Over at the About page is where you will why I finally decided pulled this blog together. There has been a burning desire to write on this topic for quite some time and I was encouraged to go for it.

Well, the first month is in the books. I have struggled with HTML, themes, plugins, widgets, formatting, the list is huge. I don’t regret spending one moment on it as I know I am learning a skill that I can use forever.

I have no idea if this site will ever produce a dime, but it was sure cheap to set up. I spent $14 for two years to register the name with GoDaddy (used a coupon code I found over at fatwallet). The hosting fees are just $6/month. Then I just spent a ton of time working with free themes and other freeware on the net.

First month stats

1. 720 total visits
2. 1,517 page views
3. Average time on site is 3 minutes and 38 seconds
4. Bounce rate is 56%

This last one is the most challenging for me. I know it is only the first month and people have to get used to the content, but I was hoping people would check out a few different pages before bolting. The one saving grace in this stat is that I get a TON of folks just stumbling across the site at the main page. Since I am a blog, they can look at 10 postings on one page and not move from page to page.

Comments
Still trying to figure out what all the stats mean, but some of the comments I got from folks were encouraging. They basically told me they liked the concept and were looking forward to more posts.

Where I need to do a much better job is asking for comments to be made from folks. I want to have the discussion around these topics and I would like more interaction. Still more to come on this…

RSS subscribers
The lifeblood of bloggers is the RSS subscribers. Visiting the page is very important, but people who have subscribed to your RSS feed are loyal readers that want to see your postings. This was a very important part of my first month. My goal was to get just a modest 30 people to subscribe with little or no asking for it. I got to 25 and was actually pretty happy with this. I can do better.

I decided to offer something for subscribing. I found out the master of manliness, Theodore Roosevelt, wrote an autobiography about his life a few years before his death in 1919. This autobiography is in the public domain, so I decided to put it into a good format and offer the entire book as a download. I have read pieces of it (360+ pages long) and it has PRICELESS information on what this website is all about. Once you subscribe to the RSS, you will see the download link to this book in the footer of the individual posts within the feed.

I intend on adding more value surrounding this masterpiece over the next couple of weeks to make the read much more worth your while. I think there is some good value added in highlighting certain passages in this book that would add much value to its readers.

Return To Manliness posting highlights

The Manly Side Of Smoking was highly controversial. I will be writing “The Manly Side Of NOT Smoking” very soon…so everyone just calm down…

Fist Bumps: Have They Lost Their Manly Meaning addresses the whole craziness that was the Obama family fist bump. When the hens on The View got ahold of it, it lost some manliness for sure.

Manliness Trait: Try To Be Interesting, But ALWAYS Be Interested speaks to the idea of learning and relating to other people. It is truly one of the secrets in this life that everyone should pay attention to.

Tim Russert-like Inspiration was the inaugural post. I cried a few times during this traumatic time and I learned a lot about a man that I truly wished I had a chance to meet.

Tiger Woods Awesome Achievement (With Perspective) spoke to the insane media coverage and comparisons that came along with Tiger’s win at the US Open. Amazing yes, but heroic? Read my take and you decide.

In any event, I sincerely hope you like the material and the writing style. I have a lot to learn about both and I hope anyone that finds this post and site stay with me for awhile to enjoy it as much as I do.