Today marks The Daily Cartoonist’s 2nd years of operation. Last year’s announcement of it’s first “birthday” was all of two sentences. This year, I thought I’d take a moment and report on the blog’s status, kind of a “state of the blog” type report.
On October 2, 2005, I signed up for a blogger.com account (called the Print Cartoonists News) and posted my first story. I quickly decided that I’d rather have my own domain and I posted my first Daily Cartoonist story on October 5th. Since then I’ve posted 2,355 stories. Not quite as many as some bloggers that I know.
Perhaps just as important as the news is, at least to me, is the conversation that takes place based on that news. I’m happy to report that you all have posted over 4,316 comments. It took awhile for the comments to start coming in, but they increase in number every month. Keep it coming.
Traffic growth has been pretty constant. I saw a plateau of sorts this year in the last spring, early summer, but most months the blog continues to bring in more visitors. Site traffic, measured by pageviews and unique visitors, has basically tripled (168% and 163% respectively) in this second year. Not bad, but I think it could be better. You’ll see some changes this last quarter to spur more traffic.
Here are three top ten stats over the last 2 years:
Top 10 most viewed blog posts
Top 10 most commented blog posts of all time:
(1) News of the Diesel Sweeties launch was spread across three stories which if comments are combined total 130 comments.
(2) There are two blog posts that have become what I dub as the “Lio Groupy Pages.” Together they total 101 comments (and still climbing).
(3) When you add up all the Funky Winkerbean/cancer posts (there’s about a dozen of them) there are a total of 228 comments making this the most talked about feature this year.
The top 10 commentators (excluding me):
| Commentator | # of comments | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rich Diesslin | 197 |
| 2 | Charles Brubaker | 173 |
| 3 | Rick Stromoski | 118 |
| 4 | Garey Mckee | 100 |
| 5 | Eric Burke | 76 |
| 6 | Dawn Douglass | 76 |
| 7 | “Rob”, “Robert”, “Rick”, “The Other Robert” (for goodness sakes man, just use your first and last name :)) |
75 |
| 8 | Jeff Stanson | 72 |
| 9 | Danny Burleson | 69 |
| 10 | Norm Feuti | 68 |
In closing, thanks to all of you who continue to visit and participate on this blog. Thanks to those who have sent me kindly worded e-mails of thanks and encouragement. It’s been a pleasure to be a part of this community.
What!? I’m only #2 in the “top commentators” list!? I’ll get you for this, Rich!
Just kiddin’. Congrats on the 2nd anniversary of this great website.
Wow, I’m #9?! I didn’t think I commented THAT much! Awesome report, Alan. And keep up the great work. I’d say %75+ of the news I get about the industry comes from this site, so I’d be quite lost without it.
118? Yikes!
Correction: 119.
You have a problem, Rick…and so do I, apparently.
I rank #5 in posts, yet you spell my name “EriK”, Alan? Man…why not just change my name to “Rodney”!
Congrats. This place is fun. Of course, now we’ve entered our terrible two’s, so now the real fun begins!
Happy Birthday TDC!
Congratulations, Alan! Two years is a real achievement. It’s a huge challenge to “feed the best,” and you’ve done so admirably. Cartooning fans owe you a debt! All the best for the next years!
And happy birthday, again!
HA! Now I’m number 9! Take that, Burleson!
Eric – I’ve corrected the spelling of your name. If you’ve got a web site, I’d be happy to link to it as well. You deserve it.
Alan
Congratulations Alan, Happy Birthday TDC and also Congratulations to the four top commentators for breaking the 100 mark! Yet, keep in mind, that it’s not how many times you post a comment, but the comments itself. These top four commentators should be proud of the fact that they are given the opportunity to voice their opinions and most people (including myself) look foward to weighing in one’s opinion in such discussions past & present. Congratulations again to ALL.
“And happy birthday, again!
HA! Now IΓ’??m number 9! Take that, Burleson!”
LOL
Now, now, it’s not a competition.
(*psst* Now we’re tied.)
Alan,
As someone who is embarking on the adventure of publishing a magazine about, and for, cartoonists, I have become an everyday reader of the news you share. It is greatly appreciated, and will remain an ongoing source of invaluable information for me. Thank you for what you do here.
Congrats on two years Alan!
Happy Birthday! May there be many, many more.
Scott
Love this site!
Happy B-day!
“I rank #5 in posts, yet you spell my name Γ’??EriKΓ’?Β, Alan?”
Ha! That’s funny. We actually tied for that spot Eric and Alan spelled my name wrong, too! π
Double “s”, Alan. π
Congratulations on the 2 year anniversary, Alan. I know that keeping a blog can be draining. There are obviously many people who appreciate your efforts, myself included.
Congratulations, Alan! Great site!
Congrats on two years! Great job. I guess I win the “get a life” award considering I only found the blog about a year ago (197). It is the only blog I really comment on, but I still feel I must have overdone it. I wonder if some of the other “Rich”s (before I realized we were supposed to use last names too) where counted in my number (doesn’t look like it though). Oh well, I’ll try to zip-it more! Consider it a my endorsement of the site and all the interesting folks commenting on it. Uh-oh, 198 … man! π
Alan,
Congrats!
I remember how excited I was when I discovered The Daily Cartoonist several months ago. It was just what the doctor ordered as I am always interested in what’s happening behind and around the comic strips.
I continue to be thrilled with my daily updates and the site.
You do a GREAT job! You were a fantastic presenter at our annual Comics Symposium and are a great resource. You should consider doing more on the “lecture/comic con” circuit.
– Dominic
Congratulations, Alan — this tie makes for great reading. Keep it up, and happy birthday to the blog!
Congratulations Alan and I should also say a big THANKYOU for creating an environment for us to discuss the very unique art form that we are all participants in.
Ha ha that’s 101. It’s on now!
Congratulations on two years! You’re a bookmarked part of my day. And I look forward to another 2,355 more posts.
Congratulations, Alan. Many Thanks for the great job you do.
Comics Edge…ToonTalk…now The Daily Cartoonist where we tie for # of posts and we both have our names spelled wrong…it must be fate that’s brought us together and kept us together all these years, Dawn! lol
How can three websites be so lucky π
Happy Birthday, Alan! Thanks for making this a nice place to stop by in the morning. It’s the second place I visit so I get the national news after a trip to Mike Rhodes’ comicsdc.blogspot.com/ for the local news. And the conversations here usually wake me up pretty fast, even on a slow news day.
Alan, Congratulations on a terrific site! May you have many more years and a lot more traffic! Though I don’t post all that often, I check in for news four or five times a week! Always entertaining!
LOL I’m with you, Eric! Obviously. Ha! π
Excellent work, Alan. You’ve become one of the best comics resources on the web in a short time.