Can't believe that 9 years ago today, I started blogging. Sometimes it only feels like yesterday and other times it feels like I have been on here my entire life. You feel me other bloggers?
Year 9 was bad for this blog. My daily views were down, my comments were way down in which I blamed a lot of it on Covid. Because the year did kick off great and then by March things started to fall. I also lost a couple of sponsors as well with two different circumstances though neither had to do with Covid.
I was actually at the breaking point of retiring this blog, I even did a post on that, which still isn't out of the question for this year. It takes a lot of work to run a daily blog the way I do it. Even though my posts are usually short and sweet, there is a lot that still goes into it. Taking pictures, uploading five at a time from phone to email, downloading those from my email with my slower than death internet, then having to upload them into the blog takes a good almost hour process if not more some days. Then taking the time to research, find the right people to tag or link, and making sure I can get all of that done daily is extremely tough. I was more dedicated to doing that three years ago but day by day on here I feel myself slipping some. I don't want to get done blogging by any means, but need to find an easier system that fits me. I was hoping the blogger app on my phone was going to be the difference maker but that no longer allows you to upload photos straight from your phone into the blog like it used to unless you want to upload one photo at a time.
I am hoping to continue on here, but don't be surprised if things change down the road.
Now onto something more positive as always with this yearly post, I would also like to thank some people who have contributed greatly to this blog in year 9.
Thank you to Tracy Hackler and the
Panini crew for their continued support of nine years with providing prizes with reviews. They have been there since the beginning!
Thank you to
BCW Supplies as well with providing prizes for contests and their support over 9 years.
A thank you goes out to
Topps , though not much around in 2020 because of Covid, is expecting to make a great return on here in 2021 where we will be doing giveaways all year.
And a thank you to newbie,
Burbank Sport Cards. Save 10% on your orders on their Beckett site by using code 15Burbank at checkout and free shipping over $50.
Make sure to check all of the companies above out and give them a follow on all social media sites and let them know the many thanks for the support of this blog. Also, go buy their products ;)
I would like to also toss in that not all cards in the past nine years that have been given away on here and Twitter have come from companies. A lot has come from my own personal breaks/collection as well and cards that I have picked up specifically to be given away. I just love to make others happy and to grow the hobby anyway I can. The card companies help with what I started myself.
I have had many highlights that I am very proud of among the nine years as a blogger, including being named a 3-time Panini Player Of The Day Blog Champion (2 years co-winner), receiving a tremendous UDRAK (Upper Deck Random Acts Of Kindness) for all that I give back to the hobby, and finishing second out of hundreds of blogs for the 2014 Blog Of The Year in the Bip Award and finishing second place in The #HasAVote #BestBlogger Hobby All-Star Award On CollectorSaurus Site. I finally won a Blog Of The Year contest beating out many great ones in 2017 claiming the first ever Best Sport Collecting Blog award from GoGTS Live/ Beckett #Fatpacks. Not to mention being contacted by Pawn Stars to help spread the word on them. That alone was pretty awesome.
I have also had a 4200+ view day on here as well, which far exceeds my average of now 600 but even this number has gone up double since last year. Another proud moment is also never missing ONE SINGLE POST DAY on here in 9 years even after some tough health years. I have totaled to close to 5200 consecutive published posts without missing a single day and feel I have accomplished a lot for something I did on a whim. Take that Cal Ripken!
Now let's take a look at Year 9 numbers by comparison to other years. It's tradition.
Here is the breakdown:
Year One, Sport Card Collectors blog had 68,169 overall views. 695 Twitter Followers and 118 Facebook LIKES.
Year Two, Sport Card Collectors blog grew to 205,240 overall views, 2,206 Followers on Twitter and 147 Facebook LIKES.
Year Three, Sport Card Collectors blog grew to 340,841 overall views, 3,576 Followers on Twitter and 159 Facebook LIKES.
Year Four, Sport Card Collectors blog grew to 483,217 overall views, 4,494 Followers on Twitter and 431 Facebook LIKES.
Year Five, Sport Card Collectors blog grew to 679,331 overall views. 5,325 Twitter Followers and 541 Facebook LIKES.
Year Six, Sport Card Collectors blog grew to 952,540 overall views. 6,272 Twitter Followers and 627 Facebook LIKES.
Year Seven, Sport Card Collectors blog grew to 1,268,414 overall views. 7,120 Twitter Followers and 815 Facebook LIKES.
Year Eight, Sport Card Collectors blog grew to 1,595,972 overall views. 8,353 Twitter Followers and 1291 Facebook LIKES before I ended the page.
Year Nine, Matt's Wonderful Blog Of Hobbies grew to 1,814,262 overall views. 9,763 Twitter Followers and 780 Instagram Followers
For the first time in SCC , well MWBOH, history, the numbers were significantly down from the previous year. SIGNIFICANTLY. It's really depressing to see as the blog usually continues to grow on a yearly basis. The only growth this year was on Twitter and of course my newly installed Instagram account. But, it was expected in what I already knew was a down year.
Time to get back to something more positive.
I want to thank the other sport card bloggers who added me to their blogroll this past year and that I have added to my trading circle. I hope to add more blogs to my blogroll and I hope others will add me to theirs in this next upcoming year. It's a very nice community to be apart of and one that I hope to get to know more of and be more apart of this year.
I wanted to also take a minute to thank all of the new traders I have added in 2020. All of you helped support my hobby addiction in another year I couldn't afford to do much in. Thank you.
Finally, I also wanted to give an extra shout out to my top trading buddies Shane over at
Project Pedro Blog and Bryan over at
90's Niche Football Card Blog , @CardpocalypseNC, Dions Autograph Blog and of course top reader and friend that is always overly generous and a good guy, Grady M. I truly appreciate what you guys helped me with over the years and especially 2020. My collection wouldn't have many of it's great pieces without you guys.
I also wanted to give Wes from formerly the JBF blog, formerly the Area 40 blog and formerly known as the symbol his own paragraph here again. Once again, the daily talks, check-ins, cards and friendship is beyond appreciated.
In closing, I wanted to thank you guys, the readers. If it wasn't for you, why bother posting. Thanks for reading and checking out Matt's Wonderful Blog Of Hobbies. I hope you find what I post interesting, inspiring, fun and informational as that was my aim when I started up this blog.
What to expect in Year 10....well, lets just hope for some growth so I can continue posting on here.
Thanks for reading and thanks again to all who have contributed to the growth of this blog the last nine years.
