Revolution Wi-Fi One Year Anniversary!

I can't believe it, I have now been blogging on Wi-Fi for one whole year!

I launched Revolution Wi-Fi last year with the goal of the site being a personal study aid for the CCIE Wireless lab exam. I had been studying for a short time using other study aides and note-taking programs, but realized I was on a virtual island, alone in my studies. The wireless track was brand new and very few individuals were pursuing this certification, especially local to my residence. Other tracks such as route/switch, voice, and service provider have much larger user bases and are much easier for professionals to network and form study groups. Wireless - not so much.

So I joined Twitter (@revolutionwifi). To be honest, I never really "got it" regarding the whole Twitter thing until I actually joined. A few colleagues of mine used the service and would relate stories or posts from celebrities. Whoopdie, I thought. Then I started tweeting about Wi-Fi, found a few like-minded individuals who led to a few more. I found #WirelessWednesday, I started integrating multiple social networks together (blog, Twitter, Linked-In primarily) and my network grew, and grew, and grew. Now, my network is not huge, in fact it's still pretty small by most accounts (500+ odd followers) and I only follow some 150+ people. But the content, networking, advice, and ideas that come out of this community are amazing! It's like I have a direct line to some of the best wireless LAN experts in the industry, all the time. This level of interaction helps me be a better engineer, and I'd like to think that I help others as well.

Somewhere along the line, another very self-enlightening realization clicked. I found out that beyond just consuming content created by others in the online community, I absolutely love creating content. No longer am I a passive content consumer, I'm actively contributing to something larger. I'm giving back in some small way, and it's highly enjoyable. I'd like to thank Douglas Haider (@wifijedi) for making the light click for me on this topic. Up until his blog post which called me out as a great content creator, I was just plugging along, blogging mainly for myself. After his post the light bulb went off, and I realized that others might actually be reading what I had to say. I realized how the content I create is valuable to some small part of the community, and that is reason enough for me to continue beyond my original goal for the blog.

I believe this realization, and a change in my fundamental approach to content creation for others instead of my own studies, has lead to the readership that I have today. My reader base is not large (12k page hits this last month), but I think it's well-focused. So, thank you to my readers!

Revolution Wi-Fi Readership (May 2010 - March 2011)

I'm creating content for you, my readers. I always love reading comments, questions, and feedback on past topics, and suggestions for future topics. If you have an opinion, please share it in the comments on any post. If you have a question, don't hesitate to reach out to me on this site or through email (linked on the right). Most importantly, I want to create content that you want to read, and I value all suggested topics!

I've kept this site advertisement-free, and I plan on keeping that way forever. My blog is too focused to ever make any money from, and Google certainly doesn't need my help with Ad revenues. Besides that, I'm sure random advertisements for mostly irrelevant products and services would only clutter the site and be a detraction. I have a day job, I blog on the side, and this is community involvement for me, not a source of income. I like it that way, so it's staying that way.

Thanks for your readership! If you like my blog, I would appreciate any word-of-mouth to other Wi-Fi enthusiasts that may enjoy reading it.

Cheers,
Andrew