AdamMaguire.com is today a whole year old and it’s made me think about how the site has developed over such a relatively short space of time.
The purpose of this site has always been to create an online presence and journalism portfolio for myself to which end the blog quickly proved itself as a core weapon. As my second year of college came to a close last summer I decided that I would personally like to have a website and could professionally benefit from one as well.
In 12 months my site has seen a lot of interesting developments; I’ve gotten involved in some superb discussions, heard some alternative views and opinions and I’ve been exposed to various other sites and blogs that now sit happily in my aggregator. Some of my posts have been picked up by the BBC, Slugger and most recently Roy Greenslade of The Guardian and those and many other instances have certainly helped the site to grow and expand. But besides a relatively respectable readership (in my mind) what have I gained?
It has long been a belief of mine (and something that Piaras and I have discussed before) that a blog is a superb networking tool; it’s generally not going to create wealth for you but it will put you in a better place if you know what you’re looking for and will make you more noticable as soon as others come looking for you. To that effect this blog has been pretty successful for me so far. I’ve had hits from The Irish Times, Examiner, Sunday Business Post, Sunday Tribune, RTÉ, BBC, Times UK, Associated Newspapers and Today FM to name but a few; I’ve often submitted something and had an editor google my name and check the site before replying to me (or, perhaps ignoring me). Each time someone, low level or high in these media organisations took some note of me and so there’s a better chance of my name ringing a bell down the line, or perhaps even better.
The fact is the site has been extremely successful as a reference point and a business card; In my application to one journalism job advertised recently I even referred to the site in my cover letter, pointing out that my full body of published work was available online.
Perhaps the single most successful moment for the site is the one that hasn’t actually been completed yet; an editor at a national newspaper recently contacted me and asked me to write a piece based around a topic I had blogged about here. The article hasn’t been published yet but hopefully it’s on the way soon and it will become the first piece of work I’ve had that spawned from AdamMaguire.com completely.
So what’s to be expected over the next 12 months? To paraphrase Andrew W.K., the same as before only more-so. This site has become an ever important part of my work as I make my way from college to career and hopefully some day soon from contributor to full time journalist; my recent re-design put the blog as the heart of the site and I feel it is certainly at the heart of my growth as a journalist.
As an aside I’m extremely anxious to announce two projects I’ve been working on for some time, mainly in theory but more recently on paper/computer screen. As soon as my income allows it the right acquisitions shall be made and all will be revealed here, until then I’ll have to leave you with little more than that tantalising hint.
One year down, many more to come.