I’m putting together a giveaway of items,, both big and small, that I’d like my readers to have as a personal way of saying THANK YOU this holiday season.
I don’t really track my blog traffic all that closely. I know that of the hundreds of thousands of visits this blog receives each month, each person comes an average of about four times. But that’s as far as my tracking of these things goes.
I remember way back, after I had been blogging for a year, that my traffic was about 500 visits per day. That was 10 1/2 years ago. Back then I did have an email list of a little more than 1000 people who had signed up to get my posts each day. That sort of encouragement made me feel like what I was doing here was valuable, as was meeting people at frequent flyer get-togethers and having folks tell me that they read the site every day. I appreciate that. I really do love my readers, and I love answering all of the questions that I get every day. I do my best to answer all of the emails that come in.
Randy Petersen emailed me on Friday to let me know that I was rounding towards one million absolute unique visitors over the course of the year. I had no idea.
I mean, I know that each day through a variety of different means — traffic to the blog, email lists, feed subscriptions — that over 30,000 people a day were reading this, I put that number down at the bottom of my posts. In fact now the number is probably more like 40,000. But I always assumed those were the same people. I had no idea that it was more like a million different people checking in here. I love that.
If I had realized earlier I would have reached out to my favorite travel programs and asked them to join me in celebrating by offering points and status. But I didn’t have the lead time for that. Perhaps some time with a future giveaway.
Instead I’m going to clean out my own personal stash, and commit to giving away a minimum of twenty different items to readers though probably more. I’ll do it all in a single giveaway post (or if it becomes too cumbersome, perhaps in two giveaway posts), I won’t drag this out over the course of the whole month. But I do want to personally say thank you — by sharing my miles, by sharing elite status, gift cards, and other items that I can offer you. Because I really do appreciate interacting with you here each and every day.
Coming soon…
- You can join the 30,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
extremely generous considering all the advice you’ve dished out over the years.
Congratulations, and thanks!
Great to hear, as one of the recent RSS Feeders, you’ve quickly gained the way to my daily routine. Thanks for running such a direct and easy to read blog.
Congrats on the success, well deserved!
Looking forward to it.
Well done.
The original and best – I don’t bother with the ones that cropped up the last few years
Not to burst your bubble, but one person checking on several different devices, like an iPad, laptop, or computer will each reister as unique. So you can divide that “million” in half, at least.
@America! I really know very little about these things, though of course multiple people reading from the same computer would only register as one. I don’t spend a lot of time on my traffic, it seemed like a good reason and as the holidays approach to say thank you and put behind it some miles and some status. That’s all.
Congrats Gary, a well-deserved milestone. Here’s to the next million!
Bravo, Gary! I’m an EP frequent visitor.
What a wonderful thing to do! Thank you. You have helped us frequent fliers with so much information and advice.
Congrats Gary. That’s really nice of you to do. Hopefully I get there one day. 🙂
Wow, thanks for being generous! I am one of those folks who stops to tie my shoelaces when leaving a plane to snag anything left in business class. Those amenity kit bags are great for everything I do. I could use a million of them, usually score nada!!
Thanks for all you’ve posted! The info has been very valuable in my quest for travel miles!
Nice!
I’m sure lots of these readers are also no us resident like myself, pleaseeee make it worlwide! pliz pliz pliz, thank you!
Sweet! Thanks again for all your great info!
Your traffic is what it is because you deliver great, quality content. You’re the only blogger that combines uniqueness and breadth of content, and still has the respect of both newbies and advanced folks. Keep up the great work!
Congratulations Gary!
congrats! it’s not easy to get that many unique readers! maintaining and writing for blogs are not as easy as it looks! great job
@America! please review the “Debbie Downer” skits on SNL and adjust your persona accordingly. Kthxbye
Congratulations! I always start my day by checking your blog.
Congratulations Gary! As others have said, it is your content that generates your views and your content is superb.
Final proof that your information has impact on the industry (award booking etc).
Congrats Garry and keep up the good work! Thanks for the advice thorugh the years.
heartfelt congratulations Gary, you deserve it. i’ve been reading your blog for a few years now and enjoy it today as much as, or even more than ever. keep up the great work (and don’t forget your old pals when you become rich and famous.) 😉
You already give us so much. While generous, this seems unnecessary. : )
Thanks to you, and all other mile bloggers, for sharing this information and allowing me take my family places!
Congrats Gary!
Dang, that’s pretty generous. Nice work.
Congratulations, Gary — but no surprise. Your numbers would be going the other way if you weren’t offering real, dependable, usable value.
It’s also very evident that you love what you do, and that makes reading your material more enjoyable.
