I am not someone that likes to gloat or brag, and that’s is the primary reason I don’t generally publish my sales in DNJournal nor do I write about anything related to how much money I earn. However, someone linked to my blog’s Compete chart in a comment on  Mike Berkens’ blog, and that anonymous coward said traffic was down 59% year over year.

I think TechCrunch put it best: “If You Cite Compete Or Alexa For Anything Besides Making Fun Of Them, You’re A Moron.”

For the sake of transparency, I am happy to share my year over year traffic numbers, with the matching Google Analytics screenshots. In 2010, my blog received a total of  460,110  Visits, which I think is pretty solid. In 2011, my blog’s traffic increased to 581,731 visits, an increase of 26%.

I also use Stat Counter to help verify traffic and because I like it’s interface. Stat Counter listed  607,299 visits to my blog in 2011 vs. 453,251 visits in 2010, which would indicate a 34% increase in traffic.

As for my business, 2011 was also pretty good. For comparison purposes only, 2011 ranked as my second highest income generating year since 2003.

2011 Traffic:

2010 Traffic:

If you operate a website (or multiple sites) I think the new year is a good time to review your website disclaimer and privacy policy to make sure they are both up to date and accurate. I did this a few days ago, and there were very few changes to either, but it’s a smart thing to do for all of your websites.

If you’re a commenter or reader (especially if it’s on a frequent basis), I recommend you review my blog’s disclaimer / terms of service and the privacy policy. I wouldn’t call them exciting reads, but you should be aware of them when you visit. You probably should do the same on other sites to see what their policies are as well.

I also recommend you check out a previous article I wrote about conflicts of interest. I am an active buyer and seller in the domain industry, and I am far more of an industry participant than an observer. As a result, I have plenty of potential conflicts of interest when it comes to articles I write and commentary I provide on my blog and elsewhere. I would say a very large percentage of articles I write are about people I know or companies I’ve done business with in the past or have a relationship with today.

I still do not accept sponsored articles, and I have very few affiliate links throughout the site. I do not expect this to change now or in the future. In fact, all of the banners you see on the site are paid placements and not affiliate banners.

I don’t believe there are any surprises, but I do think it’s something you should be aware of and knowledgable about to make your reading of my blog

You may have noticed the donate button that is located next to the Twitter and Facebook buttons in the box below the article. When you click the donate button, you’re taken to my fundraising page on the Ronald McDonald House website.

As you may already know, RMH helps children with cancer and their families, and it is one of my favorite non-profit organizations. This past year, colleagues, friends, and family helped my wife and me raise about $8,500 for the Ronald McDonald House. In 2012, I want to raise even more.

Although I no longer offer private domain consulting, there have been times when people have read an article and asked if they could send me something to say thanks. There have also been times I’ve informally advised people on various transactions and situations, and they’ve asked to compensate me. I can’t recall ever taking money for helping people, and think I’ve always asked people to either donate to RMH or to a non-profit of their choice.

This year, I am going to make it very easy for people to help support an organization that is near to my heart. If you are so inclined, feel free to click the donate button and help me raise $10,000 for the Ronald McDonald House during the year.

If you’re from the US or celebrating Thanksgiving, I hope you’re having a great day with friends and family. Happy Thanksgiving from New York City.

Here are two photos from the Thanksgiving Day parade… one of the perks of living in NYC on the parade route… It’s also one of the downsides, as our car was towed at 4:00am. Luckily, they just moved it and didn’t give a citation.

I spend a lot of time during the week online. While much of my day is spent doing research on domain names and working on opening and closing deals, I do spend quite a bit of time reading non-domain name related websites and blogs to help with my business.

Some of the sites I read daily are sports and news related, while others are technology and marketing. I am curious about what non-domain name related blogs and websites you visit every day to help with your business. I’ve posted a short list of sites I visit and hope to learn about some others that you post.

Websites and Blogs I read daily to help my business (non-domain related):

• TechCrunch
• AdAge
• Mashable
• NY Times
• Wall Street Journal
• Forbes
• Uncrunched
• Yahoo Finance
• Hacker News

Happy Friday! I want to take a minute to say thanks for visiting. I checked in with my Google Analytics account and saw that there have been over 500,000 visits to this blog in the past year from almost 300,000 unique visitors… very cool!

It’s been fun sharing what I am doing while learning new things from your comments and submissions. Thank you for visiting my blog and for helping to make it a resource for others who want to learn about the domain industry.

Hope you have a great weekend!