A million milestone for BirdsOnTheBlog

Added by on January 13, 2012
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Here’s yet another milestone for us to celebrate here on BOTB: a grand total of a million page views in one six-month period.

For the mathematically minded, that’s around 167,000 page views a month, around 38,460 a week, around 5,480 a day, and around 228 per hour. Whatever we have to say, people want to read it. And I’m proud to be a part of that.

Speaking as one of the, ahem, older female contributors I find the burgeoning success of “Birds” truly heart-warming. Not because it has ripped the jugular vein out of male chauvinism, exposed the favourite sex games of politicians cavorting with their interns, or tapped the cellphones of the famous to find out who they’re spying for and where they order their pizzas from … we leave that to the newspapers.

No, what I find heart-warming is the way that all our contributors – and most of our readers and subscribers, too – are ordinary women running ordinary businesses, going home to ordinary families, ordinary homes, ordinary problems and ordinary stresses.

And even more heart-warming is the way that so many of these ordinary women are making extraordinary contributions to business, commerce, the law, medicine, art, literature, design, technology, and many, many other professional areas at the same time as attending PTA meetings and putting the garbage out.

Not to criticize their life partners of course, as these days people in relationships share the domestic duties, don’t they?  I wish.

You may laugh, but the days when a woman’s place was in the home are still within living memory. Well, in my living memory, anyway, and much as my face is beginning to look like a relief map of the Rocky Mountains and I’m suffering from “furniture disease” (my chest is falling down into my drawers) I’m still a few decades away from receiving the “Happy 100th Birthday” message from HM Queen here in UK.

I was one of the lucky ones, though. Much as my domineering mother thought I was nuts to do anything other than become a secretary and entrap some poor, unsuspecting and high-earning boss into marrying me and releasing me into domestic drudgery forever, with my dear old dad’s invisible support (he was terrified of my mother but stuck up for me a bit) I got into advertising art school and became an unconventional-but-useful long-term wage earner.

A slimline Suze in her home office circa 1990

Throughout my career as a copywriter / scriptwriter / journalist / etc., I have been very lucky and only encountered a few sexually discriminatory issues. Once I was asked how it felt to be a successful woman in a man’s world, but rather than handbag the b*stard I stopped myself in time: he was 87 years old.

Another time a marketing consultancy I wrote a lot of copy for set me up as a date for an out-of-town client; I went along, having been told that there was the potential for a lot of work from him, but once I realized what was intended I told the guy what I thought of him and the marketing consultancy. He apologized profusely to me and took his business elsewhere. Karma.

What you do have to admire, though, in this tribute to “ordinary women,” is the way that so many women – many of whom are Birds contributors, subscribers and readers – to this day still face challenges that relate back to those bad old days when women’s work was not taken as seriously (or was as well paid) as it deserved.

Those women’s challenges may be diminishing in western cultures, but still have a long way to go elsewhere. Is this something with which we, on Birds, can help? I think so.

We’re not about breaking records, breaking glass ceilings, or breaking balls. We’re about celebrating the millions and millions of ordinary women who, with their professional, personal and social abilities are truly making the world go around. Birds gives them a vehicle through which to share their experiences and so to make our world go around not faster, necessarily, but a lot more smoothly – wherever they are.

I sincerely hope Birds also inspires women in less female-friendly cultures to stand up for themselves, their talents and the huge contributions they make to society, and drive their lives forward into a world where everyone’s contribution receives the acknowledgement it deserves. We’re right there with you, gals.

So at this million milestone, let’s raise our glasses to “ordinary” Birds everywhere who share our professional and personal values, ethos and energy and continue to help each other, as well as Our Girls in Uganda!

Suze

 

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About SuzanStMaur
Business, marketing and nonfiction writer, 20+ times published author, Owner and Coach at “HowToWriteBetter.net”
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23 Responses to A million milestone for BirdsOnTheBlog

  1. What a fantastic milestone and so well deserved. It just goes to show the power of women and when they collaborate and provide great content that others want to see what can be achieved.

