Dirkmonster

Devin win "Dirkmonster Challenge"

It didn't last long and Devin was waiting for his chance to grab the prize.  At the beginning of the year I announced my intention of posting at least 5 times a week.  The first person to leave a comment pointing out my failure to do so would win a prize.

I recently took a considerable hiatus and catching me was a cinch.  So, Devin, I have a $10 Starbucks gift card for you.  And, I know where you live.

Even though the pressure's off, I still want to post more often than I did last year.  I've seen an uptick in traffic, comments and creative energy from looking for topics. 

In that regard, thanks to all who commented in February including Wellness Writer (who showed me that thanking those who comment is a courteous thing to do), Devin of course, Bitsy, Cheryl, Greg, Corey and JoBrad.  I truly appreciate the moments you spend reading my blog and submitting your thoughtful responses.

Top 5 viewed Dirkmonster posts in January 2009

I issued the Dirkmonster Challenge in January, supporting my desire to post to the blog more often in 2009.

Thanks to all those who left comments in January, including Devin, JoBrad, Jay Graves, Corey, disgusted citizen, and Molly.  I truly appreciate the time you took to read my blog and even leave a comment.

To start off the year right, I put Google Analytics code on my blog so I could track what's happening (ha, not a lot yet).  Even so, here are the top 5 most viewed posts from January 2009:

1. Remembering the Air Florida Flight 90 River Crash
2. 25 Random Things
3. Testing American Express Concierge Service
4. More Benefits to the Cold Shower
5. Circuit City to Close Two Middle Tennessee Stores

Thanks for reading!

Dirkmonster blog surpasses 10K page views

According to typepad's stats, my blog surpassed 10,000 page views all time today.

On the one hand, I've kept it alive long enough to get there.  On the other hand, "long enough" comes to about three years.

Hence, the 2009 Dirkmonster Challenge. 

I want to create more posts and post more regularly.  Hopefully it won't take me another three years to get to 20,000 page views.  Yeah, I know that it's not about "how many" but "who".  It's also about expressing myself and I resolve to do that more regularly and more creatively this year.  If you end up reading any of it, I hope you'll also do me a favor and leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Thanks for reading!

My New Year's Resolution - Take the "Dirkmonster Challenge"

I'm no web 2.0 genius, but it seems to me that there are two things among many I have to do to get more readers (and commenters!) to the Dirkmonster blog in 2009:

1. Write more posts and post more regularly.
2. Give people a reason to read them regularly

To reiterate, I'm no genius about this stuff, so here's my lame solution which will also be my New Year's Resolution:

I will post at least 5 times every week.  In the event that I fail to do so, the first person to point it out in the comments will receive a gift card from me.  There.  Hopefully I will generate posts that won't be so boring that even a gift card is not worth the torture of keeping up with them.

An easy way to keep up, should you choose to do so, is to subscribe to this blog's RSS feed.  If you don't know about RSS, add a New Year's resolution to give it a try.  It will change the way you surf the Internet and bring you information you would have missed otherwise.  Learn more here.

Happy 2009 Dirkmonster Blog Aficianodos! The 2009 Dirkmonster Challenge is on. 

Please comment on this post and prognosticate on how this turns out.