Blogoversary/open thread

Yesterday was the sixth anniversary of Elder of Ziyon.

Looking back at the first posts in August 2004, they were pretty much just links to articles I found interesting. I don't think that the blog really started getting started until January 2005, when I started posting original pieces like this and this (almost seminal) article.

I now have over 1.7 million page hits, of which some 800,000 came since my last blogoversary.

I am posting at a much faster pace than I was a year ago. Last year I was averaging four posts a day, now I am doing closer to ten; I have published an unreal 2200 posts in the past year. This is sort of crazy, and chances are I will have to cut back to a more manageable pace.

Another astonishing thing (to me at least) is that this blog is really up in the top tier of most-read Zionist blogs. My current Alexa ranking is at around 172,500, which is higher than practically every other blog that is in this space. I don't know how accurate Alexa is, but it is very interesting to see.

Yet, so far today, I have earned exactly six cents from my foray into ads. Sigh.

Also in the past year I added Suzanne as a guest poster, and Zvi as an unofficial guest poster. They are both great and have added a lot to the blog. I would love to have more people posting here; there is a lot of talent out there.

As far as my choices of topics, my main criterion is to be original. If a topic is being covered by other blogs, I have less interest in talking about it as well unless I think I have a different perspective (or I have writers' block.)

I wish I had time to do other projects. Part of me still wants to write a book or two; also I like doing videos because they generally get more attention. (My Gaza Mall video was the biggest hit that I have made - 69,000 views so far. Not Justin Bieber, but not bad.) But it is not easy since I still have a day job, a part-time home business and a family.If any organization wants to hire me to do this sort of thing full time, I would be happy to consider it!

Finally, I have to thank you guys for coming here. The community in the comments section continues to grow (often a hundred comments a day, and about 3000 comment views a day.) The tips that you send make my life much easier, and I remain amazed that people like to come here as much as they do.