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The Launch Party - March 2004
A year ago in March, we wrote our first State of the Blog address. Boy, does that seem like a long time ago. We were then three people, one blog and sometimes nine posts a day, with traffic at 10,000 daily visits. Now 17 people are involved, and we are 5 blogs with 30,000 visits in New York and anywhere from 1,500 to 5,000 visits in the others. And as for posting, we sometimes go a little nuts and throw up 19 posts in one day.
Why?
Because we believe that a calm, healthy, beautiful home is a necessary foundation for happiness.* [see mission below]
Because blogging home design and resources is addictive, and there's so much good stuff out there to be discovered.
And because you, the readers, have been knitting a most remarkable community within these sites.
There may be a handful of "official" editors, but are hundreds of "unofficial" editors who add to the sites daily, sending in tips, answering questions and letting us know when something weird is going on in a thread.
More heads IS better than one.
Our goal last year was to take our small, informal operation, do a better job and add more cities. Our plan for the next year is different. Rather than expand our sites, we want to expand INSIDE of our sites. The strength of the online experience has always been that the distance between readers and writer is minimal and that commenters have the potential to add as much (or more) to a conversation as the editor. While we are already one of the few design sites that actively support comment threads, we want to expand on this potential even further.
Here is our plan for 2006:
1. Add registered comments and personal pages. Catching the buzz from the tremendous popularity of sites like Myspace, Friendster and Flikr we will be adding registered readers the ability to add their own pages to the blog:
Comment without entering security codes
Email one another directly
Manage your own page with profile, archived posts and pictures of your favorite chairs, rooms, colors, etc.
2. Launch the apartmentherapy.com splash page. This cover page for all the sites will not only orient new readers more quickly to where everything is and what we are about, it will also be a full feed reader and universal search for all the sites at once. If you want to read only one blog, this is it.
3. Transition AT:Los Angeles to a group run blog. With Alec Holland moving back East this summer, we are already embarking on a massive change to the LA site. Instead of looking to replace him with one editor, we are working with some of our most talented readers to create a five editor team. This is a solution that came about purely from LA reader initiative and seems tailor made to the reality that is Los Angeles. In a city as big and spread out as LA, you need a net to catch the design buzz, not a fishing line.
4. More blogs? Maybe, but honestly we need to work on advertising income more if we are going to be able to pay anyone else. If we do add any in the next year it will only happen if there are enough readers who ask for it. We have heard rumblings in the DC Area, Seattle and Boston, but well have to see. Weve also been excited about the prospect of splitting off PlantTherapy or The Gallery into daily subject blogs and the possibility of creating The Nursery, but again, well have to see. Rather than a If we build it, they will come mentality, we believe in a If they ask for it, we will build it approach to expansion.
Finally, as we head off into a new year, we invite all new readers to jump in and play an active part in shaping this community and praise all old readers for making it what it is today. Onward, and hope to meet you soon!
All the best, Maxwell
Our Mission Statement:
We believe that a calm, healthy, beautiful home is a necessary foundation for happiness and success in the world.
AT stands for reconnecting and enjoying your own home....however you want to do it. It stands for simplicity and modesty, but it also stands for a bit of decadence as well. It stands for doing-it-yourself and working within a tight budget, but it also stands for hiring people to help you and splurging every now and then. AT stands for finding the balance between simplicity and luxury.
ATs goal is to raise awareness, weed out the crap, connect people to a community of resources and to inspire them to aim higher, while reducing their reliance on stuff.
AT is therefore a cross between CNN and Zagats, providing constant news, reviews and how-tos so that you are informed and inspired and can find whatever you need for your home, when you need it.
Congratulations on 1+ years!! I love this site and am excited about the upcoming changes/additions, especially the deletion of the blasted # we have to type in to get anything posted. Another thing I have mentioned in the past would be to let us have our own screenname without the annoyance of the next person coming on and using it. Enough patricks, annes(and all variations), jonathans, etc.... I don't want to have to explain that " that post wasn't from me" but another ann/anne/anna/whatever.
Hi anne,
Did you make it to IKEA yesterday?
Congratulations from me, too! But does this mean that I have to give up on hoping for AT: Bakerville, CT?
I did and they didn't have what I wanted. But I spent money anyway. Funny how that happens.
HAHAHAHA - Joan, that's funny!
al, BTW - I'm looking for a booth to work in during ICFF so if you know anyone who needs someone let me know.
