Sports Dollar's 2008 Year in Review

Posted 1/5/09

Most people like to write this post with just a few days remaining in the year, but we didn't want to just blend in with all the others during such an important period that we thought we'd wait until people were actually back to work click-clacking away.

It has been quite the year!  We finished our first full year of blogging!  Woo-freaking-hoo pimps!  The road was long and treacherous but we managed and still actually kept our 8 to 5 even though half of our hours are likely spent rambling to all of you!  Ultimately, the year couldn't have been better.  We started 3 blogs, sold one, made some money with one and jump started another which looks to be a hit.  What more could you ask for aside from Yahoo Sports asking us to write full-time?  (Wishful thinking jerk-off!)

So our year-in-review will simply be a look back at some of our favorite posts that we felt actually helped our readers rather than just expanding our PayPal account.

The Beginning Stage:

1.  We gave you our initial 100 fluffs to building a better sports blog!
2.  Then popped out our most popular Google friendly post, with the top 5 Blogger template sites.
3.  Possibly one of our more controversial pieces was the guide to BallHype.
4.  And our first installment of the top 50 sports blogs!
5.  We then warned you to stop spamming BallHype, Yardbarker and Digg.
6.  And for some reason many of you ignored this one.
7.  Entrecard came and went, but this was the ultimate guide to it.  And part 2.

Another Early Stage:

1.  We decided to have some fun with A Blogger is Like...
2.  Then bid farewell to that f-ing Entrecard.
3.  Asked you what your favorite tools were.
4.  Introduced a sports blogging job board!
5.  Cuzzy gave you his 25 traits to being successful in part 1 and part 2.
6.  Reminded you that BlogBurst was pretty sweet during the NBA Playoffs.
7.  Then slapped you with 80 more tips to better your sports blog!

A Turning Point:

1.  Our first and only blog income report!
2.  For some reason, used Entrecard again...
3.  And then sold our baby.  :(
4.  But had a ton of fun telling you how annoying your blog was!
5.  And then talked about the absurd crap all of us do as bloggers.
6.  The second quarter Top 50 sports blogs were released!
7.  Decided to follow Google's Logo updates during the Olympics.

A Long Stretch:

1.  Ran another big ass contest...it was pretty big and sexy too.
2.  Talked about the 6 types of sports bloggers which was a huge hit.
3.  Called McCain an idiot for his Palin choice, and of course, we were right.
4.  Covered the 7 deadly sins of all sports bloggers.
5.  Found ourselves being thankful sports bloggers hadn't adopted some things.
6.  Loved this guest post from Apryl Delancey.
7.  Brought out the drinker in bloggers by asking what kind of cocktail you are.

Bringing it Home:

1.  Reminded you again to stop spamming your stories on social networking sites.
2.  Then told you to be careful when submitting someone elses.
3.  The third quarter top 50 sports blogs!
4.  Also told you to not be a "nofollow" douche.
5.  Realized that NFL Power Rankings were a Google gold mine.
6.  Welcomed in our new baby!
7.  Put together a list for the newbies in the sports blogging world.

The End:

1.  Gave you this video looooooooong before anyone else.
2.  Watched our Alexa ranking dominate the 100K mark.
3.  Compared sports blogs to hotties.
4.  And then we cashed out Adsense for the first time.
5.  Finished off the year holding it down with our PageRank.

What a year...as I just looked back through posts, I'm having trouble believing this little blog pumped out 400+ posts!

A giant thanks to everyone that has continued to read this goofy little experimental blog of ours.  It was an incredible year that wouldn't have been complete without you all calling me out on my ridiculous NFL rankings and feeding me all the current news from around the blog-o-sphere.

No promises will be made going into 2009, but I'm hoping to re-vamp the site and sort of take it in a new direction.  Trust me on this, you can only talk about sports blog marketing for so long!

Thanks again everyone!

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Original article from http://www.thesportsdollar.com/2009/01/sports-dollars-2008-year-in-review.html