Thursday Afternoon Video: ODB hits 1,000,000 Pageviews

Through the first 10 months of ODB's existence, we topped 4,000 pageviews exactly one time: the day Robert Griffin III won the Heisman Trophy. On August 30, 2012 we had a grand total of around 400,000 pageviews, a relatively small number in the grand scheme of things. For reference, FSU's blog TomahawkNation, had over 130,000 yesterday. I think GoodBullHunting, the stellar A&M blog that just started a few months ago, hit 1,000,000 within the first three months or so. Those places are obviously a lot better at this whole blogging thing than I am.

I take full responsibility for the relative slowness of the early build-up; I had never run a blog before and really had no idea what I was doing. I knew where I wanted to go but had no plan to get there. ODB was Baylor's first foray into the SB Nation world, a platform wholly unfamiliar to most Baylor fans, and we were starting fresh. Before ODB, BaylorFans and the subscription boards were about all there was.

Since September 1, 2012, however, which I'm using as the start of this football season, to say this blog has grown in readership is an understatement. Topping 1,000,000 pageviews today, February 7, 2013 means that in the last six months we've had just about 600,000 pageviews, a huge increase. That time period includes, by my count, over 30 different days where we topped 4,000. 1 in the first 10 months. Over 30 in the last 6. Each of the last two days we've topped 14,000. I've always believed that if you built it, the Baylor fans would come.

I don't say all this to toot my own horn but to 1) celebrate how far this blog has come in a relatively short time, and 2) thank you as the readers and commenters for coming here. This blog doesn't exist simply because I'm obsessed with Baylor and like talking about it or because Miles and Kate needed a place to talk about Baylor Baseball where people wouldn't look at them like they were crazy. Those things are certainly true, but that isn't the purpose behind everything everyone here does. Since the beginning, I have striven toward one goal: give Baylor fans who are passionate about their school an outlet for that passion. That's really it. That Prashanth has somewhere to post rap videos is simply an ancillary benefit.

As we move forward, I hope to continue building on what we've achieved so far by bringing in new contributors with new perspectives to drive new content. At some point, I'm not sure when, I'd like to take a few of the ideas I've seen around the network, particularly on the aforementioned GBH, and see if we can't do something similar here. It won't happen overnight-- barely anything does-- and I don't expect to give the FSU fans a run for their money. But I see no reason why we can't keep moving in the right direction by filling in the gaps we have now (basketball still clearly is not my best sport) and bringing Baylor fans home.

I didn't know what to get you to show my appreciation for helping build ODB to date, so I asked Pras for help. This was his answer:

I think it encapsulates my feelings pretty well, actually.