It was a very good year

..for small-town bloggers like me. At least my own blog, cole.de, which I have been publishing now for more than 21 years, took a major step forward in 2016, reaching more than 32,000 single visitors, an average of about 2.600 a month and 88 a day. No, I’m no HuffPost, but blogging isn’t about having the most readers, only about having the best. And in that respect I am very, very happy – not to mention lucky.

I still believe in not-for-profit blogging. I get mails all the time from agency people  promising me loads of added income if I agree to host a few posts they have concocted for their clients or share in some oddball money-making scheme. I routinely disregard such mails. I blog because I love to and because I truly believe I have a few things to say.

And no, I don’t believe blogs are dead or dying. A blog for me has always been primarily a way to express myself, a shaky soapbox to stand on in my own personal corner of the Internet and shout out at the top of my lungs. If somebody stops for awhile and listens, so much the better; but an audience isn’t really essential. Free from the pressure of circulation or ratings, I as a journalist get to write what I want to when I want to. It’s kind of like the Christmas edition of The Economist, which this year includes articles on cothespegs, reindeer herding, lab mice and prison tatoos. Why? Because once a year the journalists there get a chance to choose topics that interest them personally.

I get to do it every day of the year! And you ask me why I love blogging?