Your plan is a very generous (albeit wholly unnecessary) end-of-year/holiday season gesture. Frosting on the cake, if you will, because it’s your info that’s the invaluable gift to all your readers. We look forward to much more of that in 2014 and beyond.
I am an everyday reader. Thanks for the advice and congrats.
Impressive! Congrats on a great blog.
Great job Gary!
Congrats on reaching One Millions viewers, that’s very impressive! It also explains why I never win any of the giveaways :). I always look forward to reading your blog, you taught me how to be points savvy.
@Gary – I would love to read your blog on a daily basis and add to the viewship, but my internet just got disconnected. I just got laid off and then my cat got ran over by a drunk driver. If I won anything it would be great, since I could sure use a pick me up since the divorce. My husband cheated on me and left me for his secretary. I mean its only fair that he left b/c I’m emotionally detached due to the chemo I have to do twice a week. *sigh*
Way to go Gary! And, bravo to you for your generosity.
Congrats and thanks Gary!
That’s an impressive stat!
Based on all of the great advice I drawn from you over the years, shouldn’t we be sending you a million miles?
Congrats Gary!
Congrats! I’ve certainly learned a lot here—my favorite blog….
@Robert F- I’ll take ’em!
I agree with Robert F. (in spirit 😉
Well done, Gary! Impressive stats. And I wonder if that even includes people who read via feedly and other such outlets.
And I’m at least four distinct devices — but nonetheless the “read” is compelling enough to cause me to read you at work, at home, on a tablet and on the smartphone!
Congrats!
Congrats! This is an exciting milestone!! Wishing you another million in 2014!
My #1 travel blog out of the 50 or so I read every day. Just no one better at analysis and truly thinking through the travel game. Gary deserves every accolade he gets.
Congratulations on reaching the 1M mark. And thank you for the good job that you do every day. You’ve added to our lives immensely with your travel advice.
Pretty exciting benchmark for you! I’ve been reading your blog for a long time and have no intention of stopping. Best wishes for continued success in 2014.
I only have time for one travel blog a day, so I’m happy to read the best- thanks, Gary!
Thanks! I enjoy your blog very much. Happy holidays!!!
Congrats Gary!
Maybe you ought to get into politics, Gary 😉
Your blog and posts are thoughtful and informative and sometimes just goofy fun. Thanks for all you do!
Congratulations! I read your blog every day and you have and continue to teach me a lot. Thank you.
Ccngrats and here’ s to the next million! A generous gesture indeed, although based on the million figure, I don’t fancy my odds
Congratulations – know that I truly enjoy your blog, and am not surprised that a million others do too. Obviously a winner.
Time to start a new blog? Million Readers Secrets? 🙂
Congratulations Gary! Just one point about Uniques. Often we ARE talking about the same “person” when it may be tha daily/weekly/monthly I hit this site from any one of 3-4 computers and about 2-3 cell phones and 2-3 tablets. I imagine many of your readers are in a similar space from consuming on multiple devices at various times. These usually ALL end up appearing as “uniques” if the tracking cookies aren’t all together together. So, not to minimize the clear strength of the blog I’m not sure I would extrapolate it out as you have. 🙂
Congrats & thanks – I’m a newbie & look forward to your valued info & tips daily.
Congratulations! Unique Visitor Numbers aside, I think the success of your Site (and its draw for “regulars”) is largely the result of your ability and willingness to provide us with so much helpful, understandable guidance on an everyday basis. Reading your Blog has introduced me and my family & friends to so many different ways of approaching travel (and traveling better!) I’d previously never thought of, or thought attainable. So, THANK YOU, truly!
Congrats and thanks for being such a huge help thru your wonderful blogs !!
Get lots of useful advice from you!
Oh, the most valuable thing I have learned is the power of churning for free travel!
Before reading this website I (innocently) had no idea a person could have several credit cards, cancel them frequently, get more, get points and not harm your credit rating. This have been amazing for me and even thought I am still a small time economy class flyer our family has taken several trips that would have been out of reach for us using points and the techniques Gary recommends. Thank you.
Pack personal ID, points earning credit card and the spirit of adventure!
Thanks Gary! I just learned something accidentally today. I had heard that a good way to get the statement credit on the Citi AAdvantage Business Visa, you could book a refundable trip on AA, then cancel it when the credit hits the statement. I still wasn’t positive if this would work, but today when I phoned to cancel, the rep canceled the ticket but further said that, as a courtesy, she’d keep the record locator # open, in case I wanted to come back and rebook. I think that may help ensure that the statement credit doesn’t get clawed back.