A Quick(ie) "Thank You" and Update

I don't obsess over the traffic stats of this blog like some people do over their blogs. (I have replaced that with obsessively checking my MySpace new-friend-invite list.) I do look at traffic when I'm mentioned in other blogs, if only because I like to show other bloggers that their links make a difference (which they do).

I also check at the end of the month. And I just saw that January was my second-biggest month ever for page views -- and top month ever for visits -- since the blog launched in September.

For that, I want to take a minute to thank you sincerely for your attention, time and enthusiasm.

Not a day goes by when one (or more) old Quickie readers email me letting me know they have just discovered the blog. This is double-edged: (1) Welcome and great to see you again! (2) Dejected that so many of the six-figure-plus readership of the Quickie thought I just shriveled up and imploded after the column was contracted. To crib from Colbert: You all are the heroes.

That disconnect was part of the motivation for the minor re-design revealed earlier this week: Heading into the post-Super Bowl season (the biggest inflection point in the sports year), give the blog some new juice and momentum. (Amazingly, the new "blogspot-free" URL helps a ton.)

I have been developing some very cool content features for the blog -- to be unveiled later this month and, hopefully, rocking the sports-blog world to its core. (Not to oversell or anything.) And I'm launching a couple of new side projects -- a bit of a departure from this blog and the "Quickie" ethos, but things I'm really excited about.

One has been technically "live" since Monday, but -- interestingly -- none of you have found it (or, at least, emailed me about it), even though I have it listed and linked on the right. It's probably a good indication that many/most of you don't have kids (and, yes, that's a hint).

I wanted to beef this new project up a little bit before the "official" launch next week, but I'm thrilled to "soft launch" it now for you guys. Again, just fair warning that it might or might not be in your wheelhouse of interests. (Don't worry: I'll be shamelessly hitting you up next week to promote it to people you know who WOULD be interested in it.)

Anyway, really I just wanted to say huge thanks again for a great stretch between Thanksgiving and the end of January -- particularly this first month of the new year.

(Wait: Did you think by "Update" in the blog-post title I would reveal that I have resumed my life of the full-time sports columnist for some notable mainstream-media outlet? LOL. That'll take a grassroots campaign... hmm... let's see how it goes with me catching Carmelo on MySpace.)

Back to Super Bowl Ramp-Up and more...

-- D.S.

Surprise! It's a Re-Launch (Sort Of)Welcome to www.DanShanoff.com

You might notice some changes on the blog today. Some are more prominent than others:

New URL: www.danshanoff.com. The biggest is the name change: I've ditched the ol' "blogspot" part of the URL and now it's simply: www.danshanoff.com.

I'm still using the Blogger publishing platform, like other Blogspot blogs, but I've switched to the "new" version. We'll see how that goes. But going to the straight "danshanoff.com" URL is a big step forward.

(For some reason I have yet to figure out, you can't simply type in http://danshanoff.com. You need to include the "www" part. I'm working on that.)

Old URL OK, too: All of your bookmarks to "danshanoff.blogspot.com" should still work fine. Any links you make to specific old posts should still work, too. The only thing that really changes is my Technorati ranking. If you want to modify your bookmarks, feel free. If not, no worries.

Link, link, link. Wait: You haven't bookmarked this blog? You don't have it blogrolled? You don't pass it around to your friends? You don't link to it constantly? (Eh: I understand. But I'm always up for more shameless pandering!)

More links: The right-hand column of the blog has also been modified with a lot more stuff, particularly more links. The first set of links is to all sorts of navel-gazing stuff. The second set is me (finally) building out my blogroll. (It's still a work in progress.)

Tags on posts: Also, individual posts will now include tags, which will begin to be listed on the right and should help sort through what I have posted about. (It'll take me a little while to go back through the archives and tag all 400-plus posts I've done since the blog's launch, but that's a goal.)

More to come: There are a couple of other little new details that you might find intriguing. For now, I'll let you discover them yourself, but I'll plan to put individual posts up about them later today.

What do you think? As always, please let me know what you think of this new stuff. Any complaints or compliments are always welcome. The goal is always to give you a better experience, and I take your comments and opinions to heart.

-- D.S.