    A great start to 2012:)
    Lilach Bullock recently posted..20 Vital Twitter Management Tools for 2012My Profile
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    Lilach Bullock January 13, 2012 at 9:21 am

    • Thanks Lilach and you’re right – it is a great start to 2012, and here’s to the next million…

      Above all else, we owe many, many congratulations to Sarah Arrow who started “Birds” and whose tireless energy and determination have driven all of us forward over the last two and a bit years. Sarah really is one in a million!
      SuzanStMaur recently posted..Spruce up your sales writing to make it market-freshMy Profile
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      SuzanStMaur January 13, 2012 at 9:31 am

  2. Greetings from Uganda Suze, Well done to all the BIRDS, the girls appreciate your support- their father died in car accident and their mother’s income only stretched to school fees for the boys! So yes things have not moved on for girls out here!
    Keep up the good work we appreciate you
    ethnicsupplies recently posted..Villages in Action – I would like to hear more of these conversationsMy Profile
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    ethnicsupplies January 13, 2012 at 9:32 am

  3. Yay to the Birds! Well done to Sarah Babs and Suze for their hard work on the site, and of course to my fellow Birds for great content!
    Nikki Pilkington recently posted..Struggling with Business Blogging in 2012? Fancy a chat with me?My Profile
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    Nikki Pilkington January 13, 2012 at 9:56 am

  4. What a fantastic achievement, and I’m very proud to be one of the older Birds. BOTB has opened my eyes and awareness to blogging.
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    Lynn Tulip January 13, 2012 at 10:21 am

    • That’s another point about Birds, Lynn – our audience reach is much broader than that of, say, women’s magazines. Our youngest contributor is 19 and the eldest is, er, well, wrong side of 40!

      That reminds me of a (speechwriting) client of mine who asked a conference organiser if the audience was broken down by age and sex. “Yes,” replied the organiser, “they certainly are.”
      SuzanStMaur recently posted..Spruce up your sales writing to make it market-freshMy Profile
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      SuzanStMaur January 13, 2012 at 10:44 am

  5. Amazing! Well done all – yet more proof of how great this site really is x
    Emily recently posted..J’adore…J’accuse!My Profile
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    Emily January 13, 2012 at 12:31 pm

  6. Fantastic achievement, congratulations to all concerned!
    Delighted to be involved as a Blogging Bird now!
    Naomi Johnson recently posted..Digital Marketing – An Integrated ApproachMy Profile
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    Naomi Johnson from social media consultant January 14, 2012 at 11:23 am

  7. WOW!!! Congratulations and what an achievement! And I am so honoured to be writing for this blog at this time! Love the fact that this is a cutting edge blog full of such a broad range of articles and posts! Bloomin’ fantastic!
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    Sarupa Shah, The Armchair Guru January 14, 2012 at 12:27 pm

  8. A great achievement – I’m very proud to be a tiny part of it. Well done Birds!
    Jane Hatton recently posted..Benefits of Employing Disabled People (for the employee)My Profile
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    Jane Hatton January 14, 2012 at 3:35 pm

    • Jane, you are hardly an insignificant contributor to Birds … your posts on diversity and disability, to name but two, are vividly enlightening and of substantial interest not only to women everywhere, but to business people everywhere. Please carry on posting: your input is vital.
      Suzan St Maur recently posted..How older people remember the alphabet…My Profile
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      Suzan St Maur January 14, 2012 at 8:36 pm

  9. Wrong side of 40?? I’m definitely one of the much older Birds! Women used to mix in generations for sharing of wisdom, life experiences and good old blethers!! I love that Birds has become a signficant contribution to that spirit online.
    Jackie Walker recently posted..Sharing the Love of Great ProjectsMy Profile
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    Jackie Walker January 15, 2012 at 2:48 pm

    • Good point, Jackie. That’s where so many women’s magazines seem so restricted because their editorial is all targeted at women in a certain age bracket and precludes and mix of the generations, yet there’s so much we can all learn not only from our elders but also from our daughters!
      SuzanStMaur recently posted..How older people remember the alphabet…My Profile
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      SuzanStMaur January 15, 2012 at 3:26 pm

  10. LOL – I’m very much the wrong side of 50 ;) )
    Naomi Johnson recently posted..Mobile Marketing – 7 Things You Should Do Right NowMy Profile
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    Naomi Johnson January 15, 2012 at 3:07 pm

  11. :) ) good to know we oldies still have plenty to contribute!
    Naomi Johnson recently posted..Your Online Reputation Matters!My Profile
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    Naomi Johnson January 15, 2012 at 3:34 pm

  12. And me too! And I love learning from my daughters too. :-0
    Lynn Tulip recently posted..Redundant, what next?My Profile
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    Lynn Tulip January 15, 2012 at 3:34 pm
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