On August 19, 2007, when I officially launched this website, I had no idea what to expect for its first year of existence. Truly, while I hoped for lots of readers, I didn't expect them. I had built the site mainly to provide a platform for me to speak my political opinions to the world. I added the ability for other columnists to join in the fun, and that was a critically important decision, as things turned out.
One year later, over 750 different people have signed up to be columnists. Some have written extensively. Others have written only one or two articles. Some didn't even write anything at all.
During that time, our articles have been read by a combined total of 3.5 million people. Obviously, many of those articles were read by the same person, so we can't view that as 3.5 million separate individuals visiting the website. Still, the number is impressive, particularly for a website in its first year of existence, and particularly since duplicate visits to the same article by the same reader were excluded from that number.
Two important things happened that first year which made the biggest differences. The first was when we managed to get the site listed in Google News. The second was when the Ron Paul movement found us. Those two things combined together to create a solid foundation upon which our website has become a major player in the political opinion realm of the 'net. Today, we're one of the 30,000 most visited websites in the United States of all kinds, and we're in the top 100 political websites in the country.
I don't know what our second year will bring, but no matter what, we're definintely off to a good start. My thanks to all who have contributed to our success.
©2008 Walt Thiessen, all rights reserved. You must have written permission from the author in order to republish this work.
Published: Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Last modified: Wednesday, August 20, 2008
The views expressed in this article are those of Walt Thiessen only and do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. Walt Thiessen is solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
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Reader Comments:
Posted By: David S
Date: 2008-08-20 06:11:23
Thanks to you for creating a great website!
Posted By: Quinduno
Date: 2008-08-20 19:19:12
Congratulations! I found this site nearly a year ago when the chart was linked to and discussed in a right-wing website. I have enjoyed reading "most" of the articles and especially the ones that helped me change my support to Ron Paul.
Regards!
Posted By: Andrew Rule
Date: 2008-08-21 03:51:24
Great Job!! Keep it up!
Posted By: creator
Date: 2008-08-21 16:40:44
Congratulations, Walt, and Thank You!
Posted By: Republicae
Date: 2008-08-23 08:59:40
Thanks Walt...can't believe its been a year, for some reason it seems as though the NC has been around for years...let the voice of reason continue!!!
Posted By: Jahfre Fire Eater
Date: 2008-08-23 19:38:13
Congratulations, Walt, and the rest of the regulars too, authors and readers.
Authors and readers at NolanChart.com have taught me so much over the past 10 months and I was already pretty smart to begin with. ;-) I find this site a valuable resource and browse it daily. I have several of my fellow author's articles bookmarked.
I look forward to being part of whatever NolanChart.com becomes. This has been fun.
Jahfre Fire Eater
Posted By: Maria Folsom
Date: 2008-08-31 15:08:33
Great website. I've enjoyed it this year. To be fair, though, you need a "Thumbs Down" button. I would have clicked it a few times this past year.
Posted By: AU
Date: 2008-09-11 21:00:12
1 Year old baby full of crap