends, one i met, and one hopefully to meet soon. i’m fast:)
I love your blog and can now start commenting!
The Travel Expert(a) and an Expat with a Twist
Happy Birthday Matt!
You make the world a better place…
Dude – Happy Birthday and impressive stats!
Way to go Happy belated Birthday! this is a very nice blog for it been just one year old!
Congrats on the first year and look forward to enjoying year 2 of your blogging.
Matt
I am impressed i thought your blog was older somehow. you’ve also got a decent Google page rank for your homepage. I am impressed.
PS I’ve been blogging just two months and I have a grand 3 RSS subscribers !
Matt – I can’t believe your blog is only one year old – I felt sure you had been going longer than that. I was going to look at your archives to check you weren’t fibbing but I can’t see any way to get to your back posts by month.