(sorry to everyone else for the semi-private post)
Can't wait for the splash page!!!
congrats guys. here's to many more years to come!
xo
grace
I've been reading this blog for over 2 years. It keeps me informed of new designs and gives me great ideas to use in my apartment. Over a year ago, Maxwell wrote a piece on small refrigerators. I couldn't imagine going smaller. But last week, my 7' tall x 2' wide & 2' deep Summit was delivered and I couldn't be happier. Now my newly remodeled kitchen will have more counter space. I probably would never have considered a skinny fridge if I hadn't read the reviews on this site. Rock on, AT!!!
Hooray! I love AT, and every single link you provide. 1000000 Thank YOUs!
This site has too many Lori's.
Splash page sounds great. I get lost in all the AT sites. Not really sure I understand the registered comments and personal page thing. I'm all for people having to register with a unique screen name and to automated required response updating on a monthly basis (so that each person has to respond to an email monthly in order to be able to post on AT).
Member to member emailing is good...if the email addresses are hidden. Such as with the Prospero boards. There is the option to allow others to email, even without showing the email address. For instance, someone may want to email me, and they wouldn't know MY email address when the message was sent, but THEIR email address would show, and I could choose whether or not to respond.
There is also the ability for each poster to remove their own posts. Or to edit them. I like that.
Not to mention, many Annes. But I would never say *too* many!
Maxwell, Oliver, Sara Kate, Alec, Heather, Janel.... CHEERS!
I can't wait for registration and personal pages.
Thanks for another super year.
This is pretty much the main thing web site I look at. Except for some of the interactions relating to the contests, it tends to be a fairly soothing and yet motivating place to be, and one of the warmest places on the net.
I've been aboard with AT for about 6 months. I love this thing. So does Visa.
I bought four copies of the book already and have been distributing them to my young and starving friends and evangeling about pulling their places together.
Keep on truckin...
One more thing: I'm rumbling in the DC area.
Waaay to go!
I sorta agree with Andree about getting lost in all of the sites...in that I sometimes see something and can't remember which city site I saw it on.
What I'd love to see is a two-column site. On the left side, is a column of content that is the same for all APT THERAPY visitors. It would contain stuff that isn't geographically specific - even if they are found and posted by your editors in all the various cities.
I mean, if some hot (in any sense of the word) designer has an internet-only presence, there's no reason why the blog-entry should be posted to the CHICAGO site and not the other sites...
On the right side would be the column of content that is specific to the city of my choice. This is where the local shops, services, stores and open-threads might be.
Also, the CB2 ad that is running is advertising a chair (REX) that has been discontinued. Grr.
I agree, it's a unique community. I have had the fortune to break bread with a few of the editors, and I know they live their credo.
This year AT has helped me teach an interior design class, choose paint colors, keep it simple, celebrate eating in (while living in the thick of a dining mecca in Boston), share little pleasures with my boyfriend (we oohed and aahed over the contest entries together) and get reinvigorated by modern urban art (hooray A. Chase!)
Keep it up, keep it the same - I mean, change is good, all that.
Congratulations on the great work you all do.
How cool would a DC-area AT be? I vote for that. (When you are ready, of course...)
Congratulations and hank you for many solutions, hours of entertainment! Would love to see a DC AT!
hi anne,
if I hear of anything for ICFF, i'll let you know.
The splash page sounds great, I would love everything compiled into one feed! You guys are amazing. Please keep up the good work. I love you Apartment Therapy!
I've been visiting this site religiously for about 3 months, so I guess I'm a newbie, but I LOVE this site and wanted to put my two cents in on congrats.
I love everything from the coolest small apartment contest to good questions to house tours and all the good tips coming from great readers.
Looking forward to your next adventures :)
Congrats to Apartment Therapy, THE LEADER of the design blogs in my opinion!
I can't wait to see these great ideas in action, everything sounds terrific.
In addition, I want to wish Alec the very best as he relocates back to the east coast. I'll miss him over at the LA site - he has a great eye for design and posts the best finds. I'm sure between Vanessa, Jonathan, and the others you're planning to bring on board, that AT LA will continue to inspire readers everywhere. Vanessa and Jonathan are top notch.
Lots of success and happiness to everyone over at AT, especially Maxwell and Sara-Kate!
Holly