Hey gang!
It's crazy. Three years ago, Shuffle Projects (the blog) was born in Sydney Australia.
Happy Birthday Shuffle Projects!
300 posts later, it's still existing and that surprises myself the most.
When I started Shuffle Projects (the blog), there were not many blogs about Swing dancing, they almost could be counted on the fingers of one hand. That has completely changed over the last few years.
The fact that there are countless Swing dance blogs nowadays made me think a lot about my own one and that's why there will be some changes from today on.
But before I talk about these changes, I would like to do a short year-in-review, covering the last 14 months. It replaces the end-of-year review 2012, which I couldn't write because of technical problems in December (I couldn't reach my WordPress dashboard anymore).
Year-In-Review 2012
For those, who love numbers:
General Statistics
- Published posts: 87 (2011: 108)
- Unique visitors per month (peek March): 4'470 (2011: peak 1'780)
- Page views in 2012: 64'200+ (2011: 34'900)
Highlights
In January, I published the 100th DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week.
Then in March, my visitors statistics went crazy and I had my first real post going viral: 33 Tips & Actions How To Become A Better Swing Dancer, a typical list post which is still one of the most read articles on this website.
Inspired by the 33 tips post, Musicality for Swing Dancers: AABA 32-bar Song Form followed in April and is another popular article.
Then in July, I started the 30 Day Lindy Hop Challenge as a weekly column. It abruptly stopped after 20 weeks (in November) and it still needs to be completed.
By that time, I already worked on another project:
Swing DJ Resources
As I mentioned earlier, there are now tons of blogs out there writing about swing dancing. I don't see me as a writer and even less as a philosopher about swing dancing.
I realized, that Swing music and DJing and everything related to them are the topics I'm most interested in and they need its own home.
At the same time I noticed, that there are almost no websites about Swing music and Swing DJing in particular. The idea of Swing DJ Resources was born.
On September 4, Swing DJ Resources, the new reference website for Swing DJs and music lovers, launched and was well received.
DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week is leaving Shuffle Projects
As a consequence I made a decision: I'm moving the popular series DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week.
Starting from next week, you'll find it on Swing DJ Resources, what is for sure the perfect home.
I haven't decided yet if I will move all the previous songs as well or not.
2013: Back To The Roots
Well, what's happening with the blog now?
Shuffle Projects is the hub for all my activities in the Swing dance scene, locally and abroad. So is the blog.
I go back to the original idea and that's what you can expect: articles, reviews, clips, but also announcements of events, classes and DJ gigs.
My main goal stays the same: to provide excellent content which is either inspiring, entertaining or educating.
With that said, I'll take the pressure from me to post something every week.
Finally, I would like to gently redesign the website and separate the activities (and languages) more clearly.
Thank You!
It means a lot to me that you follow and share my work. I appreciate every single feedback I get from you.
This is such a great journey.
Thank you for being a part of my community!
-Chris
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