It’s My Blogoversary and I’ll Cry If I Want To…

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Here we are, the OTSG turned 1 year old today.   I really can’t believe she lasted this long.  I thought for sure we would fall flat on our face after about two months, but thanks to lots of great folks—BSNYC to name one—this goofy site caught on a little.  As of today, we’ve featured 171+ owner submitted OTS!  That doesn’t count any of my other categories!  We have a bike from nearly every year between 1964 and 1991!  We have had bikes submitted from the U.S., Canada, Sweden, U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and soon China!  If I left a country out, sorry, I don’t have the stats in front of me.  All this ten-speed love is certainly a good thing.  Since starting this site I have been quoted in the New York Times, gone on a honeymoon, wrecked my beloved bike, became a father, got a new president, and made a few friends along the way.

All this is good.  Really it couldn’t be better!  Then, last week our friends at Google gave me a Blogoversary gift I could have done without.  For some unknown reason, the OTSG’s Google PageRank dropped from a respectable 4 to an abominable 0!  What does this mean? Well, it mean that if you search “Old Ten Speed Gallery” in Google, my page is not even listed first!  As it has been for the past 11 months! Sure, it’s number two, but that’s not how it’s  suppose to be. It also means that my search engine traffic—which accounted for about +60% of my traffic—is now down about 60%!  I know I’m whining, but it leaves a bit of a bruise on the ego, when you work so hard grow your content and readership only to have it knocked back 8 to 10 months!  Oh well,  I’m sure we’ll recover.

Regardless of what the search engines think of the OTSG, I’m encouraged and thankful for all the visitors/contributors that chime in and send in on a regular basis.  Honestly—it’s glaringly apparent—this site would not exist without all the great bikes that you all take the time to send in.  As I’ve said before, You send it, and I’ll post it.  Just remember, keep ’em crappy!  I don’t want this place getting all highbrow.

Here’s to another year.

Related posts:

  1. Link Dump 1
  2. From China With LU
  3. First Owner Submitted Entry – Harv’s 1972 Peugeot
  4. Bret’s Fuji Gran Tourer SE
  5. Leerish’s Old Crappy Schwinn Varsity
  • Bill

    Congratulations on the one year anniversary. I like your website a lot. When I dig up another OTS, I’ll be sure to let you know.

  • Bob

    Cameron, congratulations on the one year milestone! Hopefully everyone out there will keep the bikes coming in. The OTSOM choice becomes more difficult each month with more and more great bikes.

  • Pfaff

    I check this site on a regular basis, it’s great. Nicely done.

    I’ve got a few thrift store finds coming your way in the new year.

    And what’s with the first page that comes up on google? It’s completely random and essentially consists of a bunch of broken links.

    I’m starting a campaign to bring you back to the top right now.

    Have a good one.

  • http://gravelo.blogspot.com Grit

    Here here! Another year! I have an old Rolls Racer in my garage that I will send in soon. Thanks for the wonderful site, and I hope the “Special Project” is coming along well.

  • Bryan

    Congrats on the one year anniversery. Here’s hoping for many more. btw I searched “Old Ten Speed Gallery” and you were number three on my search. Somehow two sites that do not contain the words “old”,”ten”, “speed” or “gallery” made the top two. Gotta love google.

  • Ryan

    well done and you never know till ya try so my hats off to you on an awesome job and for hanging in there.

  • Alex

    I love your site. It makes us feel a sense of pride, and we dont have to have an Orbea to be a part of the club.

  • J. Valentin

    Con grats to one year! But foremost; con grats to the coolest site ever! I wont live up to the reminder “keep´em crappy” ´cos the bikes in OTSG are everything but crappy. This makes this site superior; the most beautiful bikes are time proven and has the patina to prove it! I fell in love with a Puch Bergmeister, all thanks to OTSG! I dont mind if it happen again…