Happy Birthday, My Sweet Website

I published my very first blog post here on December 11th, 2018. I was a wide-eyed, wet-behind-the-ears 42-year-old. Now we're nearing 2020 and I am a grizzled, world-weary 43-year-old. Damn, man.

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But for real, it feels good to be here. This website has served as an outstanding outlet for all the stuff I have to express. I have published a couple dozen blog posts, posted numerous performance videos and promoted a shitload of live performances. Fun stuff!

I have also watched my website traffic ebb and flow. I am glad to say there's been more flow than ebb. Thanks for that!

The Numbers

Here are some stats for the past year:

mattkollock.com welcomed 1,472 unique visitors
People in 23 different countries visited my website at least once
People in about 40 of the 50 U.S. states (I didn't feel like digging for an exact figure, sorry) visited my website at least once
My website averaged five visitors per day
The average length of each visit was 2:55

Blogysticism

The main purpose of the website over the past 365 days or so has been to host the Matt Kollock blog. I had hoped to update it once per week, but that didn't happen. I found myself too busy – and too disinterested in writing – over the summer to publish anything new. But I roared back in the fourth quarter with some entries that resurrected my writing fire.

Here are the top ten most popular blog posts on mattkollock.com:

So yeah. Thanks for reading my blog posts! I love knowing that you come here to read the shit I write.

Moving forward, the blog is going to be an even more significant part of my global media empire. I'll be publishing at least three times per week. Actually that's starting this week, so please stay tuned! The regular blog (like this piece you're reading now) will continue to appear on most Tuesdays. On Fridays I will be publishing my This Is the Good Stuff column, which began last week with two super-fun entries. Starting soon, I will be publishing Discover Weakly Wednesday on – you guessed it – Wednesdays! That series will promote playlists I create over on Spotify. Eventually, those playlists will contain Matt Kollock music. But for now, they will feature the music that fuels my day-to-day life. Good times.

My 2020 Vision

Here's the deal: I desperately want to get the fuck off of Facebook. Facebook is not where the music scene is happening. It is not where I am going to find my people. It is a vile environment. I really just want to focus on my website. But the truth is that Facebook is where most of you find me and learn about what I'm up to. It's the source of the vast majority of my website traffic, too. So I'll be making a sacrifice by (mostly) removing myself from the platform. But it will all be worth it.

There's going to be a lot going on over here in 2020. If you are interested in being a part of it all, I suggest you sign up for my email list here. I will also be more active on Twitter, so please connect with me there, if you'd like.

I will continue to post stuff on Facebook via a third-party posting app, but I will not be spending time there. Just so you know.

In other news, my output for 2020 will include The Matt Kollock Show, which is a podcast I am currently producing. That will arrive in early 2020 and will feature interviews, commentary and shenanigans from my unique perspective. It's going to be great! I am very excited and I can't wait to unveil the thing. I conducted my first interview for the podcast a few days ago and it was great!

I am also recording music! For real! All those songs I've been writing are being committed to disk. They will be available soon, too, for your listening, uh, pleasure, I guess?

In addition to this website, I am also planning on using Patreon to build my community and showcase my creations. It will feature exclusive video content, podcast outtakes and stuff like that. I will also give Patrons early access to content from the blog, podcast and other endeavors. It's going to be great!

Let's see... What else?

Oh yeah, I might not be performing in live settings as much in 2020. However, when I do perform in live settings, I plan on making those experiences spectacular. Or at least special. There will be themes and big ideas and narratives and dancing and the talents of people who are not me. Unconventional. And none of it is going to happen on Facebook, okay? All right! Stay tuned to this space!

For Real, Though...

I am grateful for your interest in my stuff. This has been a fun year and we've had some good times together, haven't we? Yeah. I really appreciate you, and I'm glad to know you're along for the ride. I will do my best to keep it interesting, fun, thought-provoking and, above all, groovy.

See you next time!