As I write this, I’m just a few weeks removed from perhaps the most unceremonious birthday I’ve ever celebrated: the renewal of this website’s one-year domain registration.
A little over a year ago, I logged onto GoDaddy.com (thanks, Danica) and launched TheFanManifesto.com – a site that began as a personal blog, and has since evolved into an online daily sports magazine that has seen more than 60 writers and fans contribute work under its masthead.
When we started, there was nothing on the web that even attempted to provide what we do.
15 months later, there still isn’t.
I’d be the first to praise Grantland and TheClassical – both of which recently celebrated similar anniversaries – and I’d also say that BleacherReport has improved, even if most of its content is still composed of/by steaming piles of crap.
None of them do what we (try to) do.
Yet, as proud as I am of the progress we’ve made, I’m shocked (and terrified) of how much work is left to be done.
Bottom line: This internet thing isn’t easy as I thought.
See, whenever I’m talking about my website with friends or family, I get one initial question.
How much money do you make?
The answer: Nil. Nada. Or what might as well be. Like 99.9 percent of my fellow internet entrepreneurs, I make a sum of money so negligible it might as well not exist.
Those ads you see on the page? I’d need a million hits a day to grab 2 for $20 at Applebees.
Money has never been the goal here, and it never will be.
So for those of you new here, what are our goals?
First and foremost, to have fun. For the most part, I think we’ve succeeded on that front.
(Though, not gonna lie, WordPress can be a bit of a bitch.)
Otherwise?
To fulfill our stated creed as best as possible.
That is, to provide you, the fan, with a place to read unique, original and controversial content devoid of sensationalism, overt cynicism or bandwagoning.
And to do it from the perspective of the fan.
And to do it every (week)day.
Needless to say, it hasn’t been easy. And as much fun as we’ve had, we haven’t been 100-percent successful with all of the above.
There have been times where we haven’t published content for days at a time.
There have been times where I have personally failed to publish content for weeks at a time.
(Though, as our Editor-in-Chief, I edit every column that hits our homepage.)
There have been times where we’ve published content that, frankly, wasn’t all that good.
I’m not going to lie: it’s been a learning process.
But, with learning comes improvement – and there’s no doubt the product you’re reading now is infinitely better than the one you would have read a year ago.
Our readership has increased every month this year except for one.
Our gameplan has become more clear, and trimmed of fat (I once planned for 15 writers to have a weekly column. Let’s just say that one didn’t work.).
Every writer trying to execute that gameplan – myself included – has improved tremendously.
Which is amazing because what little ad revenue we receive is reinvested in the infrastructure of the site.
Which is amazing because all those passionate people are working for free.
That’s pretty incredible.
Watching so many different people commit themselves to a project, without the promise of monetary gain – that may be my favorite part of the last year.
In fact, that commitment is what I think makes us different, and why I maintain that, even if we’re not yet half of what we can be, we’re still way more than much of what’s out there.
We’re fans. We’re doing this because we love these games, and we know you do too.
We know that you’re looking for somewhere to read the opinions of people who aren’t concerned with creating a stir or creating a page views.
For the most part, we’ve succeeded on that front.
One day, I want to write that sentence without a qualifier.
I hope you’ll still be here.