How far we've come in such a short amount of time.
When CougCenter launched almost exactly five months ago with this official welcome post, I'm not sure either Grady or I knew exactly what to expect. We knew we loved the opportunity SB Nation presented, and we had some ideas for what we wanted the site to be. But to be honest, we were kind of flying blind. My previous site had developed a loyal-but-relatively-small following, and Grady's site was just sort of getting off the ground.
What's happened since has completely exceeded our expectations.
In its short time, CougCenter has already accumulated more than 90,000 page views, and we're on pace for about 28,000 page views this month. That's more than twice the number of page views in our first full month, and for comparison's sake, my previous site, WSU Hoops, had fewer than 38,000 page views in its 10-month existence. We think that's pretty cool.
But those aren't the stats I'm most proud of. I'm actually most proud of this number:
176.
That's the number of people who have officially become a part of the CougCenter community by becoming members of this blog through registration with SB Nation. It's you guys, the readers, who have made this a thriving community of intelligent, insightful discussion of all things Cougar. That feedback and discourse is what makes this all worth while for Grady and I, and it's a community that we both are extremely proud to be associated with.
Whether you're brand new around here or been with us from the start, if you love the blog as much as we do and want to continue to see it grow, there are a few things you can do.
First, contribute content to the site. In its most basic form, that means leaving comments on posts to spur on discussion, something many of you already do. But we also want to encourage you to write FanPosts or post FanShots. One of the things we absolutely love the most about being part of SBN is that it gives all of you an equal chance to contribute meaningful content. The more you contribute, the better this place becomes for all of us. And remember, FanPosts and FanShots always have the possibility of being promoted to the main page. Give it a shot -- you never know when you'll have a unique take the rest of us haven't thought of.
Second, promote the site elsewhere. Again, since community is what makes this place great, we're always looking for ways to get more readers, because that means adding people to the community. Of course, you can always just tell your friends through word of mouth, but we actually have some mechanisms built in to the site to give you the opportunity to tell people on a larger scale. See those buttons at the bottoms of the posts on the front page? You can submit your favorite posts to Digg or Yahoo! Buzz, with just a click. You can even post the item right to your Facebook profile by clicking the Facebook icon, which causes it to show up not just on your profile, but on your friends' news feeds, as well. (That's my personal favorite, by the way, as those of you who are on my friends list have found out.)
Third, accept our heartfelt thanks. This isn't really something you can "do" per se, but I just wanted to make sure I got it in here. We really do appreciate each and every one of you and don't take it for granted that you come here for your Cougar-related information, analysis and discussion. We work hard to give you what you need and want, and appreciate the joy you bring us in return. Thanks for reading.