You may have missed it amid all the New Year's hoopla, but last Friday marked the second birthday of Soccer By Ives. It was two years ago on that day when I launched SBI with the hope of establishing one of the top American soccer sites in the business.
Two years later I can say with pride that we have done just that. In 2009, we established new records for pageviews and visitors. With the help of new staff writers Travis Clark and Gianfranco Panizo we added our second U.S. Soccer Best Blog award and have (for now) put a lock on the No. 1 spot in Ballhype's Soccer Blog rankings.
SBI posted 13.7 million pageviews in 2009, with California finishing as the state with the most visits. The rest of the Top Five states included: 2. New York, 3. New Jersey, 4. Texas, 5. Illinois. I will look to do a more detailed breakdown of the year later this week.
We at SBI want to thank all of the readers for helping SBI reach new heights and we promise to do what we can to take SBI to another level in 2010.
Congratulations on turning 3. You really do look at least a bit older though. Keep up the good work and we’ll help keep you #1.
(SBI-Thanks strider, though technically SBI just turned two. If we counted the old SBI then we turned three last October.)
Yes, Thanks Ives. Great work amigo!
“give us this day our daily Ives…”
thank you for how much ive learned on this site the last two years.
congrats!
SBI is the Drudge Report of soccer. (I mean that as a compliment in that everyone stops here for the dirt.)
thank *you* ives. congrats on your third birthday
Thanks, Ives.
Congrats Ives, the site gets better all the time. Keep up the good work
Congrats Ives! Also, thank you. I love your blog.
Congrats Ives! i’ve been reading you forever, since the Herald in Jersey days and i still think you are fantastic and are always my first soccer site visit of the day! Cheers!
Congrats SBI. Great stuff as always.
Thank you and congrats! Keep up the good work.
As the very first guy to post on the very first thread you created, I am especially proud.
(That’s a lie, but the way, but who will ever know!)
So happy to have seen the site grow. You deserve the success man
I ditto the majority of the posts here Ives. Great job! If you don’t take elac up when hit Cali hit me up instead.
keep it up ives! this is the first site i visit in the morning, the last one i visit before going to bed, and the one i go to the most in the middle of the day.
Keeping Virginia high in the rankings, I hope, with my continual refreshes!
Congratulations on staying afloat. Hope to see the blog taken to the next level.
Congrats, Ives! You are the man.
Alright, Cali! Representin’!
You need to come out to Califas, Ives.
Im your boy, I’ll hook you up.
13.7 million viewpages. Thats about 38000 views a day. WOW. Congrats to all the SBI staffs.
Disappointed. I’ve been reading for two years and still no mention of where John O’Brien is.
I thought Ohio would be high on the list as Columbus and Cleveland both have huge soccer fanbases. Oh well.
Happy Birthday SBI!
13.7 million pageviews! I’m sure all the posts containing questionable information and commentary slyly designed to incite arguments among readers had a lot to do with that! Way to keep the sponsors happy.
Congrats and good luck! Can’t wait to see what comes in the new year.
Congrats on Year 3 Ives. Your site is my number one source for American Soccer. I also enjoy the soccer TV schedules you put up so I can plan my weekend accordingly.
Happy birthday! I check the site 2 sometimes 3 times a day. Keep up the great work.
Do you miss the Herald News?
This site has been fantastic, thanks for all the hard work.
One of the first things i do to start my day is to visit this blog. Thanks for the great articles!
Congrats, from London and Washington DC – definitely a must read blog…many many times a day
Love the page Ives, I check SBI at least 7-10 times a day. Happy 2010!
Happy Birthday SBI! Keep the good stuff coming!
I probably gave you 15 hits a day for every workday this year alone!
Congrats. I’m glad I found this blog this year and look forward to next year!
Congrats, Ives. I can’t even recall how I found SBI but have been here from the beginning. It’s great to see how it’s evolved. Here’s to you and yours for a happy, healthy 2010.
Congratulations Ives.
After we win the World Cup, i’m sure those numbers will sky rocket.
Happy Birthday. Thanks for educating tons of us out here.
New York will need to step it up this year.
congrats ives. i have been a reader since the beginning and i will continue to do so throughout the coming years.
Good stuff, over a million views a month! I can add!
i guess i should break the chain…
i hate you ives, and i hope that there is nothing but failure in your future…
and go france
Congratulations Ives! Been reading your stuff since you moved to the new site ( and a little before that too). Here’s to another great year and a long run in the World Cup by the USMNT.
By far the best and most concise place to find reliable news on American soccer. Too many of the others focus on unbased opinions and rumors, but this site continually proves to be dead-on.
Ives, it would be fun for you to post the first few items you ever posted here…
Congratulations! Vermont has a few readers as well 😉
This is one of the reasons I got into soccer in the past few years. Thanks, man.
Maine’s not in the top five? Hmm. Guess I’ll have to stop actually reading the content in lieu of constantly hitting refresh.
Congrats on the site, Ives.
Congrats Ives! I started off as a below average soccer fan when i first started checking this site just last year and now i can say that i need to check this site at least 3 times a day to get my soccer fix. Love it man. Keep up the good work!
I hate to say it, but sometimes I visit the site so often within a limited time frame that I’m almost mad when nothing’s been updated. Then I think about how crazy it is that there’s something new posted at least about every three hours. So thanks Ives and staff. Keep it coming.
Congratulations, Ives! I have been reading your blog since you were working for that rag of a newspaper in New Jersey. You’ve done well.
NOW GO GET YOUR SHINEBOX !!
Congratulations Ives, I check this page multiple times a day for my soccer fix and news.
I’ll be awaiting my customer appreciation prize in the mail…….
Congrats! A must-read every time I turn on my computer!